Pencil, oil pencil, & Watercolor
15″x17″
2013

Mark and his family are my neighbors, of whom I’m very fond and for whom this was a Christmas present (specifically to “Grandma Liz”…who’s actually one of the fastest and  most alert folks I know of these days).

Mark’s a very talented musician/composer (google him for his website). He’s also a very fine carpenter; without his help over the years, my former old house would have fallen to pieces. Catherine, his partner, is a justifiably admired teacher in Durham’s schools. The Gorgeous Daughter (who seems to have scooped up the best genes from all of her already good-looking relatives) has been my utterly reliable dogsitter since she was only 11 or so (which was a while back, to say the least).

Grand Old Liz (the grandmother) is a wonder……she carefully raised her two sons on her own (back when this was definitely NOT the norm) at/on what she continually has to remind me was “not a ‘commune’….it was a CO-OPERATIVE!!!!!”.

In any case, I admire the Cool family (and all they’ve done over the years to stick together) a great deal, and this was my Christmas present to them, this past year.