The quality isn't the best and the anatomy isn't entirely convincing. The mother's forearm is a bit too long and she's holding the book in a possible but uncomfortable way. The child is either really short or is only a year old and has a lot of hair for a child that age. I kept the photocopy in my files but not carefully enough as it became a bit creased and crinkled. The original was 11 x 14 and the picture in the middle was about 8 x 10.
Recently I was trying to figure out what artwork to hang in the baby's room, I remembered this little picture. I had an available frame, but it was 16 x 20. I considered finding a mat-board in a good color and cutting it to fit. I've done this a bazillion times but the little 8 x 10 picture was just too small. I scanned the poster and played with it on Photoshop until I liked it a bit better and printed off a 16 x 20 version at the Costco photo center. I left off the border and poem, since I had written it poorly.
My boy will probably like it and if he doesn't, I'll take it down and put up something else. You never know, as a child I had a picture of Jesus with several children around him. The picture was cute and sweet by daylight, but there was a shape on the back of the head of one of the kids that I found frightening in a darkened room. It was like a monster's face to me. This wasn't something I could articulate and I'm not sure an adult would have understood the problem. What's wrong with a picture of Jesus and children? So if my kid shows fear of a picture, whether or not I understand, I'll take it down.
So here is a Photoshopped version of a scanned photocopied poster of an original watercolor painting.
The woman doesn't look like me, but the child does a little, though I was bald until I was nearly two. I don't know if my boy will take after me or his dad. It doesn't matter, he'll be so cute, and he'll be ours.
