Among Her People

Among Her People

9" x 12 "

colored pencil on paper

I made a slide show of this one, beginning with the first drawing. (Scroll down to the bottom of the post to see the slide show.) So far, I like the drawing best. I think it is because I have looked at this for so long, that I need to see it with fresh eyes, as they say.

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Originally, I had intended to dress my central figure in a white flowing scarf and a light blue dress and jacket. However, at night, when I started to color, I just couldn't find my white or light blue pencils. I picked up what I thought was light blue and colored away, before I could tell that it was actually green. I thought I could go on and work with that, but I was disappointed. I guess I could have started over, but I wanted to work this picture out. The next day, in the sunshine, I found the light blue and white pencils! So, I used those on the lower part of her clothing, and in the scarf.

Then I couldn't find the black pencil, and so I substituted brown and indigo blue, which usually works. I even added some violet and blue violet to darken. It wasn't dark enough, I thought. The next day, the black pencil appeared in the container. So, I blended the black with the other dark colors.

I liked the lilac color and added that to the figure in the right foreground and those around her, then, to lead the eye, I added a bit of that color on up into the trees, the sky, and down into the left side to lead back to the center and the first figure. I knew that I would layer colors over each figure to get the final colors and highlight and shadow. Since the figure to her left is wearing dark purple, I thought of , perhaps, using more indigo blue over the lilac and going darker on her clothing. But, I liked the way that lilac led the eye around the page. So, I settled, so far, on just blending some darker colors from the bottom. (Of course, I like purple, and green, so that part is satisfying, to me. I'm just not sure that it is the best choice for this particular picture.)

The sky was another problem. Working with thin pencil points, and layering colors, takes a long time. With these type of pencils, I try to avoid scratchy pencil marks, and insist that I try to get everything super smooth. I'm not there yet, in this one. So far, I used cerulean blue, then white, then indigo blue, true blue, and white, with a tiny bit of violet, all blended with white.

Prismacolors are my choice when using colored pencils because of the ability to layer and blend to an almost photographic finish. In this one, I also used some Derwent pencils to vary my colors. I did have black in that set, which helped. They do have a very different feel than Prismacolors.

This picture was done on Canson 65# acid free paper.

As I worked on the clear blue sky, I felt that this left the background too empty. So, I added a hint of buildings on the left, and some vertical trees on the right, to echo the upright figure. I also darkened a few areas of the sky to give it more variety.

The skin tones are also layered, and show up a bit more yellow in the scan, than they actually are. I feel like I should have worked larger, as it is really hard to do those small lines of things like lipstick and eyeliner. Of course, I always feel like I need to work very large, but it is not convenient to carry around or to store those large pieces of paper and pictures.

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There is an old saying that goes, "It takes two people to paint a picture. One person to paint the picture. The other to hit the first in the head and make them stop!"

I think that is true. I often reach a point where I have to stop and ask someone else's opinion. Sometimes that is my grandson, who has a good eye. He is extremely observant! We have had several discussions about this picture.

Another option is to just put the work back for a while, and look at it again much later. All kinds of things that could be done will usually show up then. And, if I put something back to work on later, I may never get back to it. I find it best to try to finish something all at once. Besides just losing the work, I also lose that original feeling that is so important. I'm not disciplined enough, I guess, to be able to work on something for a little while, then do something else, and come back later and continue. I can always tell where I left off. Everything changes.

Sometimes, I just stop because I am tired of looking at the work, and it looks like it needs so much work still, and, at that point, I'm often ready to just throw it away. It takes a lot of self talk to convince myself to put it back for a while and not put it in the trash can. I'm much better at saving things than I used to be.

I am tempted to stop on this one, but I still think the sky could use some more layering and blending.

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The first Prismacolor drawings that I ever saw, were on display at the University of Texas in Austin. They were quite large, and were just amazing. I had taken students there on a field trip, and we fell in love with Prismacolors. We just had to get some and learn how to use them. Those original drawings had around 32 layers of color on them. I remind myself of that when I am tempted to stop with only 8 or so layers of color.

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I do like to draw "girls" and drapery in material. And I love to play around with makeup and hairstyles. As a student, I would do that instead of my classwork, and try to hide my papers so the teachers wouldn't catch me. I think that they all knew that I was drawing instead of doing my work!

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This picture is of a beautiful, elegant, amazing woman, surrounded by her people-the people she loves. It is a clear, beautiful day, to match the beauty that she exhibits. There have been such women in history. We can use many more dedicated, intelligent, strong, beautiful, and loving women who will make this world a better place for us all.

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Thank you for reading, and for your support. I hope that you enjoy my work.

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Be sure to read my previous post on The Vision Test and Macular Degeneration. Other art work and experiences on the subject can be found in the Archives and are prefaced with the word "Vision". Also there are links in the side bar under Eye Sites.

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Virginia Vaughan is having workshops and also shows of her paintings on the subject of "The Last Year On The Farm". Her book of that title will also be coming out very soon. Check out her website and her blog for more information. There is a link in my sidebar.

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Russell Baker posted another touching painting of a rescued dog that didn't make it, on his blog. You can find a link to him in my sidebar also. These are such touching paintings and stories!

