Mar
23
You guys, thank you for all your nice words on that last entry. I know the topic wasn’t exactly worth the hand-wringing I put into it, and I appreciate the support and gentle butt-kicking you sent my way.
I’m happy to have the opportunity to follow up a whiny post with something cheerier, thanks to these paintings which arrived in the mail yesterday:
The artist is Rachael Rossman, whose work has been featured by Dooce and The Pioneer Woman and The Bloggess and a bunch of other famous-type people. She specializes in pet portraits, which are absolutely amazing—although clearly she’s pretty great at capturing children, too.
Rachael’s from Coos Bay and went to high school with JB. Her husband Alton is JB’s climbing buddy; they like to disappear together every year or so in order to try to kill themselves on the side of a mountain somewhere. I have a feeling if Rachael wasn’t 5 hours of shitty driving time away we’d have a lot of fun together, mocking our deathwish husbands and sharing parenting war stories.
In the short time this artwork has been in my house, I’ve found that no matter how close I am to drop-kicking my rabid-dingo children into the next county, these paintings make me smile and want to hug them both. Even if I’ve just sent them to their rooms for Rampant, Uncontrollable Assholism.
If you’d in the market for a really special sort of keepsake, you should check out her stuff. She’s also working on a calendar through Kickstarter, if you’re a fan of supporting those types of projects.
Thanks, Rachael. What a cool memento of what my boys were like at this age.
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Those are amazing! It’s too damn bad I have so many kids! I took a quick peek at her blog, and all her work is beautiful.
I love her art! I saw in a while back on Pioneer Woman and loved it. I wish I could afford to have her do a portrait of my ancient kitty, who will be 17 on Sunday.
Oh LAWD I love this!! I would kill to have one of these of my girl!!
These are precious! Do you mind sharing what size these particular paintings are.
Keri, they are 5″x7″s, but she does whatever size you need. http://www.rachaelrossman.com/commissions/
Thank you!
You’re welcome, Linda. And there is a reason we don’t live in the same state: Oregon can only contain a finite amount of smartassery within its borders. Two of us would be too much.
What medium are they? Water colour?
They are so amazing.
Those are incredible!
i gotta say, your “Rampant, Uncontrollable Assholism” make me snort out loud! i can totally relate with my 8 and 3 yr old kids.
as for the pics, very cool! I have to get back into painting someday but i sketch the kids and have a wonderful zentime doing it. just hard to get motivated with work etc.
Gorgeous pieces of art…and the kids aren’t bad, either!
Lovely :)
The portraits are just wonderful and will never lose their ability to make you smile. They capture the essense of both boys.
Flipping. Awesome. To be cherished.
Those are great! I first saw her work when Neil Gaiman tweeted the portrait she did of his dog (and I have been following her tweets since).
rabid dingo children–love that description!! LOL.
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