creative roots : my mother's art

My mother comes from a family of seven children, supported by two working parents. She is the third daughter. Her family was basically lower middle class, which meant not everyone could be sent to college. Most of her sisters learned dressmaking, the youngest became a professional dancer. Her own mother, my grandmother, had a beauty salon and a gift shop where my mom helped out. Her father, my grandfather, was a painter who also worked as an illustrator in an advertising office.

My mom had a dream of being an artist. A painter, to be exact. She applied for a long-distance course at Famous Artists Schools in Connecticut.

She actually passed the screening exam and got a good grade.

Here are some pages from the Talent Test displaying her natural skills.

Unfortunately though, my grandparents could not afford the tuition fee. My mom went to a regular college taking up a regular course in accountancy (I think) but she never finished. She became instead as my grandma's right hand at home, in charge of most of the housekeeping and cooking, until she married when she was 24 years old.

I will be featuring the pieces she had done in those early years of her life and for starters here are some self-portraits she had made:

I'd love to be able to draw even half as well as these!