Quinceanero Canvas for Andrea C.

Jorge C., one of my very favorite crew guys at work, is throwing the huge Quinceanero party for his daughter, Andrea -- she'll be 15, and the Hispanic culture treats the 15th birthday like we gringos do our 'Sweet Sixteen'. All year he's been talking over the details with me -- the church for mass, the 'salon' (reception hall), all the bands he's had to audition, the menu, Andrea's dress, everything but what Jorge and his wife will give to Andrea. I said, 'Gosh, I could do a canvas for you' and he literally BEAMED! This was after I did the Luz de Sol piece, and David's canvas, and I just knew I could do it. Also, I had already done the background and wings on Miss V's canvas, so I knew how to approach Andrea's. Andrea, you see, is ENTHRALLED by Tinkerbell. Her dress is Tinkerbell Green, the decor is all about Tinkerbell. Tinkerbell, being a fairy, a wee pixie, has wings. I had to do some on-line research because Toni knew naught about Tink. And so ... I began. I put Miss V's canvas away, reluctantly, to start Andrea's, because the big day is November 23rd, and I'm never sure about my do-over rate with these things. BUT IT'S DONE!!! ALREADY!!! The whole thing, start to finish, took me 14 hours. I AM SO PROUD OF THIS!!! I hope Andrea likes it, also. Andrea is -- um -- a rather large young lady. Jorge gave me a photo to work from, and I'm just so excited because I caught her expression AND succeeded in making her look young, which was really important to me. I think I made her size realistic without being crass about it, too. Andrea has beautiful hair, curly, down to her waist, so I tried to make that a main focus. I guessed with her dress -- I just copied a Tinkerbell sketch of Tink's dress, and did my utmost best to match the Tink Green. I hand-made the paper using a technique from the Nov/Dec 2007 issue of Somerset Studio, by Gail Russakov [ppgs. 73-76] that uses ripped strips of magazines, masking tape, paper strips, and PVA glue. [In the shot where Andrea's face is gesso'd in, you can see the completed paper on the lower left - VERY cool technique.]