This painting is a gift for my mom.
In the Spring of 2023, I got to see the cherry blossoms bloom in DC for the first time. I took so many pictures and I knew my mom would want to see them too. We love looking at old, twisted, and beautiful trees together. One tree specifically, or rather the stump that was left of it, caught my eye. Where the tree was cut, the hollow core of the stump made the perfect shape of a heart, and it was full of green grass and clovers. It instantly reminded me of when my mom came to Richmond for my VCU graduation two years earlier, when she pointed out a tree that had two heart shaped marks on it where its branches had just been sawn off. The next day, when we were dressed up for graduation photos, we made sure to pose with that tree- our hands on each of the hearts.
After seeing the cherry blossoms, I knew I wanted to include those trees, and hearts, and petals into a painting I would make for her for Mother’s Day. My mom is also the number one fan of the illustrated children’s book she is sure I will make some day- so I wanted to include a little bit of a story into her painting too. She used to read my siblings and I “The Kissing Hand” - written by Audry Penn and illustrated by Ruth E. Harper and Nancy M. Leak. The story of a raccoon mother sending her baby off to school with a kiss on the palm of his hand so that he could hold and feel the kiss whenever he missed his mother. And then the son gives the mother a kissing hand to comfort her too. My mom would trace the shape of a heart onto the palm of my hand when we read the story, and years later when we sit together, she traces the same heart and asks if I remember the book. That day of my graduation, when we put our hands on the tree’s cut hearts she said it reminded her of the story too. I had to put those raccoons into the painting.
I borrowed a copy of “The Kissing Hand” from my library so I could see the whole story again, and to appreciate all of the beautiful illustrations. I realized that the image that I had always remembered, the mother and baby holding up their paws to their cheeks to feel the kiss that was placed there, wasn’t an illustration in the book. It was just how my mind recalled it. But the image was so sweet and the motion itself- the reminder to feel the love that another has given you to carry- that’s how I would illustrate it.
I selected a tree from my DC cherry blossom photos that would be my primary reference image. I chose this one for the large hollow in the tree- a cozy home for the raccoon, and an opportunity to incorporate the heart that inspired the entire painting. I decided on a small oval canvas for the painting- I’ve been enjoying using these different shapes, I think it makes for more interesting compositions and a display- ready piece.
To finalize the design for the painting, I sketched out a few different ways the raccoon could be sitting in the tree hollow. On its own and holding its kiss close. While the single raccoon portrayed the message of the story- remembering our loved ones when we’re away from them- it felt so lonely. I wanted this painting to be my mom and I reflected in the mother and baby of the story- the two halves that would fill the heart of the tree.
I prepared the canvas with a layer of bright pink acrylic paint and a sketch in white pastel pencil. I would complete the rest of the painting in gouache but I wanted this pink as the base to warm the tone of the cherry blossoms and create some points of vibrant contrast where it would poke through to the final illustration.
Working in bursts over about three days, I painted in the petals, and the tree, and my pair of rosy cheeked raccoons. Watching the steady progression was very rewarding. With a canvas this small too, it wasn’t until the last painstaking highlights and details that the characters could show those emotions.
I wanted to emulate the illustrations in the story book- their attention to the details in nature, as well as their stylized softness. The final painting became the perfect marrying of the book to my own style and story- it was now a kiss from me that my mom could hold close.
Written October 2024