11 x 14 -oil on canvas
framed with gold floater frame

STUDIO VISIT: PARTY DRESSESI love to search through old scrapbooks- scanning the pages of old black and white photographs. These photos are old as me, and older than me. The scrapbooks are made of black construction paper pages. The photos are attached by little triangular corners. Names and dates that are fadingly familiar are written on the black paper, in white ink, in my mother's fountain pen cursive handwriting.
 
Some images I ignore, some catch my eye, and I use the to draw and paint. This photo caught my eye. I have some glinting memories of a birthday party at a friends house, lots of sunshine, little party hats. In the photo, one of the girls is a young me, with a friend from long ago, and made into a painting that's about that lovely gesture, the wrapping of arms around each other before a photographer.
 
Say CHEESE! The white party dresses melding together, scabby knees and white socks. I choose this one to make into another image - a painting of two friends, clutching and smiling for a parent recording the birthday party.