SAM HAS A MOM

I realized by the last comment that I didn't say anything about Sam's Mom. She has been busy finishing her last two terms of university to get a degree in economics and a minor in business. She graduates June 13 and we are very proud of her. Four days after having a c-section for a 10# 4oz. son, she took her final exams from fall term. She is one determined woman. Nobody wanted Sam to have to be in day care while she was in school, so the two grandmothers and Dad worked out a system where we could all share his care and Aimee could finish school. She has had high grades and will become a wonderful CPA. I am so extremely proud of my daughter. She has always been more of a blessing than I could have ever imagined.

20 SIX BY SIX DRAWINGS

I have a friend who has been asking me to post some of my art work. The pure and simple truth is that my art has recently been spent on helping to raise a child, my grandson Sam. His other grandmother and his father each take a week and I take the third week. Then we start the process all over again. I travel 6 hours by train there and six hours by train back. Another 45 minutes is spent each way in travel by car, and that doesn't count packing and unpacking at which I have become expert. One of the best ways for me to pack for the same place repeatedly is to leave the things in the suitcase that I always take as travel items and a list of the things I will always need. One must consider as well, that I have horrible food allergies and must pack all of my own food for the trip and part of the food I will eat while there for five days. I have my bags down to a small computer/overnight bag, and a backpack. So, that has been my most current art work - the art of being a loving grandparent and parent.

When I have free time I have settled down to work on a pad of Bristol paper that I bought as a sketchbook. The first drawing it was so much fun that I decided to do a series of all of the pieces of paper in the pad. I use the same #2 pencil for all of them to keep things transportable. Each drawing originates with one single shape, which is then repeated over and over until a texture is knit upon the page. Then I add darks. If I run out of room for large shapes, then I make underlayers of those images beneath the existing ones. A close up shows the scribbly and scrawly filling in of dark values. I'm not fussy about coverage, just the value. I have only six of the pieces finished, but two are total failures. There are 20 papers in the pad, so that means that if I'm really lucky I'll end up with 13 or 14 good pictures, but then one can never count on luck, only skill and practice. I don't think there will be 20 six by six drawings.

Please accept apologies for my editing errors. I am unable to find a 'delete image' spot on this editor, so there are two of one image.