Mandy’s Happy Family
Mandy and Mike are engaged, and will be blending their families in the near future. Check out the kids ages! How fun is that for them!! Their wedding is set for next August, and Mandy is going to surprise Mike with this Happy Family illustration of them all together! How sweet is that!! They especially love the beach and spending time there together! I definitely loved creating this beach scene! And those animals!! I love illustrating cats especially, so this was super fun!!
| Tell me a brief summary of each member of your family (name, age, hair/eye color, personality). * | |
| Mike - dad, he’s a 5th grade teacher, very laid back, plays guitar and loves the Grateful Dead (and all that goes along with that). Drives a burnt orange colored jeep and lives in khaki cargo shorts and flip flops during the summer along with his Phillies baseball hat. Likes to fish in his free time and is an AWESOME playful dad.Gwenna - 4.5, Dark brown eyes and serious feistiness, she is stubborn but loves to laugh and have fun with everyone. Takes dance class and is always jumping around dancing and burning off energy! Has an athletic build and reminds me of a little gymnast. She names every doll and stuffed animal and refers to them all by name. Her room is decorated in fairies. Has ears pierced and wears little diamond like studs.
Jude - 2.5 – a daddy’s boy – looks like the mini version of his dad. Totally a ‘boy’… hunts for little crabs on the beach and tries to break their shells with his hands. Likes to knock over the girls sandcastles. Always has to be within eyeshot of daddy or on his lap. He’s obviously the baby of the whole group. Mandy -mom, dresses ‘preppy’ and likes to blend in and not be real noticeable…. but will totally make an idiot of herself if it makes her kids laugh. Happy to dance around like a clown with her kids at outdoor concerts. Loves all types of music, friends, family, and low key activities. Jaime - 5.5 – the oldest child – Mandy’s mini-me, sensitive and emotional. A very girly girl, love dance classes, loves to wear dresses and accessorize every day with a necklace or a bracelet (ears not pierced yet). Loves to color and practice writing letters. Can also be the bossy one of the group since she knows she is the oldest. Lost all her baby fat and is now a skinny string bean! Jillian - 3.5 – we call her Jelly – she also still has her ‘jelly belly’ (baby budha belly). She is my little tomboy – the ‘boy I never had’. She’s rough and tumble and always has scrapes and bruises, but is starting to want to get into girly things like dresses and ‘lip boss’ (lip gloss), but even though you dress her up, she is still a bruiser. She is ALWAYS attached to the dog, Switch. Constantly physically touching her or laying on her. Switch - 7.5 year old female golden – the most patient, tolerant dog EVER. She wins everyone over, even those that are not ‘dog people’. Loves to fetch and loves her favorite stuffed ducks. Always with Jelly. Finn - the newest addition a 2 y/o rescued Maine Coon cat. He’s a big guy – 20lbs and very furry so he looks half of Switch’s size. Always ‘talking’ to us and coming out of his shell each month more and more. |
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| The 3 to 5 prominent colors I would like in my piece include:* | Greens, blues, browns and maybe pink – our house is neutral colors, but we are an all girl household except for the cat! |
| Is there a career path you would like to include in an illustration * | |
| Tell me what you would like to see your family doing (would you like them just sitting all together posing, as if for a picture? Or would you like them to be doing something together). Please supply the most details here: * | I hope it doesn’t exclude me if I don’t have a defined vision… I just want it to show us being HAPPY and together. Our golden retriever (she is 7) is a critical part of our family. I would love it to show some nature – even if it’s through a window in the picture if not all outdoors.Things we have done together include the 4th of July parade, visiting the zoo and aquarium, and going to the beach. There will definitely be more beach trips in our future. I don’t know if that helps set the scene for you…
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| Any other details you might be able to give me that would help ensure your enjoyment of the piece:* | |
| We are a small family – we live near my parents and my sister lives far away. We recently joined a church and are starting to do volunteer work in animal rescue (dog transports). And we most recently adopted a Maine Coon cat named Finn. We are all strong and striving to be happy first and foremost. We do visit Hilton Head Island each year and that is where my attached photo was taken. | |
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One of my favorite parts about illustrating these pieces is studying each member of the family’s photos. I always feel like I get a sense for their personalities and it’s so fun! These kids were no different!! SOoo cute!! And they’ll grow up with four under one roof!! And so close in age! I LOVED growing up with lots of kids. I hope it goes so well for all of them!!
Thank you Mandy for sharing your family with me and us!! I hope you’ll ENJOY this piece!!!
And for all of you waiting to hear on if you will be illustrated in August, sometime today, I will be notifying you!!!
xox,
Katie
We LOVE it!!! Thank you so much! Your work is simply wonderful and I love how you pull through small characteristics for each of us that make me smile each time I look at this piece.
Oh I’m SOOO glad!!! YAY!!!