Light. 9"x12" Pigment ink on Bristol Board
When my First Epsilon was eight years old, he and I decided to make Macy Gray's song "I Try" to be our theme song. Whenever we heard the song, we stopped what we were doing, ran to each other, hugged and danced. Last weekend, we were in the kitchen when the song played on the radio. He exclaimed, "Mom! That's our song!" I did not feel like dancing but I looked at him and he appeared to want so much to dance as if to give it another try. I obliged. Then when he was eight years old, I was taller than him, and I relished brushing my cheeks against his hair. I loved smelling his head. This time around, he is much taller than I am and so, that Saturday morning, I buried my face on his chest. I heard the beating of his heart as I hugged him tightly. My epsilon has vanished.
About the drawing: When I was growing up, I read a legend that the first Filipino man and woman came to this world when two bamboos were split in half. I used this premise to draw the emergence of my beloved friends, just when my light start to flicker, they lift me up and help me light the way. You know who you are. I love you. I thank you. Sisterfriends seem weak a title for how I feel about you. I feel you really are my sixth and seventh sisters. Thank you for your love and helping me keep the path lit.
To all our epsilons, may their paths always be brightly lit.
About the drawing: When I was growing up, I read a legend that the first Filipino man and woman came to this world when two bamboos were split in half. I used this premise to draw the emergence of my beloved friends, just when my light start to flicker, they lift me up and help me light the way. You know who you are. I love you. I thank you. Sisterfriends seem weak a title for how I feel about you. I feel you really are my sixth and seventh sisters. Thank you for your love and helping me keep the path lit.
To all our epsilons, may their paths always be brightly lit.
I Try
This is absolutely amazing. I love your entry, also. I wish I had more time to read more of your stuff tonight, but can't.
ReplyDeleteI hope you're doing well. :) Your stuff just keeps getting better and better.
Dori.
Hi Dori! Welcome back! Nice to see you again. Hope you are well.
ReplyDelete...so....incredibly....beautiful and tranquil. It takes my breath away, and I want to just close my eyes and keep this image in my head forever. I think I will do just that. As I lay down tonight, I will remember this drawing and keep it in my head until I fall asleep.
ReplyDeleteFull lips are better for kissing sisters on the forehead and cheeks.
A tsup here, a tsup here, and a tsup there.
sigh!!! I just LOVE being here. It makes me feel like I'm surrounded with love--not for ME, but the love expressed between you, Ces, and your near-dozen 'sister-Peeps'.
ReplyDeleteAnd that love permeates through all who come here, all who read here, all who with JOY, view your work and receive uplifting benefits from that.
Ces, thank you so much...'Peep' is a word which means to me a special person, special friend, one or many with whom I trudge this road to happy destiny.
Do not recall if I coined the word (unlikely--grin!) or if I saw it somewhere.
See you here again, Sqiggle-Peep!
Elles ont de ces belles chevelures...
ReplyDeleteDessin magique... Belle image que de danser dans les bras de son enfant... Bisous
Friends who sustain us and lift us up are so important in our lives. I am so happy you have such good ones.
ReplyDeleteAlso I absolutely love the frivolity of the barefoot dancing and bamboos and more bamboos.
You are finally really letting loose and it thrills me to bits.
PS I just had the most wonderful day our with India and spent a king's ransom on oils and acrylics and brushes. Such an indecent sum that he threw in the Conte pencil and graphite stick as a bonus.
The aftermath of my birthday just keeps getting better and better.
PPS Three of the brushes (wildly expensive) are absolutely sensuous.
LIFE IS GOOD
Ces this is one of the most beautiful of your drawings....and that is hard to say as they all are so evocative.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you danced with your son, that you heard his heart.
I am glad you did it though you did not feel like it, and I am glad he remembered. ♥
I really love the tale of the first man and woman....
Take care my friend.
TSUP~~♥
Anne
thank you very much Grandewitch for the award and for thinking of me, very much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteive been sick.
please excuse me ive missed visiting you.
what a pretty drawing you got here.
if only i could stay a bit longer.
hope you are well.
i'll be back someday ok.
**swoons** Oh Ces. Oh Ces. Oh Ces. So so beautiful. I love the hand emerging from the last cane. I love the light in the darkness. I love the legs and the full lips. This is so dreamy...as Bella said, tranquil. I must go back and look again and breathe it all in. You are most amazing, my Cesalicious. He has not vanished...he is still in there, hiding...they always come back.
ReplyDelete**blows kisses** Deb
They grow up so fast. It is but the blink of an eye. What a sweet boy you have Ces!! I mean man, but he will always be your boy!
ReplyDeleteI love the bamboo and the sisterfriends. Such a beautiful drawing. You are amazing Ces!!
Love and hugs dear one, have a great week.
thank you for sharing your memories and lovely new moment with your son, that was quite endearing to take in.
