WORD PAINTINGS #36 – GOODFELLAS…..
All my fears became reality on one sunny August morning. I stood in the doorway of the bathroom where my husband was shaving and told him what I had just dreamed – our babysitter confronted me and said “I’m pregnant and your husband is the father of my child!” – I asked her how she […]
WORD PAINTINGS #35 – BONNIE AND FRANK
Eventually all that snow from the Great Chicago Blizzard melted and winter gave way to a beautiful spring. Some of my high school friends got together and gifted me with a twin stroller for the girls. The three of us had a few outdoor adventures to see the birdies. By the time I got the […]
WORD PAINTINGS #34 – GREAT CHICAGO BLIZZARD 1967
January 26 1967 – It was an ordinary afternoon John had his supper and I gave the twins their bottles.Expected my husband home around six. Only a few bottles of formula left; he planned to pick up a case of Similac on the way home. The wind started howling around five and then it started […]
WORD PAINTINGS #33 – CONFUSION AND CHAOS!
Oh, how I loved my baby boy!!! He gave me so much joy and I was determined to make his life absolutely perfect! I always was a dreamer! We lived in a three room apartment above a garage on Holbrook Road in Homewood. The place was too small for the three of us and we […]
WORD PAINTINGS #32 – A GOOD CATHOLIC GIRL….
Not long after the glass-throwing incident I was walking out of the bathroom – it was semi-dark. He was waiting for me. He slammed my whole body against the fridge with stunning force. Without a word he walked into the living room. I stood in place and reverted to my childhood coping skill of numbing […]
WORD PAINTINGS #31 – HIDDEN AGENDAS
It has taken many years for me to realize that I wasn’t the only person in my marriage to have a hidden agenda. My husband and his mother were determined to keep him out of the Viet Nam War. The solution they came up with was marriage – and a Hail Mary pregnancy should do […]
WORD PAINTINGS #30 – A VERY BRIEF FAMILY HISTORY
Note: In the photo above my beautiful grandmother Clara holds my father. Beside her is her daughter. A third child was born after my father. A fourth pregnancy followed his birth – she died giving birth to twins. The wake was held in the living room of the house on Fletcher Street. Clara was waked […]
WORD PAINTINGS #29 – READY, SET…..GO!!!
Fall 1968/Winter 1969 – After the workshop at Cloudcroft, I settled in to take care of the babies and painted every spare moment. Very surprised that the alla prima method came easy for me. I was basically experimenting with the paint – every painting was a surprise. Ernie exhibited his sculptures at the Albuquerque Arts […]
TAOS 9/21/18 – WORD PAINTINGS #28 – SANCTUARY
TAOS 9/21/18 – This has been an upsetting week for any woman who has experienced any kind of abuse – friend, partner, stranger. Chuck Grassley and Orrin Hatch have risen again like ghosts from the Grave of History Past! It honestly makes me ill to see them on TV and my mute button is getting […]
WORD PAINTINGS #27 – CULTURE SHOCK
JAN HERRING WORKSHOP, CLOUDCROFT, N.M. – 1968 As mentioned in a previous post, I celebrated my 79th birthday three weeks ago; life was very different for women back in the day! Culture shock for me really wasn’t because of the move from my mid-western roots to mostly Hispanic and Native American city of Santa Fe. […]
