nanke's stuff

The Detroit Tigers lost a game yesterday due to a bad call by an ump (no really, the replay showed the call was Wrong!!).  Anyhow, while the game was on TV, I sat with a sketch pad that I've only used for copying the drawings of masters, a box of pencils, and a book entitled "Sargent Portrait Drawings, 42 Works by John Singer Sargent" by Trevor J. Fairbroher.  It was published by Dover.  These were the first drawings I've done in a long time, and it felt good to be back.  I only intended to do 1, but once I got started, it was so enjoyable that I just kept on going.

Once again my scanner wouldn't work, so my sweetie scanned them on his to a thumb drive, then took them to work to send to me in an email because our speed here is so slow.  I'm going to get me a new scanner, just you wait and see!

So anyway, here they are ... originals first  and then my copies.  Thanks so much for looking!



























































I have to say that it never ceases to amaze me how all the faults jump right out at me as soon as I post the pictures.   Of course, I could see a lot of them after I finished them, but many more presented themselves to me when I saw them on the screen.  That said, they were intended to be rather quick sketches.  Most of them took me about 20 minutes or so to do.    Maybe I'll pick one and spend more time on it .... but probably not! lol  p.s., for some reason while the pics are side by side on the "working" screen, in the published post they're all mixed up.  You won't have any trouble knowing the originals, though, I'm quite sure!

Mark HillHappy Easter and Happy Spring to all!!  We had a wonderful Easter today because we celebrated it with our son, Andrew, his wife, Carrie, and her mom, Jackie whom we love dearly.  They're always a lot of fun to be with.  Along with all the fun and funny conversation, we watched the Tigers beat the Red Sox in the 11th inning ... it was a 3 game sweep .... Yea, Tigers!!!!   My sweetie grilled a butterflied leg of lamb as well as some fresh veggies which had been marinating in a spicy sauce, and we also had oven roasted potatoes, tossed salad, and an angel food caked layered with lemon filling.  There were also delicious appetizers of special cheeses and a very tasty, unique salami brought by the guests.  mmmmm.   Even Abby (our dog who thinks she's our daughter) had a special dinner of bratwurst mixed with her kibble, which didn't stop her from wanting some of ours, too.  (no such luck, though)

On another note, I recently got a wonderful gift in the mail that I've been eagerly awaiting from  Mark Hill.   He is a wonderful artist who does the most amazing work.  Among other things, he's been doing absolutely beautiful drawings on envelopes and mailing them to folks who ask for them.  Of course, I asked for one of them, and it came on Thursday or Friday (I've sort of lost track of the time).  If you go to his website (and I urge you to visit it), you'll be blown away by his work.  Here's a sample:


Is that cool, or what?  Thanks again, Mark!

Here's the first of the "stuff".  We've been in Nashville visiting our grandchildren and their parents.  Now, don't get me wrong - we went to visit their parents in Nashville long before there were children, and we love seeing the grownups just as much as ever.  That said, there's nothing like being a grandparent and hanging out with the babes.  (Our almost-four-year-old wouldn't like being referred to as a "babe" at all, so please don't tell him).  As always, we had a wonderful time with everyone, but especially the boys (one 4, and one just 1).  I won't bore you with all the fun things we did with them (like many, many, trips to Kroger - one of the 4 yo's faves), but suffice it to say that I would go back in a heartbeat just to hug those little guys one more time!

Anyhow, I did manage to do just one drawing while we were there.  It's a drawing of a table in their front room (which used to be my husband's parents), using a sketchbook I haven't used in years (literally) and a Micron pen.  When we got home I tried to scan it and post to my blog.  I can't even begin to tell you all the problems I had with the scanner - suffice it to say that I'm grateful that I still have hair on my head!

So, even though I have a lot of grandchildren stories,  I'll spare you and just show you the sketch.   For some reason it's reversed, but after all the trouble I had, I wasn't about to try to fix it...

