Mom's Passing

 

This post is a very difficult one to write. Not because I don't have much to say...but because words wouldn't do justice. This past November 10, 2018, my Mom, DeLeath Ludwig, passed away at the age of 85. Our family is still in the middle of processing it all, dealing with the huge loss. But we were so blessed to have had her in our lives, and readily acknowledge all the good that she passed on to us. 

My Mom was one of my favorite "Sketching Buddies". For the last several years, I have enjoyed trips to my hometown of El Dorado, Arkansas, to spend a few days wandering around town to various locations to sketch. Often we'd just stay at her house and set up a still-life. Mom's health was in decline for some years, and she was hooked up to oxygen much of the time. In fact, in her final days, she and I had talked about how she could have died many times over in the last 15 years, with all she battled with. But on the days that she felt good enough, she'd be sketching and painting watercolors almost every single day. We have a legacy of many, many sketchbooks that she filled up.

I will miss you, Mom...and I look forward to sketching with you again, when I meet you in Heaven!!

SKETCHBOOK: "Dinos in Smackover"

I suppose it is appropriate that I am posting about dinosaur bones, since I just got back home after attending my 40th HIGH SCHOOL REUNION! I spent several days after the event sketching with my Mom.  Below are the results!

These were taken at the Arkansas Oil and Brine Museum in Smacker, Arkansas. A nice display of a traveling exhibit.

Mom and I drove around El Dorado and sketched from her air-conditioned car. There was a heat advisory most of the time I was there. Love stopping and drawing construction equipment!

Here are a couple of vehicles...a great old restored Chevy truck, and my Mom's new riding lawnmower. 

This last item is a vase that my grandmother gave to Mom years ago. Fun to sketch it!

SKETCHBOOK: "Cicadas and Spudnuts"

About two hours ago, I just got home after driving 9 hours from my home town, El Dorado, Arkansas.  I spent the week with my mom, "Miz Dee" and visited with my brother Kris and his wife Debra.  I had no real plans other than to spend a lot of time sketching.  Mission accomplished!

The sketches above are my first attempts at drawing some bugs from actual specimens.  It was very enjoyable and I will do more.  The larger Cicada was already just a shell when I found it on my Mom's deck.  The little brown ones had already been discarded by molting cicadas and were clinging to the tool shed in the backyard.  Fortunately, Mom had an old magnifying glass I could use...tri-focals are NOT good for sketching bugs!!!

Below is the "Tool Room" where my brother Kris is co-owner, and works with his buddies David and Phillip.  My Mom and I just hung around and drew for a couple of hours...it was hilarious.  Reminds me of Floyd's Barber Shop in Mayberry (the old Andy Griffith Show)...the guys and customers say all kinds of ridiculous and funny things.  I told Kris he needs to just put up a microphone and record the goofy things said.  Would be a hit radio show!

Below is my sketch from our time there.  I had wanted to catch the sunlight that shines in through the front door on all the rows of tools and supplies.

Staying with the theme of "sunlight", I was attracted to the early morning sun shining into my Mom's front living room.

Next up...a few shells from Mom's collection at home.

One of the mornings, Mom and I went sketching at the downtown "Square" in El Dorado.  They are currently working on some improvements, and I drew this little CAT while the work crews were getting ready for the day.

We had some time to waste while waiting for my brother and his wife to meet up with us for lunch.  Below is a sketch of "The Black Cat" where we ate.  The tree on the left was actually this flat on the top...I'm not sure why, since there were no power lines to keep the tree away from.

Most of our sketching out doors was done in the mornings...it was pretty hot this week.  One of the places we go to often is "Rusty Acres" salvage yard.  I've drawn stuff from there before and posted it.  The piles of junk just go on and on and on!  This sketch was of a rusted out old dirt-mover and an abandoned truck bed.  We only lasted a couple of hours before the heat got to us, so I only have one sketch.

Below, Miz Dee is showing a curious customer some of her sketches.

On my last day at my Mom's house, we just decided to stay home and draw and looked at some of her collection of art books.  Mom found this old set of guache paints that had not been used for 30 years.  I gave them a try, and they still were "good".  I have not painted much with guache...not sure I like them.  I was trying to see if I could build my colors with layers, like I do when I paint with oils.  It will take a lot more time messing with the paints before I feel like using them over water colors.  But I had fun anyway.

I had taped off the brown-toned paper with masking tape first.  The little shed was done in the late evening as the sun was going down behind the shed.  Mom was a very cooperative model, and let me paint her while she took a nap in her festive muumuu.

And last but not least...a SPUDNUT!  Can't make a trip home without eating some of those!

That's it for this post.  Thanks, Mom, Kris & Debra for a fun time!!

SKETCHBOOK: "Thanksgiving 2013"

This Thanksgiving, I took a trip to my hometown of El Dorado, Arkansas to spend the holiday with my Mom, my brother and his family.  Since I was there the whole week before Thanksgiving Day, I had a lot of time to spend with Mom sketching.  I told her that this is sort of like our version of when Dad used to take my brother and I hunting and fishing back in our youth.

