My Lollipop Girls & Memory Lane

I’m trying to gather myself after last night’s Art Show. It was the culmination of weeks and months of preparation and planning, of vision and hard work.  Though it was an amazing evening, which I’ll share with you someday soon, it is always a bit de-centering.  I do still have much left to do to close out the Art Show chapter, but I waken feeling a bit lost: “what next?”, what was I into creatively before the last month of full-on Art Show prep began?, where would I like to turn my energies now? etc.  Today, my plan is to clean my house which has suffered neglect for quite a while.  It will feel so good to slowly, methodically move through each room to clean and tidy up.

The night before our school’s Art Show, I had taught all day.  Exhausted from that, and from the thought of the mountain to climb on Thursday, I sat at my drawing table to draw from a photo of Maddie I had just snapped at dinner time.  She bought a yellow lips lollipop at school that day and was showing me her “lips”.  It was a good and restorative thing to sit there, after she had been tucked in, slowly drawing my sweet daughter.  Then a memory of another daughter and a lollipop came to mind.

This is my oldest child, Catherine. You can see the date of this pencil sketch. She was 5 years old.  As I drew Maddie, I remembered drawing Catherine from life…she sat so still and long enough for me to draw this, probably due to having a yummy red lollipop to lick while I drew. I had to go digging to find this sketchbook.  There’s a bin of sketchbooks I’ve filled over the years sitting out in the garage.  There are more stashed in a closet upstairs. And still more here in my studio. I remembered the dark green, hardbound, wire bound sketchbook with the star sticker on the cover to denote the “front” of the sketchbook.

I remembered sitting on the park bench while my older two kids played.

I remembered drawing their favorite slide there at Ardmore Methodist Church.

I remembered Catie and William playing together on the “fire truck”.

I remembered that my boy was the cutest thing I had ever laid eyes on.

I remembered Catie liking to draw in my sketchbook. A sweet picture of her with her brother on his first “skateboard”.

I remembered Catie riding her bike with training wheels.

I remembered how hard it was to draw William as he rarely stopped for long on his bike.

And then this.

The birth of  my third precious child. Maddie. This would have been the day after she was born. I remember it. I remember thinking how can you draw such exquisiteness? I remember thinking that the pencil lines needed to be as soft as possible to adequately depict the softness of a newborn. I remember thinking that this sketch didn’t come anywhere close to showing her beauty.

But I am glad that I drew it. So glad I drew all of this and all the thousands of other sketches and drawings I have sitting in that tupperware box and stashed in so many other places.  They are more precious to me than photos, though I love them too.

I’m not sure this has helped me gather myself and move on today.  But it has served to answer the What’s Next question…to continue drawcumenting this beautiful life I’ve been given. It is indeed FULL, art shows and all! Cleaning will be good to do today, since seeing through teary eyes is not a huge hindrance to that kind of work.

Pulling Down Deep Heaven: Part 3

Terror and Wonder

Two thousand or so years ago, a baby entered this world. The golden drop of Heaven descended into a manger of hay.  Events surrounding His descent were filled with terror and wonder. Shepherds were terrified at a Bright Being telling them Good News of His arrival. These same shepherds later marveled at the manger and returned home filled with wonder, rejoicing at what they had seen.

Even in that day, a massacre of children was a ghastly part of the story. Terror-stricken parents grieved the loss of their babes, as distant Kings were wonder-struck by an infant King for whom a Star heralded the way.

We are never asked to sugar-coat the very real terrors of our world. Nor are we left on our own to deal with them. We are asked to hold both the Terror and the Wonder in our hands and hearts. We are called to allow the Golden Drop to permeate everything and undo all the sadness and fear.

C.S. Lewis knew this well. In the chapter (from which this series takes it’s title) from Lewis’ third and final book of a space trilogy, That Hideous Strength, , we read:

“Do you know,” said Ivy in a low voice, “that’s a thing I don’t quite understand. They’re so eerie, these ones that come to visit you. I wouldn’t go near that part of the house if I thought there was anything there, not if you paid me a hundred pounds.  But I don’t feel like that about God. But He ought to be worse, if you see what i mean.”  ”He was, once,” said the Director.  ”You are quite right about the Powers.  Angels in general are not good company for men in general, even when they are good angels and good men.  It’s all in St. Paul.  But as for Maleldil Himself, all that has changed: it was changed by what happened at Bethlehem.”

