Paper and Threads

 I lived in a 3rd floor garret apartment in a private home (1965-1969) when I was a poor medical student in Philadelphia.  The neighborhood was delightful, the house was on a bus route connecting to school, and the price was right.  I made this sketch from an artist's pen sketch on a notecard, so I'm not sure about the details.  The floor plan comes from my memory.  Oh how I wish I had taken more photos when I moved from place to place!  I lived here between college and Chicago - so it is out of sequence in the "My Homes" category on my blog.

Posted by Shirley at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

We moved to San Antonio Texas from LaJolla California and while my husband worked at the Army Institute for Surgical Research, I joined the faculty at the University of Texas Health Science Center.  We initially intended to move on at the end of 3 years, but instead my husband joined me on the faculty and we raised all 3 children there before returning to New York City.  We had a Texas ranch house built in the 1950s, with wonderful shade trees and lots of space for our family.  This sketch was made from a photo taken during the winter - and our live oak tree still has leaves.  When we moved to Texas I learned for the first time that live oak trees drop their leaves in the spring instead of the fall.  We lived in this house for 18 happy years. 

Posted by Shirley at 8:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

This is the next entry for my "Our Homes" series of sketches.  I really wish that I had taken more photos of our houses, but this is something that I never considered while we were living there. 

After several years in Chicago we moved to La Jolla, California to finish our training.   I was pregnant with our first child and lived in a little cottage overlooking the ocean during the next 4 years.  The house was small, but we had a fabulous brick patio built into the mountain behind us.  The weather was so nice most of the year that it became the family playroom for our sons.  All 3 of our children were born there (my daughter 14 days before moving day) and then we moved to yet another part of the country - Texas. 

Posted by Shirley at 1:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

My husband and I were married midway through medical school, but lived in Philadelphia and Chicago until we graduated.  Then I joined him for post-grad training at the University of Chicago and we moved into our very first "adult" apartment together.  It was a lovely modern apartment in one of two buildings that sat on a landscaped island in the middle of E 55th Street.  Friends used to call it carbon monoxide island because the two lanes of traffic on E55th Street separated to go around the apartment complex.

 I have only a few photos from our years there - one taken during a snowstorm when the buildings were silhouettes and the other taken of just one corner of the building showing the architecture.  I'm not pleased with my page composition, but know how I will position these images when I work more on this series.

Posted by Shirley at 7:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

I moved from my second childhood home to a college dormitory.  This is the 3rd in my "My Homes" series.  I lived in this specific dormitory for two years, an adjacent identical dorm in the same quad for one year, and then up on the hill in a modern dorm for my 4th year.  We had to live in the dorms or at home and had very stringent curfews.   No boys were allowed beyond the living room.  When my children went to college both sexes shared bathrooms and had rooms on the same floor - quite a change.

I drew the bottom of the dormitory facade before I realized that I didn't leave any room for hedges - or the tree  - and my transparent watercolors couldn't possibly fix my error.  Only the first floor had an interesting floor plan and I lived on the second and then third floors, so I stopped here. 

Posted by Shirley at 7:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I did another 2 page journal spread in my House series for my sketches yesterday and today.  My father built this house with the help of my mother's brothers and some friends - in a rural community approximately 20 miles from New York City.  We moved in one week after I finished 3rd grade and I lived there until I graduated from high school - plus 4 college summers.  As I was writing this I realized that I have lived in my NYC apartment longer than I lived in my childhood home - a surprising realization. 

I left out the trees on the front lawn because it wasn't possible to see the house.  Maybe next winter I'll resketch this house from a winter photo and add the bare trees.  Snow and trees are still challenges for me!

Next I plan to sketch the college dorm where I lived for 2 of my 4 years.

Posted by Shirley at 8:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Gill at Journal Craft Inspiration has several "Floor Plan" drawings on her blog for inspiration and I thought I would give it a try.  My first home, from birth through 3rd grade, was a second floor apartment in this house in Clifton, New Jersey.  I had no problem remembering the floor plan and had fun making the memory page.  I am an only child and had my bed on the living room couch.  When I was sick, my blanket and pillow remained there during the day giving rise to the concept of a "sick bed" which I always created for my children on the family room couch when they were home from school.  Now my daughter and oldest son do it for their children. 

Posted by Shirley at 5:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)