Rustic High Hill-Mountain Homeplace - Watercolor (Title, Mine)

Eyeball Pen Doodle! (Title, Mine)

Back in the day, we held wall phones, tethered with cords. What to do with the other hand though? Well, one could doodle, anyway! I would not be surprised at all if that is where this playful doodle of my Mom's came from. :)

Green Tree Watercolor

Cropped by the daughter (me).

Practice Roses? I'll Take 'Em! (My Title)

Simple Blossom in Green (My Title)

Again, I found this on a larger paper, but wanted to display my Mom's signature, so I clipped it, and tacked it on...

Sketched and Watercolored Mums (or Maybe Straw Flowers?) (Clipped from Bigger Paper and Arranged by Me)

I had to hold my breath again while doing this! My Mom had these little mums (or could they be straw flowers?) randomly spread out on a large paper. She was probably just practicing - experimenting with making them...I saw that this little ready-made frame would jive with the colors of the blooms, and so I carefully cut around the blossoms, arranged, and glued them onto a background paper. I think it's pretty cheerful!  :)

Strange Sea - Watercolor (Title, Mine)

Tree in Deep Blues - Watercolor (Title, Mine)

Tall Trees, Winter Morning Sky - Watercolor (Title, Mine)

Winter Pathway - Watercolor (Title, Mine)

Crayon/Colored Pencil (?) Sketch of Heart-Flowers and More (Title, Mine)

Autumn Pastel (Title, Mine)

Yellow and Brown Sunflowers (Sketch and Watercolors)

Rudbeckia - Sketch/Watercolor

The Front Steps We Used to Sit and Talk On (Title, Mine) - Simplified View of the Front Door of My Mom's House, from the Outside

Again, this was a bigger sketch book paper, which I cut down - and I clipped out my Mom's signature, and glued it on, so that it could be seen and cherished. This would be a "Part II" to my Mom's other sketch, showing her door from the inside of the house. 

So many stories and memories from sitting on those front steps....They were a great place to talk, drink coffee, share consolation and encouragement, LAUGH, and watch a sunset. And down the street, there was a pond that stayed there throughout the years - sparkling water is uplifting. Sitting here, one could also see my Mom's gorgeous flowers edging the yard, too - so many memories!!!

Jungle Tree (My Title)

Shoe! (Title, Mine) A Shoe Sketch to Put By My Shoes!

Original Lithograph - "Wood Wagon" - A Toy Car/Cart My Mom had in Her Garden

Silver-Gray Blossom (Title, Mine) Watercolor

Winter Scene, Trees, Pine, Snowy Valley (Title, Mine) Watercolor

Woman Looking at Objects in a Darkened, Be-Draped Area - Pastel

Stuffed Toys, in a Dark Place (Title, Mine) - Larger Pastel

I had a mirror, with a nice wooden frame, that I had bought from a thrift store. I thought it would be good for this. I had the frame shop (Kelley Galleries, in Hudson, WI) cut an octagonal glass piece for it - and they did a nice job!

Shapes Plus Just the Right Colors Equals Awesome (My Title) Watercolor

Plant in Window, Upstairs Back Room (of My Plant-Loving Mom's Home) - Pencil Sketch

My Sister, Ann, Sleeping

My Mom and sister took a fun trip to Las Vegas - and my Mom sketched this of her as she was sleeping in a hotel bed.

Neither my Mom nor sister were able to travel much - each had to deal with very difficult circumstances. This would be their last vacation trip away together though, that I recall. They got some of the best, and most fun, recent pictures of themselves ever though, on that trip - I am super-glad they went!!!

MY SISTER ANN DIED IN A CAR CRASH, IN 2012. It was related to some care-taking employment she took up - one with some poor working conditions - in desperation, after escaping an abusive relationship. My Mom knew about the hard time she was having, and it disturbed her - especially since she was so far away, in another state. But then, my sister's death devastated her. (My sister had been in several car accidents prior to this one - a least a couple of them were serious, one of them being very near death [leaving much scarring, and a head and foot injury.])


