I just had time today to do a couple of sketches and the beginnings of a watercolor. I am continuing to work on the photograph Dad took of Mike* and Mom, during a camping trip in the late 1950s.

I paid attention to that great Bauhaus Master, Paul Klee’s advice: to take my pencil point for a walk.  I traced contours of Mike and Mom, contours that tried make sense in terms of their relationship to one another and their relationship to us, the viewer.

Here is the first sketch:

I didn’t quite accomplish my goal in this sketch. It doesn’t make that much visual sense.

Here is my next sketch:

The expressions aren’t right.

The first stage of my watercolor uses some of the lines in my drawing,

but the important lines are missing. The space between my mother’s and brother’s face is a visual feature that will contrast with these lines lines when I finish the piece.

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* Mike is my older brother who is autistic, nonverbal and low functioning.