For today, at least today, we need not pull. We need not strive. Our efforts to bring bits of heaven into our darkened world can be set aside for a moment. Deep Heaven has come to us. All we need do is receive. Laying down our weapons of peace for beating back the darkness, we can marvel and wonder at the incarnation of God. Light has come to us.  Heaven has descended. And we gasp and whisper the Beauty to one another, like candles lighting other candles, saying He is here! He is here!

May your Christmas Day be filled with a Wonder that seeps into the sad and fearful places of your life. May it lift you aloft to be able to see Light in places you haven’t seen it before…in manure filled barns, in empty stockings, in stars, and even, (can we speak it?), even in terrifying tragedies.

It came upon the midnight clear

It came upon the midnight clear, that glorious song of old
From angels bending near the earth to touch their harps of gold
Peace on the earth, goodwill to men, from heav'n's all gracious king
The world in solemn stillness lay to hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come with peaceful wings unfurl
And still their heavenly music floats, O'er all the weary world.
Above its sad and lowly plains they bend on hovering wing
And ever o'er its Babel sounds the blessed angels sing.

O ye, beneath life's crushing load, whose forms are bending low
Who toil along the climbing way with painful steps and slow
Look now for glad and golden hours come swiftly on the wing
O rest beside the weary road and hear the angels sing.

For lo the days are hastening on, by prophets seen of old
When with the ever circling years shall come the time foretold
When the new heaven and earth shall own the prince of peace their King
And the whole world send back the song which now the angels sing.

O Little Town of Bethlehem

O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in, be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!

*If you’ve missed the first two Parts in this series, click here for Part 1, and here for Part 2.  Merry Christmas!!

Little Bird

A little pink bird sits in the Christmas tree in my studio sunroom.  He looks out at me from the white branches (fake table-top tree:) as I sit every morning to sip  guzzle coffee, to read and reflect. This is one of my newly acquired ornaments this year. I’ve spruced up this little tree, as it is “my tree”.

I announced to the family two years ago that I wanted to have, instead of a Frasier Fir tree, a white fake tree for the living room.  I had seen this absolutely gorgeous tree in a friend’s photograph of a Paris store window and I wanted a bit of Parisien holiday in my house. But  my family revolted! Gasped in horror.  No way I could win.  So, just like my dear grandmother, I decided I would have my own little table-top tree, white for me (hers was green) and decorate it however I like.  It is in process…I hope to add a new decoration to it every year.

This year, along with the pink bird and a few other ornaments, I added a crocheted tree-skirt.  I’ve typed up a little FREE pattern for it, so that any crocheters who’d like to can make it for their table top trees. My tree is nowhere near what I remember the Paris shop tree looking like…but I like this little tree so very much, with it’s pinks, lime greens, and blues, a very happy site in the studio!

*The second drawing I made December 2010, when I first got the tree. I remember now that it sat on a table very close to my drawing table and wound up with art supplies underneath it. Now it sits in one of the many windows in the room to be enjoyed by those driving or walking by on my neighborhood street. I’m prolly stretching it…but perhaps it’s a teensy bit of Paris for my Kernersville street.

Drawing Friends

 

Drawing with friends downtown Kernersville has been one of the highlights of my week since last Spring. We started out at the Factory and kept drawing through the summer there. then we moved to the Ciener Botanical Gardens in the fall and now we draw at Eclections, a wonderful artisan booth space with a cafe and seating area.

 

Sometimes we chat more than we draw…

 

Other times we’re quiet and concentrating on our sketches…

 

But most of the time we are chatting AND drawing, multi-tasking at its best!

 

I love drawing my drawing friends! Can you tell?

Maddie’s Menagerie

It’s been a while since I’ve shown you the menagerie that lives on Maddie’s bed.  The first drawings I made of the critters she houses were when she was in second grade, and then third grade, and fourth.  Now, as  a fifth grader with her double bed (we switched out rooms and furniture when our eldest went off to college:/) the arrangement is different.  She is much taller now, so the end-of-the-bed assortment gets in the way as she sleeps.

The way she arranges everything on her bed is so festive! The old bed which belonged to my grandmother Catherine, looks positively inviting  with it’s explosion of colorful pillows and plushies!  There’s “Lips”, the beanie baby fish, “Snippy” the small sea turtle, “Squirt” the large sea turtle, “Rainbow” the bear beanie baby (whose birth date on the inside of the little card attached is her diabetes anniversary, which was yesterday, btw!), and then, last but not least, “Isabella” the unicorn, or the pig, or a pig-unicorn??  This last addition to the menagerie occurred at Halloween of this year as Maddie chose to be Agnes from our favorite movie Despicable Me.  It’s a kid-size body pillow that she snuggles with all night! (I don’t think she would like me to write that bit…she is slowly growing into those “that’s not cool mom” years.

