four children went walking in the woods...

One thing we did a lot in college art classes was to learn techniques from copying the drawings of Old Masters. Indeed, many people learn to draw in the comic style by copying comic strips, or learn to paint by copying a Bob Ross painting on tv. Of course, then they can only paint like Bob Ross, and are ruined for life.
This last month I was itching to do some kind of picture with my art markers, and I was thinking about how I greatly admire the artwork of Philippe Fix, who illustrated one of my favorite children's books, The Book of Giant Stories , by David L. Harrison.
So I decided to do a drawing which borrowed from his fantastical forest drawings, with some of my own interests included: namely my children. I liked this drawing in particular, because it reminded me of the forest around Seattle and Bainbridge.
Here is the original drawing by Philippe Fix, and a link to more of his artwork:






















I didn't have all of the same colors to recreate those in this scene, but that works out for the best because it makes the drawing more mine, bright, and colorful. It's hard to get an accurate photo, but I think the only thing that's kind of off from the real drawing here is the color of the sky, which is more salmon with pink at the top. I don't especially like the yellow in the sky, but at least it goes with the boys' hair.




This drawing took about three weeks to complete, working on it a few hours most days. The part that took longest was trying to decide what should go under the log the kids were walking on. I love the way this water turned out (I looked up various forest creek pictures on Google, and integrated the colors of the sky and surrounding moss) but my other choice would have been to have the kids up much higher, and the view dropping away to a river far below.
However, at the time I thought of this, I'd already finished the rocks above and behind the kids, so that wouldn't really work.
I found it interesting to compare this drawing to the one I did in 2011, which also was based on a Philippe Fix drawing. That drawing was one of the first drawings I ever did with my art markers, and it's fun to see how much more I've learned about using this medium, blending the colors and the like. Also, I had a lot less colors to choose from then, so I couldn't recreate all the forest colors as I'd like.
Here is that drawing from 2011:


I really need to retake the picture
of this drawing so it's more rectangular.

Finally, here are some closer details of the recent drawing. I mixed the colors of the kids' clothes with grey, so they'd fit in to the drawing more and not be too bright. I love Eli's cape from his Superman pajamas. The water turned out pretty nice too.

























This section is the part that borrows most from the other artist. I love how it turned out, but am sad that it wasn't originally my idea. This shows the salmon color in the sky the best out of all the photos.






































I don't know why, but this side of the photo is a little washed out. The trees are darker and the sky is brighter in color in the original.

On The Road: There and Back Again

 

 On our trip down to Utah in December,we saw a lot of interesting sights and encountered some challenging weather. On the way down through Wyoming, the road was a sheet of ice, and the heavy winds were blowing huge clouds of snow across it, so at times it was hard to tell where the road was, even though it was sunny at the same time!

 

This happens where we live all the time, and is referred to as a "ground blizzard", just as dangerous as a regular blizzard. So that was fun. We did see a beautiful sunset that day!




Ground blizzard in Wyoming



view to the east as the sun set

sun behind the mountains in Wyoming

I love this one!

The second day through Utah was beautiful and sunny. I saw this pastoral scene as we stopped at a rest stop in some small spot I'd never heard of. So pretty. And look: sheep!

 

 

Two weeks later the weather on the way home was much nicer than the journey down- sunny all the way. The only issue was the high winds on the second day. There were a few sections of the highway north from Rawlins where the wind blew the snow so hard it looked like a thick fog; you couldn’t see oncoming traffic until it was right upon you! We passed several semi-trucks that seemed to be having a hard time, and there was one stupid truck –it said it was hauling milk- that was trying to pass other trucks and doing a horrible job of it, almost causing several wrecks. When we reached Casper and saw some ambulances rushing south, we wondered if it had anything to do with that truck we’d seen. We were just glad we weren’t involved!

                Also as we approached the northern most section of the state, we could see a big wall of clouds looming on the horizon. We received a phone call that school would be cancelled on Monday about that time too. We learned later that a huge Arctic cold front, combined with the high winds, would be closing schools and businesses all across the Midwest. Crazy.

 

Finally, here is a short video from our drive south in December. Enjoy!

This Old House (and the saddest story ever)

 

   One of the biggest things we did on our Christmas vacation was help clear out the last of the stuff from our old house and take it to mom's nice new house up the street; most of it was done, but there were still some random things to take care of.

      Out back we had a great big flatbed truck that a church member had lent mom to help haul things away. Half of it we were filling with useable items to be taken to Deseret Industries, and the other half was to be filled with junk that could be taken to the dump when we were all finished. We also were filling our vans and cars with items that would be taken to mom’s new house; we made several trips back and forth.       

