Seeking the Sublime in the Everyday

It's December 28th, the fourth day of Christmas. Today you can hear another favorite carol, The Holly and the Ivy.   I think I may have had the most fun with this drawing--well, it's hard to say. I loved them all, mostly. What's extra special about this recording is the solo by Samantha Noonan You can learn more about her: HERE  Look and Listen  HERE

You Can  Hear the Angels Sing There are videos of four of my illustrated Christmas Carols at my website.  You can hear and see them at  this link: https://www.barbaraswansonsherman.com/christmas-videos

Lo How A Rose E're Blooming The second of 12 Carols. Listen  at this link https://www.barbaraswansonsherman.com/christmas-videos

Break Forth O Beauteous Heavenly Light The first carol from 12 Carols is now on my website. Click here to hear the wonderful choir of the  First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York.Church  https://www.barbaraswansonsherman.com/christmas-videos

As I get ready for Christmas I think of my mother, who taught me how to give a party. She had many rules for making things run smoothly but her cardinal rule, that is, one that must never be broken, is that nobody should be alone at Christmas and there is always room for another place at the table.  She gathered her friends who had no family in town for Christmas dinner, and always made sure there were young children because sometimes Santa would show up.  All year she hunted for just the right gift for each person, like a china cow pitcher for our friend Jim Jackson, a dairy farmer. I remember one year in particular, 1970.  My brother, Alan, re-injured his old football knee while skiing. He didn’t fall; his knee just “went out.” I was with him--I looked back up the hill for him which was odd, because he was a much better and faster skier and was always ahead of me. I saw him wince as he tried to put weight on his bad leg.  I’m ashamed to say I sent him home with the s

My Friend, Carol Way Wood  I met Carol in college when she was just Carol Way and we've been friends ever since. She was-is- a wonderful artist.  Even at that early stage, she had a finely developed, distinctive style that I envied.   What can you do with envy?  Turn it in on yourself and feel bad or figure out what it is you envy and how to get something or make something like it for yourself. Carol had a wonderful pen.  I had never seen anything like it; a Koh-i-Noor Rapidograph that made a very fine line.  This sparked my imagination.   I asked if I could borrow it, only now realizing how presumptuous that was, and tried it out.   That was the beginning of my  love of pen and ink which became my life's work.  I may have found in on my own but Carol helped me on the way.  I will always be grateful to and for her. Carol closely observes the beautiful countryside where she lives and her love of the creatures in her neighborhood is evident in he