Portrait #16: The Gentleman Farmer

To attempt to paint a portrait of Mr. Leo Whicker, born September 3, 1927, is like trying to harness (with paint and paper) the wisdom of years and experience, coupled with an effortless joy that is surely hard-won through life’s ups and downs.  I have had the privilege of getting to know Mr. Whicker through numerous conversations with him over the past 8 years.  I think I could write a book about him.  Here are a few things I have learned:

The land on which he lives and farms (and which is directly next door to my house and neighborhood), was his grandfather’s land.  At some point, his grandfather sold the land to send a son to law school.  And then, at some point after that, Mr. Whicker (pictured above) bought the land back.  This land encompasses acres and acres and is sprawled in many directions throughout the southern part of Kernersville, in an area known as Sedge Garden.

Mr. Whicker and his wife Martha, had a son and daughter.  Up the hill from where I live, is a small house (now a rental home) where he and his family started out.  As the children grew, he built a larger home for them just yards away, perched on a small rise in the land.  You can see the house here in the charcoal, just a bit of the porch, complete with rocking chairs.

Mr. Whicker’s wife Martha died young, of cancer.  When he speaks of her, you can hear a love and affection for her that leaves you aching and thinking he must still ache and miss his dear wife. Both his son and daughter live in Kernersville and have families of their own. Mr. Whicker is blessed with grandchildren and extended family who live in the area.

In fact, as I’ve been able to gather from Mrs. Gail Smith Love, another neighbor whom I’ve had the privilege of getting to know, Mr. Whicker is considered an Uncle to many from the Smith clan.  She recounts that growing up with Smith land and farms right next to Whicker land, the two families’ children all called the other dads “Uncle”.  So he was Uncle Leo to her and many others.

Mr. Whicker has memories of his grandmother telling him that soldiers used to hide out in caves on their land during the Civil War.  I have a feeling if I could sit for a while with him, I’d hear many stories of historical interest that are tucked away in Mr. Whicker’s vibrant mind.

Mr. Whicker has many barns beside his home.  The barn you see here, and in the above charcoal, can be seen from the road, Silver Dapple Lane. It stores his baled hay on one side, and keeps farm equipment on the other.  You can see a glimpse into the back side of this particular barn in the above portrait of him.  Sitting atop the tractors and equipment are various, huge stuffed animals, such as Kermit the Frog (seen above) and Scooby Doo.  These are here, says Mr. Whicker, to chase away the birds.  Apparently, birds have a bad habit of nesting in the tractor’s engines.  And when he goes to start one of these tractors, the poor birds are lost, and they can cause damage to the equipment.  I wish you could’ve seen the twinkle in his eye as he explained why he had these unexpected furry friends in the barn!

That twinkle in his eye is rooted in his faith.  Leo Whicker is a faithful congregant at Sedge Garden Chapel, just a stone’s throw from his home and farm.  He is, and I suspect has been for most of his life, devoted to worshipping his Creator with the folks in this small and humble church.  Hardly a conversation goes by without him asking me to pray for something on his mind, after inquiring how my husband and children are doing.

There is so much more I could write here.  The description in this post is merely the tip of the iceberg.  Talking with Mr. Whicker (as with other persons of mature years), makes me think I’m in the presence of a stately oak tree.  That tree has seen many years, all kinds of weather, lots of history.  It has withstood storms, change, seasons, “progress”.  It has been rooted in something far more enduring than this world, and its roots are deep and far-reaching.  At first you may only see a trunk and its weathered bark.  But as you get to know the tree, the expanse of the branches and canopy, the gnarled sections leading out to youthful buds and leaves, you realize there is something grand going on here which is very difficult to describe, much less to paint.

Mr. Whicker would never think of himself in this grand manner.  He was indeed a bit reticent about having his picture taken so that I could create a portrait (or two) of him. I just feel that his story needs to be remembered, and that his family would enjoy a painted portrait.

