Chapter 13: November 2005
Thanks to Mom's long-term care insurance, she had caregivers 6 hrs a day. She would get them to take her places to sketch. One caregiver had a horse in Canby, south of Oregon City, and she’d take Mom to feed it. Going back they would sometimes stop at Willamette Falls. One sketch from September (15a) shows a tranquil scene, with trees and the hills beyond. The squiggly lines suggest a feeling of airiness, like we might just spiral up into the trees. The Falls aren’t even pictured. Actually, the only way I would guess it was there is from the title on the back. It could just as well be Clackamette Park, at the mouth of the Clackamas.
In November the rains came, and the Willamette was moving faster. Mom did a series of sketches progressively abstracting from the scene, to convey the energy of the water. The first one (15b) is just a study of the shape of the place, and the water flowing over and through that shape. If solid is masculine and fluid feminine, as we have seen in her portraits (Chapter 6), then this study is rather masculine. In her second and third versions that changes. In the second (15c), churning mists of water start to take over. By the third version (15d) there is almost nothing solid left, not even the bluff on which the viewer is standing, just swirls and lines.
Mom’s favorite place continued to be the two sides of the Clackamas River where it joins the Willamette. In September and October the boats were still out, and Mom enjoyed drawing them as they zoomed along. One contrasts the stillness of the bank with the speed of the boat (15e). Another one simplifies and focuses intensely on the speed (15f). Her husband had had such a boat and occasionally enjoyed revving the throttle. (The color change on the right side has to do with the scanner, not the artist.)
Autumn is of course when the leaves change color and thin out, exposing the bare branches. Mom loved painting the process. Here the upper branches appear bare, while the lower ones are still lush (15g):
Several sketches try to abstract from a row of trees, probably on the other side of the Clackamas. don’t think it really works. I include an example that I don't think really works (15h), to show how much trial and error it took to produce something magical.
However it all comes together in a watercolor version of the same kind of scene, whether of the same trees or not, which became the illustration for November on the calendar (15i).
Once that November, I took a photo with Mom’s camera while she was sketching on the south side of the Clackamas (15j). Mom chose that scene as the subject of her Thanksgiving card, which we dutifully and joyfully sent out to family and friends (15k). The view is from the south side of the Clackamas.
In November the rains came, and the Willamette was moving faster. Mom did a series of sketches progressively abstracting from the scene, to convey the energy of the water. The first one (15b) is just a study of the shape of the place, and the water flowing over and through that shape. If solid is masculine and fluid feminine, as we have seen in her portraits (Chapter 6), then this study is rather masculine. In her second and third versions that changes. In the second (15c), churning mists of water start to take over. By the third version (15d) there is almost nothing solid left, not even the bluff on which the viewer is standing, just swirls and lines.
Mom’s favorite place continued to be the two sides of the Clackamas River where it joins the Willamette. In September and October the boats were still out, and Mom enjoyed drawing them as they zoomed along. One contrasts the stillness of the bank with the speed of the boat (15e). Another one simplifies and focuses intensely on the speed (15f). Her husband had had such a boat and occasionally enjoyed revving the throttle. (The color change on the right side has to do with the scanner, not the artist.)
Autumn is of course when the leaves change color and thin out, exposing the bare branches. Mom loved painting the process. Here the upper branches appear bare, while the lower ones are still lush (15g):
Several sketches try to abstract from a row of trees, probably on the other side of the Clackamas. don’t think it really works. I include an example that I don't think really works (15h), to show how much trial and error it took to produce something magical.
However it all comes together in a watercolor version of the same kind of scene, whether of the same trees or not, which became the illustration for November on the calendar (15i).
Once that November, I took a photo with Mom’s camera while she was sketching on the south side of the Clackamas (15j). Mom chose that scene as the subject of her Thanksgiving card, which we dutifully and joyfully sent out to family and friends (15k). The view is from the south side of the Clackamas.
posted by Michael S Howard at 11:03 AM
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