YOUNG MOTHER AURA

THE SUBJECT

A spirit portrait of Diane W. Young- the artist’s beloved, beautiful, smart, talented and eminently witty, yet kind, mother. She taught Dustin everything important and appreciably trivial about life, from the color wheel to dancing, from resourcefulness to gerbil farming. A fantasy fiction, historical and romantic novel lover, she consumed about 1 paper back per week for 40+ years. Many featuring tales of pirates, treasures, and rich emotional character dynamics. Thus, when MMORPGs based on pirating came about, she quickly immersed in a global social network of diverse people with whom she bonded and cared for as deeply as she did us all who knew her.

THE COMPOSITION

I have always seen her in these colors, feminine and lovely, but rich and contrasting with near true blue lines of definition. She is a lovely woman, with strawberry blonde hair and a Scottish family background. She was an artist, a talent I do not try to compare to, yet if I had to, I’d probably say she has the most exquisitely careful use of line to create fluid yet angular organic geometry that’s at once masculine and feminine.

This is not that.

Here I wanted to capture her youth and her maturity through the asymmetry of her face. She taught me that symmetry and beauty are synonymous and the proceeded to explain how and where her face was not symmetric. What a strong and thoughtful person it took to could give such a lesson! Alas, know for being radiant, she also taught me how to use imbalance to create dynamics that gave both a sense of equal proportion and energetic movement.

Focusing on this lesson I present beauty that at first appears classically mirror like between two sides of the face, but as the viewer’s eye is captured by her eyes, and linger, getting to know her, they see the truth and the elevation therein. Though she taught me art as did my father, and I am deeply influenced, sharing a love of character, and anything but realism, my technique is uninhibited, rapid, and aggressive.

When I create, it is a furry of need to channel and capture a concept that even I don’t fully know until I am done and= out of the white mixed media paper- a fog is delineated by thin, but growing dark outlines. Color washes into the spaces contained therein- lavender, a little, rose, peach, and just enough dreaded blue and neutral gray to celebrate the rest.

THE MATERIALS

Heavy, bright white mixed media paper
Oil and water based paint pens
Alcohol based markers
Pencil