On Clementine and Wyatt, Tim, and Wild Bill

Cowboy Dancing

5" x 7"

ink

Yesterday could have been something like tv heaven if you love the movie, "My Darling Clementine". I must have watched it about 6 times! Now, I am crazy about Tim Holt, still, and good old cowboy shows, but I have to admit that I was wishing that they would have another good show on after about the 3rd time. They did have "Alias Jesse James" with Bob Hope on a few times too. I recorded both shows for a time when there isn't anything else on to watch, so I didn't really need to see them over and over.

There was one more show on that was good and that was "The Plainsman and the Lady" with Wild Bill Elliott. (Did anyone else ever think, in years gone by, that "Wild Bill" reminded them a lot of our Calvert Elliott-the man who became sheriff? I admit that I was a bit too scared to look at the man and study him enough to see if there was any real resemblance. )

I think that we had quite a few people in town who looked like movie stars. All the ladies, dressed up in their suits with their perfect hair and lipstick, back in the 30s and 40s could rival the movie stars. And some of the men looked like cowboy stars.

As I watched "My Darling Clementine" yesterday, I thought that I should draw from the action. I had already sketched Wyatt Earp dancing with Clementine at church when the movie was on earlier in January. That filled my sketchbook, so I'm back to copy paper for sketching until I get a satisfactory sketchbook. (I talked earlier of buying one, but I don't like the paper.) I wasn't really in the mood for drawing, though, with sneezing and runny eyes. So, I just "piddled" at the computer, for most of the day.

There are some movies that I could watch over and over. "My Darling Clementine" is one of them. (I confess that I am ready for a new show today, though.) I've also grown attached to "The Horse Soldiers", "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon", and the two James Garner westerns, "Support Your Local Sheriff" and "Support Your Local Gunfighter". It seems like the more I watch them, the more I want to see them. And I always see something that I missed before.

Tim Holt wasn't the big star in "My Darling Clementine", and I didn't like that he had a beard at the beginning of the movie, as did most of the other men. After all, they had been herding cattle!

In some scenes, he sounded like he had a cold. I wondered if it could be from all the dust on location. In the past, after he was killed off, I wasn't so interested in the rest of the movie. I guess I have grown up some and now I watch the whole movie.

Tim gave me some encouragement, although, of course, he never knew it. During this period, Tim had some kind of "thing" on his left cheek. In later movies, it was gone, so I guess he had it removed.

I had a cyst come up on my left cheek when I was about in the 2nd grade. It was a big ugly thing, all purple, yellow, green, blue. Of course, it looked really huge, to me. I remember that I didn't want to see myself in a mirror or even as a reflection in the bathtub faucet. I would sit backward in the bathtub so I wouldn't have to look at that colorful blemish.

As we were about to start 3rd grade, the family took me to several doctors. I guess they feard it might be a tumor or cancer. Local doctors referred us to a specialist in Houston. The whole family went, and they all looked worried. I couldn't figure out why. The "thing" didn't hurt. It was just ugly, I thought. But I was scared of what a doctor might do to me.

This doctor took me in his examining room, with Daddy, pinched my face really hard, and announced "It's a cyst". He quickly held out his hand and said, "$50, please!"

We went back to our doctors in Marlin and they arranged for surgery. I didn't want to have an operation, but I didn't want the cyst, either. I went to the first day or two of 3rd grade, then took out to have the surgery. I didn't want to go back to school because now I had a big bandage, then a scar on my cheek instead of a colorful cyst.

Mama, of course, forced me to go back.

I went for the Veronica Lake look with my hair. Mama would braid it in the morning, and I would pull my hair loose and use a little hair comb to comb my hair over one side of my face, like the famous hair style of the movies. I felt a bit safe, hiding behind my hair. It took me many years to feel comfortable with short hair that revealed my scar. In later years, it looked more like a dimple, but I know that scar is there.

