The Cousins - 1 of 6

Danny & Yari

Luis & Jessie (and baby!)

Victoria is all about family and remembers her cousins' names and birth dates with an accuracy that is startling, and frankly embarrassing.  I might forget my children's birthdays if they did not drop the less that subtle hints.

Victoria is my parents' 5th grand child and second granddaughter.  She has, as a result of my tasking in the fall of 2010, drawn an image of each of her cousins, which will follow in the next few posts.

Victoria's cousins Danny and Luis, sons of my sister Hilary, are Puertorrican.  They are gorgeous, dark haired, dark eyed ... I was going to say boys, but that is not fair.  They are both married and Luis and his wife Jessie are expecting their first baby in September.  OK, OK, they are gorgeous, dark haired, dark eyed men. (sigh!)  You might infer the skin color is not accurate, but then again, neither is the diameter of their forearms.

Danny

Danny is married to Yari, but I do not yet have a Victoria image of Yari.  She has a few others she is tasked with, as will become evident as this post progresses.  Yari = Task #1

Luis and Jessie

Jessica has huge blue eyes and gorgeous strawberry blond/auburn colored hair.  She and Luis (who does appear to liking his lips) were married in the summer of 2010.  This image is from the fall of 2010, well before baby #1 was on the way.  And there is the hand holding again, easiest way to tell they are a couple.  Baby = Task #2

Jessie - the portrait

Sometimes Victoria likes to reach out to people that are special to her.  She specifically relates to young women in her approximate age group, and through her drawings demonstrates her affection and admiration.  Hence the above portrait of Jessie (wife of Luis).  I don't recall the occasion but Victoria wanted to make sure she had something for Jessie and the above was produced.  Please note - Jessie does not wear puffy dresses, and I can't say I have ever seen her with her hair on the top of her head like a fountain.  Somehow, however, this image captures her great style, Victoria-style! 

Victoria's Letters, bubble letters that is!

Whenever Victoria wants to label something she does what she calls 'Bubble Letters'.  Her spelling is evolving, and she is pretty good with words she uses routinely.  Every now and then she'll miss or skip a letter.  There are the occasional transpositions, but by and large she gets it right.

Her greeting cards are particularly touching.  Although she LOVES buying greeting cards, and often finds the perfect card, the cards she makes are the ones that carry the most feeling.

She has carefully signed the inside, lest I mistake the giver.



Happy Birthday to me! Never too many of these!

Our family has large Thanksgiving celebrations, and often a commemorative t-shirt is produced.  Victoria has wanted to participate in the design process for several years, this year she contributed more than ever.  The activity took place in Bluffton, S. C. a small town east of I-95 and south of Beaufort SC.

Victoria did the letters for the T-shirt



Her original suggestion was
Hattlers Gone Wild
Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving celebrations have also taken place on Hilton Head Island, SC.  The 2011 celebration might have been, but my parents moved... to Bluffton.

Victoria, always wiling to help is not above trying to talk some sense into her parents.  SO when I asked her to make a label for a cooler for a party she gave me a hard time.  "Mommy, no one should drink beer!"  And I agree with her sometimes.  All the same she loves a party, karaoke, and dancing.  And when she got old enough she decided she might be OK with a beer every now and then too!

Not sure what the blue item is, but the unmistakable message is the contents of the cooler
BEER!

And then there's the funky stuff...

When she gets going there is no stopping her.  Victoria gets an idea and off she goes.  No telling where the ideas come from, and sometimes the colors are the markers she happens to have on hand.  So here are a couple of charmers.  Not sure who they are, or even if they are really people, but who can deny their charm, graphic qualities, and color.  There is always color!

Summer 2011

This colorful dude hung in my office on a cork board lighting up the room for a year or so.  Then the tack fell off, he landed on my desk and sort of lay there, up against the back of my desk unit for months.  At some point some liquid spilled (water, coffee, tears, who knows), drops clearly landing and leaving that great water color quality.  Today I saw him leaning there, smiling (always smiling) and realized I HAVE to share him!

