You Never Know...What's Really There...Until Later

I have found that I am more and more passionate about painting children - and grandchildren in particular.  So, I am taking pictures whenever possible to use for future paintings.

I grew up with a film camera and knew that every shot I took needed to be carefully crafted because it would cost real money to have it developed and printed.  Enter the digital camera...  aha!  Now I can shoot at will and review hundred of pictures...for free.  (My darkroom photographer husband thinks this is 'bad form,' but he's tolerant.)

However, I know he has also had some experience with this phenomenon. You take a picture and it is not until later that you really see, I mean REALLY SEE, what is there.

A couple years ago we were on Spring Break with my daughter and her family.  I was taking pictures like mad of all the granddaughters at the beach.  A few weeks ago I was looking through old photos to find something to paint and discovered one of the four year old walking along the beach with late afternoon shadows.  I was up on a deck when she walked by so it is at an interesting angle.

I began to paint it - actually I sketched it and did a watercolor underpainting...planning a pastel.  Picture this...I am painting away...finding the right pastels to paint her arms and her leg...yikes!  Only one leg!  It's not until I am well into this painting that I discover that this child has only one leg!  The unusual angle highlights the child and shadows...her dress hides the other leg.  My head knows that it is there, but I NEVER saw that it wasn't!

Now I am laughing to myself (and at myself) and finishing the painting to give to her for her sixth birthday.

And, I am wondering...did anyone else notice that she had only one leg?