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Drawing challenge: Move

009 copy copy

I was thinking a great deal about Katrin’s drawing challenge this week. The idea of movement is so wonderful. Robert, Chloe and I like to move. We like to dance, we like to swim, to skate, to drive our cars really fast. We move between houses, between countries, between world…I love to be free to move. Free as a bird. That freedom to do as I please, (within reason), it’s one of the greatest things in my life.

So where to start with this challenge?

Well, I thought I would like to start by showing you this little book.

the book1

It would seem that at the turn of the 20th century, there once was a girl just like me!
Her name was May Grantham, and she lived in England, and, for what seems like ten years, she travelled the world with this little book.

the book2

Everywhere she went, she collected friends who drew on the pages of her book.

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Some singed their names, some wrote silly little things, some painted beautiful little paintings.

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But the common theme here is that May Grantham moved. She moved between friends, between countries, over the ten years, she moved and collected memories in the pages of this book.

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And I think that’s pretty much what we all do. We move.

I might move between countries, but I also move thru my life. Forging on ahead. Sometimes in baby steps, sometimes full speed.Β I make loads of mistakes as I move, I turn back and recount my steps more often that I care to admit. I’m carrying on, being brave, forging new paths.

the book

Ha! Kind of makes this painting a bit redundant, doesn’t it?

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Art: Chickadee on a 1910 hymnal “Like Angel Whisper Stealing”. Chickadee and quaking aspen painted with watercolours, watercolour pencils, and inks.

Comments: 24

  • June 6, 2015
    reply

    what an incredible great find!
    must say: i am a bit jealous
    she definitely visited the Netherlands ;^))
    and
    i like your words, that we ‘move through our lives’
    for me to move or travel is one of the reasons
    to read books, to travel into the story

    thanks!
    x

  • June 6, 2015
    reply

    such an amazing little book! wonderful to see. thanks for sharing that.
    your bird is charming as can be.
    Funny thing, i got this weeks challenge mixed with the theme colour. I wrote down move, but kept thinking color.

  • June 6, 2015
    reply

    Perfect! May’ s book, and even more your words, and so very true for me also right now… wonderful! Thank you mxx

  • June 6, 2015
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    It’s an autograph book! I have one that is very, very similar. A beloved grade 3 teacher gave one to all of us girls in 1965. Mine is full of deathless poetry and art from my friends and family, such as this gem: “If I had your picture / I’d treat it very nice / I’d hang it in the barn / to scare away the mice.”

  • June 6, 2015
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    Wow, you have an amazing collection of books so rich in history and art!

    You series of birds on the music sheets
    continue to be delightful!

  • June 6, 2015
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    Hey Veronica .. I just love that little book. What a fabulous idea .. How lovely to be able to look back and remember times, places and people. Oh I wish I could draw! Wonderful post .. Loving this theme ????

  • June 6, 2015
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    you have magical possessions, veronica! not for the first time i find lovely mementoes on your blog. this ‘poΓ«zie’ album you show moves me so. right, move! ;))) it reminds me of years, as a child, when we had little albums and friends wrote and drew in it. nothing compared to your find here, still, dear to my heart too, because i did keep them… early diaries, one could say. this one here is absolutely priceless! did you buy this in an antiques’? great, great stuff. n?
    yes, we do move, incessantly.

    • June 6, 2015
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      LOVE your new blog look, by the way!

  • June 7, 2015
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    Thanks for sharing this wonderful little book! Wherever did you find such a thing? And your chickadee- I love the way it moves!

  • June 7, 2015
    reply

    Very moving. This book is gold.
    Lucia

  • daryledelstein

    June 8, 2015
    reply

    isn’t Grantham the family name of the Downton Abby peeps?

  • June 8, 2015
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    Yes. I enjoyed this theme too. It got me thinking about movement forward, growing and learning. The book is a lovely find. ????

  • June 16, 2015
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    Veronica…such a beautiful thoughtful post….this little album reminds me of the friendship books we had when i was in late grade school in the 50’s.
    Thank you for sharing it…it really is very lovely

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