Friday, May 23, 2008

Moving to Wordpress

I have not updated this blog in some time, but have decided to continue with periodic updates on Wordpress. Myfathershand.com will still be the current URL, but myfathershand.blogspot will become inactive and serve as an archive for those who have not updated their linking information.

Please be aware that comments to the archive will no longer be accepted. You will need to make them on the Wordpress site, located at myfathershand.com.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Book


Book, originally uploaded by Living in Monrovia.

3 x 5, pencil on paper

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Red Tie


Red Tie, originally uploaded by Living in Monrovia.

3 x 5, pencil with wash

The End of the Beginning


I started this blog with the idea that I would give the world a little of my father's talent, one that he kept hidden away, and write about him a little, as a way of getting to know him.

I have done that; I have started with the ending, an ending I saw coming from many thousands of seconds from now. My thoughts live in seconds, not minutes or hours. They thrash about before making it to the page, before my fingers tap, tap, tap so lightly to engage the current that carries their signal to the screen, and—tap—through cables and ether to yours. But this ending, that of my father's life, was an eon within a second. An achingly short moment that will last forever in my mind. And so, it saddens me to say that this beginning of his ending is now over. My father passed away on September 1st, shortly after 9 a.m.

He had grown ever distant, depending on my mother's care, rarely speaking, but existing as a monument to his own life, a mystery and an icon in the lives of his family, a face turning away, towards something only he could see, a hand that once expressed desire through lines, now clutching a blanket.

He was my father, yet I hardly knew him. He is the greatest unsolved mystery in my life, and I know not what to do with him, except give him to you, here, on the page. I have clues, through writings and drawings, of what he really felt about a life that changed abruptly at the close of the Viet Nam war. It was the end of the largest chapter of his life, and he closed the cover to the contents within, ciphering quiet secrets at the end of his pen.

Today, I open a Mead notebook, dated 1969. I want to find something of him in the quoted material he obsessively wrote down. He would not dare to write his own thoughts, but in copying down feelings and thoughts he could attribute to others, he may just be revealing some of himself. And now, as I read these passages again, I stumble and stop, because I can hear him speaking to me:

"We like to figure things out and make them come out right."

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Book of Drawings

I am considering making a book of my father's drawings, or a book of this blog available for purchase as through Blurb. Anyone with an interest or ideas for this, please leave a comment. Thank you!

Friday, June 22, 2007

CLOSED


CLOSED, originally uploaded by Living in Monrovia.

Here is a photo I took of one of the file drawers of my father's. He obsessively cut out images from magazines and categorized them according to what would make the most sense in terms of a reference for figure drawing. I haven't counted how many folders he has, but I wouldn't be surprised if the number topped 100.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Knee


Knee, originally uploaded by Living in Monrovia.

Just a little shading is all you need...

3 x 5, pencil on paper.

Friday, March 09, 2007

Flirt


Flirt, originally uploaded by Living in Monrovia.

3 x 5, pencil on paper.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Float


Float, originally uploaded by Living in Monrovia.

I love this one. I think it would make a great painting.

3 x 5, pencil on paper.

Friday, March 02, 2007

Watching the Past


Watching the Past, originally uploaded by Living in Monrovia.

The strength in her face is almost masculine. It makes me think of my father's unspoken fears about his own past. I think that he locked himself away from the world partly out of a conviction that someone, someday would step out of the shadows and take him unawares.

3 x 5, pencil on paper.

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Roman Head


Roman Head, originally uploaded by Living in Monrovia.

Here is one of my father's sculptures. He went through a phase doing these, and I really like their chunky quality. There are quite a few on my parents' bookcases. Some of my favorite books as a child are to the right of the head. Tintin!

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Neck Study


NeckStudy, originally uploaded by Living in Monrovia.

3 x 5, pencil on paper.

Friday, February 23, 2007

Singer


Singer, originally uploaded by Living in Monrovia.

3 x 5, pencil on paper.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Sport


Sport, originally uploaded by Living in Monrovia.

3 x 5, pencil on paper.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Fighting


fighting.jpg, originally uploaded by Living in Monrovia.

3 x 5, pencil on paper.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Rue


Rue, originally uploaded by Living in Monrovia.

There's something sort of "Stan Laurel" about this sketch. The expression...is one I remember well!

3 x 5, pencil on paper.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Summer Dress


Summer Dress, originally uploaded by Living in Monrovia.

3 x 5, pencil on paper.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Cufflink


Cufflink, originally uploaded by Living in Monrovia.

Here is another hand sketch. I like the way he has blocked out the fingers, and can almost imagine this being carved out of some big hunk of stone.

3 x 5, pencil on paper.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Grasping


handgrip.jpg, originally uploaded by Living in Monrovia.

A quick hand study. So simple but so rich.

3 x 5, pecil on paper.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Lost in Thought


lostinthought.jpg, originally uploaded by Living in Monrovia.

If I were to do a portrait of myself, I think it would look something like this. I have always been a quiet, thoughtful person, and if the outside accurately reflected the inside, I imagine that during periods of intense thought the "faraway" look would cause my body would fade and become sketchy the further away I drifted, and perhaps a little fuzzy ball with flickering images would show up in the foreground, representing that place that I really might be...

3 x 5, pencil on paper.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

The Towel


The Towel, originally uploaded by Living in Monrovia.

8 x 10, ink on paper.