Found Friday and Family.

Well, dang. It's been a week without a post and here we are at another Found Friday again. Been traveling — for work and for pleasure — got to deliver Miss Dotty to Miss Finn personally, which she adored by the way... pictures forthcoming. In fact, I shot the weekend with my every-so-trusty Nikkormat, so we will all have to be a bit patient to get those back from the developer. I was surprised by both my Pop-Pop and Grandma; Dad drove all the way to Venice to escort them back to Otown so that they could meet all their Great Grandkids and share in the festivities. I adore them; it meant the world to me that they were there.

So my head has been a bit centered around family, history, legacy and tradition. That being said, I thought I'd share my "gallery wall"— which happens to incorporate 2 of my favorite things that my folks gifted to me when I moved here. The silhouettes.



The real big one is my dad. I don't know how old he was when he had this done, probably was done in the 1950's though. The smaller one above it (and to the right) is me. I was maybe 5, I believe. Luckily, I don't remember that bowl cut.



What's really neat about these is that the images are actually cut paper, which is how they were traditionally done. Today, you can just take a digital photo, outline your head (in Photoshop or Illustrator), enlarge and print. Done. Easy peasy, just follow the directions. But the old school way is really an amazing work of art. The artist typically has you "sit" as you would for having a portrait done, and they cut (using very delicate but sharp scissors) the outline of your head. And they do this freehand. Freehand? YES, freehand. I find this to be absolutely amazing. And, I found an amazing guy, who still does this today. Here's a picture of his work — hired by Martha Stewart of course — to do portraits of a wedding party. I just love all those little details in the ponytail that he got.




And you know what I'm gonna do? Hire him to make one of Ellie. Because that's totally what's missing on the portrait wall... my kid, albeit a puppy kid.