Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Child Of Innocence

 
Child of Innocence was inspired by a photograph
taken by photographer John Spies, with thanks.
It portrays a little Black Lahu girl captured in a pensive
mood. When I saw this I just had to paint her. Her
captivating eyes grabbed me and the light and shadows
showed a very haunting story of an Opium smoking
village in Thailand where the unborn children were so
addicted to Opium from their mothers that the mothers
had to blow Opium smoke into their faces after they
were born, to calm them down.
Apparently the laws there have changed since then!
But the need to paint this powerful photo of her runs
deeper than just the story behind those eyes!
A watercolour, painted wet on wet and dry brush detail
at the end.

5 comments:

Helen said...

Debbie...this is so beautiful...you have captured the emotion perfectly...love it!

Debbie said...

Hi Helen... thank you so much! The instant I saw this, I knew I had to try and see if I could capture those eyes as the photo portrayed.

Melissa Fischer said...

Those eyes! You have painted a powerful story and those eyes tell of so much.

JANE MINTER said...

this is stunning debbie !

Debbie said...

Melissa and Jane, I appreciate your valuable replies... Thank you!