Influences- Nebrensky women

Since I began these posts about my influences, I have come to realize that a lot of my favorite artists or types of art are strongly influenced by the women in my family: Grandma, Mom, and Aunt.  Each one of them has had an impact in my life.

My Grandma shared with me her favorite artists like Claude Monet, Maurice Sendak, and Andy Warhol.  We attended museums.  She took me to the ballet, and always encouraged my artistic abilities.  She wasn't a painter or a drawer, but her art was sewing.  She loved making quilts and dolls.  She loved attending her quilting groups and making quilts for organizations that donated them to shelters or hospitals for children. 

Grandma and me with the sock doll she made :)

My Aunt played with me all of the time.  She played with me all of the time, always encouraging my imagination.  My family likes to say that I was her human Barbie doll.  She loved taking me out shopping for outfits. Like the rest of the Nebrensky women, my Aunt began sewing.  She made us aprons for Christmas one year.  Mine had cats all over it.  She has become a different source of inspiration for me.  She is a single mom.  She has also been a source of strength when my life seemed to fall apart.  As an adult, I have noticed how much closer my family is.  The women of this family have a really strong bond.  We share a love of crafts, art, and creating! 

Grandma wearing an apron my Aunt made

I have another Aunt, who loves to paint rocks.  She is the craftiest of all of us.  She loves making the random door stops and odd ball objects.  Her latest passion has been making desserts.  At first, we banned her from experimenting on us.  She had many failed attempts at food items.  But she has really made some amazing desserts.  My favorite is the white chocolate with walnuts and cranberries.  Although, she has moved on to biscotti.  She is open to trying new things and is willing to try it out.  We talk painting, baking, and walking/running whenever we see each other.  It is always a fun time.

On the left- my mom :) 
The middle and right- my 2 aunts :)
I love this photo!  They look like they are ready to kick butt!

The last Nebrensky woman I'd like to talk about is my mom.  She has been such an amazing influence.  I'm lucky to have a mom who encouraged my artistic abilities.  She loved to paint and draw in high school.  For a short time, she was an art major in college that is until she had me.  She never did go back to school to finish her degree.  Nor did she ever paint or draw again.  She did a lot of sewing when I was little.  She made a lot of my outfits when I was younger.    I don't know if she ever regrets becoming a mom at such a young age.  I do know she has always been a strong woman.  She taught me to me independent (too independent, sometimes) and that no matter what family is always there.  She is my rock in this storm of life.  She is my best friend.  We are always laughing and creating.  She loves to knit and crochet.  Sometimes I crochet with her, but my stuff is simple compared to her work.  I've always wondered why she stopped drawing, but when I ask her she simply says "I was never as good as you."  I disagree!  When we were moving, I found her drawings.  She wanted me to throw them away.  I snuck them into my own portfolio of work.  Here is the work she did during 1976-1978. 

This painting hung in my Grandma's apartment.
 I got it when she passed away.

Influences-Maurice Sendak

Now that I'm deeper in my journey of illustrating and writing, I wish my grandma was still around so I could thank her.  I have always known the impact she has had on who I am, but I don't think I truly acknowledged that she is the essence of my creative existence.  Without her, I would have never been influenced, inspired, or encouraged to be the creative being I am.  She exposed me to a variety of art and activities to build my creative skills.  She introduced me to Claude Monet, but she introduced me to Maurice Sendak first.

 When everyone hears his name they immediately associate it with his book Where the Wild Things Are. Oddly, this is not my first thought.  I don't remember reading that book until my sister was born, although I'm pretty sure someone in my family read it to me.  I do remember looking through her book The Art of Maurice Sendak. It was, and still is, my favorite book to look through.  These were my favorite pages to look at:

When I was in middle school, my grandma bought me his book, Dear Mili. I loved his illustrations, but I admit I didn't appreciate the story.  It wasn't until a few years ago, when my grandma passed away that I went back and read it.  I cried, partly, because I love my grandma so much, but partly because the story was so beautiful.

 This is my favorite illustration from the book.

A little something to watch.

Sunday Agglomeration- Mother's Day

This is a painting I began.  I was feeling inspired and am letting the canvas speak to me.  I have no plan or idea of where this will go.

First of all, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!  Make sure to hug and kiss your mother for giving you life!  My mom is pretty amazing.  She is my best friend and we always manage to have lots of laughs.   My younger sister and I are cooking her a wonderful lunch!  In addition to that, I made her this painting.  It is a mixed media collage of my grandma.  It will go with her collection of family drawings I've done over the years for her.

Mixed Media collage I made for my mom. There are photos of my grandma.  The two flowers are ones we saved from her memorial service.

I decided to frame this piece and give it to my aunt.  She is an amazing single mother, who was a big influence in my life.  She is a very strong woman and this kind of reminded me of her.

Also, I had a student ask if I could make a Mizzle for his mom for Mother's day.  I named her Rufaro. 

Rufaro means exuberance and joy. 
She is like the Energizer Bunny, who never seems to stop.
She is from Africa, but likes to tell people she is from Narnia.
Always on the go, she loves to finish any incomplete job.
She spends a lot of time as a conflict mediator
 on most elementary school play grounds,
where her Ph.D. in pig latin comes in handy.
 In her free time, she enjoys typing with her eyes closed
 and tap dancing in bathrooms.

This week we suffered the passing of Maurice Sendak, who is a major influence on the children's book world.  I don't think any person can say they haven't experienced Where the Wild Things Are.  As I contemplated what to draw this week, I began to think "what if the Wild Things and the Mizzles were friends?"  And this is what happened:

Wild Things and Mizzle sleeping

Wild Thing and Mizzle sharing ice cream

Here the Wild Thing is teaching a Mizzle how to flap its arms

 There must be something in the water! Or it is just that time of the year when students begin to act out.  It has been an upsetting week.  I had students who decided they were not going to work, or decided to walk out of class early.  Again, there must be something in the water because it wasn't just my group of "lovelies" who were acting out.  There is an epidemic going on.  Let the count down begin: 25 more school days before finals!

This is how I felt...or possibly what I looked like