It helped that Tim also had that spot on his face, although I never could see a scar where the place had been. Maybe it was makeup or plastic surgery. Anyway, it helped to know that someone else had the same thing, and that person was even on movie screens, enlarged a lot.

"My Darling Clementine", and other b&w movies, are good examples to look at if you want to study values for drawing and painting. Dramatic lighting and scenes.

Since I watch so many old movies, my youngest grandson asked me, one day, "Grandma, when did the world change from black and white to color?"

I'm still laughing. I never would have thought of that, even as a child. Of course, we didn't have a lot of color movies back then, either. Those were really special things.

In my little gesture type of sketch above, I used a Pitt pen on 64# Canson sketching paper.

It shows Marshall Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) dancing with Clementine (and, I'm sorry, but I don't recall the actress' name). Wyatt is holding the lady's wrap as they dance, possibly a polka. Clementine had on a straw hat with a ring of flowers around the crown. There were alternating white and dark flowers in the decoration, along with a ribbon that flowed at the back. Her blouse had matching ribbon on the sleeves and at the neck. I imagined that she had on a powder blue, long skirt. I don't know why I thought that, since it was in black and white!

There were lots of good images for drawing in that movie, but I liked the way that Clementine's skirt and the ribbon on her hat flowed, and the lines of Wyatt lifting his knee high, with his body straight, as they danced.

One change I need to make is to add Wyatt's coat. I have him dancing in his shirt, but, I realized yesterday that he should have on his suit coat. I was trying to get in the line of his back, hips, legs, and head and didn't think of adding the coat before the scene changed, at the time I was sketching.

Some other actors in the movie were Ward Bond, Victor Mature, and John Ireland. There were others who are very familiar, but I can't think of their names. Of course, John Ford directed.

"Stagecoach" is another western with Tim that I always watch, and was another John Ford movie, starring John Wayne. More images to practice.

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I'll have to see what else is going to be on tv tonight while the Super Bowl is on. I'm not in the mood for drawing football players. The cable went off to the tv in the den this afternoon and nothing seemed to make it come back on. It wouldn't change channels last night and we discovered that the batteries were dead in the remote-we thought. But, later, it started working. Now, it was working, then changed to snow and static. Calls to the cable company didn't help. They said they could come out Tuesday to look at it! So, it looks like we won't have our usual Super Bowl party in the den. We can watch things in our bedrooms, though.

I don't know any of the teams or any of the players, so I'm really not interested. I could do some gesture drawings, but I have other things I would rather do.

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Congratulations!

Wishing Kathryn the best on her retirement!

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Brazos Valley Art League meeting at noon tomorrow, Art Center in College Station.

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I signed up for a new list for February called "A Thing A Day". The idea is for participants to create one new thing a day during February-a picture, a cake, a recipe, sculpture, anything creative. Then post it on the site. It started as a university project for grad students a couple of years ago. Deadline to sign up was last night at midnight.

I don't know if I'm going to be able to do it, though. It takes me so long to post things! And I have quite a few other things going. We'll see what happens.

Too many new tricks for this "old dog" to learn.

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Be sure to check out my sidebar for things that are going on, and to look at various sites.

Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and sign my Guest Book, if you haven't already.

Another "new discovery" is Facebook. That's very interesting. I've found so many people that I haven't seen in a long time.

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We may need to do a rain dance or something. It's getting too dry, and with wind, and dry cold fronts, that makes for fire danger.

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Morning Walk Through The Village

Morning Walk Through The Village

8.5" x 11"

pencil

TV has not been very good this summer. Some evenings, especially, barren. Late night talk shows-reruns. Hosts off on vacation. Jokes might have been funny the first time, but after that, unless I missed the whole show, and there was an interesting star on like William Shatner, I don't care to watch. Even the news is often the same thing, or even a rerun, over and over. Or, if they have too much of one thing or something that is too scarey, I turn it off. I don't care for most mysteries, or horror shows, sports, most modern music and movies, and the list goes on.

