I’m a huge proponent of helping artists express themselves. And of course, that is especially true if the artist is my daughter. She had a wonderful experience!
Original artwork by Sammy BeeZee.
My daughter Sammy has demonstrated a very keen interest in the audio-visual arts. Specifically – painting, black & white photography, videography, and singing. This page showcases her very first attempt with acrylic over canvas. Sammy’s style is very abstract, which is consistent with the unique way she views the world. Seriously, she punishes the brushes as if they were villains. But that’s how she chose to express herself… She got a lot of art supplies for her birthday and Christmas, and she had a lot of fun playing with them.
My Visions of Home | “Sammy Original” Collection DEC 2020.
A collection of six 11″ x 14″ pieces. Inspired on Sammy’s impressions of her surroundings at home. The border color for each painting represents a specific theme, and the image abstractly depicts her perception of each theme along with the different facets of her personality.
Sammy is able to incorporate a lot of symbolism in each piece based on her chosen color palette, as well as the materials she chooses for each painting. Each picture is a different part of her observations during the days she created the artwork collection – towards the end of DEC 2020. Sammy is still learning the basics, as far as technique and control, therefore I assisted with the final touches following her lead. But make no mistake, this is her work. Sammy chose all colors, brushes, theme, and stroke techniques. As a dad, I only make sure my child’s efforts and vision do not go unfinished. You can call it a collaboration if you prefer. In the end all her pictures are intended to adorn her bedroom.
© Samantha Baqueroalvarez / HLC | “Blue Bird” # 1 of 6 – Dec 2020 VA, USA
Blue Bird
by Samantha Baqueroalvarez, DEC 2020
Acrylic over stretch canvas
“Sammy” Original (Original not for sale).
Picture #1 of 6 in “My Visions of Home” Collection.
Size: 11″ x 14″
Inspiration: Sammy chose a primary color pallet and some additional basic hues. As she was painting this somehow a blue bird took shape on the right side of the picture. Also, she called the yellow spot “the sun,” giving the impression of the star shining lower in the sky – in the middle of the picture – with the contrast of foliage of the ever-green bushes and the changing colors after the leaves fell before winter, and how the garden looks near dusk.
© Samantha Baqueroalvarez / HLC | “Neon Fire” # 2 of 6 – Dec 2020 VA, USA
Neon Fire
by Samantha Baqueroalvarez, DEC 2020
Acrylic over stretch canvas
“Sammy” Original (Original not for sale).
Picture #2 of 6 in “My Visions of Home” Collection.
Size: 11″ x 14″
Inspiration: Sammy enjoys warming herself by the fireplace in our living room. Sometimes she stares at the fire as she gets almost in trance with the flame’s beauty. It is not unusual to see her take pictures or slow-motion video of the flames. This is the first time she experimented with neon color acrylics along with normal acrylic hues. The picture shows a glowing fire, not sure if she’s envisioning the background as an imaginary campfire. But she does enjoy seeing the fire dance inside the fireplace from a safe distance.
© Samantha Baqueroalvarez / HLC | “Hidden Creek” # 3 of 6 – Dec 2020 VA, USA
Hidden Creek
by Samantha Baqueroalvarez, DEC 2020
Acrylic over stretch canvas
“Sammy” Original (Original not for sale).
Picture #3 of 6 in “My Visions of Home” Collection.
Size: 11″ x 14″
Inspiration: We have a small creek in our backyard. This creek is just outside a fence to prevent all the foliage in our property and occasional critter coming into the lawn. Once in a while you see deer, turtles, a bunch or rabbits, and even foxes. She does like to venture out and see what is out there from the safer side of the fence. During this time of the year there are mostly twigs and some weeds here and there by the creek. Sammy was able to find the beauty hidden in plain sight. For this piece she experimented for the first-time combining neon and glitter acrylic, giving it a very vivid and fresh look at her rendition of nature. This is the first time she has created “textured” clumps with the acrylic, mainly because she figured that the neon paint would dissipate (become transparent) when blending the picture. After I taught her how to “clump” that texture, Sammy enjoyed it quite a bit.
© Samantha Baqueroalvarez / HLC | “Hi Pretty Girl!” # 4 of 6 – Dec 2020 VA, USA
Hi Pretty Girl!
by Samantha Baqueroalvarez, DEC 2020
Acrylic over stretch canvas
“Sammy” Original (Original not for sale).
Picture #4 of 6 in “My Visions of Home” Collection.
Size: 11″ x 14″
Inspiration: Sammy has always been very “girly” since she was a baby. She choose finer brushes for the details in the picture. The way I interpreted this piece is her growing into a young lady, (which by the way scares the living crap out of me), represented by the green foliage in the center of the piece trending upwards. And the downstrokes as a juxtaposition between growing up while retaining the innocence of a being a young girl and being embraced by her loved ones. She took particular attention at the texture on the green and “fire” bits on the foliage. This could possibly have to be with her allure with the flames, and the fact she enjoyed the “clumps” on her previous picture.
© Samantha Baqueroalvarez / HLC | “Mom’s Hair” # 5 of 6 – Dec 2020 VA, USA
Mom’s Hair
by Samantha Baqueroalvarez, DEC 2020
Acrylic over stretch canvas
“Sammy” Original (Original not for sale).
Picture #5 of 6 in “My Visions of Home” Collection.
Size: 11″ x 14″
Inspiration: Yeah, this was by far the most complex piece of them all, which is interesting given the superficially simple design. But when looking closer, you will realize it has actually four layers of painting (4 pictures) on top of each other. This picture in the beginning was looking much like “hidden creek” but then she used a very dark neon color to blend it and blend it she did. It turned into a totally different picture…. more like a slate with very interesting texture and color variations. She used a lot of different colors for this piece. The third layer was then added with random “flower-like” creations on various parts of the picture. It was actually pretty ugly, and I thought she was done with it, but when it finally dried, she used a second blend of colors and proceeded to create down strokes from the corner with a fatter brush (similar to the ones you would use to paint floorboards or near the edges of a wall) to achieve that texture. At totally different picture in the end of what she started. When have I asked “what’s that? She said it was “mom’s hair,” as she handed me her hairbrush. This all could have been the culmination of several trial-error attempts, but she pulled off with a unique piece.
© Samantha Baqueroalvarez / HLC | “Golden Garden” # 6 of 6 – Dec 2020 VA, USA
The Golden Garden
by Samantha Baqueroalvarez, DEC 2020
Acrylic over stretch canvas
“Sammy” Original (Original not for Sale).
Picture #6 of 6 in “My Visions of Home” Collection.
Size: 11″ x 14″
Inspiration: Sammy enjoys spending time in our backyard. The day she pained this it was very cold outside. We had a table-top firepit lit in our cover porch facing our backyard. We hanged out there for a little while enjoying a snack. Sammy also enjoys the mystic nature of the fire dancing in in contrast with the bushes in the yard. She would intensely stare through the flames deep into the yard. For this piece Sammy used several fat brushes in order to create a blending effect. The day was cold, but it was so bright and beautiful, she brought that vision to her work. HLC