Blockhead -  Fall 2011

And then there is Blockhead, which is what I call him/her.  He looks kinda angry, but his eye sockets are colorful perspective.  I don't think he is unfinished, Victoria just chose to make him a colorful face kinda person, as opposed to a colorful clothes kinda person.  Maybe she is a girl and she has a ruffle at the end of her very straight line dress.  The sleeves DO seem to have a puffy top.  Interpretations welcome!

More People!!!

Ours is a large, loud, and tight family.  We actually don't see each other often and when we all get together (four generations at this point) there are somewhere between 35 ad 40 of us.  Yes, I lose count and as such am happy to be blamed for Victoria's math skills or lack thereof. 

My parent's are to blame for all of this, they are each one of two siblings in their families.  I, however, am second of seven.  Victoria is grandchild #5, granddaughter #2, and #1 in our hearts and minds.  When my son Alex was born (#1 grandchild) he called my father 'pop-pop' and my mother 'granmonna.'  It stuck and hence the identifiers below, although Victoria says she tried to write 'grandmommy' on the drawing. 

I always love the shoes on anyone wearing pants, they are a perfect fit for the design, although the crotch is often at the hem of the shirt, I don't think I have ever seen a belt, just don't need 'em.  My mother's dress is in keeping with her attire, the hearts a great adornment.  And of course you can tell their a couple, cause they're holding hands!  They have been married over 55 years, lots of hand holding over the years!

Pop-pop and Granmonna

What is not obvious from the drawing is that my parents are 6'2" and 6' respectively.  It's all in the hands/eyes of the beholder.

Introduction

Victoria's Work

 

A few months ago I posted a couple of Victoria' pieces on my Facebook page.  I have always been a fan, of her work, and her being, which  I suppose is natural as Victoria is my daughter.  When I posted the work I threatened to begin a blog where more of her work could be posted for all to enjoy and interpret.

Although well intentioned I managed to not follow through on my action.  Day before yesterday I caught up, in person, with a friend I had not seen in 37 years - but with whom I had recently re-connected on Facebook.  After some conversation on family and life she asked when I was going to get started with posting more of Victoria's work.  I was dumbstruck.  I didn't think anyone was paying attention.  I should have known better.  I am indebted to Elena for spurring me into action.

Victoria is today - 24 June 2012 - a 25 year old in whom I recognized developmental delays at the age of one month.  She was supported by Special Education programs her entire academic career and made life long friends in those programs.

Victoria can read at a 7-8th grade level, has marginal math skills, loves to listen to music and has always enjoyed drawing for distraction, relaxation, and self expression.  The below is one of her many intricate line drawings.  I learn more from Victoria in a day than I could learn from a room full pf PhDs in a year.  I often learn things about myself I don't like, but I hope I learn all the same.  I am excited about sharing her work.

PS - Thanks Elena!

Victoria's People

This is the first of "Victoria's People."  She has always had a great eye for color and composition.  Her efforts are simply intuitive, she just 'does'.  Her circumstance (autism and developmental delay) might be what has allowed her to be so consistent.  Her 'people' are immediately recognizable.   Her approach to creating characters and using lines is definitely worth sharing.  So here goes -

Addy

The above is an image of her sister Addy who is now 16 and might be mortified by how she is portrayed by her (then) 23 year old sister.  There is, however, almost a smirk on the lips and the shoulders askew as if with a 'tude, which Addy definitely has!

Mommy and Daddy

(aka Andrea and Brian)

The above is me with my husband Brian.  The composition of the people is consistent and the use of colors is impressive.  She uses small obvious details like connected hands to made sure everyone can see we are a couple - we are holding hands.  

Alex and Kelly

Above Alex(28) (once a Navy SEAL) and his wife Kelly(28).  Alex is not wearing a beret, it's just the way Victoria captured his very straight and homogeneous hair.  Victoria adores Kelly which just might be why Kelly is taller than Alex and is looking down at him.

So here is the best!

Victoria

 Victoria(24) as she sees herself.  She is heavier, and has VERY curly hair.  This image is surprising in that the shirt has no emblem of adornment.  That said Victoria has been careful to include her ever present pony bead necklace.  One year she made one at camp and wore it for the next two years!  Yes it was kinda gross, but it really wasn't ugly.  It finally fell off.  Of course she collected the beads and restrung them, that's just the sort of thing Victoria will do.