Recycled Original Art: Reading Mother

This is a poster photocopy of an original watercolor of mine. I painted it ten to fifteen years ago, I don't remember anymore. I gave away the original but my mom insisted that I keep a copy. I didn't have a good camera, so we photocopied it. This gave a faded version of the picture.

The quality isn't the best and the anatomy isn't entirely convincing. The mother's forearm is a bit too long and she's holding the book in a possible but uncomfortable way. The child is either really short or is only a year old and has a lot of hair for a child that age. I kept the photocopy in my files but not carefully enough as it became a bit creased and crinkled. The original was 11 x 14 and the picture in the middle was about 8 x 10.

Recently I was trying to figure out what artwork to hang in the baby's room, I remembered this little picture. I had an available frame, but it was 16 x 20. I considered finding a mat-board in a good color and cutting it to fit. I've done this a bazillion times but the little 8 x 10 picture was just too small. I scanned the poster and played with it on Photoshop until I liked it a bit better and printed off a 16 x 20 version at the Costco photo center. I left off the border and poem, since I had written it poorly.

My boy will probably like it and if he doesn't, I'll take it down and put up something else. You never know, as a child I had a picture of Jesus with several children around him. The picture was cute and sweet by daylight, but there was a shape on the back of the head of one of the kids that I found frightening in a darkened room. It was like a monster's face to me. This wasn't something I could articulate and I'm not sure an adult would have understood the problem. What's wrong with a picture of Jesus and children? So if my kid shows fear of a picture, whether or not I understand, I'll take it down.

So here is a Photoshopped version of a scanned photocopied poster of an original watercolor painting.

The woman doesn't look like me, but the child does a little, though I was bald until I was nearly two. I don't know if my boy will take after me or his dad. It doesn't matter, he'll be so cute, and he'll be ours.

Top of the World

For when I'm feeling powerful, and also for when I'm not. Strike a power pose, Plant my feet. Gaze off into the horizon and feel the possibilities surge. Sometimes I'll listen to someone who talks themselves down saying they're not creative or strong or patient or talented. I'm usually surprised by these statements since I can almost see the sparks coming off them. We are all more powerful than we imagine. Maybe we need to have it pointed out to us, Maybe we need a gentle nudge. Maybe we need a kick. I struggle too, so when I feel the prompting to act, I need to embrace it and jump. We are more. We are huge. We are awesome.

Remembering Grandma Nell Shirts

This is Nell and me. I've made us each younger (and thinner). We are connected by love and by blood. (I'm borrowing imagery a bit from Frida Kahlo, Thanks Frida.) Grandma was always a bit fussy about her looks and didn't allow much picture taking. Consequently we don't have a lot of pictures of her. I'm one of many of her descendants that look just like her. I used to be camera shy as well but decided I look how I look and others love me anyway so take those pictures.

Nell, Bobby, and Max Shirts 1945

I always called her Grandma Shirts but now My mom is Grandma Shirts to my nieces and nephews, so I think of her as Nell. It's been nearly fourteen years since Grandma Nell died. I fear I'm beginning to forget her so I'm writing what I can remember. Grandma was funny, she loved telling funny stories, even if they were funny at her own expense. Example: Grandma picked up the phone one day, but couldn't hear the people on the other end.

Grandma: Hello?
Other Party: Muffled blah blah blah.
Grandma: What?
Other Party: Would you like blah blah blah.
Grandma: What?
Other Party: Would you like a free hearing test today?
Grandma: No thank you. My hearing is just fine.

She thought that was hilarious.

• She loved funny birthday cards and cartoon strips.
• She really got into BYU football and would get worked up over the games when she was in her early seventies (possible before, I'm not sure on that one.)
• She wore big clip-on earrings and liked costume jewelry.
• She loved bold print patterns on her clothes and designed many of her own dresses by combining  patterns.
• Since I mostly saw her in her own home, I mostly remember seeing her wearing loose fitting house  dresses.
• She kept her home scrupulously clean. Except for the basement that didn't have the kind of stairs she  trusted so she mostly just tried to keep us out of it. We thought the basement was awesome with it's  treasure trove of stuff and ping pong table.
• She was squeamish about using restrooms anywhere but her own home.
• She was also squeamish about trying my mom's awesome pasta fruit salad because it was called "frog eye" salad. She had no problem with the term "toe jam" though. (Which makes me cringe.)
• She would lose names a lot. If she was telling a story and forgot the name of a person involved she would stop the story and not continue until she remembered the person's name. Forgetting names drove her nuts. ( I forget names and common words the way Grandma forgot names, and I've learned to talk around them until it comes to me since I remember it drove me crazy too that Grandma would stop a good story for ten minutes to try to get Grandpa to remember the name she wanted.)
• She wore her wristwatch on the inside of her wrist, and often tucked a hankie into it.
• She attended Grandpa's many musical concerts even if they ran for multiple days.
• She hated to drive but didn't mind telling Grandpa how to do it.
• She suffered from anxiety and allergies.
• She taught Gospel Doctrine in Sunday school for many years.
• She lost her first child to heart problems when he was a baby and didn't like to talk about it.
• She made the best lemon meringue pie ever and a wonderful mustard ham.
• She always had a selection of pickles at meals.
• She didn't get to see most of her grandchildren very much since they lived far away, but she loved  them.
• I feel very lucky that I lived close enough to spend many Sunday evenings with her and Grandpa.
• She was wonderful and I miss her.

Nell and Max Shirts late 1980's or early 1990's

Feel free my family to share any memories of Grandma Shirts in the comments.

The Tiger Rider: have a little courage

Riding a tiger like a boss.

I was feeling confident one day like I had grown somehow, like I was bigger in a good way. I decided to express this in as dominating danger. I may start a dominating danger series or take my expressions in another direction but either way I'm coming back. I wont promise to give a daily or weekly sketch anymore because I was crap at that. I do know that I am capable of more than just filling sketch books and notebooks and I want more. I really want to start painting again but that will have to wait until I'm done growing this baby inside me. I don't want to accidentally poison him with toxic chemicals. I can, however, safely finish artwork on the computer. I'd like to keep this new expansive view of my capabilities. I haven't pursued an art career since I didn't think I had it in me I viewed myself as small. I do like the quiet life but I feel I can be more. I don't know what the future will bring but I do want to keep from shrinking. If just finishing one artwork piece a month can keep me from shrinking back from a bigger life than that is what I'll do.