ReplyDeleteLight is exquisite! I just keep looking at it. I love all you do, but this somehow is one of my favorites~
thanks for the song
ReplyDeletetoo
You know, I just love reading about you and your children - it gives me such a sense of what could have been in my life had I had a mother like you. Not a sad sense, just living vicariously a little bit. I am so glad you danced and I love that he remembered your song. And your drawing - exquisite as always. Actually, this one has an extraspecial quality to it. It fills my heart with joy and hope!! Much love to you and a big hug! TSUP! Silke
ReplyDeleteAaaaw, thank you very much dear friends. I am by no means idealizing motherhood. The job stinks, it is difficult. It is thankless. I don't like it sometimes. In fact I detest it. But it also gives me the opportunity to love fiercely, provides great happiness and satisfaction. There is pain, sorrow and despair but also unmatched joy and happiness. Life is polar extremes. Motherhood is underrated.
ReplyDeletePull my finger.
ReplyDeleteI bet there are constellations within those fireflies.
ReplyDeleteYes, may their paths always be brightly lit. Even if we have to pour the gasoline and light a match.
ReplyDelete"squalic" ? Seriously? That's what word verif wants me to type?
ReplyDeleteHAHAHAHA! That would only be said by someone whose closet is so full that the hangar rod fell down upon her.
ReplyDeletePut the phone in your pocket. Feel it vibrate.
ReplyDeleteBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
ReplyDeleteIt's because SOMEone takes so long to type....
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, Ces! This has to be one of my favorite drawings of yours. I love the story about you and your son. How cool that he STILL knows it is your song! :)
ReplyDeleteDearest Ces,
ReplyDeleteI love you too.
I cannot even put into words how grateful I am for your existence and your friendship and love.
So I will sit here and simply emanate what I am feeling. And maybe you will feel it too. Maybe, in your busy workday, you will stop for a moment, feel a sensation and go, "Oooh." Quietly, though, so as not to attract attention. Because it's a private feeling, just for you.
Have a wonderful day.
Tsup
Ces I believe I'm commenting on Bella's blog here.
ReplyDeleteBella, as a boy, I used to tell peeps that our whole Universe could be just a speck on a giant's toe. Do nor know what that meant...except those constellations between the butterflies conjured the memory.
Ces, I'm gonna comment to you 'under separate cover'...next empty square, or 'squalic' --can't stop grinning!
Oooh!
ReplyDeleteDear Ces...now I'll call you 'sisterfriend' OBOY! I do not know many (ANY!) guys being awarded the name 'brotherfriend'. OMG! You think I'm joking here? NO! I'm walking on a cloud...
ReplyDeleteOH! Someone is smoking out there (cough-cough!) thought it as a cloud!
Seriously, you continue to amaze, awe, inspire. When i first viewed "LIGHT", I thought that hand was a brotherfriend trying to get loose from his bondage. Now I realize it as 'just' another sisterfriend who want to help light the fire.
Typical man, me, might have brought magical matches, to fire up your magical--and brightly beautiful--LIGHT!
I have read your 'Mom-and-son' story four times--is that an addiction? Well, I lied, only three times...OK?
Leaving now--you happy?!--and I am grateful to be a brotherfriend to Peep CES!
Mr. Steveroni,
ReplyDeleteIt is a good thing the giant does not bathe, otherwise our entire world would be down the drain. :)
Flick my Bic.
Hahahaha!
Ces,
Ooooooooh!
HEY! Peeps! "Under separate cover" means (or used to mean) in a separate mailing or 'another' envelope. HAHAHAHAH
ReplyDeleteOK. I know: Ooooooh!
God knows......I tried...
I'm glad the giant didn't clip his toenails--because that is where WE live...our whole Universe, stars, black holes, the works!
ReplyDeleteOr maybe he DID clip his nails..... maybe?
I forgot! YESSSSS! TSUP! from brotherfriend.
ReplyDeleteOn these comment 'things' I'm getting as bad as B,B,B,B, I can't SAY it! Fear has gripped me in it's b,b,b,
ReplyDeletePeep
COME TO THE DARK SIDE, STEVERONI! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
ReplyDeleteHahaha! You two! I am glad you are having fun!
ReplyDeleteHello Ces, I heard your thigh makes noises? I have my ear very close to the laptop at the moment. What tunes can you do?
ReplyDeleteOh I should be serious.
I have good news today. I am waiting for the roadrunner to come through the jungle with a parcel... the drums are drumming at the moment and my breath is bated
oh Ces, your art is like the cakes in a cakeshop, or like the food we always want to eat, but never do, because the joy is in the beholding.
ReplyDeleteI never know where to start.
It's just delicious :)
Oh your magic word is "flater" and Bellas was Bubcom... so a sentence.
