My Beloved Quartet

My beloved quartet upon which I was requested to include the company of two beloved canines, a dearly beloved six year old lagomorph and two members of the Order Testudines, thus rendering my illustration a compilation of several periods and stages in our continuing saga. 8"x10" Pigment ink drawing on 11"x14" Bristol Board.

If you think you can draw or paint, let young people especially teenagers critique your work. Don't fool yourself with sometimes sycophantic accolades from your blog friends. They are always much too kind to tell you what they truly think, unless it is a secret blog group :). Sometimes I think I have started something really worthy and here comes my very honest and outspoken family.

"Honey, I am trying to draw a family portrait. What do you think?"

"Oh my God, I look gay."

"What?!!! Gay!!! No way!"

"Epsilon One, Does your Dad look gay?"

"Well, yes. No actually, he looks like Jesus Christ in that movie. He looks like a disco dancer. Hehehe. He looks like Pablo Escobar, that drug lord. You need to cover his chest and make his moustache look less like Jorge's. Maybe my nightmare where he was gay will come true. You need to draw Daisy and Wheezy there too."

"Drug lord!!! Gay. Grrrr. Ack!!! But this was when you were younger. So we did not have Daisy and Wheezy."

(I frantically change The Viking's profile. I make his moustache bushier, his collar smaller, draw a couple more of strands of hair, give him an undershirt, untuck his shirt, make him stockier. My son's words stick to my eyes.)

"Okay, what about now?"

"Oh that is better. That's nice. It's okay to add Daisy and Wheezy. How about my two turtles?"

"Ah okay, I will draw a "Time Warp" portrait."

"Epsilon Two, I am trying to draw a family portrait."

"Awwwwww, look at me. I am so cuuuute! Aaawwww! Look at Daisy! And Wheezy, Oooooohhh look at Snowflake."

"Your brother said that your Dad looks gay. I have changed his profile, what do you think?"

"Well, Epsilon One looks a little fruity himself."

"Aaaawwww! He is a little boy holding firecrackers."

"Aaawww he is cute. I love it. It looks okay."

"Shall I start all over?"

"No, it's okay now."

So I continue.

"Look. What do you think of it so far?"

"You gave me a tail!"

"What?!!! What tail?!"

"That!"

"Oooohh, Hahahha! That is the hem of my skirt. It does look like a tail."

(I fill it with ink.)

"How about now?"

"That's better."

Sigh*** So hard to please. This is a challenge for me. I need to learn how to draw men.