He is indeed, a gentleman farmer.

Searching & Finding

Day 1 at the beach: In less than half an hour of being out on the shore, I chance to look down and see a sea stone…beautifully rounded and smoothed by sand and water. This sets me on a course to find and collect more sea stones and sea glass thru the week.

Day 2: Bent over for much of the day in search of these jewels in stone and glass, I find nothing.

Day 3: Once again, hunched over in search of the elusive sea glass and stones, only to be empty handed at the end of the day.

Day 4: Having abandoned the search for these items, I see a glint of pale blue glass in the sand on my morning walk. Hmmm…

Day 5: At the start of my morning walk, I zero in on a promising mound of shells thinking surely this will be a place to find a stone or bit of glass… A good while later, I abandon said patch of promise with a “humph” and not five paces away, quite all by itself, the glint of a lovely piece of white sea glass greets me.

Evening of Day 5: Sitting by the ocean, thinking through my ever present search for what I’d like to draw next…I consider another self-portrait of sorts. In drawing “me” drawing on the shore, I find my shadow more compelling than the bits of me I can see… feet, legs, sketchbook, hands.

Day 6: Testing a growing suspicion that I may find what I’m looking for if I don’t look so hard, I set out on my morning walk. Something catches my eye, I bend over to see what it is, and I find it isn’t actually glass, but rather plastic . I see next to it a brown, gray stone. I cast it aside with the thought that it’s just an ordinary rock, but then quickly retrieve said “rock” thinking that it is every bit a sea stone, and why should I not accept and receive the brown and gray ones just like I would the white ones?

All of this searching and finding this week at the ocean has caused me to wonder about life: Do we search and search for what we’re looking for, only to find it when we stop searching? Or does it then find us? Do we have a tendency to search in places that seem right, only to find what we’re looking for in the most ordinary, unusual, and perhaps lonely places? Do we dismiss a gem-in-the-rough just because it doesn’t quite fit our idea of what “it” should be? Do we find that what surrounds us is more compelling than what we are? Do we have the thought that the shadow we cast may be more compelling than the inward search for who we are? What is it exactly that we’re searching for? Beauty? Eternal Truth? Peace? Sea glass? Sea stones? Shells?

And so many more delicious questions to think and muse upon. Other thoughts that float in and out of my mind and heart, like the waves upon the shore:…If you seek me with all your heart you will find Me…A well appeared where Hagar had not seen…His voice was not in the thunder and lightening, but in the still, small, whisper…I am the one you have been looking for…and , I am found.

It’s crazy what the ocean washes up on the shore, isn’t it?

Drawing Your Life: Mini Lesson #10

Mini Lesson #10: Develop Selective Sight

I often think my kids have selective hearing.  They hear what they want to hear and somehow block out what seems unimportant to them…like when I ask them to clean up their rooms, do their chores, help with dinner.  Hmmm.

But Selective Sight is actually highly desirable for Drawing Your Life in a sketchbook.  An ability to pick and choose what one wants to draw from the very rich-in-detail Feast around us, serves you well when you go to draw or paint it.  How does one arrive at the above drawing from the view I was looking at beside our driveway below:

The best way to sort through it all is to ask yourself a simple question:

“What am I captivated by?”  or phrased another way:  “What specifically about the view in front of me, makes me want to draw or paint?”

*What “drew” me (love that!) out to my driveway was the gorgeous spring day, the dappling light, the lovely greens, the fresh air.  I brought out my sketchbook and two pens.  When I sat down and took a moment to survey the feast before me, I began to be captivated by that tree… the little knots, the bark pattern, the shape of the branches.  So THAT is what I drew.  And I chose to merely hint at the rest of the trees’ surroundings, so that those things would not appear more important than my ONE desire of capturing that tree.  I did think briefly about using my smaller fineliner (o1) pen to describe the neighbors driveways, cars, bushes, houses, etc.  But decided not to, in favor of keeping the tree as the focus.

