Family in Church

Spring 2000 - This picture is quite interesting. It's an almost satirical look at the lifestyle of a young religious couple. Having been actively raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (a.k.a. as Mormons) I have always been acutely aware of the fact that I'm-- *expected* to grow up and get married and have children. I sketched this out in the middle of a Sacrament Meeting (that's Sermon or Service for those un-Mormon types) and at this time at my life, 19 years old, I was being pressured from a lot of different religious sources to get married and have children like a "good little Mormon girl". This upset me, partly because I've always had trouble trying to date guys-- I have always been standoffish. At the time I was also jaded-- I believed that almost all Men were Scum. The only person I wanted to be with was Donatello (or a guy like him). The picture sprung from that. Note the children... I imagined that I would be quite exhausted with little children-- so I drew myself as being so. (I do *like* children however, which was another thing that bothered me... if I couldn't find a husband or a guy I liked then how on earth was I supposed to properly have children?)

You'll probably also note the high concentration of Religious type drawings centering on church or church related activities. (Like my Brooklyn at Church water color. :D) This was because my Church occupied so much of my time and life while I was growing up. For a year or so-- 2001-- I went inactive and the concentration of my artwork with a church theme deminished greatly during that time.

Unfortunately it appears that I have lost the original of this picture and only have the scan left, which is really too bad I would have liked to have finished this on paper. Ah well. :) Oh yes, and note the Star Wars tie. *lol*

(As with all of my pictures here ~ click on thumbnail to get larger uncropped version)

Agnes & Leo

10/00 - I drew this during a really rough time of my life; in October 2000 my dad and I went back to Winnipeg, my childhood home. We went to see my great Aunt May, who in her late 80's, was faltering in both mental and physical health. When I was a child I was really close to my Grandma and Grandpa and my Great Aunts-- they helped raise me in a way. :D Well they all had passed away years before, and my Aunt May was the only one left. I hadn't been back to Winnipeg since I was 11, and I had never seen my Grandparent's graves since my parents didn't or couldn't send me back to see the funerals. So here I am, in a city I had grown up in, seeing my grandparent's graves for the first time-- seeing my old house, sleeping in my Great Aunt Ethel's bed, where they had put me up for the night. Needless to say, I think I cried more that weekend then I ever had before in my life. I felt like I was a little kid again, not 20.

One of those nights as I lay in bed trying not to cry at memories, I picked up my binder and a pencil and drew this. I wrote a little note at the bottom "It's been a long time... Leo & Agnes, Winnipeg 2000". Even though it just looks like a simple pencil sketch, to this day this picture means a lot to me.

Incidentally Agnes was my Grandmother's name. :)