Always been obsessed with Mothers Daughters. And Watercolors. Their a lot alike.
The whole excuse of the Dana and Nola graphic novels are a chance to explore these issues. It's a little odd as i have no daughter myself, (... luckily i do have a mother). If your indifferent to Mom-daughter stuff - no worries... it on't be wall-to-wall 'Mothers Daughters' stuff in my future stories, Dana's saga is also to draw weird crap too.
But just a heads up, it's a theme for me, the generational dysfunctional female stuff. Not always dysfunctional, but just enough to keep things spicy.
Here's a little one this morning. The goal in this was to stay light. I've always admired how most watercolorist use the white of the board, sorta like an unplugged acoustic "less is more" thing.
It's how i try to write mom's and daughters too, try not to over-write.
I also want to avoid sentiment, so i'm giving the mother some lines and age on her face.
I think i'll lose mom's double chin here, as i want this mom's age to show more. As we all know, weight hides wrinkles. Don't worry if i thin mom down a little here, i have plenty of other chubby Dana sized girls in my universe too.
The word 'Conflabulation' isn't a typo. It's a semi-made up word, but weirdly enough the urban dictionary has a decryption of it.
Conflabulate:
Urban Dictionary: to distract oneself from folly.
(to talk sh*t)
That's the Urban dictionary's definition. I like the word because it's a combo of 'flab', as in fat, so it's a bastardized version of the word confabulation.
So what IS Confabulation? (with the L in the usual place): Psychological term: filling in gaps in one's memory with fabrications of what one believes to facts.
....which is what sisters Dana and Nola are convinced their mother is doing to them. Which may or may not be true. Which is what i'm trying to do in this watercolor, filling in gaps, or maybe it's more like 'fabricating' things? Implying? suggesting? Okay, maybe equating mom-daughters with watercolors is a stretch.
Let's get back to words: Then there is....
Fabulation: popularized by Robert Scholes to describe 20th century novels who's style is primarily 'magical realism' (blending of realism and fantastic elements) and thus, violate or defy traditional realism or romantic fiction.
now it looks like mom has a friggin' perm, huh? Crap - i'll dab out some of this to keep it light, or try too..
So i'm pretending the word Confabulation has it's root in the word Fabulation, ( which it doesn't, but i just like the idea it does).. and both of these mate and have an illegitimate daughter,
Thus was born:
Mother Daughter Confabulation!!!!
Where-in a daughter (or mother) fills in memory gaps by unconstrained fabrications to avoid unpleasantries or troubling facts in a reality spun from either Mother or Daughter's interior sense of 'magical realism'.
I could have stayed lighter on the mom's face, but i figured since the point is she IS older.. why sugar coat it? I like a little milage on her, "earned wrinkles".. satisfied my older women fascination. Not in a lurid way, just have always had a soft spot for older woman.
Thus was born:
Mother Daughter Confabulation:
Where-in a daughter (or mother) fills in memory gaps by unconstrained fabrications to avoid unpleasantries or troubling facts in a reality spun from either Mother or Daughter's interior sense of 'magical realism'.
Mother Daughter Confabulation is also an idea elaborated upon in a series of 'Mother-Daughter Dances' as presented in the Musical 'MOTHer': a musical stage play in Nola imagination ( which she never got around to writing and thus, only existed in her mind).
Mom's hair is getting out of control huh? Big hair much????
Having Nola create but never FINISH a musical is partly an inside joke on my being so late in creating it. But also the stupidity of a whole universe someone creates.. but never gets to see… all that because they are too lazy or bored to ever gets written down or drawn it, is perversely funny to me. I have dozens 'maxx-like' ideas in my head no one will see either.
It's also made nola flake on it because i'm semi-afraid *I* may never get around to finishing MOTHer... so by making fun of Nola flaking, i hope to SHAME me into finishing it.
..actually this may be her grand daughter (instead of her daughter), given the age i've implied here.
So, for no reason at all... here's a series of dances from the MOTHer musical
Mother Daughter Withdrawal Waltz
Mother Daughter Co-dependent Cha-cha-cha
Mother Daughter Personal-Boundaries Ballet
Mother Daughter Enmeshment Foxtrot
Mother Daughter Taste Aversion Two-step
Mother Daughter Menopause Mambo
Mother Daughter Rehab Rag-time
Mother Daughter Publication-Bias Polka
Maybe when MOTHer musical is finally finished, i should sign it 'Nola' instead of using my name?
