if i could push the stop button on summer i would do it right now. just before it begins to speed up. before it completes it's arc in the summer sky. before the earth starts tilting too far back on its axis. the days shortening. the light leaving the sky. impossible you say? i just haven't found the button yet. but i will.
that's the 18 year old maria angelina vela. a newly discovered portrait of our dear mom we'd never seen. dug up from the archives at her sister's house recently. a true treasure.
i'm still here. up on the little hill. making messes, eating drippy lemon popsicles, drinking blueberry ale, following mars around the night sky. sending you out a smoke signal.
I understand wanting to push the pause button on summer! I can’t believe June is on its way out. Are you going back into the classroom this fall?
This is such a fun blog or whatever you call it. Your bird drawings are sweet and a reminder that I drew birds last summer and today I saw my first kingfisher, with a croaky call, like a squeaky door. I love birding, putting together the call with the bird, looking it up in the Golden book and notating the time and place. Now to the drawing board. Thanks, MAM!
Sorry I missed the opportunity to get into Sketchbookery or any kind I sketching. No fine motor control left in hands and close to no gross motor control in dominant right hand. But I will always be able to view and to love your sketches. I have so enjoyed watching you develop your skills these past years so thank you for sharing! And, yes…you do look just like Mama Moss.
The high school Mamá Moss went to was the Ursuline Academy in Laredo, Texas.
enjoyin the views from here Mary Ann, what a special moment to find a pic of Mama Moss treasured away, I love that!!! Made me feel very good inside. I can see your smoke singles rising out west and am sending a secret code back at ya in the clouds. I know if you use that brilliant imagination of yours, you’ll be able to decode them with no trouble. I know you are good with that sort of thing. The first of July draws ever closer, I picked up a few new copic multi-liners, my current ones were gettin’ kind of dry and a few other pens to experiment with and I’m ready to stampede in when you fling open the class doors. My special summer thirst quencher is pretty tasty and easy peasy if you want a fizzy lifting kind of drink… so if you can get your hands on some Jone’s Stawberry-lime soda, any good brand of lemonade vodka, topped off with a twist of lime or lemon juice in a tall ice filled glass, really, really yummy and very pretty too. xoxo
What a treasure finding that photo. She was so pretty.I must tell you a funny thing. After registering for your class I made a list of what I needed and headed off to my favorite art store. I handed my list to the fellow I usually deal with.
(he knows me and how cookie I can get) Anyway he comes back with the paper I wanted and the rest of what I needed, but he was grinning from ear to ear. I said what’s up? He said he couldn’t fill everything on the list and started laughing. I took the list and realized under the title supplies for class I had also put vodka,St Germaines elderflower liqueur, and cranberry juice. I informed him that 2 glasses were required before starting. He and his buddies were now all laughing and wanted to know where to sign up. You now have a new bunch of followers.
Now girl, you know summer goes on for a long long time in SoCal. You have many days ahead to enjoy.
Did Mama Moss go to school in New Orleans? when I see Ursuline that’s what I think of first though there was one in Washington DC ages ago too.
oh my, you
look just like Mama Moss!
Lovely old pic of your mom. Vintage images of family are so fun.
What’s that scruffy little fabric bag at the top of the first picture???
It is a sweet moment – before everything kicks in. I like looking out, seeing lots of space, imagining it all happening. Time for another cold drink and a made from left over smoothie watermelon/lime/banana popsicle out in the backyard with the Swallowtails.
Hi MAM: ) I LOVE this post, pictures, words, ALL wonderful : ) and I LOVE and agree with Dawnri’s (above) comment – LOVE IT !!!!
I’m rather new here but feel VERY comfortable which makes me HAPPY : ) It’s like I’ve just stepped into a room/community of like-minded art-nutsies, ha : )
AAnd I’m EXTATIC about Sketchbookery which I gingerly signed up for and CAN’T WAIT !!!!!!!! I was playing and gathering and playing and gathering my supplies last night and eventually will HAVE TO HAVE that WN set you linked us to – too coool !!!!! but for now I’ll stick with the little Sakura Koi set of 24 I have – hope that’s good enough : ) I also have a little set of Grumbacher w/c that I can use ??
Keep looking for that button and happy weekending to you : ) See ya in class : )
Blessings, Sandra in AZ : )
I suspect that if you have figured out how to push the stop button on the endless round of ‘to do’ that circles in the brain and (as you do) just ‘be’, there’s probably something in that.
If you find the stop button, stop the world on a Saturday right after Sketchbookery starts so we can sit around sketching our toes and fingers, sipping cocktails and laughing until we can no longer breath.
maria angelina vela – what an absolutely stunningly exquisite name! A musical rhythm which rolls off ones tongue with such ease and beauty. Belong to her. A wonderful treasure to uncover. I’ll be right over for some blueberry ale. Have never had the pleasure. Shall we both watch mars tonight and be connected? xoDonna
My summer school vacation just started this past week and I want that button already. For about a week or two its quiet and slow paced and then bam, you go into summer mode (which is pretty low key and turtle paced to start with), and time flitters at light speed by you. Why do summers go faster than the rest of year? Hope you find that stop/slow down button, and if you do, send me instructions how to find it to. And if I get it first, I promise I will send those instructions to you.
She was herself all along. Lovely.
Say, MAM, you seem to have a real grasp of cosmic movement of the local spheres. Perhaps you’d be able to help with a very long standing vexation. So, the moon. I tend to look at it. I can’t figure out how it moves through the day, through the year*. I have found animations of how it circles the earth, etc. But never anything that can show me it’s arc and schedule in various seasons.
Any help???????
Draw On.
* My confusion comes when I can see it rise two and three times in the course of a single night, moving up from the same place in the horizon. And also seeing it in that area earlier in the day. I’ve asked several star hobbists and been to the observatory trying to figure it out. People just blink at me and decide whether they should call somebody in white. Halp.
Absolutely beautiful photo of your mom! A keepsake. I am loving the birds, a reminder to keep flying high!
What a cute picture of Mama Moss! I’m loving that sweater. Enjoy your summer, Mary Ann-there’s lots more of it to come!