*Now, I could create numerous drawings and paintings from this one view!!  I could state that I’m captivated by the play of light and dark and thus render these shapes to highlight that aspect of the view, as I did in the above drawing. Remember the “Sculpt Your World” Mini Lesson and how squinting will help you to see!!  This will heighten the contrast between the light and dark shapes making it easier for you to draw/paint them on your paper.

*OR, I could decide that what captivates me is how the tree forms a frame around the neighbors homes and cars in the background.  So I could choose lines or paint that allow me to highlight that aspect! See how very different these three drawings are!! I just needed to take a moment to ask myself what captivated me and to consider how BEST to describe that on paper in lines/paint or whathaveyou.

I’m sure there are many more ways to draw this very scene…it all depends on what captivates you!  It depends on your ability to select ONLY those things which will highlight YOUR VISION.  And it depends on you deeming the rest to be UNIMPORTANT to your purpose.  If you try to describe EVERYTHING, you’ll end up with a mess.  Of course, it will probably be a glorious mess, but…you may feel that your drawing doesn’t capture the thing you were originally “drawn” to.

So…

Be picky! Be selective! Block out all the extraneous stuff except for the ONE THING that captures you.  And get that down in your sketchbook! If many things captivate you about a particular scene, then set out to make several drawings or paintings of that scene which highlight the different aspects that you love!

*Another way to be SELECTIVE as you draw is to pretend your eyes are a camera lens…either ZOOM IN or PAN AWAY.

I sat down on the sidewalk in front of a neighbor’s house to draw these gorgeous tulips.  The man who owns this house is a true gardener and has created an enchanting garden all around his home.  It takes my breath away every time I walk by.  So when I drew up a chair to draw, I asked myself what inspired me, and the first thing in my head was, certainly the tulips, but also the awesome structure in the center of them.  So I visually PANNED AWAY to be able to draw the central garden structure, surrounded by the tulips, with the home in the background.

After that, I really wanted to just concentrate on those gorgeous tulips.  So I ZOOMED IN on JUST the tulips.  As I drew, I could revel in their shapes and their swaying lines. You might like to use a viewfinder for the purpose of helping you zoom in or pan away or just to crop out unwanted areas of the scene in front of you.  You can even use your hands placed just so, to create this viewfinder.

*I also applied this to adding COLOR to these drawings.  Take a look at how I selectively chose the colors, AND where I placed the color in these drawings.  I used the same question from above to guide me in adding color.  Selective Sight helps you all around!!

*This can also be applied to your APPROACH.  For instance, I decide up front which approach I’m going to use. If I’m going to be making a contour drawing.  I stick to it.  I try not to shift into a gesture drawing mid-stream.  I don’t flip into making a value drawing half-way through.  Select one approach, and stick with it for the entire drawing.  After you’ve  made a drawing with one approach, switch and draw the SAME THING using a different approach, if you’d like.  I am now having loads of fun making expressive drawings of how it feels to be outside, how “green” feels, how I experience a breeze.  It is so much fun!! Here’s a drawing of the above scene using the Improvisational approach to express the many beautiful “greens”…

*You can also apply your Selective Sight to which ART MATERIALS you use.  You might decide to only use pen.  Or only use watercolor.  Or just a pen and some watercolor crayons.  Or collage.  Or just ink and a reed pen. Or…

Being selective about WHAT you want to draw and HOW you’re going to go about it FREES you up to concentrate more fully and not be pulled in a zillion directions.  It also makes for clearer drawings, fewer jumbly messes.

My husband is fond of saying: “If you try to say everything, you end up saying nothing.”  This is SO true in art!! In any given drawing, BE SELECTIVE, major on ONE THING, whether it be your approach, your viewpoint, your medium, and/or color choices.