We have watched Gordon Ramsey on "Hell's Kitchen" (about the only reality show I will watch ) and the fairly new "Moment of Luxury" with Bill Stubbs.

The channels with old tv programs have become some of our most watched with their old programs of "Andy Griffith", "Roseanne", "Home Improvement", "Murphy Brown", and "George Lopez". I am disappointed in them, though, because they have added a lot of programs that I didn't like the first time around and still don't. I thought that they were originally going to have some really old programs like "Our Miss Brooks", "My Little Margie", and "Dobie Gillis". Now those were some good programs that I would still like to see! Instead, they keep adding newer programs, over and over and over!

I've already said in a previous post that I really dislike the western channels putting on those awful tv westerns that I didn't like when they were on. "Bat Masterson", "The Rifleman", "Big Valley", and "Gunsmoke". We only had them on because you could only get about 2 stations in those days, so, whatever was on, people watched. If they have run out of old movies, I can recommend some good old Tim Holt westerns! They seldom have any of those anymore.

It got so bad this week, that I actually turned my tv off! That's something that I never do, unless I leave the house. Of course, I could still hear the kids' tv from the other room. "Sponge Bob, Square Pants", "Little House On The Prarie", and "Ghost Hunters". So, I was looking over You Tube for music and old movie clips.

The one saving thing for tv was that, after the comedies at night that I watch, "Scrubs", "Corner Gas", "Becker", "George Lopez", "Still Standing", "Home Improvement", "Roseanne" or "Andy Griffith", the old movie channel has been showing movies from the Big Band or Swing era. Last night, in the wee hours, they featured Betty Hutton and had an interview with her.

What an amazing woman she was! Just beautiful and so energetic, and so tragic. You just wanted to reach out and give her a hug.

Before that, I watched Cab Calloway (remember Zoot suits!), and the story of Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. Lots of good shows, so much so that I just had to stay up and watch them.

There are a lot of video clips on You Tube that show the movies and music of those times. Just search for an artist or a song, even by the year.

After the good movies, and after the old "Star Trek" tv shows with William Shatner, I finally go to sleep.

Well, it isn't all just to watch tv. My tom cats keep me up all night. I don't know how they know it, but just as soon as my eyes start to close, one starts prowling and scratching on things. I got a little water pistol to squirt him with when he starts that. Now, when he just sees me start to get up with the water pistol, he runs. I think it has become a game. The other one starts running around, too, when that one starts meowing and scratching. Bitsy, the elderly Manx cat, just gets on the bed and goes to sleep, unless she gets sick at her stomach. Then I'm up chasing her around and cleaning up, sometimes, too. I think that they may just want my bed! As long as I am sitting at my computer, working, they sleep peacefully on my bed. But, when I move them to get in bed, they get frisky and keep me up.

They finally all go to sleep when the sun comes up and spend most of the day napping. I'm trying to keep them up during the day so they will be tired at night. Maybe they need a sleeping pill or tranquilizer so that I can get some sleep. When my son was a baby, the doctor gave him something so he would sleep at night, so I could get some sleep. Otherwise, I was up all night, watching him, to make sure he was breathing right! Maybe the cats need something too.

While I'm watching tv, I'm also usually doing some laundry, and sketching. I miss a lot of movies and programs, especially the ending, I guess, because I am thinking of something else, or have an image that I am trying to put on paper.

The sketch above is one I did one night this week. The movie "Apache" was on and I couldn't find anything else to watch. I was hoping for a comedy, but there wasn't anything good on tv. So, I settled on "Apache", while my clothes were in the washing machine. Burt Lancaster was in this one. Turned out to be a better movie than I had remembered. However, true to the way that I watch movies, I was impressed with the image of the pretty Indian maiden, walking through the village with her father. She just seemed to float and glide, so tall and straight, with her full skirt sort of bunched up and moving in front of her. I thought of how it might feel in early morning, walking over soft earth in such a village. They didn't seem to have the normal homes that we would think of in an Indian village. That's what I started sketching, and probably missed a lot of the rest of the movie.

