No. 249: "Roll Over"

"ROLL OVER" By Tom Wills, May 2014

Everything to a child is interactive. Touch, sound, movement -- you can see them putting it together in their own unique way. One of the sweetest and most natural interactions is between a toddler and a dog. They are wired for playing together.

(Click on images to enlarge)

The original photo

I captured this moment in the driveway as my grandson Anthony was playing with Bella, my Puggle. Anthony is almost 19 months and Bella is 6. This started out with a petting session -- a little hand going bap! bap! bap!-- then turned to playtime.

Playtime!

Anthony, who can't yet talk, directed Bella with his little noises and squawks and with his finger. Bella responded with a few roll-overs. They did it a couple of times, because they had figured out their rhythm, and then it was enough. On to the next sight and sound, smell and taste.

Little friends.

Although the original image had a backdrop of asphalt and a Pontiac wheel, I chose a grassy field for this watercolor painting.  A creative liberty, yes, but the original spirit is retained.

Getting there

"Watercolor" is not really accurate here, either. For, yes, the image was washed in with watercolor paints. But I could not get the type of detail that I wanted -- like I would want with a drawing. My solution was to work over the painting with a selection of colored pencils and pastels.  So the medium is mixed, either a hybrid or a mongrel.

Watercolor wash

I try to do one or two colored images each year.  This is the first for 2014 and I had thought it would take more time. It was just two days.  The truth is, this also happened naturally.

Everything has a beginning.