Mom 5: Ruth

This is my Grandma, Ruth Frances Hooper Meldau. She trained and worked as a draftsman. Her lettering was extraordinary. She could write Reserved on an old piece of card board, set it up in a desirable parking spot and the lettering looked so exceptionally official and perfect that no one would take the spot. She could sew anything. She had an exact mind. She was incredibly loving.

My aunts kindly supplied me with some wonderful photos which I used to make this drawing. Later in life, when I knew her, my grandma Ruth suffered from several serious health troubles. She never talked about it, but I know it made her self conscious, especially about her appearance. So I really enjoyed being able to take some time to become familiar with the way she looked when she was young and healthy.

Mom 4: Norma

Norma with waxwing and wild persimmons

This is my good friend Norma. She is good at everything I want to be good at. Birding, dancing, making jokes, being married, finding food in the wild, writing, working, thrifting and on and on. I feel terribly jealous of her son. I would love to have someone like Norma raise me.

I'm cheating with this picture. Norma always looks really cool so I like to draw her. I drew this a little while back and it's been sitting on my desk patiently waiting to get painted. But I have been swamped with work so I don't have much time to do what I really want to do tonight: draw and write back everyone who has contacted me about being drawn in the Mom Marathon. All of you - Thank You!! I can't wait to draw you. You should hear from me soon.

Mom 3: Oma Rosie

This is my mom's mom, my Oma. My son calls her Oma Rosie. Whenever we pass our neighbor's roses, he will stop and say there are Oma Rosie Flowers! My Oma is much like her namesake: classic and beautiful.

Mom 2

This is my mom.
I was going for thoughtful but she looks a little sad. Due to an unexpected death, I've been feeling sad this week and I think my feelings leached into my drawing. My mom is not a sad person which is one of the most impressive things about her. She works in a kids' cancer and blood disorder clinic so she's very familiar with lives that end too soon, that are unfair, that are full of suffering. She's taught me that life is precious and a journey that often ends much sooner than we expect and when life gets sad, really horribly sad, the best comfort comes from turning to God.

Mom Marathon 1

If you haven't heard, I'm doing a mom marathon. 26 mothers before mother's day will appear on the blog.

Why? Because I hate mother's day. Hate it. I hated it before I had kids and figured I'd learn to like it when I became a mom. Nope. I hate it even more. So I figured I'd start a project that would keep me distracted from the awful day. Now every time the subject of mother day comes up I can spend the time thinking about how I plan to draw someone instead of listening to the awful songs, poems, tributes - blah

Mom 1: my sister. She's a mom. I think she might be my son's favorite mom. Her daughter is hilarious. And she was nice enough to help me through the first rough colicky nights with baby Miriam. She took a 3am-6am shift. She's that amazing.

Couch Sleep

I was going to read him a story but by the time I found the book he wanted (it took me maybe 2 minutes) he'd fallen asleep.

Conferencing

This weekend I got to hang out with my family and enjoy conference. There are very few things better then spending church time in pajamas while playing with the kids on the floor. I got a chance to sketch Aaron and Miriam conferencing together while I "took notes."