Today – April 8 – happens to be my grandmother’s birthday. She went by many names: Lillian, Sis, Mother. My brother and i called her Nana. Or “My Nana” as i often have to say now, because my mother inherited the title when my daughter was born so when reminiscing about my childhood with Jess, i have to make the distinction to avoid confusion. Anyway, at 4 this morning i happened to wake up and suddenly got the whim to post a detail of a drawing i had done of my Nana on my fb wall (yeah, i got sucked into that vortex – but that can be another blog) to celebrate her birthday and her memory. The beauty of being an artist is – you so often have the odd piece of art just lying around to be used at such random, impulsive insomniatic moments. And – to be honest – i also thought i could make this a fairly short blog. We’ll see.
The illustration had been done for the Christmas card the year our daughter was born, really as something of a combination birth announcement/holiday greeting, and originally was just going to feature our new baby.
Thumbnail of Great Granddaughter Card
To that end i did a series of little sketches trying to work out the best angle of our little angel. The quintessential, five-month-old, new baby pose. The angel angle if you will. The smiley one – with her tongue sticking out in pure baby glee – was the obvious choice.
Baby Poses
I don’t recall now exactly what prompted me to include the great grandmothers in the picture (as opposed to the more obvious new parents or immediate grandmothers) but such is the nature of creative whimsy. I think it was simply because Bob had grown up with his “Nonnie” and i had grown up with my “Nana” AND we just so happened to have these great photos of the two women – as flappers. That was simply a heritage and a legacy too wonderful to pass up.
Pencil Rough of "The Great Granddaughter"
And, of course, i managed to come up with an appropriate story ~
Some of my strongest childhood memories are of Christmas at Mammy’s house. She was my great grandmother and her biscuit cookies were legendary. Christmas is a time of magic and remembrances but unfortunately Jesse won’t have memories of her great grandmothers, and no one has ever been able to duplicate Mammy’s recipes. She will, however, have the cherished photographs, the old letters and the sepia tinted stories of her parents and grandparents. And I know that Nana and Nonnie are sharing her Christmas.
The Great Granddaughter, Nana & Nonnie
So to Lillian, Sis, Mother and Nana… Happy Birthday!
Hi Laur… what a great story. I remember your Nana well from the times we visited her at the hotel on north redington beach (Marwick?) back in the 70s – great times…
Hi Keith, and thanks. And yes, it was/is The Marwick (amazing that it still looks exactly the same). Interestingly enough, i just discovered this “Reply” feature so i’m trying it out. Aaahhh! Technology – have i mentioned before – i AM SUCH A DINOSAUR!