The way that I watch movies, I thought that, when I saw it in the past, the movie ended with Lancaster being killed outside his hut with the sounds of his new baby crying. But, as I watched, this time, there was a happy ending. Or maybe I would classify it as another "non-ending", with the movie just seeming to stop and nothing memorable happening to complete the movie. I think that is why I don't remember a lot of endings. They don't really have an ending to remember! It's not all my fault, with my mind just wandering on to other images.

I thought that it was interesting that, after I sketched my Indian maiden, Russell Baker also posted a painting he did of an Indian chief, using some of the features of a deceased country-western singer, as a model. He had a little quiz to see if people could guess whose features he used. I told him that I was always amazed at how I will work on some piece of art work, and, somewhere, there will be another person thinking of, observing, or doing the same thing, or something similiar. The next day, he posted the painting of an Indian girl that he had worked on.

You can look for Russell Baker's work by clicking on his name in my sidebar under More Artists.

It's now Friday, and the weekend. Hope you have big plans to do the things you love to do, whether that is staying at home, relaxing and watching tv, or going out to eat, to a movie, dancing, or engage in some kind of sport, or whatever makes you happy, as Marvin Zindler used to say.

Popcorn and a Movie

Popcorn

9" x 12"

pencil

What would Saturday be without a good, ole fashioned "shoot em up" movie, and, of course, popcorn has to go with that. Thank goodness for the old movie and western channels on tv, and things like tapes of those wonderful old shows.

Of course, Tim Holt was, and still is, my favorite. We had some pretty good arguments about who was best, Roy Rogers or Tim Holt, when we were growing up. Tim was right up there, in the movie magazines, with Roy, and sometimes, Gene Autrey was in the top, too.

This past week, I was looking at some things on You Tube and then tried doing a search. I was so thrilled to find some clips from some of the Tim Holt movies! I hope I can figure out how to use the things I saved and can go back and watch them again.

Also found old Gene Autrey and Roy Rogers music and parts of shows. And I went on to find things like clips from "The Pirates of Penzance".

Now if I could just watch the whole movies on my computer! (The sound isn't too good on my bedroom tv, so, if I can get things on the computer, that's a plus.) I could go in the den and watch on the big tv, but my computer is not there.

I'm not happy with what the Western channels are doing-putting old tv programs on instead of the movies. I never did like "Big Valley", "Bat Masterson", or "The Rifleman". And I got really sick of "Gunsmoke", back in those days. Didn't care for most of the tv westerns. Of course, we had to watch because we only got about 2 stations on tv! So people watched whatever was on in the evenings, especially.

Those old 1930s-1950s westerns were the best. They should put those old tv programs on the channels that have the old tv programs, and not the movie channels.

There are a few of the newer westerns that were pretty good, but they still can't beat those old cowboy shows we used to watch at the Eloia. I like the ones with James Garner and Peter Graves. Those have sort of grown on me. I didn't care for them when they first came out, but, now, after seeing them on tv several times, I kind of enjoy them.

I thought that one of those old tv shows stations was going to have the really old shows that I enjoy like "Our Miss Brooks", "Dobie Gillis", "My Little Margie", and those kind of programs. But, it wasn't long before we got the "new" shows, like "Leave It To Beaver", "The Brady Bunch", and "I Love Lucy". Now we get those and even newer shows like "Roseanne" and "George Lopez", and "All In The Family". I guess those are okay, but others just cause my poor thumb to get tired from changing channels with the remote.

I can't think of any particular movie of Tim's that was my favorite. I loved all of his westerns. And he was so cute, I could have just watched those shows, over and over. Still could!