A Blessing:  May you be selectively choosy this week as you ask yourself what captivates you about the Feast in front of you.  May your eyes wear artistic blinders to all the unnecessary stuff & fluff.  May you hone your ability to focus, pick, select, choose what matters most to you as you capture your life in images and words.

***Something to think about:

Take a few minutes to consider how this applies to your life in general.  We all deal with “overwhelm” in some fashion or form…remember this post?  Developing selective sight is helpful to us as we navigate where our energies need to go, what next to put our hand to, and whether or not we need to bother with x, y, or z.  Maybe my kids’ selective hearing isn’t such a bad thing after all…as long as they clean up their rooms once in a while.

“Limitations can actually be FREEING!” -moi.

 

***Access all Mini Lessons for Drawing Your Life at the top of the home page on my blog! (OR just click the highlighted words in blue!)

Drawing Your Life: Mini Lesson #8

Lesson #8: Sculpt Your World

Yet another approach to drawing could be encapsulated by one word: Sculpting.  Now this is a 3-Dimensional approach being applied to a 2-Dimensional piece of paper.  You are attempting to capture FORM on your page…the actual 3-dimensional shape of the thing before you, whether it is boxy and geometric or curvy and organic.

Our friend, Mr. Nicolaides, calls this Modelled Drawing. Just as Contour Drawing was the sensation of touching the contours of your subject, and Gesture Drawing was the sensation of energy, action, and character of your subject; so Modelled Drawing is the sensation of the shape of these objects moving away from and towards you in their form.  He, once again, wants us to EXPERIENCE our subject, rather than merely create a product.  Here’s how he suggests going about it:

“…using your crayon on the side and not making any lines, go over all the vertical (and horizontal) contours of the figure…Where the form goes back in, you press back or in with your crayon. For example, as the form moves up over the chest and then back over the shoulder, your crayon moves lightly up over the chest and then presses heavily back over the shoulder.  You are trying to believe that you are touching the model and all of its many contours.  Naturally, you have to push farther to reach those that seem to go back.”  (pg. 36)

When I teach this in a class setting, I have students use a chunk of play-doh and model the play-doh into a pepper with its stem.  From this, they get the very real sensation of pushing the play-doh back to form the sides and grooves of the pepper, as well as the area from which the stem grows.  This is the same action we use to draw with charcoal.  Press hard on the paper with your charcoal stick on its side to denote places where the form moves back or away from you.  Use light pressure on the paper when the form comes forward.  If you’ve gotten any areas too dark, just use a kneaded eraser to bring the form back out towards you.

*So you are to imagine that you are a sculptor, fashioning the form of your subject whether it be a vase, a face, or tree, whathaveyou.  Imagining that you are actually holding these objects in your hands, sculpting their forms with your pens, pencils, charcoal or paint, is a great way to think about what you’re doing when you draw in this manner.

*A helpful discipline for creating form on paper is to learn to see how light falls on form.  I said LEARN TO SEE.  Learning to see in ANY of these three approaches to drawing is a lifelong endeavor! And especially so when learning to see light and its effects on the form of your subject.  As you go through your day, look for this! In the daytime, look for the way the sunlight plays on the landscape, or on peoples’ faces, or on parked cars.  At night, look for how lamp light falls on the objects nearby, how overhead light plays on faces, etc.  There is SO much for you to learn and look for even when you don’t have a sketchbook in hand.

*One of the best ways to SEE THE LIGHT (and consequently the shadows), is to SQUINT!!  Now there’s an oxymoron for you!  SQUINT TO SEE! Yes indeed.  Try it! Go outside in the morning or late afternoon (sometime when the sun isn’t directly overhead). Find a tree, person or object to look at.  Now, squint!  Notice how the shapes of light and dark become more defined!!  And if you have your sketchbook in hand, try carving (with your pen or pencil) these shapes of light and dark on your paper.

