“A Tale of Two Cows” family tree painting
Have I mentioned that I love painting family trees? I’m sure I have… It’s good that I’m not afraid to sound repetitive. I never get bored. There is always something new that I get to discover, and recreate in my art. Since there are no two families that are alike – each one of the custom family tree paintings I create is completely unique. Speaking from an artistic point of view, variety is definitely the spice of an artist’s life. As an artist, I especially enjoy painting family trees for families that come from places that I’m not particularly familiar with.
My very first family tree art for an Indian couple
I just finished a painting for a client whose family comes from Kolkata, India. When she mentioned her parents’ hometown, it took me a few seconds to figure out that Kolkata is the new spelling of Calcutta. Regardless of the spelling, a prospect of doing a family tree painting for an Indian couple got me really excited. It was going to be my very first! Although I’ve done a few paintings for families from the neighboring countries, I’ve never done one for anyone directly from Indian. Which is come to think of it is kind of surprising considering that India is the second most populated country in the world.
But I digress… As in the association game the first thing that popped into my head after the name Kolkata was Mother Teresa …and the ‘game’ stopped right there. I could remember nothing else about the city, and I wasn’t about to add Mother Teresa tending to the lepers into the painting. Although extremely noble, it would’ve been hardly appropriate for a light-hearted piece of art. Fortunately for me, I’m never ashamed to admit my ignorance. So I just asked my client for some ideas I could incorporate into the painting.
Meanwhile, I also did my own online search for Kolkata. Right away I found a gorgeous building that I thought would look great in the painting. It turned out to be ‘Victoria Memorial’. “Victoria… Colonialism… Perhaps, not the best idea”, I thought to myself. Being Ukrainian taught me how one might have very mixed feelings about some parts of your ethnic history. So I decided to dismiss it, and wait for my client’s input. She got back to me with a bunch of ideas with cows, yellow taxis and the Kolkata bridge among them. That took care of the background for one side of the family tree painting. For the other side I proposed to have a traditional New England landscape, since that’s where my client’s parents settled after moving to the U.S.
Sometimes to have a perfect balance you only need a second cow
There I was laboring over my painting. This family tree was also another ‘first’ for me. While I have previously done a combination of full body portraits and framed portraits in my work, I’ve never done just the framed portraits for a couple’s children and grandchildren. I wanted to make each portrait unique and different from the other ones. So I chose different frames and different color backgrounds for each one. Then I painted the parents. Had a blast painting Indian food dishes, (I love all the little details). The only thing left was the background. I painted the “Indian side” first. Looked at the “American side”.
My plan was to have a traditional New England red barn next to a white church there. It just didn’t look right. Something was missing. The painting looked asymmetrical (not that symmetry is in any way a prerequisite for a good artwork), and unbalanced. I stared at the painting again. What’s missing? Or rather what could I add to make it look right? Then it hit me. A cow! An American cow! Luckily an American cow is an unmistakably different looking animal from a Kolkutan cow. And with that idea I was able to achieve a perfect balance in the painting. Yay!
To order your own family tree painting that represents your family’s ethnic background, and cultural roots please Contact the artist or go to the Shop section of this website.
