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Artist transforms sonograms into unique portraits
For expectant mothers, a sonogram image is the first glimpse of their child, sometimes even as young as a few weeks old. The blurry little fingers or outline of a little nose and lips can result in a flood of emotions for the parents. West Side resident Kirsten Applebaum remembers the first time she saw her daughter Kelsey and son Brent. "It's the first visual connection you have with your child," Applebaum said. "I think that's when you begin to have that real attachment to this human being." Artist Lisa Wood, a native El Pasoan now living near Dallas, knows that exact feeling. She felt that way when pregnant with daughters Sydney and Samantha and now with her third child, due in May. The 34-year-old Wood used that emotion as inspiration and has created a niche in the art world by creating artistic portraits of babies still in the mother's womb -- a business she's named ArtInUtero. Wood, a former interior designer, takes sonogram printouts, scans them into her computer and manipulates the image with color until she is satisfied with the result. Applebaum first saw Wood's art on her Web site, http://www.artinutero.com/ and liked what she saw. "It was so impressive," she said. "This is such an original idea. A lot of times, mothers keep the sonograms in baby books, but this is a way to actually display them and then maybe hand them down to your kids." Wood encourages patrons to give her ideas about the kind of painting they would like, but Applebaum said she wanted to give Wood free rein on the two paintings she ordered, one for each of her children. "After what I've seen, I have complete trust in her," she said. While most customers are women who want paintings of their own children's sonograms, Wood wants to expand her market to a national level. "My big vision for this is to become the Anne Geddes of sonogram art," Wood said. Geddes is known for her artistic photographs of infants in whimsical poses. Her business now includes a line of greeting cards, calendars, journals, T-shirts and children's clothing. "I'd like to end up on Oprah," Wood said. But getting there is the tough part, Wood said. She has already contacted several publishing companies, and while all tell her that she has an interesting concept, no company has agreed to take on the project. That's not discouraging Wood, though. "I'm expecting a lot of 'nos,' but I have a lot of support from my friends and family," she said. For now, Wood is working out of her home and self-producing the greeting cards and T-shirts she sells off her Web site in addition to the commissioned paintings she does. She's also getting more recognition from the art world and is being offered more gallery shows in the Dallas area. Wood realized the emotional power of the sonogram while she was pregnant. Having already lost a baby to a miscarriage a year earlier, Wood had a sonogram while 10 weeks pregnant with her daughter, Sydney. An ecstatic Wood made copies of the sonogram and sent it to family and friends. An aunt enlarged the sonogram and framed it for Wood. Wood took that idea and did the same with the sonogram of her second child, Samantha. That's also the first time Wood began manipulating the image and realized that she could turn a black-and-white printout into a work of art. Wood took that idea and, as a gift, gave a sonogram painting to her friend who had just given birth. She did that for several other friends and found their reactions encouraging. "Everybody always cried," she said. "It was such a personal gift to them. Nobody ever would've thought of doing that with their sonogram." Wood wants to focus on growing her business and also raising money for the ArtInUtero Philanthropic Trust, a charity she created with her husband. Proceeds of sales will go to children-oriented charities. Wood said no two sonograms are ever alike and that offers plenty of variety for each painting. But she said most artists do fear running out of ideas. When that thought comes to mind, however, she always remembers what a fellow artist told her when seeing her paintings in a gallery: "You know, it's easy to make people angry and upset, but when you can make them happy, you can go very far." Maribel Villalva may be reached at mvillalva@elpasotimes.com |
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