I took a walk down Kentucky Avenue the other day with the intention of sketching some pink iris growing by one of the churches, but to my surprise I found a gaggle of small children getting annual family pictures taken right in front of the blooms I intended to draw. I wasn't about to give up on my sketching expedition, however, so I walked to a different side of the church and drew this lovely white bloom instead:
I couldn't help but overhear the family as I drew, particularly the repeated imploring to get the children to smile or otherwise behave, and it reminded me of how strange family portraits are as a whole. Between the formal clothing, the staged affectionate poses, and the perfect weather, they don't really reflect our daily lives as people, so why do we do it? Is it really that important to project the image of nuclear familiar perfection? Apparently yes.
Still, I got a nice drawing out of it.
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