When I was very young, my parents gave me a little soft gingerbread man which became Very Important for my sleeping routine. I called him “Gingie.” I had to have him in my arms in order to go to sleep. He was an uncomplicated fellow with two felt circles for eyes and a little felt circle for a nose and not much else in the way of expression. Still, he was a comfort to me. Here’s the surprise part: I still have him. He has long since lost his eyes and nose, which gives him a blank look, but it’s less creepy than you might think.
He was sitting around in my craft room waiting for new eyes (it’s been a long wait) and I thought, “Hey, I should do a watercolor painting of old Gingie! How hard could it be?” In truth, it wasn’t terribly difficult, but then I thought, “Hey, I should give him eyes, since he doesn’t have them anymore.” Done. “Hey, I should give him a nose!” Done. Perhaps I should have stopped there, but the train was running down the track by this time and I decided to insert a mouth where he never had one. Then little stitch marks all around the eyes and nose. Looking at those blank brown circles, I thought, “Hey, he really needs pupils in those eyes.” And just like that he went from sweet little gingerbread man to a creature that might give a child nightmares. Poor Gingie.
Here are another couple of watercolor experiments from this last week, ideas I found on Instagram and YouTube.
Mistakes were made.
I’ll probably sit in a yellow chair while I delete this in the morning.
Lynniebeemuseoday 
I’ve lost my comment twice already tonight,
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Noooooooo! And things were going so well!
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“Left is original, obviously” ….NOT! I wouldn’t have known. They are just two different expressions or perspectives on the same object. I like your drawings, they are wonderful! I have one or two suffys from my childhood, but they were not loved like Gingie! Now I am wondering if I still have them. I never thought I’d be a grandmother (“Oma”), so I may have turned them in. I’ll have to check. Thank you for sharing your creations!
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Thank you! I appreciate getting someone else’s perspective because when I copy someone else’s painting, all I see are the ways in which it seems inferior to the original. I’m glad you see something different. Let me know if you find those childhood toys!
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