The sketch above is one of my favorites from the trip...SPUDNUTS, the breakfast of champions!!  For the uninitiated, spudnuts are made from potato flour.  The Spudnut Shoppe is a landmark in that town, and is always busy in the mornings.  Mom brought out her festive plates for the season...and a cup of tea made it all "just right" for drawing.

The weather was really cold and wet for the first two days I was there.  So we set up a "still life factory" and had a great time drawing some of the many interesting objects Mom has all over her house.

I tried something new this trip...a cartridge "calligraphy" pen.  Unfortunately, the ink was NOT waterproof...so it was a mess.  I also did not care for the flat nib of the pen for drawing.

I decided to go back to my standard approach...a felt-tip artist pen.  I liked the decorative stein we were sketching, so tried it again, with more pleasing results.

Here is an interesting candle holder, and some brass objects in the background.

Though the drawing is not flattering (Sorry, Mom!), it was fun to catch "Miz Dee" in action!

I decided to give my calligraphy pen "one more chance"...hated the results.  But it's nice for lettering my notes, so I may keep it for that purpose.

Once the weather cleared up, we were able to get out and about to draw some.  This view is from a church parking lot, looking off into the distance at the oil refinery.  El Dorado was an "oil boom town" from it's beginnings, and oil still plays a major part in it's identity to this day.

This view was something I had never noticed before.  Mom's blinds are usually drawn.  After I peeked through them to see the early morning sunlight hitting some birch trees, I had to sit at the little table and capture the moment.

Finally...this was at the end of Thanksgiving day.  Mom was napping, and I sat on a little bench by the fence and drew my Ford Focus and the trees at the end of the driveway. The next morning, I left at 6:30 a.m. for the 9-hour drive home. A wonderful trip all around!

SKETCHBOOK: "Another trip to El Dorado"

Yesterday, I returned home after a wonderful trip to my hometown, El Dorado, Arkansas.  I got to visit with my Mom, my brother, Kris, and his wife, Debra.  As is the new tradition, Mom and I spent as much time as we could going sketching. There's always more to draw than the time to draw it!

Above is a rusted out old hot rod that was in the yard of "Howlin' At The Moon: Antiques and More" in Smackover, AR ( a town near El Do).  Below is another rusted out bucket of bolts...my brother Kris.  Unfortunately, he had a sinus infection and needed to sleep it off.  Fortunately for my sketchbook...he needed to sleep it off.  I told him not to worry...he's more interesting to sketch than to talk to.  (I'm a mean big brother.  But I love that dude!)

Below are the really cool columns at the Union County Courthouse.  A little sign on the column says "Quiet Please.  Court is in session."  I was not...and it was not. (Is a lying sign a proper thing to have in the halls of justice?!!)

This is a train.  It is a yellow and blue train. It is a Union Pacific train. It is a nice train.

Apparently there was some remodeling being done in some offices off of the main square downtown.  They had to take the window out to move a bunch of sheet-rock panels in through the opening, since they could not fit them into the stairs.  This is at the end of the day, when they're puttying up the replaced glass panel.  The windows are a lot more complicated looking in real life...I was tired.

Here's a little angel face on the wall between some shops.  I discovered that, unfortunately, the pencil I was using was water soluble.  It smeared all the pencil work when I added washes.  I went back into the drawing with pen...not so happy with the outcome.

Finally...here is a sketch of a very ornate coat hook that my Mom has on an old wooden trunk in the den.  I wasn't sure it was wise to attempt the sketch of it, but I like how it turned out.

(Thanks for all the sketch and talk time, Mom!  Thanks for the dinner and ice cream, K and D!!  I had another great trip!!)

SKETCHBOOK: "Trip To El Dorado"

Well, it's "feast or famine" for my postings this month.  It's been way too long since I've gone out sketching.  Yesterday, I just returned from a few days at my home town in Arkansas.  I had quite a lot of time to draw,  getting out and about with my Mom, and her sketching buddy, "Speck". And I made sure to eat too much while there (which, of course, included "Spudnuts")!!

Above is an old oil-drilling-rig truck from the little town of Union, Arkansas.  It's covered with tangled cables and rust.   Speaking of rust...we returned to one of my favorite drawing locations: "RUSTY ACRES Auto Salvage".  Below are two drawings from there.

 

Next are a couple of drawings from my Mom's house...one of the railing of her deck...the other of Mom herself.  She was sketching, too...and while it's not a flattering image of her...she "approved" of it. Ha!

Mom had to make a trip to the dentist, so I drew some of the folks in the waiting room.

Here are a few old worn out buildings from the "historic" district.

These next drawings are not technically from El Dorado, but are directly connected to the trip there.  My brakes were acting up on the highway, so this morning, I had to take my mini-van in to get the brake drums smoothed down, along with an oil change.  While waiting, I had breakfast at a nearby IHOP, and these were views from around the restaurant.  The tall, lanky guy in the lower right corner was back at in the customer lounge, while I waited for them to finish up with my vehicle.

Last, but not least...here are some pics of what is becoming a tradition for when I visit my brother, Kris and his wife, Debra.  He "lets" me drive his tractor and bush-hog his pasture around his house!!  I LOVE driving that smokey ol' diesel tricycle for two hours.  "Payment" was some of Kris' awesome BBQ pork chops and chicken, and Debra's legendary "cheesy potatoes".  A terrific getaway week!