*DO NOT DESCRIBE THE SHAPE OF “THINGS”! Describe the shapes of LIGHT and DARK even if they contain several “things” inside of them!  Remember that this is a vehicle for capturing the overall FORM of these things.  Seen as a whole, your eye will fill in all the “things” necessary.  So there’s NO need to describe every blade of grass or leaf, every eyelash or tooth, every single little detail before you.  SQUINT and see the BIG PICTURE!

*Stick to only two or three values!  A value denotes the darkness or lightness of your pen marks (or paint marks) to delineate a particular shape.  It is much easier to keep only a light value and a dark value in your drawing; possibly adding a third middle value.

*Use any drawing/painting implement to denote these light and dark shapes.  Charcoal is a wonderful medium to use when you’re first learning to depict form.  You can really press on the charcoal for shapes that are far away from you (or which have little light falling on them).  And then you can lighten the pressure when the shape is closer to you (or has lots of light falling on it).

*But you can also use a Bic pen or a fineliner pen to do this as well.  Building up scribbly lines, or crosshatching, to the value you need is a lovely way to establish the form of objects and the play of light on form.  Of course, graphite (in its many varieties), is also a wonderful tool for establishing form.

*You can also use paint to denote these values.  Of course, varying shades of black to gray to the white of the paper is a terrific option.  But even in color, you can choose darker blues, greens and purples for the dark value and then lighter shades and/or colors of yellow, orange and red for the light values.

**There is SO much more to say about all of this!!  We could really have a whole other set of lessons devoted to this one subject.  I merely want to give you some basics for training your eyes to SEE, and your hands to RENDER, how form can be created by delineating shapes of light and dark.

*And for any of you who collage, let me steer you to a favorite artist who exquisitely uses pieces of paper to model the form.  Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson’s “paper paintings” are beautiful collage works which capture the way light falls on objects and describes their 3-Dimensional form.  Definitely check out her blog as well as her website.

***It is important to note that what we are after in drawing IN ANY OF THESE APPROACHES, is an EXPERIENCE, NOT a FINAL PRODUCT.  Drawing our Lives means that we experience them, that we learn as we go, that we sip the beauty of our life as if through the straw of our pens or pencils or paintbrushes!  Contour, Gesture, and Modelled drawing are three wonderful ways to sip, slurp, and drink in the Beauty that’s all around us.

I will leave this subject for now with a lovely quote by Nicolaides:

“There is only one right way to draw and that is a perfectly natural way.  It has nothing to do with artifice or technique.  It has nothing to do with aesthetics or conception.  It has only to do with the act of correct observation, and by that I mean a physical contact with all sorts of objects through all the senses.” (back cover)

A Blessing:  May you drink deeply of your Life by looking for the light.  May you revel in training your eyes to see the beautiful ways Light shows form on all that surrounds you.  And may these ways to draw allow you to experience your life more richly.

 

***Access all Mini Lessons for Drawing Your Life at the top of the home page on my blog! (OR just click the highlighted words in blue!)

5:30 am

5:30 am

 

Oh the morning hours…

blurry quiet, hazy glee.

Yet I cannot hold onto them

when they begin to flee.

A pitter-patter, then a stomp

comes down the staircase landing

scurrying away the birds,

the mists of morning standing.

Even if family does not invade

the morning will still dissipate…

for I begin to flutter around

and set my hands upon the gate.

-jpe

5 December 2011

Another of those rhyming words that came spilling out in December…

Trees are for Climbing

There are times, as a mom, you feel as if you’ve been privileged to witness something magical and transformative in your child’s life.  Such was the case last Sunday when Maddie and I ventured out to our neighborhood park.

Over the years, we’ve often gone to the park.  We swing a bit together.  I sit and draw or knit while she plays on the various jungle gym sorts of things at our park.  She is 10 years old now.  Most of the slides-n-such are getting too little for her.  I think that’s why she noticed the tree for the first time.

