Growing Up

I drew the above drawing in pre-hospital days from a photograph of Maddie enjoying a break on the rocks at Hidden Falls, Hanging Rock State Park. I can’t believe that in just a week, she will “graduate” from 5th grade.  I’m not sure I’m ready for my youngest child to be going off to Middle School.

But then again, it is a beautiful thing to watch your children grow up. To see what wonderful human beings they are and are becoming. Her dad and I marvel at how this jolly infant girl has become such a lovely, kind, and creative young girl. Enjoy the slide show of some drawings and paintings I’ve made of her over the years:

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Food Issues

In the days, weeks, months leading up to hospitalizaton, my relationship with food was changing. I have always loved to eat. I loved fresh salads as well as ice cream, steak and potatoes along with cake, roasted veggies as well as fresh breads. The only things I didn’t care for were beets and ocra.

When your digestive system is not working the way it should, and you’re landing in the bathroom within minutes of eating something, you begin to associate the food with the pain, diarrhea, and cramping. The problem is that it ISN’T the food causing you to be sick….it’s the disease, in my case, Ulcerative Colitis. Still, I had a one-to-one correlation in my head between food and discomfort, and therefore developed an aversion to food, certain smells of food cooking, etc.

Now that I can eat again without the pain or diarrhea, I still have to coax myself into eating sometimes. Some of this is normal post-surgery stuff and it will get better over time. Having an ileostomy, there are now certain foods I am to steer clear of, and others that I’m encouraged to eat. For instance, prior to having surgery, I tried to stay away from white pastas, potatoes, and breads. But now, these foods are actually encouraged!  I used to love fresh veggies and fruits. These are now discouraged due to their difficulty of being digested. I now need to eat veggies that are cooked well, and fruits that are very ripe or mashed (like applesauce).

So it’s a bit of an adjustment. And add to that my need to gain back some of the weight I lost, I find myself thinking about food more than I’d like to. Perhaps this will be a temporary thing, and a new normal will develop to where I’m not having to think about it so much.

One food group that I have yet to get back is my love for coffee. Oh how I loved my morning cup of coffee!! But the smell, while I was sick, was more than I could handle. The smell isn’t bothering me anymore, but to drink coffee is still an unappetizing thing in my mind.

I’m wondering if drawings of coffee cups will disappear from my sketchbooks…prolly so.

Not Enough Daffodils

Before I landed in the hospital, colitis had progressed to where my everyday life was pretty miserable. I was rapidly losing strength and weight, due to 15-20 visits to the bathroom a day. I couldn’t go anywhere. And I couldn’t find the energy to do even the simplest of things, like make dinner for my family.

Several women in our church, sweet friends of mine, made a meal for my family. It was such a huge blessing to have dinner provided and not have to muster the energy to make it.  I got it in my head one day, that I wanted to do something to thank them for their generosity.

A favorite blog of mine is Attic 24, whose author Lucy, is all about crochet! She had just posted a tutorial to make a wonderful crocheted daffodil. Though she was using the daffodils for a wreath, she also showed the pin option, and I knew this would be a fun gift for my friends who had made food for us.

You have to know, that all along the way, I kept thinking “I’m going to be better soon! I’m going to be better soon!” I had received the diagnosis, Ulcerative Colitis, and all the medications that were supposed to make me better.  I just wasn’t improving. But I held out hope. Making these little daffodil pins were part of that hope. In between runs to the bathroom, crocheting offered a distraction from how I was feeling, and gave me something to focus on. I could lounge in a chair and make something simple. Creativity is a wonderful gift when you’re sick.

When I had to go to the hospital for more potent meds to stop the colitis and to arrest my dehydration and lack of nutrition, the meals kept coming in for my family. It was so amazing. But I was unable to keep track of who all was bringing a meal OR to even make the daffodils. There comes a time when it becomes impossible to properly thank those who are selflessly giving of their time and lives to help.  This is all part of the lavish grace of God…you can’t repay it, you can’t thank Him enough for it, and will never be able to give thanks in equal measure to the outpouring of mercy you have received.

I am a recipient of grace and mercy.  Lavish, generous, overwhelming grace for which there is nothing to do but to cheerfully receive with gratitude!

A Place of Quiet

This is where I’m longing to be lately. Yes, I’d love for the weather to be pretty and warm enough for drawing at the Factory Courtyard, but I’m also longing for quiet spaces, a less frenetic life. With that in mind, I’m going to take a break from all my blogs except for Letters To An Artist.  I’m planning for this break to coincide with Lent (which begins tomorrow!:), and resume here on Drawn2Life after Easter. I’m also planning on taking a break from Facebook too.

I hope the next 40 days are filled with drawing and inspiration and deeper creative roots, for you and me.

I love the French “au revoir!” It doesn’t have the same feel of finality as our Good Bye. Au Revoir literally means: til we see each other again!

Happy Drawing!

Eclection Perfection

Chris Federico, the owner of Eclection in downtown Kernersville, has opened the arms of her shop to the faithful few who love to come out and draw. We are really grateful for such a beautiful spot to be indoors for the cold weather, to have so many wonderful things to draw, to sip  delicious tea, and even shop the unique, eclectic creations there if we want to!

Even though there are only one or two others who draw with me, I love having this regular spot in my week to get out in the world and draw.  This is just one of the many drawings I’ve made this winter while sitting in the lovely “living room”.  Each week it is arranged and decorated differently, using some of the unique creations from the shop.  One time Chris even set up a still life for us to draw, gathering this and that off the “floor”.  Now THAT’s rolling out the red carpet!