The following are my drawings of her menageries from years gone by.  She asked me the other day, “Is it too babyish that I love stuffed animals on my bed?”  My heartfelt response: “Not at all!!  I hope you have stuffed animals with you for as long as you want them!”  Thoughts of her college dorm single bed bursting with pillows and stuffed animals filled my vision!  Oh why do our dear children have to grow up?

Our cat, Lucy, loves to join them for her daily siesta!

My Love

Something about this time of year. Maybe it’s that the fall leaves have just about done their leaving, leaving the world etched in line. Maybe it’s the extra time with family and seeing their faces. Maybe it’s just winter’s spartan season that makes me reach for Bic pen, black and white, and a desire to draw faces. I made this drawing of Maddie yesterday in my Book of Sanity.  I started this sketchbook back a couple of December’s ago.  I can vividly remember grabbing a few minutes to draw the mantel, a family member, a table top, then stealing away to draw dresser tops and such in upstairs rooms. It’s a great way to grab a little sanity in the frenzy of the holidays.

It’s a plain ole sketchbook with smooth white paper in it.  I really like it with pens as they glide across the silky, snowy paper. I’ve shared some of these drawings with you before, a couple of years ago. But here’s a slideshow compilation of nearly all I have thus far, many I’ve never shared before. And there are still more pages to fill.  I’ll share more as I continue to draw in this sketchbook.. I hope you enjoy the slideshow:

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Dropping Down

 

This moment, right here,

is where i need to be.

Drinking in the lines & curves of the NOW life

which is SO unassuming,

SO simple,

perhaps not even note-worthy.

And yet…in drawing,

i find worth and value

in just BEING.

BEING still,

being focused on here

and not on there.

This dropping-down

of the straw-pen

into the milkshake of my life

is like placing the needle

of the record-player

onto the vinyl disc:

i begin to hear the music…

softly at first…

then stronger as the needle traces the lines

round and round my life

AS IT IS

right now,

in THIS moment.

-jpe

from my daily writing journal. 11.11.2012

When Light Invades the Dark

Straggling storm clouds, leftover from Sandy, lingered in the sky as I walked one morning this week. They were enshrouded by night’s darkness with only the barest hint that morning was here.  I rounded a corner and WHAM! Two piercing spots of light invaded the gray surroundings as if spotlights were being turned on in the darkened theater one by one.  With my jaw on the ground, I kept walking as I gazed and marveled and watched the sun slowly peek over the quilted landscape, touching a spot here, a spot there.  I cannot come close to painting it. My attempt here falls so short.

As I gawked, I remembered:

*The light is most stunning when it FIRST begins to glow after a long stretch of darkness.

*Even the first spot of light brings HOPE that we might’ve thought lost, only to realize it had been there all along, smoldering in embers, needing only the smallest light to kindle it.

*The invading light creeps, slowly, leaving much still in shadow.

*At some point, the light will dispel ALL the darkness and lingering shadows.

My thoughts are with those who are suffering in Sandy’s wake today.  My jaw drops also from pictures of the ravaged lives and landscape Sandy leaves behind.  It must feel like days upon days of darkness for many people, both literally and figuratively.  My prayer for them is that light will not linger long in invading their darkened worlds.  And that spots of light, even if only a few, would break through the dark, bringing them hope for difficult days to come.

“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light…”

A Knitting Ditty

For all who are seized with thoughts of yarn and needles clicking together and wools to wear and gifts to give and designs to try and stitches to learn. You are not alone.

Do you knit?

(To the tune of “Do your ears hang low?”)

Do you knit and purl?
Do you give it all a whirl?
Do you continental knit? Like the Europeans do?
Do you throw it o’er your needle, like Americans will do?
Do you knit and purl?

If you knit and purl
You can make anything in the world…
You can bobble, you can seed
You can cable, lace, and swirl.
You can make a vest to wear
Or a headband for your hair…
If you knit and purl.

Would you knit and purl
If you knew it would unfurl
All the knots in your life?
All the tangles of your world?

If you knew it would bring joy
and cause your heart to skip and twirl?
Would you knit and purl?

-jpe

**Pssst…and did you know I have a secret blog called Drawn2Knit? Well, it’s not really a secret. But it’s for beginners…any who might like to learn some basics of knitting!   Check it out here! 

So Many Ways

From years past: