“Mother Nature’s Child” by Cheryl Whitestone

Mother Nature’s Child

24″ x 36″ Oil Paint on Linen

Currently this painting is being exhibited at the State Botanical Gardens in Athens Georgia, through mid Feb. 2011. This is a portrait of a little girl who had been out on a hike with her mother, a photographer. They had found a meadow and picked the wildflowers that she is wearing and holding. Her mother taught her how to make the garland for her hair by weaving the flower stems together. I had been taught to weave garlands as a child many years ago too. The flowers are Shasta Daisies, Coreopsis, Red Clover and some others I can’t identify.

I wonder how many people still do this? Did you do this as a child?

I love to do paintings of children and seem to gravitate to girls. My preference is capturing them in very natural surroundings. I like to see them as they are even with pensive looks on their faces, with nothing forced. For this photograph she was just asked to stand still for a moment so she could be captured in all her pure fresh beauty and casual style. Her skin is like silky pale cream, I also love her tasseled hair and her little denim dress.

People have been saying she reminds them of me, perhaps a little, she may be my inner child. After all artists are always painting what inspires them from the inside right?