#126 6/16/19 Baby Shoes

Stride Rite - white leather toddler shoes.  People of a certain age, we ALL wore them.  So it's another painting of nostalgia.  Plus, the subject matter was simple enough for me to get it down in paint.  Except for the dang laces.  I'm still struggling with laces!  I got the parts that weren't in the mishmashed middle fine.  It's that mishmashed middle that I eventually just mishmashed some paint in there.  Then I regretted it.  So I decided I would approach it like the hands: turn the photo (and the canvas) upside-down and start again.  It went a bit better.  Not great.  But better.

I found the baby shoes at Wildflower, the barn shop in Waynesboro where I've got some of my jewelry.  Most of the vendors are selling vintage goods, and when I saw these baby shoes, still in their original box I snatched them up!  I have these same baby shoes somewhere in my basement.  They were worn by my youngest brother Dusty, and probably my other brothers and myself as well, but I only remember for sure Dusty.  Somehow, someway, I got Dusty's old baby clothes and shoes.  And I dressed my 3 boys in them.  They're still good to go, ready for the next baby, somewhere in the basement.  I just can't find them.  I'm thinking my husband may have purged a box here or there, but he's not saying.  But when I saw these shoes at the barn, I had to have them because I wanted to paint them (and I could do it without having to tear apart my basement).  That was several months ago.  Tonight was the night I finally got to it.  I wanted it to be loose, but still, I fussed.  But when I leave the room and come back and peek at the painting, I love it.  Or perhaps, I love the memory of the shoes on so many little feet that I once loved!