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My grandniece. I managed to finish this drawing while riding in an airplane. An unusually calm and smooth flight.

Digital illustration

Rachel Parker Plummer was born 200 years ago in March, 1819. She was married at 14 years old and gave birth to her first child when she was 15. At 16 she moved with the Parker clan to Texas which was still a part of Mexico.

Barely a month after Texas won its independence the Parker family fort was attacked by hundreds of Comanches who had approached under a flag of truce. Rachel, her toddler James, her younger brother John, her cousin Cynthia Ann and her aunt Elizabeth were captured and split up among different tribes. The men were murdered and scalped. Her grandmother was raped. She never saw her son again. Rachel, pregnant with her second child at the time of the raid, was only 17 years old. About five months later Rachel gave birth to her son, Luther. At six weeks old her infant was tortured and murdered.

For 21 months as a slave she was constantly abused until finally ransomed by Mexican traders and taken in by a family in Santa Fe. In February, 1838 she was reunited with her family. Emaciated and covered with scars and sores; her once bright red hair was gray. She was now 18 years old.

In January, 1839 she gave birth to her third child. In March of that year after her father had an altercation with another family they fled in the middle of the night. During that torturous trek, on March 19, 1839, Rachel Parker Plummer died. She was three days short of her 20th birthday. Her baby died three days later.

In 1843, her first child James, now 8 years old, was ransomed and returned to the family. At 27 years old he died of typhoid during the Civil War.

Digital illustration. I have seen only one photo of Rachel. Using that one I tried to modernize it. I also changed her hairstyle and blouse but they are based on 1830s fashion.

Taken from a photograph of a friend of mine.

Digital illustration

French-American dancer and actress Leslie Caron.

I was thinking of a strong line running through the middle with just enough thinner detail to identify the person. I think the center lines could have been thicker; could have been fewer thin lines. 

Digital illustration

People have asked how I draw on an iPad. Here is a brief explanation:

I was watching an old John Wayne movie and the girl-interest was Mary Kornman. I looked her up and discovered she had been one of the Little Rascals of The Our Gang series. I found a photo of her I thought was precious and decided to draw her.

Our pastor is moving on. I did a quick sketch of him as a show of respect and to say that he will be missed.

Occasionally I watch Turner Classic Movies (TCM). I came across an old movie starring Loretta Young. I remember her fondly from her TV days. I looked her up on the Internet and came across a photo of her when she was young and decided to draw her on my iPad. I didn’t realize it until I had finished the drawing that the photo of her was taken when she was only 14 years old!

Randomly piddling on my iPad while watching TV.

Digital illustration

My great great grandmother.

Rhoda Ann Hardin Shaw, was born April, 1828, in Walton County, Georgia, descended from the French Huguenot family of Hardouin, who fled into Ireland from religious persecutions, later settling in America in the state of Delaware. Henry Hardin, Rhoda’s grandfather, moved to Georgia. Her father, Benjamin, married Elizabeth Hearne, settling in Walton County, Georgia but afterwards moved into northwest Georgia among the Cherokee Indians, and settled on the Chickamauga.

In May, 1844, Rhoda Ann married William P. Shaw, and settled near Lafayette on the east side of Pigeon Mountain. In 1800, they moved to Franklin County Alabama where in 1886 her husband died. In 1891 she went to Fouke, Arkansas to make her home with a son and afterward went to Fannin County, Texas, to live with her children there. She died in Texas April 8, 1894.