I think that the only movie that I didn't like was "Treasure of the Sierra Madre". The story was good, and I do appreciate it more now than I did when it came out. But I hated that beard on Tim. Hid his pretty face! (Well, I just don't like beards and mustaches on anyone.)

I used to have photo albums full of pictures of movie stars and a special album just of Tim. Also had stacks of movie magazines and comic books that my mother threw out when I went off to college.

It was such a thrill to get those movie star pictures in the mail. We could just write a fan letter, addressed to the star in Hollywood, California, with a 2 cent stamp on it, and, soon, we would get a picture, often autographed, back in the mail. I sent off letters at least every week! Sometimes, stars would send us a picture that we didn't even write for. I remember that I had one of Vera Ellen, with a nice message on it. I had not written to her. And I was so excited to find that, when I jumped off a porch into some wet shrubs, with my photo in hand, that the ink actually smeared. That was "the test" to know if someone actually signed it or if it had just been stamped. I had a similar picture from Nina Fochs, with real ink on it. (I didn't even know who she was, so I knew that I had not written a fan letter to her.) Wish I still had those wonderful albums.

One of my treasures, now, is the biography of Tim Holt. Lots of pictures and stories. I sat down, when that book came, and read it straight through. (Unlike the biography of Robert E. Lee that I have been reading a little bit of at a time for at least 10 years, and I'm only about half way through! I am determined that I am going to finish it, one of these days.)

The Eloia was catty cornered from Grandpa's dry goods store, so I would watch through the big plate glass show windows for time to go across the street to the picture show on Saturday afternoons. I could see the colorful popcorn machine, with its colored lights, reflecting against the white building , rolled out from behind a blonde wooden door for each show. Carl Jr., when he was at home, would pop and sell the popcorn, while his mother, Eloise, took up tickets, and his father, Carl Sr., would sweep and take up tickets. Carl or Carl Jr. would run the projector upstairs. They all took turns walking up and down the aisles during the show to make sure that everyone behaved and didn't leave a mess. They only sold small sacks of popcorn for a nickle. For drinks, we had a chilled water fountain. If you wanted a Coke, you had to wait and go to the drugstore or to a grocery store after the show.

Sometimes, I had to help at the store and couldn't go to the show, and, believe me, I was wanting Grandpa to tell me, "Things are slow. Here's a quarter. Go on to the show."

But, even when things were slow, there were usually jobs to be done, like stringing handkerchiefs or putting pin tickets on merchandise, or just straightening things. Sometimes I would entertain myself by trying on the hats in the three way mirror, or sit by myself in the ladies changing room, dusting or sweeping, and just dream. Or I might sit on the floor at the edge of the show window and watch the people on the street, hoping to see a friend or a cute boy go by. That was the spot where Grandma and the other ladies who worked elected to sit while they strung handkerchiefs or put prices on merchandise. When Toot worked, she would sometimes sit there and write letters, when there were no customers or jobs to do.

The men tended to sit around the center of the store near the stove and the cash register. There were chairs and a bench there. A good place to gossip and swap stories.

If someone felt bad or just got extra sleepy, there were two shoe benches in the shoe department, where people sat to try on shoes.

When I could go to the show, sometimes I made the rounds at the grocery store in back ,and the dry goods store. A nickle from each person would get me into the show and buy me some popcorn, with a nickle left over to go to the drugstore afterward for a Coke or a scoop of ice cream. If I came up a nickle short, tears would usually bring me the extra money I needed.

After I started getting actually paid to work, my 50 cents a day, and later a dollar a day, would take care of my needs for a 12 cent tube of lipstick and picture shows and drugstore for the week.

We didn't always have cowboy shows on Saturday. Sometimes we had things like "The Three Stooges", or "Tarzan" movies. Usually all black and white movies during the week, with the technicolor movies saved for Sunday.

It still doesn't seem like Saturday without a good cowboy show, though.