               We all spent Monday there- all day- with all the kids and everything. Mine and Kiera's husbands did a lot of the bigger work, hauling big furniture items upstairs to the truck, and emptying out the waterbed, stuff like that.


















Kiera and I mostly were sorting through books and small items, deciding where they should go. Joseph took loads of books to the used book store (we were happy they agreed to take everything we donated; dad had a lot of nice quality history and treasure books).

      The second day we spent there later in the week, it was just Kiera, Mom and I, along with the smallest kids: Eli and William (both 2) and George, the baby. Eli and William got filthy both times we were there; the first day they found the coal depository in the basement, still there from the previous tenants 30 or more years ago. Yes, they got black. The second time they spent a lot of time playing in the dirt and mud outside.

           

 

They were pretty good about occupying themselves, and staying nearby. Except for this one time. Kiera wanted to photographically recreate some moments from our childhood in the house, so we were going around taking pictures, like one of her pretending to kick a hole in the wall where she had done just that as a child. We also shot one of me pretending to push her off the stairs, like when she was three and broke her leg. I don't think I was that mean then.

 

 

Suddenly, Kiera realized the boys were missing, so we all started looking for them, assuming they must be in some mud puddle outside, or in the basement again. As I was walking around the outside of the house calling their names, a woman came up holding William.

She said they were down by Center Street all by themselves-not to hard, since the busy street is only one house away- and they had brought them here hoping this was where they’d come from. Our cars were all open in the street by the house, so it was a pretty easy conclusion for them to come to. A man came walking round the other side of the house holding Eli, and I looked up and saw a whole car load of people waiting for them. We thanked them profusely-albeit in embarrassment- as the carload of people left.

 

 

 Yup, I guess the boys wanted to recreate history too- my youngest brother Thorin was brought back to our house by strangers at least half a dozen times when we were supposed to be watching him, usually from Center or Main Street. Also, it was when he was about that same age. o_0

        Kiera and I took a few loads of breakable items to the DI, and the woman who helped us was gushing about how grateful they were for donations, and how they appreciated anything they were given. We learned later though, that not everyone received such a welcome. On the second day, when the big truck was all full, Patrick and another fellow from church took everything to DI, but returned rather quickly. They told us that the man who helped them took two or three small items out of the truck, then told them  that they really didn’t have room for any of the big items still there-plus, there were trucks coming in behind them, and it was almost closing time, so the worker was in a hurry.

                We were all incredulous at this news. Items on the truck included a working refrigerator in good condition, a fold away springs and mattress, and several other pieces of furniture. The most heartbreaking of all: the huge vanity that I had used in my room growing up, which had belonged to my great-great-grandma. We wondered if maybe the sight of all the garbage on one side of the truck had put off the worker- maybe they thought everything else in the truck was junk too?

 

Yes, I'm the one who painted it black.

               

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     The men started consolidating all of the items so they could haul it to the junkyard, and I was really mad at the thought that these things were going to be thrown away forever. I have no problem getting rid of things as long as I believe someone else is going to use them after me, but throwing away something for good? Now that's upsetting.

   Then I had an idea. Wasn’t there a Catholic Thrift Shoppe across the street from Mom’s house? I’d never been in there, but I assumed they must sell the same type of things as DI. (small-town Utah doesn’t have many places like Salvation Army or the Goodwill, because everyone always goes to Deseret Industries instead.)

                I ran across the street because I saw a woman coming out of the shop. She was carrying items to her car, and appeared to work there, so I asked her about the vanity. She directed me to go in an open door in the building; the store wasn’t open, but the owner was inside and might be interested. I explained to him the good condition and size of the vanity, and the man said I could certainly drop it off in front of the building, under the overhang, and they’d be happy to take it in when they were open after the New Year.

     I was thrilled, and ran back to tell the guys in the truck. As I breathlessly explained what the store man had told me, they said they were sorry but it was too late. I didn't comprehend at first, and I looked over to the truck..... but didn't see the top half of the black vanity  towering over the other items as it had a few minutes ago. 

     They told me that they needed to fit a tarp over the load or they'd have to pay a hefty fine, so I figured they must have put the thing on its side. If it was wedged between items so they couldn't get it out, I suggested they could just bring it back after they go to the dump.

    Patrick looked really regretful, and held up a piece of splintered wood. “No really, it’s too late,” He said. He said he felt really bad about it because it was a quality piece of furniture, and he hates things going to waste, but there was nothing they could do. As they pulled away to go to the dump, I had to look away because I was seriously going to start bawling. Saddest thing ever.

My pretty vanity: gone but not forgotten