Daddy’s Girl
August 4, 2009
Daddy's Girl - sfryJones, July 2009
This pastel drawing, which is still a work in progress, is a self portrait of me as a child. I’m not quite sure I fit the definition of a “Daddy’s Girl”, but I certainly always wanted to be one!
Creating a self-portrait of myself as a child was an interesting experience since it brings up a lot of memories. There are two distinct aspects to a portrait painting or drawing (among many others) – the factual and the conceptual. The factual is simply the true figure as one sees it. This part of painting or drawing tends to come relatively easy to me (with time) and I’m fairly pleased with how the figure (me) in Daddy’s Girl has turned out. The conceptual aspect of a painting is the more intangible – the emotional undercurrent or the symbolic nature behind the work that seeks to capture its meaning and truly make it a piece of art as opposed to a copy of a photograph. This is something I tend to struggle with a bit, but I have been working on more and more. While creating Daddy’s Girl, I spent a lot of time thinking about what might have been running through my mind when this photo was taken, who took the photo (most likely my Mom or Dad), and the rope in the background that screams “boats”…and also means I was hanging out with Dad. This helped me think about the painting more conceptually, however I still would like to enhance the mood of the painting by finishing the background and making some other minor color adjustments. This drawing brings up many fond memories of family time spent on the water in Maryland. Lucky for me, these memories will come to life soon as I’m about to head there for a long weekend in a couple of days, which I’m very excited about.
Zibaldóne 
I’ll start this comment by saying I know little (ok, nothing) about art. But I’ll add my thoughts regardless.
So often kids of this age will pose for a picture; you can often tell by their body language and massive grin that they are super-thrilled to be receiving the attention of the camera. However, there are those times when a child is smiling in a photo and you are certain it has absolutely nothing to do with the camera – they are simply, sublimely happy. To me, the way you are standing and type of smile you’re striking, seem so geniune; you are just thrilled to be hanging out with Dad (which I believe qualifies you as a “daddy’s girl”).
Oh, and I just love the highlights in your hair.
Beautiful painting Suzanna.
WOW! both for the art and the writing. Both – quite moving.
Love ya PS – where was the original photo taken? or is this a composite?