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Thursday, January 31, 2008

More Wax

This is my mother and her cousin Wanda. Mom said that Daddy dated Wanda for awhile so I blotted her out. If Dad had chosen Wanda I wouldn't be here. 'Nuf said.

The young gals and the old gals having a good time. The old gals are my great grandmother (in yellow) and her sisters. They called them the Big Five though I'm not sure why. ;-) Their expressions are priceless.

This is my mother-in-law practicing her kissing skills on her twin sister. I love the clothes; those girls were brilliant phi beta kappas and always turned out in the latest fashion.

This is the wood frame house in Jewel, Oregon where my father-in-law was born. I cut the house in half to fit the size I wanted but from that humble beginning he went on to captain Vanderbilt's yacht, travel the world and become a successful entomologist. I have photos of all of it and correspondence too from the 20's and 30's. I was close to John's father and find his life fascinating.

More silliness. I started these because one of the boys in the high school art class expressed an interest in using his photographs with encaustic. I thought if I took in some examples it would get him going. Back to the studio; more fun today.

16 comments:

Ro Bruhn said...

Delightful Judy, I love the way you blocked out your mother's cousin, glad she didn't end up with your dad or you might not be here. Love the way you've incorporated them into the wax, such lovely colours.
Ro
xo

Lynn Cohen said...

Oh these photos of your grandmother and her sisters is fantastic. I love their sense of humor, the leg positions, skirts held up, and the kiss, just fantastic. The cards are all terrific. FILs house and family is a good one too. I hope the HS kid gets started doing this with his photos too. Great examples. Well done, well done.

Karen Cole said...

What an incredibly lucky high school art class.

Such inspiration.........wildly exciting :-) and incredibly inspirational....for sure.

Our parents weren't as "stuffy" as we thought so many years ago, were they?

Johns father sounds like quite the adventurer. It's great that you have all of those memories to hold on to. Hope to see some more.

Kel said...

Oh my goodness, I love these. One of these days I will get the old photos out. I especially love the old girls and the young girls.

Candace said...

Hi Judy, wonderful work! Don't you love those old photos? Much more real than many "studio" shots we have today. My twin didn't make it past the first hour out of the chute, so I had to practice MY kissing skills on a cousin. Those HATS!

Thanks for sharing.

~Red Tin Heart~ said...

They are simply delightful!! xoxo nita

Maija said...

Great wax work - wonderful history!!

Great Circle Etsy Team said...

Judy, I've been lurking on your blog for several months. I LOVE these family pieces. I can tell that they're special for you. Can't wait to try encaustic some day with my collages.

Keep playing and I'll keep lurking!

Twinnie Susan

Anonymous said...

Judy, there is no way I can conceive of you not being here! I promise you would have made it anyway. I don't know how, but I know you would have made it. You might have looked different than you do now, but you would have made it. A spirit like yours is not one to be denied. Trust me.

Anonymous said...

lolllllll. i love these pages! so fun! hope you are well. xo

liz elayne lamoreux said...

these are so delightful - such humor and joy! i love seeing all these women who came before you...

katie said...

these are fabulous judy, what great samples to bring for the high schoolers. i especially like "wild thing"...now those girls wanna have FUN!!

Anonymous said...

i adore the background you used here on the wind thing picture. So very cool, and it fits the picture feel perfectly. Awesome awesome work!

Anonymous said...

I love these, Judy! Gets me wanting to dig out old pix and play.

femminismo said...

Judy,
I, too, enjoyed the blotting out of your mom's sister's face.
My mother dated my dad once, and then his brother, my uncle, only once. As she drove away with my uncle on their date she turned to look back and saw my father-to-be's face - so sad, she said - and she never dated anyone else after that. Oh, my father was so handsome I don't know how she resisted him for a single second!

Laura Bray said...

Love the photos. My grandfather dated my grandmother's sister before he dated her. It makes your head to hurt to think about how one's existence depended on the whims of a teenager, doesn't it?