The Buzzy Store – Mary Lou prints aside for a moment, my next favorite Mary Lou painting (above) features Joe Nelson and his son Aaron working their fish nets out in the river. Mary Lou did this painting based on some photos that Joe’s wife Michelle gave her several years ago.
Here is a little photo-taking tip for you. Over the years you will always end up taking many photos of folks sitting around your dining room table, Thus, always try to ensure that what you have hanging on your wall as a backdrop is a nice photo or painting that won’t draw too much attention away from the folks you are photographing at the table. You want the focus of your photo to be on the people and not the background items. Example follows of how Mary Lou’s Nothing But Net here serves as a good backdrop for this photo I took of Steph’s Dad Eddie and his brothers seated at my dining room table when they were all here visiting for Steph and Shea’s wedding:
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| The Eljersma Boys – Rick, Bobbie, David and Eddie 2016 |
And speaking of how one’s attention should be drawn to the center of a good painting or a photo, note how in Nothing But Net Mary Lou depicts Joe and Aaron both looking down such that you do not see their faces. Mary Lou told Michelle that she really doesn’t care to do faces of people in her works. In fact, when Lila first requested Mary Lou to include Buzzy and Dick Wood on the porch playing checkers in the daytime Store painting, Mary Lou warned her that she would try but with no guarantees on the results as she did not do faces.
For more on Small Faces (click here.)