Dressing Up My Daughter

My kids headed back to college last month after their summer break. It’s been a delight spending time with them, but it also reminds me that we’re always losing bits of our children. When my daughter was young, I loved dressing her up in cute outfits, especially from Gymboree. She put up with it until about 3rd or 4th grade, when she began to critique my taste and reject my choices. She was only 8-9 years old, but already had many opinions about who she was, and a Gymboree girl was not it. Thank goodness I still had an outlet for my inner stylist:

I painted this in 2016 as the beginning of an occasional series of old masters-style peacocks in luxurious outfits. Here’s another:

And another, painted in 2022 for my Rome show:

The models for these paintings were albino peacocks that live on the grounds of La Caille, a French restaurant located in Salt Lake City, Utah. I especially love the contrast of the birds’ white feathers against the rich fabrics.

Work in Progress

Anyone else ready for a vacation? Here’s some work-in-progress for “French Press”:

If you compare the digital comp to the painting, you’ll see I changed my mind about my subject’s seating and decided to pose him comfortably cross-legged drinking his coffee. But did you know this is actually unhealthy? Apparently sitting cross-legged can lead to all sorts of bad things like high blood pressure, back pain and lowered sperm count. Mon dieu! I hope my duck friend gets up soon for a nice walk in the sunshine.

“The Wild Life” Bonus Calendars

My regular calendar comes out next month, but in the meantime here’s a fun 2025 calendar from Sellers Publishing:

“The Wild Life” is available from RSVP.com and luciaheffernan.com. Enjoy!