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Laura Brittain's post on "Sandpaper People" was certainly timely for me. You can check out her link on my sidebar, too.

Check out my Guest Book!

Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!
Staircase at Night
22" x 30"
watercolor
This wasn't actually on Halloween, but I thought it was appropriate for today.
At night, as we drove around town on streets lined with spooky old Victorian homes, if the night was warm, front doors and windows would be open. We could see interiors and, sometimes, the occupants of the homes if they happened to be in those rooms or at the door. There was one home that had been a funeral home for a short while. I remember going to a funeral for a great uncle there about 1960.
Each time we passed by, I was a little startled by the post at the end of the stairs and the decorative ball that topped that end post. At just a glance, it always looked like someone standing there. It was even worse if one of the ladies happened to leave her gardening hat on top of that post! I knew what it was, though, and went on.
My daughter visited there a lot and always returned with stories of strange happenings. Sightings of the original owner of the home, furniture that moved, record players that started playing or turned off without human assistance. She wasn't scared, but was interested.
I thought that doorway with the view of the stairs, the corner of the room with a heavy table behind it, the light dropped from a cord from the upstairs ceiling, would make an interesting picture. I did a pencil drawing in my sketchbook.
Strangely, as I drew the stairs, there was a spot that almost had a glow in it, and a figure took shape in the center of it. It was as if a ghost was walking on the stairs. I didn't plan this at all. It just happened.
Later, I was working on a series of watercolors using only one primary color and a neutral. Blue was my color and brown was the neutral that I selected. I decided to use the staircase sketch for a painting on a full sheet of 300 # watercolor paper. I liked the heavier weight best. I intended to just do the open door with the staircase and entry, with the light bulb haniging.
As I painted, though, the same halo of light happened on the staircase, and the same figure took shape in the center of the light area. I decided that I might as well just go with it, and leave it as the light area would not cover up. I hadn't planned to do a ghost picture or a Halloween picture! It just happened.
Watercolors often have a way of doing things on their own, and that is one of the interesting things about working with them. You put water on the paper, drop in color, and see what happens. This one certainly had a way of working on its own.
About this time of day, each year, as the sun made long shadows on the ground, we would be in high anticipation and a bit of apprehension about Halloween night. We had a fertile place for imaginations in my hometown, with old homes and buildings, and cemeteries, old churches, and an old park, all close to my house. And we had some traditional Halloween parties that would seem like they were straight from one of those old movies set in a quaint town, with kids that were always doing something.
One boy threatened to catch my beloved cats outside and run them up the school flagpole! Thankfully, they only ran someone's underwear up the pole, but I was upset. I begged my dad to let the cats and the dog inside, but he wanted them outdoors. So, I got my great-aunt across the street to keep them on her screened back porch. Some boys did manage to get a car taken apart and put up on top of the school! They also got outhouses up there, when they could find one.
One year, my dad had foot surgery and was on crutches. The high school boys moved the park benches out in the streets, and they rolled our large doghouse down by the school. The worst part was that they let our horse, Flicka, out of her pen and, as she ran through the gate, they poured motor oil on her back. Daddy didn't find Flicka until the next day, about noon. He was boiling mad! The oil and hot sun blistered Flicka's back and we couldn't ride her until that healed. Daddy was in the process of breaking her, so that prolonged our getting to ride her. It ended up that Daddy finally just sold her to someone else. He rode her one time, saying that he could break her for us to ride. The horse took off and ran all the way to town. Daddy walked her back home, when he finally got her to stop, and sold her. But the man next door brought his horse into town and kept her in our pen. We got to ride that horse for a while.
I thought that it was bad that Daddy was on crutches and then had to find the horse and roll things back into place. But, a part of me thought that maybe this was him on the receiving end of the things that he gave out when he was a high school kid!
He had an evil laugh when he would tell of a group of high school boys catching younger kids, alone, trick or treating, tying them to a tombstone in the cemetery, and leaving them there all night. (I don't know if that was real, or if it was just a big tale to scare us into staying together when we went out trick or treating.)
Sometimes, for Halloween, the Methodist Church, in its big, castle-looking building, would have a Halloween party for the kids, complete with bobbing for apples in big tubs. We went out in the street for the messy things like that.
The school always had a Halloween carnival. The spookiest ones would be in the basement, with each room fixed up as some kind of booth. There would be a program upstairs in the auditorium with little dancers and music. Bobbie, a new elementary school teacher, was asked to be the fortune teller one year. She dressed up, sat in the bookroom that was fixed up like a fortune tellers booth. Later, she said that she would never do that again! She just made things up, of course. She told one man that something was going to happen to him. Pretty general, right? The man had a heart attack and died later that night! After that, the Halloween Carnival moved to the gym. There were booths, that were open, refreshments, and games and, of course, a cake walk where people marched around squares to music. When the music stopped, they could win a cake that ladies in town made. Sometimes, there would be a dance using our record players and our collection of 45s or 78s. That didn't happen often, though. Some people tried to tell us that dancing was wicked, along with drinking, playing cards, and smoking. But the grownup 42 and domino games, canasta, bridge, and a bottle of "cough medicine" in the desk drawer or kitchen cabinet, didn't count.
