Friday, February 10, 2012

Day 10 of the '29 Faces' Challenge: "Young Dancer"

'Young Dancer' Original Painting,  7" x 9"

Another day, another Face.  For this, the 10th Day of the '29 Faces' Challenge, I completed and signed yet another painting that had been kicking around my studio for a while now (see my earlier post 'Unfinished Business').  As with my Day 3 face painting 'Red Dress', it's a support/canvas I built myself using a thin, vintage frame, which I have painted over and incorporated into the overall piece. 

The subject matter is a personal one.  As has been mentioned before in my blog here and there, my dear son is a dancer.  He began classical ballet lessons, that I'd signed him up for as sort of a lark really, at the tender age of 6.  Who knew he would take to it so naturally  -- so much so that all these dozen years later he would not only still be taking classes, but actually actively pursuing classical ballet as a professional career....?

Thus, given my family's high involvement in the dance world all these years (my daughter dancing throughout her childhood as well), I experienced a lot of exposure to, and as a result gained considerable appreciation of, the art and culture of classical ballet.  As the parent of a dancing son, I do admit my motherly attention often focuses on the males present in any given dance situation -- be it class, rehearsal or performance.  I know only too well all the effort, hours of time, sacrifice and sweat equity (and often all without a lot of appreciation or understanding from one's non-dancing peers) that is part and parcel of becoming a skilled and fluent dancer.   And yet, despite all the hard work there is still so much joy, passion and optimism involved.  As part of all this personal experience, though it may not be readily apparent otherwise beyond its title and the white shirt, the requisite standard uniform for any ballet boy (painted as part of the frame), my piece is a loving tribute to that rare individual, the young male ballet student.

12 comments:

Laura Holman said...

Love this Patience and I love the fact your son is a dancer. I LOVE ballet. I think I was a ballerina in my past life. Good for him!

Diane said...

Oh this makes me happy--a wonderful tribute.

Unknown said...

An uncommon career! I like his choice!! :)
And a beautiful portrait!!

Unknown said...

That's a wonderful painting and a great story!! I took my son to dancing lessons at the age of 4-he hated it, so no dancing career for him!!

angelself said...

This is beautiful, Patience. The emotion in the eyes is palpable. Great work, with lots of love in it =)
Kathryn

Angie said...

That is really beautiful - love this one!

Vicky Knowles said...

Very interesting post, I didn't know your son was a dancer. Great job on this painting, I love your style!

ilovecuttables said...

Stunning portrait! Both my son and daughter were dancers years ago, too! They are in college now, though, and they don't take dance classes any more. :/

Patience said...

Thanks Everyone for all the super nice comments about my painting and my story. Indeed, the whole ballet thing was something we just sort of stumbled into, but what a huge impact it ended up having on our lives! All in a good way for sure -- it truly provided a lot of focus for my kids as they grew, what with daily class, constant rehearsals for shows, performances and so forth. They learned so much and gained so much in experience! But it also kept us on the go-fo-GO for years, plus sometimes my kids did miss out on other things of interest because the ballet was so demanding of their time. Looking back I think it was all worth it though.

I also can't help but worry (always a mom here ;-)) a bit about my son, living on his own already -- he's a good kid, but it's so far away from us. Plus I find myself frettng over his future at times. Not the easiest thing having a child in the Arts, because I ask you... could the economy possibly be any more sucky right now...? I mean really! Here he is, at The Age and right on the brink of jump-starting a professional career, just when dance companies are experiencing all kinds of cut-backs and slow downs and so forth, oy... And yet he's pretty determined, and so we are hopeful. At least we know he is doing what he really loves...!

In any case, thanks again Everyone,for all the lovely comments, and for sharing your ballet/dance tidbits. And here's to the Arts, of ALL disciplines...! :-)

Laura Holman said...

Thank you SO much for your recent kind comments. You have made my day Patience. You are truly a very special and talented person! xo

Art Play Today said...

Not only are you a wonderful artist, but a beautiful writer! Nice post!

Patience said...

Thanks SO much, Laura and Kris -- it's really very sweet of you to say! <3 :-)