IdrewThese.html

Drawings
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Naomi Sherer

Years ago I spent many hours with ink, pens, paints and brushes.
Those marvelous renditions were stored in a thirty by twenty-four inch portfolio
and were left to age and gather dust in a tin storage shed.
The shed has many small entrances that welcome mice.
The drawings had long since been forgotten but I was too possessive to let mice use them for snacks.
Last summer I brought that portfolio into my living room
and it gathered more dust as it aged almost under my feet.
Soon I decided to return it to the shed.
But I had to have a look at the stuff I sweated over decades ago.
I was intrigued and astonished by my talent.
No humility in this quarter.
I am not even certain these are all my work but they are in my portfolio
and possession is nine tenths of the law.

But since you are at this page in my website you must be curious so therefore I share my memories.

Objects that stand still on the table are fair game for attack.
Fruit and vases were proud subjects for this wash drawing with India ink and brushes.
The brown texture on either side of the drawing is my living room carpet
which I laid down while my left arm was recovering from a break
that resulted from a fall while I went ice skating.
(Ron had died in December and Ethel was going to join me to spread his ashes
then she died two weeks later and I went crazy.)
Picture the art work on the floor and me leaning over
to capture them in digital images with my Nikon Coolpix.
There were over one hundred and fifty but I am going to
limit this torture to less than half.
I only hope you are grateful.

The snowfall in 1968 appeared lovely and warranted the December
title of Happy Contentment. At least I must have been in that mood.
The trick in this type of work is to leave the white paper
and only brush in the shadows with a thin wash of India ink.

Calves were my favorite animals so naturally they stood in awe while I sketched them.
You will see this one over and over in many scenes that follow.

The jack rabbit, actually a hare, was not as patient so I really hurried the sketch.

White-tailed deer manage to live close to city residences and often
munch tulips, daffodils, and shoots of gardeners early spring efforts.

Big curled horns are totally different from the ones on the placid
Jersey cows I knew in my childhood.
I saw goats on the rocks and cliffs in Baniff National Park.
The Ram has been co-opted by Dodge and its horns adorn all models.

When I couldn't travel I had my own hands to hold my attention.
The quill pen slides over the paper in all quick scribbles.

Kittens are cute subjects. Tim brought home these two homeless ones
when Ron and I went off on a 3 day trip.
When I expressed my disapproval he just shrugged and said,
"But Mom, they were free."

They were nice companions for Ron.
All the time I was growing up cats belonged in the barn.
Oh well, see how I took advantage of their attention.

Still life is accommodating. It remains very still while I capture the details.

Self portrait was done in pencil from my reflection in a mirror.

Potatoes watched me while I captured them with my little quill.

Coyotes howled out beyond the shelter belt when we first moved to Richland
but I drew and painted this one from ideas I got from western novels.

I used pulp samples in Ketchikan for scenes that begged to be rendered in colorful acrylic.

Boats most often seen from our apartment window were fishing boats and tugboats.

How I managed to get this gentleman I do not remember.
Maybe from the tail fin on Alaskan Air.

Would you believe there are bears stuffed in this posture on many city streets?

When we first moved to Ketchikan we went on the Alaskan ferry.
Once there we found roads to be few and we got cabin fever and lingered only a few months.