Another good place for Halloween carnivals was upstairs in the City Hall. There are old photos of Halloween Carnivals there. They probably had dancing too. In one picture, they seem to be dressed in formal wear. There was a stage for programs, too. Sadly, there was a fire at City Hall not so long ago. I hope that they were able to restore the building as it was. Kind of spooky, but with great, huge windows that let in lots of light.
We had some great Halloween parties with kids in private homes, too. My friend and classmate, Kathryn's birthday was just before Halloween. She lived out in the country and sometimes we celebrated her birthday and Halloween with a party in someone's home in town. We always had to have refreshments that included cake and punch, and played some games. But the big thing was going out to trick or treat, in the dark, and hoped that the grownups would let us go as a group, by ourselves. I remember one year when we had a large group that went out trick or treating. The grownups hung back from us, and finally went on home when they saw that we were behaving ourselves.
Some houses stayed dark and we knew people didn't want to give a treat. At one, big, old, unpainted Victorian house, that had no lights on, the boys said it wouldn't be fun if we didn't do some tricks. We knew that an old lady lived there. We all hollored "Trick or Treat", and the boys added, "Smell my feet! Give us something good to eat!" and they giggled. A few of us decided that we didn't want any part of any trouble and so we wandered to the back of the group, and went home as the boys took the first floor window screens down and rubbed a bar of soap on them. I guess they went on to do other things that night, I don't know. Those things seem to grow like mob mentality. I couldn't stay out that late, anyway.
Whatever our group did, though, none of it was nearly as bad as the older generations had done! Or said they did.
After trick or treating, if the weather allowed and it wasn't too dark, our party group tried to be sure to have a walk through the beautiful old cemetery near my house. What a treat it was if the night was clear, and, especially, if there was a big moon out, and to hold onto the arms of several friends as we entered a side gate, and walked through to the east gate of the cemetery. All the while, we tried to act fearless, but, inside, we wondered what might jump out at us and grab us, taking us to unknown terrors; or if something terrible would happen to us if we happened to step on a grave ; or what would happen to us in the future for daring to enter the cemetery on Halloween night. We didn't think of what might happen if we ran into some of those high school boys who just had to make mischief in town. We never ran into any of those, though, and, when our group got to high school age, we seemed to favor dates over Halloween parties. We couldn't be so wasteful in those days, to toilet paper someone's house or trees or throw eggs, or water balloons. We thought we were being really extravagant to "borrow" a bar of soap from someone's mother's washing supplies, the year that the boys decided to soap some window screens.
There weren't so many memorable Halloweens after growing up. One year, my son was about 8 or 9, my daughter was in kindegarten and I was taking classes for a Masters degree. My son said he was old enough to go trick or treating around the apartment complex on his own, like other kids were doing. He had a Superman costume and went off to knock on apartment doors. I had warned him not to eat anything or go into any homes, but to bring me his candy to check. I took my daughter walking around where I thought that he might go, following, I thought. It started getting a little dark and I turned a corner on the sidewalk. My breath just left me and my knees nearly gave way when I saw someone with a dirty, torn white t-shirt on, tight jeans, a black face, and dirty looking hair coming toward me. I thought I would just pass by him on the sidewalk, not speak, walk on, bravely, and hope he didn't attack me! I was shaking I was so scared!
"Do you want to check some of my candy now or do you want me to wait until I get home?" He asked.
It was my son! I didn't even recognize him!
"Boy, you scared me to death!" I breathed a sigh of relief, but was puzzled at his look.
"I went around to all the apartments, then I went home and made my own costume and went back again." He explained.
Little rascal! I could have saved money on that Superman costume and just let him make his own to begin with! I'm sure he enjoyed that one more. Sure had me fooled!
Hope you have a good (and safe) time, out spookin' and trick or treating, tonight. Wish we had the full moon still. We just missed it.
We don't have trick or treating where we are. The kids all have to go into town, or to the mall, or to a party somewhere. One grandson is working, the other longs to live in a neighborhood where he can do those traditional things. Going to stores in the mall for trick or treating just isn't the same as the adventures we had, mild as they were. I hope that his mother will take him somewhere, but, most likely, he will have to do homework, then watch a ghost program with his mother, eat popcorn, and play with the new puppy.
As for me, I put on a black outfit today, and slapped on a purple wig, and left off my makeup. That's pretty scarey!
Hope you have some pleasant Halloween memories of your own! And that you will have some good ones from this year. Happy Haunting!
If you are in this area, be sure to go to the First FridayArt Step and Art Auction in downtown Bryan on Friday. Sonny Moss will be there demonstrating his pottery, along with others. Mary Saslow will also be there with a group. I know that Laura Brittain and I, among others, have some pieces in the Art Auction at the Frame Gallery. I just got a list of events and it looks like a lot going on in the evening. You can contact Greta Watkins at the Frame Gallery for more information. There will be lots of things going on from demonstrations, exhibits, live music, readings, a movie in the outdoor theatre, and carriage rides.
Please share with others who might be interested, and let me know if you see something that appeals to you!