for barbara, on her 90th birthday

If this one seems a bit different from my usual style, that's because it's a collaboration with my 14-yr-old great-niece, Grace d'Eustachio, whom I've been teaching a bit about collage. We made this together as a portrait, and a gift, for my mother-in-law, Barbara (Grace's great-grandmother), whose 90th birthday is coming up soon. Barbara's hair turned mostly white in her 50s, and has gone by the name of White Owl in pagan circles for many years. She's an avid hiker, and walked most of the Appalachian Trail in her 60s and 70s. So Grace and I chose together to portray her as a white owl in hiking boots, with blue eyes like hers.

The eyes are from Modigliani's "Girl with Braids." I used markers to draw the legs and the details on the face, but the rest is collage. The face itself, incidentally, is from a photograph of falling snow.

We have kittens! I'll come up with a link to a photo in a future posting.