Tag: sketchbook 2013

112

October 10, 2012 / JeanneHC / 0 Comments

5 112 2 erased

It was a day much like her drawing. Coming almost full circle. Layered. Going deeper and deeper and deeper. First, one of my favorite transitions – crossing the bridge, seeing the water and clouds – as we go from airport frenzy to full body sigh. There’s something about horizontal lines that calms me, soothe me, restores me.

Horizontallines

Remember how we took Nancy to ride in Angela’s convertible when we visited last June? (That’s the visit when she made these 167 drawings, you know.) Remember how we couldn’t get her out of the convertible? Remember how I said in my best Miz Scarlett voice “With God as my witness, this womanchild will never ride in anything but a convertible so long as I live”? Look at that face. I rest my case.

Inaconvertible2

And that I’m-a-girl-born-to-ride-in-a-convertible smile? It never wavered. Even as I type, our Nancy is sleeping with a face aching from a day-long smile.

Inaconvertible3

I turned the camera on us and said “Smile, Nancy.” One look at herself on the screen, and I got my smile. Think somebody might be a little on the hammey side?

Jeanneandnancy

Nancy completed her pages in the Sketchbook 2013 Project. Now I’ll get to work on mine and get it sent off before the holidays.

Jeanneandnancy2

I trekked down here with a backpack filled with watercolors, paintbrushes, sponge brushes (in case the watercolor brushes were too small for her to comfortably handle). I brought a little cloth and some yarn. Just a small assortment of different art supplies to see if she was interested in partaking of something new. My plan was to bring her to the hotel room where we could be quiet and let her focus on her art, but as it turns out, we were busy the entire day, so that didn’t happen. But I did have four sketchbooks (which she filled) and an assortment of richly colored markers (which she used). Turns out the markers were better than pens because she has a tendency to draw on the side of the tip and pens don’t like that but markers are fine with it. Before I’ve taken composition books, but this time I took bona fide sketchbooks, and I like that heavy textured paper much better. I don’t think Nancy cares one way or the other.

Nancydraws1

This, my friends, is the joyful face of creating. Of making art. Of expressing. It is how she looks as she draws. I’ll swannee, I can’t decide if I feel more glee from watching her or from joining her.

Nancydraws2

She filled four 9×12 sketchbooks today, and besides the magic that is Nancy and her art, besides a visit with Kathy (Nancy’s State Coordinator) and Penny (former caregiver extraordinare), besides the beautiful scenery and a day spent riding in a convertible (Nancy’s not the only one around here who likes that kind of thing), the Found-Delights Haul for today includes a feather (from a rather large bird who apparently had a rather bad day), a partially encased nut of some kind, and a hatless acorn I managed to get to before the squirrel. Is there a common thread here? Oh I definitely see it, do you?

112e

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She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning and read your way current.
And pssst: there’s a pinterest board, too.

87, 88, 89, and 90

September 25, 2012 / JeanneHC / 14 Comments

She knows what day of the week it is by what she has for breakfast, our Nancy. She’s a womanchild who likes her structure, that’s for sure. Nancy has always been quick to write her name on magazines (hers and anybody else’s) and when we take her shopping, she goes immediately to her room, puts all her new goodies up where they belong, then takes any new clothes back to the office where someone will sew her name tag inside each article of clothing before putting it in her closet. Though the drawing is new, Nancy has always liked to leave her mark on magazines, puzzle boxes, books, and such. Probably not surprising for one who owns so little and lives in a fishbowl. I stitched the entire drive to Savannah today. Thank goodness for flat, straight roads for a change. Since she wrote her name on three consecutive pages, I thought I’d put them together so you could see the differences and similarities. And though it’s not a signature, I included drawing #90 because I see a progression from #87 to #90. Do you?

The drawings:

#87:

5 87 6 erased

#88:

5 88 7 erased

#89:

5 89 6 erased

#90:

5 90 1 erased

The stitchings:

#87:

(Don’t ask me how, but #87 managed to escape my grasp and elude the dreaded group photo.)

888990a

Top to bottom are #88, #89, #90 shown here in the wall at The Cotton Exchange,
one of our two favorite places to eat in Savannah, GA.
(Our other favorite is The Olde Pink House.)

888990b

Left to right: #88, #89, and #90 shown here on the cobblestone street near the river in Savannah. According to my husband (who’s very smart about such things to do with bridges and ships and such), ships came to Savannah with little or no cargo, so stones were used as ballasts to give the ship more stability. Once in Savannah, the ships were loaded with cotton (or whatever), and the stones, no longer needed, were tossed ashore, eventually becoming the cobblestone streets that are quite fetching to gaze upon and quite treacherous to walk upon.

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Just signed Nancy and me up to do another collaborative creative project: Sketchbook 2013.

And did you see us here? Thank you, Teresa, for your constant and enthusiastic support.

~~~~~~~~~

She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning and read your way current.
And there’s a pinterest board, too.