“If this reminds you of the humor and frustration of convincing a child or grandchild to pick up the pace, it may be the perfect addition to your collection.”
If you have ever spent time with children between about ages five and ten…you know they are masters of the dawdle. You’re trying to get the family moving and get through an endless to-do list, and they are taking the world’s most detailed look at a bug or doing an impromptu interpretive dance as if life couldn’t possibly have another agenda.
Move It, Kid!
While children no doubt offer valuable reminders about living in the moment, if parents didn’t intervene, there’d be no food, shelter, or clean clothes. This Mexican Mom has finished the washing and now needs to get her three children in motion. She is carrying a baby, a younger child is peeking out from around her legs, and she might be asking her still-sitting son if he’d just pick up one of the buckets and carry it on the way home. So far, it’s a standoff.
Family Portrait
Washing Clothes In A Canal is an intimate size at 9.5 x 8.25″, and is an endearing portrait of everyday family life. Painted in 1982, this work came just after two other Mexican paintings, The Pink Parasol and Kaleidoscope, shattered auction records at the Western Heritage Sales in 1981 and 82, respectively. With this composition Hulings leaves those complicated, people-filled scenes to show us the rural life that existed throughout the Mexican countryside in those years. Here he shows us the water, with blown-out white highlights, and the rocky shore of the beach and hedges on the bank with neutral colors and rough textures. The cheering colors of the older boy’s red shirt, the younger child’s bright yellow, and Mom’s printed skirt and turquoise ponytail tie do not overcome the feeling of a chilly, overcast day. With that chill, Hulings puts us firmly in Mom’s camp—time to get home and warm up!
Remote Bidding
This little gem is the fourth in our Scottsdale Art Auction series. It sold successfully, and we’re sending our congratulations to the new owners and the team at SAA!