So, since nothing was calling out to me to draw and I am trying to keep at it, I decided to return to jewelry.  My sweetie buys me the coolest things.  Some of the pieces are whimsical, some are amazingly crafted, some are beautiful, and all are loved.  He spends a great deal of time choosing what to buy, and he often goes to a wonderful store in Ann Arbor called 16 Hands.  Everything in the store is handmade.  Besides jewelry, they have some clothing, ornamental pieces for inside and out, baby things, paintings, and so much more.  It's a real treat to go there just to browse, if not buy something wonderful.  These are some sketches of four of my necklaces.  I used a 005 Micron Pen and colored pencils.    I'm sorry now that I didn't draw the back of the square one with the colors - it's pretty cool too, and can be worn either way.  Maybe next time!

Since we've updated the software in our computers, I've lost Photoshop and I'm still trying to figure out the best way to fix my scans.  This is my third attempt at this with a new program (new to me, that is), that I'm still learning.  It's better than the first two, that's for sure! 

Well, she's been sitting for a long time waiting for a bit of attention.  Fortunately, she is a very patient woman.  So, today I picked up some pencils again and did a bit more on her.  I'm not going to tell you a fib..... the only reason I did it was because I left her so unfinished the last time she was here on the blog that I felt compelled to do Something for the poor thing.  That said, this is the last version.
It has a number of problems, but I have to say, she has perhaps the weirdest hairstyle I've ever seen.  I kid you not, that's what it looks like.  OK, not exactly ... the back of her head isn't in the picture, so you can't see what it does there.  I wonder how she did it!

So, without further ado, here she is:

It's been way too long since I've posted to my blog, and I have no excuse whatsoever to offer.  I've found that for me,  maintaining my blog has at least two things in common with exercising.  The first is that when done regularly, both are satisfying and make me feel better.  The second is that once I've "fallen off the wagon", so to speak, it's extremely hard to climb back on.  The longer I went without posting, the harder it became to do it.  I didn't know what to say ..... nothing seemed right or interesting.  Anyhow, here I am, and I'm hoping that this first post will lead to many more.

In the meantime, one of the things I've been doing is making a mobile for a soon- to- arrive new baby.   She (or he, we don't know) will be born to the brother and sister-in-law of my daughter-in-law.  I made a mobile for each of my grandsons, and in January I was asked to make one for this newest member of our growing family.  I will be going to a shower in a week or so to celebrate the event and give the mobile to Aaron and Melanie, the soon to be new parents.

I had to think about what sort of theme to use.  The first mobile I made was jungle animals; the second one was sea creatures.  For this one, after much thought, I decided to use the circus as a starting point.  Once I had that settled, the rest began to fall into place.  I wanted to anticipate as many challenges ahead of time as I could  to avoid surprises (I was reasonably successful, but as always, things cropped up I hadn't thought of), so I thought about it a lot before I actually began making it.  Everything is hand-sewn, and some things are both sewn and glued for safety.  I have a few pictures (because of the nature of it, it is difficult to get a photo that shows the whole thing in focus, hence the several shots).
I would love to know what you think!

This is what it looks like:

Well, I've finally started portrait number 4, and it's the wife of  my sweetie's great grandfather.  Her name was Nellie Humes, and they had 9 children.  Their first child was a daughter named Mary, who was my sweetie's grandmother.  She married a man named Harry Cleveland Ryan, who died unexpectedly at a very young age.  When he died they had three children who  were very young when their father died.   Sweetie's mother, who was the middle child, was only 9 years old.  As a result, their grandfather assumed a major role in their lives.  There are many wonderful family stories about them that I love to hear.   Just as an aside, when our older son was in college, one of his professors talked about William B. Thompson in his capacity as mayor.  I asked him if he ever told the prof that he was his great, great, grandfather and he told me he didn't.  I probably wouldn't have either.  What would be the point?

So, anyhow, here's my beginning drawing.  I have quite a bit to do yet, but I thought I'd post it anyway.   Her left eye (on our right) definitely needs some work.