Bubcom Flater was on his way to work last Saturday evening when a huge stink bug (see Krista) rushed out of a clump of dahlias and ripped off his left (insert organ name here). Mr Flater was very upset. His first child is due next Saturday week and it looks like Mr Flater will no longer be able to do the traditional Flater Bop dance commonly associated with a first born childs emergence. (John Smith: Reauters)
OMG! Andrew, you are a master story teller. Thank you for Mr. Bubcom Flater's tale.
ReplyDeleteBbbbrrrruupppp bbbbrrrruupppp
ReplyDeleteThat's what my thighs say whenever I wear corduroy.
No. It's like two washboards rubbing against one another.
ReplyDeleteOOOH! I must now type: gasesse
That's right baby. HOT! Flames shooting out.
ReplyDeleteNow I must type: remon. I would rike some remon with my tea.
Ces!
ReplyDeleteOoooh! Look at ALL that detail and texture!
This must've taken you forever!
I love pen and ink!
-Dean
Oooooooooh! I must come back and pay attention to everyone.
ReplyDeleteI have so much to tell yet have nothing to say.
I have been so busy yet have not accomplished anything.
I have been inundated by a flurry of activities yet found myself bored.
I shall infuse myself with intravenous injection of zest, verve and elan.
The paved highway took on a wicked turn for me and I find myself on a country road, my cell phone is dead, no gas, no water, no weapon, no change of clothing, my lipstick is gone...alas, I have toothpaste. Oh minty!
Awe....omg...your post, your song, your son, your artwork.... it all touches my heart deeply. I feel totally moved by all this.
ReplyDeleteBtw.... pen and ink? what kind of pen and ink.... no kidding..... I wouldn't even know where to start!!
Manon, The sketches you made, they will look great on a drawing paper or bristol board with pigment ink like Pigma Micron by Sakura, available through Dick Blick - hahahaha! sound like a commercial.
ReplyDeleteYup.... it's a commercial but also a reason to go to the art store....lol!!
ReplyDeleteHi Ces, how are you?
ReplyDeleteI love this illustration and the legend is so beautiful! you know how I love Mythology :)
Big Hug to you!
Awwwwwww.. your big beautiful boy all growed' up still wanted to dance with his mama!!!! precious!!
ReplyDeletethanks for popping into visit!
yup my chickens are pretty spoilt!
The boys do love them too!
Wow!!! I had kind of forgotten how just incredible your work is.. the detail.. the bamboo..the gorgeous elephant and wee piggle'
Just brilliant Ces!!!!!
Oh guess what YIPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEE my wonderful drawing arived today YPWZA YOWZA YOWAZ (thats Yowza as shouted by yes you guessed it a dislexic shouter ) Heh, I have been walking up and down the street for an entire hour yelling out with glee.... in fact even the guy who mows his lawn all day every day on both days of the wekend is hiding down his back passage - er is that his side passage?
ReplyDeleteSo Ces, thank you so much for your kindness and generosity and wonderosity and talent.
You ROCK!
more thanks later, but this is the entree :)
gweetings fwom Oth! (as said by a lipleth man who has had too much owange jewce to dwink!)
see you :)
Ow my magic word is "unchipat". That should be easy to use in a sentence.
The paddock was full of hot dry unchipats - which indicated that the herd was close, but dehydrated. Morgan looked up from the closest unchipat wwith glee. There was nothing he liked more than fried unchi - you could see it in his eyes.... (from "In Search of the Unchipat" ; Humphrey and Hulaskirt, New York, 1975, edit Martin Shipplebum)
Aaaah! Thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteAndrew, you are welcome. Someday, I will find the time and draw something just for you. Okay, I have to clean the house now.
I have a growing concern over Bella's arch.
ReplyDeleteHeheheheh! Bella is playing footsies! HAHAHAHAHA!
ReplyDeleteI am more concerned about her 'corrective' shoe SIZE....and does that pair come with matching purse?
ReplyDeleteI love this one best of all. Bamboo gypsies? Elves? sisters? I really love it.
ReplyDeleteHi Jan! They are sisterfriends! Tsup!
ReplyDeleteThis drawing really touches my heart. It's so beautiful and mystical, and the characters, although newly formed, have a purity about them. It's a wonderful way of honouring your friends.
ReplyDeleteOh my!
ReplyDeleteCes this image is superb! I love the theme and composition!!! It's got secrets and magic just waiting for the observer to discover.
Hugs!
~a mamas tale we all long to keep in our hearts...those moments of time...when once so little in our arms savoring their every presence and then one day we realise such time has passed and no longer itty bitty are they...thank you for sharing such a precious moment between the two of you...i honor you fo rtaking the time even when you were feeling it to be with your son and recreate a memory he will always have with him...your drawing adn tale are as well beautiful...to have found such friendship is a grand blessings...may your lights always glow in darkness and light...
ReplyDeleteas for the comment you left the other day...i am honored and thrilled you have joined my giveaway...reguardless of time...whether we had years of the past or simple a day...a friend i call you...i wish you much luck and thank you for your visit...much l♥ve nad light to you and yours~