Perhaps it is also because the tree is now the right size for climbing.  I wish I knew what kind of tree…an apple I think.  She asked for help getting up and at first, she was doubtful she could actually climb the tree at all.  With a little encouragement and coaching as to how one climbs a tree, she was soon making her way up and down and all around the tree.  She wore the biggest smile, whispering over and over, “I love this tree…I love climbing trees…what a pretty tree…this is so fun!”  Higher and higher she challenged herself til she reached the point where she could go no further.  Coming down presented some difficulty, mostly in wide-eyed-trembly-fear, not in ability.  Once down, she was up climbing it again and loathe to be told it was dinner time.  She hugged the tree good-bye and asked if we could come every day! We’re headed there as soon as I finish blogging!

It reminded me of another girl of mine who loved climbing trees!  Still does!  My oldest daughter Catherine had the same magical love for climbing trees when she was little.  I pulled out a framed painting I had made of her dated 9/01.  Wow.  Has it really been 11 years?  Catherine would have been almost 7 years old and I remember painting this half-sheet watercolor of her from a photo I took of her climbing in the incredible old Magnolia Tree at Reynolda Gardens in Winston-Salem.  We lived in Winston at the time (only 15 minutes from here), and made excursions to the Gardens on a regular basis.  Catherine and her brother would spend an hour climbing around in the branches of this wonderful tree.

And it reminds me of another little girl who loved climbing trees.  The first house where I lived as a young girl in Boone, NC had two apple trees in it’s front yard.  This house and the large yard surrounding it, remains a magical place in my memories.  Vaulted ceiling in the front living room, with a balcony up the stairs to all the bedrooms, a huge front porch (screened in I believe), apple and plum trees everywhere, an awesome backyard for playing, a monkey swing in the side yard I spent many hours on, and several Christmas trees planted along the other side from each year when my parents purchased a balled Christmas tree!!  Oh how I loved that house!  It was big enough to ride our hoppity hops INSIDE the house!  And there was this gorgeous sun room off the kitchen/eat-in area that was so fun to hang out in.

Well, back to those apple trees.  One “belonged” to me; one to my brother.  We climbed and played in these trees for hours on end, day after day.  All sorts of imagined tales we acted out pretending our trees were: ships, forts, etc.  I do wish my kids had the pleasure of a tree in their own yard they could visit and climb whenever they wanted.  But alas, we live in a suburban neighborhood with nary a tree big enough for climbing.

I have a feeling I’ll be spending more time at the park so Maddie can visit her tree.  Catherine said she wanted to go too! Must take my sketchbook and pens to document the magic!

 

Un Grand Merci!

At the end of 2011 I was delighted to receive from WordPress, the year-end review of statistics and what-not about this blog, Drawn2Life.  When I clicked on the link they sent, there were fireworks and all kinds of delightful and amazing stats that I had no idea this little blog had garnered.

If you’d like to see the fireworks too, click here. (This will take you to another blog post of mine, and you can click the link there for the report.)

But the most amazing stat, was the list of top commenters.  WOW. Alex Tan logged in 88 comments last year! Timaree posted 62, Raena and Nancy 52, with Sandra close behind at 49.  WWWOOOWWW!!! What a gift these folks are.   And I know for a fact these dear ones post comments all over our EDM friends’ blogs!  They are so faithful to encourage us, to send a note of praise, or just their thoughts.  They are amazing!!  And I do not know how to thank them other than to say…Merci.  Merci de mon coeur!!

As a gift to Alex, I have drawn his portrait here.  And I’ll be sending him the original by mail. Thank you Alex, for all you do in our EDM community to 1) lead the way with your own wonderful drawings and 2) cheer us all on in our drawings and paintings!  You are dear to us all!!  If you have benefitted by Alex’s comments on your blog, why not send him a note via email or comment on his blog your thanks for his faithful viewing and commenting. His kind words have meant so much to me, and I know to many of you as well!!

And to ALL of you who took time out from your busy lives to send a few words…I am truly grateful!

Un grand merci a tout le monde!