What do Aliens Do?

The idea for my alien monsters started with a brainstorm sketch.

The genesis of my alien monsters.

And then I asked the question, what if the number of eyes equals the age of the alien? I sketched and sketched ideas in thumbnails. I had lots of thumbnails but only room in the exhibit and time for 3 paintings.

I have leftover ideas and my 11 yo daughter wanted me to make a scrapbook of lots of pictures of the alien family. And I know how much my friends and family loved these cute aliens and I wanted to know, what do you want to see them doing. I got a great response. A thank you to everyone who contributed.

Here are all of the answers from Facebook, Instagram, and my e-mail list:

Family Camping Trip, Road Trip to the grand canyon, visiting the grandparents (Tina Robertson)

Picnic (Meagan Ferguson)

In pajamas getting ready for bed, Kneeling praying by the bed (Frieda Gilbert)

Celebrating an accomplishment (@mcchoules)

Eye doctor visit, playing a card game and sneaking looks at their cards (Carrie Snider)

Holiday get together, River rafting (Carol Vallejo)

Going to school, Making a cake (Kim Cavan)

Teachers keeping and “eye” on each of her students (Bud Walters)

Stealing their parents space ship (Callie Sandberg)

Playing a board game (Joseph Hanks)

Peeking around corners; when they have a problem they need to solve, their eyes could get tangled (Henry Herz)

Swinging on a swing set, playing in a playground, playing on the seashore building sandcastles (Stephen Black)

Setting Good examples for children…sharing, caring, being helpful (Mel Davenport)

Sewing, playing hopscotch, playing tetherball (Manelle Oliphant)

I really appreciate all the excellent ideas. And if you have more, I hope you’ll comment below. All of these ideas got my creative juices flowing and I’ve got lots of composition ideas for these paintings.

That night, I dreamed about these aliens. Ok, it was less of a dream and more of a mind racing ideation session. A thread of a story started to come. What if they did steal their parents space ship? What if they came to earth? What would they think? It’s not fully flushed yet, but since writing and illustrating children’s books is my ultimate goal, I’m confident that it will come and I will flush out the details as I create.

“Grow Old Along With Me”. Acrylic on panel. Pamela Hanks

Today I also learned that there are more people who like my alien creatures. “Grow Old Along With Me” was selected to be included in the West Hartford Art League’s Member Juried Exhibit that will run Dec 10, 2020 to January 17, 2021! I can’t wait to see where this takes me and my aliens.