My Mom died September 21, 2014. (It's been a long string of lousy years.) My Mom had been storing a lot of my recently dead sister's stuff at her house....So when my brother and I went to clear my Mom's house out, I was not only going through the stuff of my mother's, but my sister's too.

It is sad. I discovered so much that I didn't know my sister and I had in common AFTER she died (the same thing with my Mom, too) - from looking at pictures; seeing what subjects she was interested in taking pictures of; reading/seeing pictures of her activities; seeing what cook books and plant books, etc,  she collected; and seeing what cooking tools and serving accessories she also amassed. :)

I like to hunt mushrooms, so did my sister. She even kept an intensive notebook/binder/folder on the subject. (Like my Mom, my sister was also into horticulture, and was a Master Gardener. Like my Mom, too, this girl also amassed a pile of State Fair ribbons !! [My sister received some for photography too.])

And like my Mom - despite living through hard times - she could be a comedian. :)

My Mom, sister, and I all loved coffee, chocolate, and things of the garden. That, I knew.  :)

I look forward to us being here together again someday - when God "will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning, nor outcry, nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away." (Revelation 21:4) 

I can hardly wait to have chocolate and coffee with them both - in a stunning garden here. Scars and pain, sickness, poverty - and pain of heart - all troubles - will be gone. Everything will renewed.

(Simplified) Sketch of My Mom's House (Where I Grew Up), Looking Out the Front Door, From the Center

Oh, she had it MUCH more decorated than this shows - basically, everything was "removed", to feature just the architecture - but then the lush outside... This sketch was on a larger piece of paper. I cut it down, but then also cut out and glued my Mom, Trudy DuBois's signature back on it.

A very sad kind of thing, though, is this: After my Mom died, and my brother and I cleared out her house, to sell it, it went back to being empty.....so this is more like my last sight of it - of being in the home I grew up in....So, in this way, my Mom drawing her own home looking this empty ended up being profound to me...

In Jah's new world earth here though, I get my Mom back; she gets to fill her home with all kinds of art, floral arrangements, (cooking implements!), etc;  and she gets to walk around paradise here with a sketch book, paints, etc. I hope that's soon.

Allium Flowers

I made a "set" of three of these. Maybe some were just "practice" for my Mom - because I cut the two more square pictures out of much larger pieces of paper - but to me, they're special.

(Pastel) Girl in Blue Jeans

From a pastel-filled sketch pad.

Watercolor - Trees, Hill, Sky (My Title)

Original Lithograph, Showing Both Titles: "Where is Everybody" and "Little Boy Blues", Embossed Onto White Paper, Signed

Pastel Nude from "Life-Drawing" Class - Woman on Blue Blanket

Inspired-by/Sketching Another Artist's Work at an Art Museum/Gallery in Las Vegas? - Woman at Dance Barre

Precious Penciled Teapot

Lone Dark Tree

Rust-Colored Rectangles

Crayons, Cubes

Elegant Crayon Cow Scene

(Unknown) Sleeping Baby in Blanket - Sketch/Watercolor

Architectural Sketch of My Mom's Dream Restaurant

Girl, Large Black Ink Abstract

Sure Looks, to Me, Like "Babylon the Great" Continuing to Work War-Mongering! (Large Black Ink Sketch)

Nude Pastel from "Life Drawing" Class

(Again, pastels from other sketches had smeared on this one too.)

Sketch-Portrait from Photo - Poet Ezra Pond

"Big Donut, Small (?)" (Pastel)

Blue Pastel Nude From "Life-Drawing" Class at School

(I pulled this out of one of my Mom's big sketch books. Pastels from other sketches had marred it.)

Original Lithograph Print - Mary Holding Jesus

Pink Spider Mum (Watercolor/Sketch)

Single Iris - Light Purple (Small Watercolor)

Trees in Desert (My Title) - Watercolor