A Family Adventure Story, Part II

The family leaves a holiday greeting on the moon.

Clink on this link Family Marshall Trip Part II  to follow the Marshall family into outer space, the moon and back again. But engine trouble detours the family to the North Pole where a jolly ole elf lets them hitch a ride home.

• Watercolor and Ink on Moleskin Watercolor Paper
• 3.5″ x 10″
• In a private collection

Aiden

Aiden in the bigger picture

• Pastel Drawing
• 18″ x 14″
• In a private collection

Not yet one, this little guy has one hand on his home planet and a Monarch butterfly balanced on the other. The sun, our moon, the planets and the milky way surround Aiden. The background is deep space. On his shirt are Bison and butterfly milkweed, symbols of his prairie roots and the sun sits over his heart.

Remembering Kaden

 

Kaden

 

Kaden’s life was a short four years. The grief that his friends and family felt when he died was palpable. The brief life of this little boy created such a depth of feeling in those who knew him that one couldn’t help but sense and be moved by it. I offered to create a drawing. The parents decided that some of Kaden’s happiest moments were when he was being pulled in his wagon by a fellow “Yellow Jacket” classmate. Sesame Street’s Elmo, a smiling, hugable, exuberant character, was a favorite buddy. I created an Elmo image on his shirt that could be flying or reaching for a hug; the things that Kaden might like to do if his body had served him better. There’s a hint of the Kansas yellow brick road.

The family invited me to the dedication of the drawing at Sunnyside Elementary School in Olathe, KS. A large group of Kaden’s family, teachers, classmates and friends stood round as Grandpa Rick unveiled the drawing. There was a soft exclamatory sound and the tears welled, remembering Kaden and feeling the loss.

Beautiful Rita

“Thinking of Rita”

• Colored pencil on illustration board

My CA sister-in-law, Rita, died in August of 2008. A few months before I’d sent her this drawing, which she called to tell me she loved. She liked the wind blowing through her hair, beautiful hair that chemo had made disappear. She was a California blonde beauty who loved water and swimming with ocean animals. A lover of life, I depicted her as Botticelli had his Venus, while daylight moves into night,  and the stars are echoed in her dress.  (sigh)………she is missed.

Billboard Illustration

Demo drawing for billboard illustration

A pen and ink drawing was needed for a billboard advertising a racetrack. This is the demo drawing I sent to the ad agency to show that I could do a pen and ink illustration. I got the job.

Later, while driving down the freeway, I see my drawing on a billboard. That was fun.

...off to the races.

Jude and Jeremiah

• “Jude and Jeremiah”
• Pencil on Clayboard
• 36″ x 12″
• In the collection of JS/S

Jude and Jeremiah are brothers and playmates of my grandchildren. In the drawing, Jude and Jeremiah stand among their favorite things; trucks, cars, things that go, aardvark, skunk and Marley, the dog, to name a few. The drawing goes underground showing plant roots, beetle larva, earthworms and an antlion. Above ground are praire grasses and flowers, a cricket, a grasshopper under a magnifying glass, monarch butterfly, ants
(one about to become the antlion’s dinner), a caterpillar,
a bird of prey soaring in the clouds
which billow towards outer space, where you’ll
find a spaceship and planets galore.

You Gonna Eat That?

You Gonna Eat That? II

• Scratchboard
• 8″ x 8″

“You Gonna Eat That?” is a phrase my dogs communicated quite effectively whenever I had food in my hand. My Tulsa friend was dog sitting Buckwheat for her sister and brother in law while I was visiting. Buckwheat was the cutest, and so he became the subject of another “You Gonna Eat That?” drawing. This will be my 09 donation to the annual Lawrence Humane Society auction.

The media is scratchboard, which is ink over crayon on Ampersand’s gessobord.