Elizabeth

Just thought that I'd get this on my blog since by now my parents and grandparents as well as Robbie's parents and grandparents should have their editions. The was our Christmas gift idea this year. I had fun creating this book about my daughter and taking most of the pictures. I must give credits my Corry and the hospital for their contributions. I hope you enjoy.

Elizabeth

By Julie Hancock

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Bowling with my in-laws...

Elizabeth trying her hand at bowling. Must get it from her dad.

I won't lie; bowling is not my thing. Instead of bowling, I decided to take pictures until my daughter wanted her mother - yep, she's a mommy's girl right now. I did a little editing on many of the pics. Hope you enjoy.


Sarah (my brother-in-laws girlfriend) had the right idea. Chill out with a beer. I also caught my brother-in-law, Steve, in action; patiently waiting his turn. I can't resist getting pics of bowling shoes.


I captured pics of Robbie's aunt and uncle with their youngest daughters. How cool is this couple? They are expecting their seventh child. I wanted to get all of their kids bowling - but sometimes I take some bad pictures before I get some good ones.


I captured my sister-in-law, Corry, getting her ball. And I had to take pictures of Corry's shoes and her god daughter's shoes.


Occasionally, my brother-in-law, Dai, does some interesting things. I just happened to capture this one digitally.


I also captured a moment between my daughter's godparents, Cris and Nick. They are the proud parents of the little guy pictured next. He came to my sister-in-law Cris and her husband early but we are happy he is here and healthy two months later for Christmas.

Joy to the World

Just one picture to add to the blog. My daughter loves my husband's hat whenever he wears them. So I took a bunch of pictures just trying out some of the lighting controls. She was a ham this holiday and my poor husband gets in a lot of pictures. He hates his picture taken but I'm often taking the pictures and he's often holding her.

I'm also including a picture of my daughter after she woke from a nap a few days ago. Couldn't help focusing on one of her big eyes.

Snow Days

I thought that I wouldn't get to posting until after Christmas but the Wisconsin Weather afforded me an opportunity that I couldn't resist. And of course, my daughter offered such a great modeling situation since she was asleep. I have to admit, I'd like to draw my daughter's hands.

White Christmas...

I had a sneak in a picture of my husband and daughter before Christmas is here. Elizabeth is already interested in helping us wrap gifts. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Season's Greetings to all.

I also thought that I would sneak in a couple of photos inspired by the holidays that are again still life. My way of trying to get an interesting picture with my camera and get really close to the subject. I have to practice what I preach to my art students when they are taking pictures.

And who could resist such a "Gift" under the tree. Her Great-Grandma Hancock called her "God's Child" because she was born on Sunday. She's definitely an angel since she is the keeper of our star.

I'm hoping to get some more of my drawings and paintings online. Things are slow with school in full swing and a family to take care of.

Old Sketches

Again, I'm adding some old images to my blog for viewing. I believe I did these close to 8 years ago. I turned these into a painting on fabric. I am my own best model these days and I was back then. And I love the expressiveness of using markers and the bold colors. I still draw like this these days.

Daughter Day...

Saturday, Robbie worked on his car so I put my daughter in a car that we got from one of his uncles. Don't let her fool you, she liked the car when I zipped around the yard with it. She just didn't care for the way the snow felt cold (it was 35 degrees F).

Last night I took a couple photos trying out lighting situations with my darling daughter and I grabbed a back drop. Cheap studio set ups were my thing in college, especially when learning to take photos of my artwork. Course, I had to be quick since my daughter wasn't thrilled about me behind the camera instead of holding.

By the way, not a huge WI Badger fan but my in laws are fans of many Chicago teams (Cubs, Bears...) so I thought I should represent by buying Elizabeth a Badger outfit.

More old work...

I dug through some of my old college work. I kept many things and I remember a professor of mine saying that I can't be my own best collector. Maybe someday, someone will like some of it and want to buy it.

For now, I'll showcase it. Mind you, I did the following drawings when I was about 20 or 21. With my new family and teaching, I haven't been able to draw much of my own concepts these days.

Bald is Beautiful: This was supposed to represent vanity.


Mothers and Daughters: I have always had a wonderful relationship with my mother and I wanted to represent that.


My Mask: I was co-teaching with colleagues and we were focusing on masks.


My Feet: Drawn from a picture I took of my feet.

Can you keep a secret?: My roommate/friend and I at the time weren't talking to each other at the time.

Shoes have a soul and a sole

I never thought that I would actually find myself taking still life photos again since in college I hated it when it was a class assignment. I was always a people or places kind of photographer. But my daughter's things just have so much color. Her shoes can tell a story. Many were handed down. She isn't walking yet so she isn't wearing them out and getting her to wear them can be a chore.

Photography is not my strongest medium but since time seems to be an issue and my daughter's development creates problems with materials, I stick to digital work. Someday I'll get back to my illustrations.

Oh and yes, I had a snow day today from school and got teased from my husband for not shoveling him out of the driveway. So I have the pleasure of finally updating my blog. Tis' the season to be shoveling.

New Month but Old Work

So, I thought that I would post some of my old work that I did as research for a new class in the high school art department. I didn't realize how popular paper beads were when I started the project but there are a number of web resources on paper beads. This is just my version.

I found the Styrofoam heads at school because I thought the necklace looked better on. I used paper clips, memory wire, copper wire, card stock junk mail paper, and an acrylic medium for the necklace.

I'm a novice at jewelry but I love dabbling.

Thanksgiving 2008

What a holiday weekend. Not only was I inspired to create my own blog as a place to collect all my artwork in different places on the web but I got to spend on great deal of time with my biggest supporters and blessings in my life.

Here are the top 5 things I'm thankful for since it's fitting for the season and the start of my blog:

1. My loving husband and beautiful daughter,

2. My parents who always welcome home with open arms and my husbands parents who are always there for us no matter what happens,

3. The rest of my family and friends,

4. Faith, Love, and Hope,

5. My home even with it's repairs and my career with it's ups and downs.