The other day I was thinking and remembering some of the art-sy and craft-sy kinds of things that I did when I was young. Some I stuck with, some I tried and then got bored. The more I thought about it - the more I remembered...I was kind of amazed at all the different mediums I had played with.

It started with just paper (see my first post 'me and paper'). I would draw with crayons, and sometimes used stencils (numbers and letters) that my father brought home from the mill. I remember getting 'paint by number' oil painting kits for Christmas. Not a lot of creativity in these - however they do teach about painting composition, and working with oil paint.

Here's a bunch of other art/craft stuff I enjoyed -
made my own candles
had an 'Artex' (remember these?) fabric painting set
linoleum art block carving (Speedball Brand stuff)
taught myself to macrame belts and bracelets (hey..it was the 70's!)
my mother taught me to knit and to crochet.
Learned to sew -(starting in 7th grade most girl's took 'Home Economics' - half the school year was cooking and half the school year was sewing.) LOVED learning to sew and really took to it. I continued to make a lot of my own clothes right through high school. Took apart my old jeans and turned them into purses, skirts, pillows etc. Cut up plain, crew neck wool sweaters, shortened the sleeves, added buttons down the front and made cute new tops out of them. Made clothes for my Barbies.
Made detailed Christmas ornaments from homemade salt dough.
Wrote (awful) poetry, in my journals and did lots of drawings in those as well.
Worked with clay.
Pressed flowers in glass.
Used paper and cardboard to create houses and whole villages for the tiny dolls my little sister and I loved called "Little Kiddles". (Gosh we loved those dolls!)
Always made my own greeting cards, invitations etc.
Worked with oil pastels. Charcoal pencils. And lots and lots of markers.

I think there are probably even more.
All these creative endeavors that I was interested in...I can't believe that I let that part of myself go away for years and years. I feel like my truest, most real self when I am creating and I know it's here to stay now.

Here is one of my latest - showing the painting... (appropriately titled - 'Follow Your Heart')
                                                        'in progress' and then finished.

 

 

 

 





 Original and prints available on ETSY.

 

The One Who Stayed...

A lot of my art is about women. Sometimes I call my paintings 'girlies', gratitude girls, sister souls etc.  I am one of six sisters - thus the 'girl' thing. But I am also one of 8 children. We were six girls and two boys. I say 'were' because, when I was 11 years old we lost my brother Robert. He committed suicide by shooting himself. He was 18.

Having a tragedy like that in your family leaves all kinds of residue.  Incredible loss and grief. Shock. Hurt. Anger. Confusion. Questions. Shame.

I only have a handful of memories of my brother Robert. I wish I had more memories. I wish I had more of an opportunity to know him. I wish he had stayed around.
But this post isn't about the brother I lost. This is about the brother who stayed.
My brother Terry.

Terry is 3 years and few months older than me. As a family we have always been close. We lost our Dad back in 1996 and our mother more recently in 2010. Shortly after we lost my mother - Terry found he had a need to confide in us (his sisters) about of lot of things he had kept tucked inside for years.

So there was our family in 1968 - four older girls all married with families. Two young girls - myself just 11 and my little sister only 8. And there was Terry. 16 years old. The only boy now. What Terry revealed to us, what none of us had seen...in the midst of everyone else's grief and sorrow - another horrible thing happened. Terry got overlooked. Nobody took care of him.

We six girls all lost 'one' of our brothers that day. My parents lost one of their sons.
Terry lost his only brother.

Looking back now, I see... a teenager - busy with sports, his own friends, a girlfriend. He probably seemed fine..(did anybody ask?) I had my little sister, and together we had the blessing of youthful ignorance - the ability to forget (sort of) what had happened - to move through each day selfishly concerned only with ourselves and the moments of our day. The older girls each had their own families, and were concerned about how my parents were doing. Terry was suddenly alone.

As Terry opened up to us recently ... he told us he felt like he disappeared back then. His whole life changed. A door slammed.
My parents were absorbed in their own grief. I can't imagine how they got through each day. How they were able to think about much else. I know that my mother became zombie-like for a time. She admitted in later years that she was using pills the doctor gave her to get through the day - until she felt that she was using them too much.   My father used it as a reason to drink too much. Basically their attention was elsewhere - and in no time Terry was off to college and married.

I feel so sad that he was alone at that time. It makes me sad to hear him say he disappeared. That time in his life took a huge toll on him that stayed with him for years. The details are his own story. Not for me to share here. What I do want to share here is the fact that I am so glad that he opened up to us. That he was able to talk to all of us, and tell us how he felt...how he feels. I hope that will continue. He is a wonderful man. Smart and funny, a great dad and grandfather. A really good person.

Mostly I am so incredibly thankful to have my brother in my life. To have this brother. The one who didn't disappear. The one who stayed.

 

Women

Today is International Womens Day. So much of my artwork involves women. I love to draw women and 'girlies'. There are many, many wonderful people in my life...men and women, but today is a day to celebrate the sisterhood of women on this earth. There are parts of the world where it is very hard to be a woman - dangerous to be a woman. Take a moment to send a prayer of love and strength out into the universe. It will find it's way to those who need it.

Here's an unfinished piece - I think she is very strong...

International Women's Day - be thankful for the strong women in your life!

all about the hair!

I really have fun playing with hair in lots of my art pieces. Sometimes I draw the faces/heads without any hair..and then I cut out different 'hair pieces' from decorative papers, and try them on the different girls to see where they fit - as I did in the piece with the six girls in it. This was so much fun! Once I had drawn a bunch of different 'hairstyles' and cut them  out - I kept trying them on all the different girls, until I decided who looked best in which one. It was like playing with paper dolls! And then I pasted them on and continued with the artwork.

and sometimes I draw/paint the hair directly on to each 'girlie'  - like so...

I like to put things in the hair too. Really enjoying this lately - am going to do some more of these. This one with the purple hair isn't done yet - I need to do a background for her.

Ladies - whether you do artwork or not. I'm sure you agree..
some days it's just 'all about the hair'!