Monday, June 22, 2009

Before and After?

 
 
That's what I thought as I selected these two drawings to post. Gawd, they could be 'before and after' images." 'Before' shows a fresh young thing with all possibilities still ahead of her. 'After' shows the remains after life has slapped her around a bit....as life is apt to do.

The woman and dog's hats are covered with tulle. (Is that the right fabric term?) I was stumped as to how to draw tulle, how to capture the look of partial opaqueness. (I'll have to check the spelling of that, too, but you get my drift.) In the after image the dog is all she has left. He cares for the woman very much and knows how important he is in her life. Her only friend. Her only companion. Because of this he tolerates her escapades, her misguided trips down doggy-fashion lane. He has a big heart for such a small dog.

It seems like I've gotten out of the habit of posting, but its really because I didn't have anything to talk about. One day leads to another and before you know it a week has passed.

I made my usual Saturday trip to my friend's place for games and conversation. She's experiencing health issues now. We kind of joked about both her and her car falling apart at the same time. Not so funny, truth be told.

Several months ago she had emergency heart bypass surgery. She didn't bounce back the way I expected but she did bounce back. I expected cart wheels and dancing because, you know, her heart is moving the blood around so much better now. It didn't happen... the cart wheels and dancing. Now there's talk of angioplasty surgery. Periphial Artery Disease. Normally I always feel 'everything will be okay', but this one has me feeling just a little concerned. My friend is also diabetic and it takes her longer to heal. They have her on the fast track in getting tests done. Currently she waits to hear what comes next and how soon.

She doesn't talk about it much. You have to ask the questions. I can feel her concern, too. Its bubbling just below the surface.
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4 comments:

cat's momma said...

I like your "before and after" drawings a lot! I haven't drawn a thing for quite a while. Also have been having issues with my computer...mainly dealing with storing my 18,000 photographs in an external drive, deleting and reinstalling Picasa and finding it has a new way to do banners. It's all been very confusing...but Sandy and Mike have helped a lot.

They're in San Francisco for a few days now and will be back here at the end of the week.

I feel for your friend and her health issues. I do hope everything turns out ok for her though.

Brenda said...

Oh yes, the first picture she looks like she could take on the world, maybe like many of us did when we were young. I think her after picture is charming. I have had my share of working with tulle on formal gowns that I altered, but would not know how to draw it. You did good.
So sorry to hear about your friend. I will say a prayer that she recovers well and is back to her old self soon.

Wanda said...

So sorry about your friend and her health issues. Getting older sure has it's down side.

The second drawing is fabulous! I love it. And I love the narative you gave, but I wanted you to go further... I want to know all about this woman. The eyes capture me.. I want to know more! Humor me!

LOL:Wanda

The Crusty Crone said...

oooh... Wanda has my interest aroused. Let me see what I come up with.....