IF-Wiggle

The word of the week is Wiggle…So what comes to mind?

Well, when I was a kid we would drive to my grandparents house in Cleveland. It wasn't a long drive, although when you're 10 or 12 it felt longer than the actual half hour or so that it was. On one of these drives I decided to let my pencil wiggle about my paper on the drive home, just to amuse myself I guess. I remember just relaxing the pencil on the paper and letting the road do the drawing. It looked something like this

It was more jaggedy than wiggly. Looking back I think it was an experiment in self control--could I keep the pencil on the paper the whole way home? And also the curiosity to see the final outcome. Nerdy artist even back then.

As I think about this word, and look over my art, it seems that my art is just filled with wiggles…

I have wiggly castles, and wiggly trees.

...and more wiggly trees, along with strange rooster creatures and wiggly haired cave women.

And here is one of my favorite wiggles, this cute little snake basking in the sun. I could go on and on with my wiggle art.

Doing fun kids art makes me happy. I go into a zone that I really like. It brings memories back of days that felt lighter and simpler. Days when you would play outside with friends until the street lights would come on. Days of chalk on sidewalk, or whirling finger paint onto large sheets of paper, just for the joy of how it felt and the colors it made. Warm summer nights filled with catching lightning bugs, or piling into a station wagon to go to the drive-in-movie.

...Or times when you did funny things, like holding your pencil to your paper for an entire car ride just because.

Illustration Friday~Tree

~Let's get ready to Rrrrrummmmmble....

I don't remember what the class assignment was for this piece. It may have simply been to do a black and white illustration, or to choose a style or a technique. I do remember thinking that I wanted to combine my enjoyment for drawing trees along with my fondness of boxing. I remember visualizing a huge tree stump, and thinking I would like to have the two trees fighting on it, while all the other trees observed the match, maybe taking a few side bets.

Boxing is the only sport I really like and I usually get two different reactions to this. A man's reaction is--really? And somewhat amused. A women reaction is--why? And somewhat perplexed, with a hint of disgust.

 

Disclaimer--This is just one women's opinion on sports

Growing up in an apartment that consisted solely of my father and one of my brothers, sports were on TV constantly! I knew the season more by the sport than I did the changing of the weather. God help me all those Sundays filled with golf! Boring! And so very quiet, "Shh he's putting" How about basketball... okay, run back and forth and try to get a ball in a hoop! Boring again. Oh yes, let's not forget football. Gotta love it, sit around the TV and everyone swears--a lot! Then there's baseball-- I guess that was okay. I really only liked watching my brothers play it though. I even played for a short period of time, and I was always stuck in right field! Not too much action there. But boxing...now that's a sport! There's nothing like watching a good bout! You've got technique, action, blood, and excitement! I know a lot about boxing, I know all the terms and how the judges score if it comes down to a decision, if they're being fair that is. I use to know many of the players along the way, but no so much anymore.

Memories of Dad

Now and then I'll flip through the stations and a fight will be on and I automatically stop. Sometimes I think my dad's channeling through me. Sometimes I just like watching because it reminds me of him. Memories flood me of my dad explaining things like, reach, and jab, and uppercut, or being a southpaw. He taught me what a KO meant verses a TKO. I remember when Cashis Clay changed his name. When he was stripped of his title for being a draft dodger. I remember the fights with Joe Frazier. I wanted Frazier to win, I didn't like Ali as a kid. I thought he was too much of a show off. I didn't understand that it was all a gimmick. Now I think Ali is just wonderful.

And somethings just don't change

A couple of months ago I was doing my usual flipping through stations, when I came upon Julio Chavez Jr. vs. Sergio Martinez, so Annie and I watched all the back stories on these two opponents. I wanted to see that fight so bad. Apparently Martinez was going to attempt to regain his middleweight title. I instantly fell in love with Martinez and hoped for victory on his part. Unfortunately the HBO pay-per-view price was way more than I could even justify. The first thing the next morning I went online to happily discover that Sergio had in fact won back the title! YAY! ...Anyway that's my write up on trees, hope you enjoyed it :)



Isn't he adorable!