Paintings of the Twin Great-Grandchildren

This is our eldest great-granddaughter, Tarin, on her 3rd birthday. When I got this far in the painting, I thought it might be done. However, it was painted on a 14" x 10" piece of Arches 300# watercolor paper - so the left half of the sheet is totally blank. I let the painting sit several days, and this is what evolved...

Then, after sitting with the painting a couple of days, I thought an American flag might be a good backdrop for this painting. So I took some acetate and used watercolor to paint a gray set of stars and stripes, just to get a feel of how this might work out.

That sat for a day, and then there was another school shooting, this time in Texas... Suddenly, it was important to me to add the flag symbols to the painting - in the hope of reminding us of our Nation's obligation to our children to keep them fed, educated, and above all, safe. For me, the gray flag symbolizes the lack of determination on the part of our national political representative to accomplish this on behalf of our children. Here is the finished painting:

"Tarin with Stars + Stripes" - Pat Dolan - 14" x 10" watercolor and pencil on Arches 300# paper