The Manicure

8 x 10, ink and watercolor on paper.

Man on Bench II

3 x 5, pencil on paper.

Head Strong

This one looks kind of like Ron Howard to me, but it was never my father's style to draw celebrities, so it's probably a coincidence. Rather he liked to focus in on certain features, such as this man's heavy brow and full lips.

3 x 5, pencil on paper.

Gypsy Wine

This sketch is part of a group of studies and so even though the head is clearly not the same person as the one holding the glass, the fact that they share the same page makes me think that perhaps a man was offering this woman a glass of wine, or perhaps drinking it in her company.

3 x 5, pencil and color wash on paper.

Nose

My father was very diligent and self-motivated to study and sketch all parts of the body until he got it right. Here is his study of a nose.

3 x 5, pencil on paper.

Man on a Bench

3 x 5, pencil on paper.

The Look

There is something very haunting about this woman's look. I love how he achieved such tonality between the lights and the darks. It is from a 3 x 5 pencil sketch.

The Gift

8 x 10, ink on paper.

Searching

Not only is this a delicate image because it was done on newsprint, which is very thin and yellows easily, but it has a vulnerability and an unselfconscious nakedness like many of the others do not have. I feel that this woman is very concentrated on what she is doing, and is thinking of anything but her own bareness. She seems to be intent on finding something that she has lost.

It reminds me of the time when I wore a pair of my mother's favorite earrings out to a fancy party. They were gold screw back earrings, as neither of us had pierced ears at the time. These earrings were in the shape of a teardrop, a little gold teardrop "cage" containing a single pearl and they would sway with the movement of the wearer. They were a gift to her from my father. She leant them to me with the admonition to be careful not to lose them.

They must have been magic earrings because I felt like the belle of the ball. I danced all night and felt on top of the world, flush and breathless. Finally it came time for the evening to end, and I said my good-byes. I returned home and recounted the nights happenings to my mother. I reached up to take off the earrings and I felt only one. The other one was not there! I felt a panic rising in my belly. This could not be. I had checked them so many times during the evening! I was horrified, hated myself, and the evening's pleasure drained away in an instant. A darkness engulfed me, and I wanted to die.

My mother was crushed, but tried to be cheerful about it. I could see by the look on her face that it made her sad. I called the party hosts but nothing had been found. I cried and told her how sorry I was. I had lost something precious to my mother and could not get it back. To this day none of the gifts I have given her have been able to erase the guilt I felt for the childish abandon of that night that caused me to lose them so long ago. I still hope beyond hope that the missing earring will turn up some place unexpected and, like the gift must have done when she first received them from my father, bring a rush of joy into my heart.

8 x 10, ink and watercolor on newsprint.

Comtemplation

8 x 10, ink and watercolor on paper.

Modesty

I love the old-fashioned grace of how my father has captured this woman's form. For me it feels as if the focus is off the page, into the forward distance where she is covering herself from the gaze of someone in her eyeview. This gives us a sense of her tenuous privacy, gives us a way of identifying with the woman, of knowing her intimately. We see the beauty of her form in its secret, half-protected offer.

Resting

8 x 10, ink and watercolor on paper.

Emerging

My father rarely did bright watercolor like this, but I think it gives the image an extra sense of place, as if this man is emerging from a very hot bath. The pose is rather feminine, as is the long hair, and yet the figure is masculine. I like images that have contradictions like this.

8 x 10, ink and watercolor on paper.