I won’t be able to be there this Friday, due to the Art Show happening the night before and needing to either recuperate from that or go in and do some tidying up from the show. But I look forward to next Friday, and the next.  If you’re in the area on a Friday morning…come draw with us! Chris would love to have you!

Widener University Holiday Card

In this and the next post, I’ll share with you a couple of commissions I received prior to Christmas. I have truly been blessed to be asked to create artwork for some wonderful people. One of them was for Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania.

The above drawing was created from a handful of photos sent to me of this military University’s main building. In fact, the name of the building is Old Main. Years ago, this was the only building on campus, housing all the dormitories, classrooms, and administration offices in one.  It is a beautiful building, with it’s sweeping lawn and statues.

I was asked to made certain additions  to the drawing: have snow (there was no snow in the photographs), add some students, keep the flag, etc. After a few adjustments to the first “draft”, all parties were satisfied and this became their holiday card sent out to all the alumni.  I think it turned out well.

The best part was working with Kathy, a fellow mom of a child with Type 1 Diabetes. In fact, she found me via a Facebook Page we follow called Mom’s of Type 1 Diabetics. Isn’t that cool?  Though we’ve never met in person, it was great to “meet” and work with someone who you have an instant connection with.

I am continually grateful for all the people I get to meet, whether in person or virtually, through art!

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?

New Drawing Spot

Fall has morphed into winter here, although by today’s temperature, it feels like spring.  We’ve been inside at a new awesome spot for drawing downtown Kernersville!  It’s called Eclection (NOT Eclections, as my silly drawing indicates!)

This relatively new shop is a wonderful boutique filled with booths by various local artists and artisans.  There’s a cafe inside with a marvelous seating area.  The shop owner, Chris Federico, has an incredible flair for decorating and arranging the booths and all the arts and crafts. If you live anywhere near Kernersville, you simply must make a trip to see the terrific creations here. You  might even get a bunch of your holiday shopping done here!

We will be drawing here through the winter months when it’s too cold to be outside. Chris really spoils us! We buy tea and sometimes a pastry.  She has even set up a marvelous still life from all the terrific artsy wares for us to draw!  Come join us!  10-noon on Fridays!

Just bring a sketchbook and pen…the place itself is inspiration for your drawings be they sketches, doodles, or chicken scratch! We welcome all!  Click on the link below for more info and directions.

Kernersville Drawing Group Newsletter:  NewsletterKvilleDrawing6

I’ve not been able to blog as much lately due to many wonderfully awesome things going on: the Ciener Botanical Gardens Art Show last Thursday, commissioned works due early December, several choral events our kids are involved in, holiday dinners with my gal friends, etc.

Tis the season to  make merry and there’s been a lot of merry making going on! I’m thankful for all of it! But sometimes I’d like to slow down a bit, catch my breath, draw/write/process the event I just attended and then go at it again.  Lately I’ve not had the draw/write/process part. That’s ok.  Soon. Very soon. I can feel it!

I leave you with this little peek at the banner I had created for my recent Art Show.  I was very pleased with how it turned out and how it expresses all the many things I love to do!  Thank you so much for all who came out for the show! I loved seeing you ALL!

 

Draw Near…

I didn’t see it until later…a week or so after I drew this.  I was merely in the moment, reveling in my spot to draw at Tanglewood Park, perched with pen in hand on a little hill enjoying a pastoral view across the road.

But now I see how the image and the words I drew that day speak volumes.

That fence. That dark, right-across-the-middle-of-the-page structure, barring me from the pasture beyond. Horses grazed off to the left in the light dappled field.  The fence represents a place I’m not allowed to cross over. Yet something reaches back to me from that beautiful field.  The shadows from its glorious trees reach toward  me, envelope me, touch me.  I sit in those lovely shadows from beyond.

This is a picture of my life.  I am not yet allowed beyond…to that place I call home, my real home.  I do not/cannot go there yet.  But as I draw…as I draw near to God…He draws near to me…and I see hints of that world here in my own.  I may only be seeing the shadows of that lovely land to which I go.  But they are beauty full!  And the very shadows call to me to draw more and more of my sustenance from looking, from peering, from seeing beyond the veil.  In doing so, my travels here are made more beautiful.

An exquisite pain of homesickness pierces me now as I see this drawing afresh.  Draw near. Yes, I will today, this Thanksgiving Day.   I will gaze into the faces of my family around the table and I will see the dappled light of the beyond dancing in their eyes.  I will taste of the Feasts yet to come, in the opulence on our Thanksgiving table.  I will hear the bells of glad tidings beyond, that reach my ears in the form of their laughter.

And I will give thanks.

In drawing, I am drawn. By drawing, He draws near to me.  Through drawing, I see.  And from drawing, I hear the music.

This is my prayer for you today.

Draw near…

-jpe

Trumpet Call Announcement!

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

An Art Show to help a Garden Grow!

Thursday, November 29th 4-8 pm

Featuring Artists from the Triad area

(one of whom is ME!)

Put it on your calendar to come enjoy wine, hors d’oeuvres and music while browsing fine art & craft for your holiday shopping! Entrance cost is $10, and a portion of anything purchased goes to continuing the growth of our Ciener Botanical Gardens!

It has been a loooonnnngg time since I’ve done something like this and I’m soooo excited! I do hope to meet many of you at this lovely event! I will be featuring my drawings and paintings of downtown Kernersville, as well as offering Genevieve Cards and Prints.

This is a one evening event! Please come by and say hello!

For your invitation and ALL the details of this event, click below!

Small Works of Nature

**Several of my works created on location at the Gardens and downtown Kernersville area will be displayed and offered for sale!  The above drawing of Angel Trumpets was created while sitting at the Ciener Botanical Gardens drawing and enjoying the flowering purple basil next to it!