Sage Vaughn

I have so many favorite artists...as you can probably tell by now.
I absolutely love the work of Sage Vaughn. I used some of his
work in a project I did a while ago....(see the above photo.)

He has a series that is mostly all birds, and then he has older work of
the children in costumes, which is my all time favorite. I love the
backdrop he uses for his subjects because it is very urban
(even his birds are sitting on a chain link fence.)

But the best part is the children in costumes because it reminds me of when my girls were little and they would wear costumes (without it being Halloween) to pre-school, or to the market, and to the park, and pretty much every darn place we would go.
My older daughter thought she was Annie and for 6 months wore either her red dress, or the orphan costume (which always got interesting looks from strangers) and ALWAYS wore her black patent leather shoes because they would make a clickety sound (think the final scene in Annie when she tap dances with Daddy Warbucks). My younger daughter was simple, she was a dog. She had a brown dog costume that was thick as a snowsuit and even though it was 90 degrees outside, it was her daily outfit...that one stuck around for about 2 years until the bottom were no longer pants, they were shorts.

I, like many parents, know I wasn't alone. I'll never forget my younger daughter's pre-school graduation, all the children were dressed beautifully on stage in there finest dresses and smart little slacks and blazers....and then one kid comes out in his Buzz Lightyear costume. Everyone looked at the mother with questionable faces and she just shrugged and said "he wouldn't go unless he was in costume." The kid was as happy as can be up there on stage. It was hilarious.