And, now, I have to add that, Saturday night doesn't seem right without "Last of the Summer Wine" and other British comedies.

"Popcorn", the drawing above, was done with pencil on Canson acid free paper. This is a sketch made as a preliminary work for a challenge issued by Myrna Wacknov.

The challenge is to draw popcorn, then look at it to see what you can see in it. Something like looking at clouds to see what you can find there. The boys made popcorn while they watched a movie, so I borrowed a few kernels to use for my project. I haven't completed the finished work of what I see in the popcorn, however. But I do see lots of shapes and possiblities in what I have drawn.

And, like the homework story, somehow, the dog got my little ziplock bag of popcorn that I had drawn, and tore a big hole in it, leaving me with smashed kernels on the floor. (Good thing I was not using it as a still life!) And, fortunately, I can use my imagination to complete the picture/s.

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Stork Update

I've added another stork cam under Stork Sites. This one is in Hungary. Click on Hungarian Cam to watch.

The nest in Przygodzic now has 5 eggs in it! Now we must wait patiently for them to hatch. Meanwhile, we can watch Mama and Papa stork as they take turns tending to the eggs.

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Thank you for sharing and for your support.

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Lavender Ladies

Lavender Ladies (Detail)
10" x 14"
watercolors
Each Friday, there is a challenge issued on the "Creativity Journey" blog. (I have a link to it in the sidebar.) Last week, the assignment was to begin with a grid. Not an ordinary grid of little squares, but to look around for things that form shapes.
I thought and thought and looked and looked. Finally, I looked at the Crepe Myrtle outside my window. And there it was. A grid. In the center, the branches formed a diamond shape. Some of the outer branches curved and twisted. I used watercolor pencils on 140 # Arches watercolor paper to draw the lines of the Crepe Myrtle for my grid.
Then there was the problem of what to use the grid for. I looked and thought some more. I took my paper, watercolor pencils, brushes, travel watercolors and set up in front of the tv set in the den. I can see that one better, if I pull my chair up in front of it. I settled down for the rest of the day, I thought. There were supposed to be Tim Holt movies on and I didn't want to miss those. I thought that, maybe I could at least try some gesture drawings while the cowboys were on.
I sketched one as a gesture drawing, and the trees bending over a dry creek bed, as the cowboys rode under them, seemed like this might be a grid that I could use. The scene went by quickly and my horse, as usual, looked like a dog. Good thing that I was looking at this more as a way to show movement and placement, and not a realistic drawing of a cowboy on a horse. My trees looked good, though!
I put that one aside as I thought that the figures I actually used, should utilize the lines of the grid more. My cowboy and trees could be finished later. I would need to look at a horse longer than the quick shot of them herding cattle through the trees in the movie.
The family left, and "Ladies In Lavender" came on tv. I had been wanting to see that movie since it came out and, finally, here was my chance. I still had my watercolors set up in front of the tv, and I settled down to enjoy the show.
"I'm going to watch this movie," I told myself. "The drawing will just have to wait. But, if I do see something that I want to put in a picture, I'm ready."
I enjoyed the beach scenes, the cozy houses, the vintage clothing and settings, and, of course, Judi Dench is always good. I stuck to watching, as I had promised myself. That is , until, the young man was on the rocks by the water, playing his violin in the moonlight. I could envision the line of his arms, through his shoulders, holding up the violin, in the top part of the lines that formed the diamond shape. The tilt of his head would fit into the shape above that. The drape of his jacket and the placement of his feet would all fit into the grid. All of this would have to be in blue, with the circle of the full moon above him.
The two women would have to be dressed in purple to fit the name of the movie, and they did fit into the grid. I thought about doing the whole picture in purple, but decided that the boy just had to be painted in blue. So, maybe, I would confine the purple to the ladies.
The young Russian artist struck me with her painting, and then in the scene where she was dressed in the loose robe with all it's flowing patterns. She seemed to fit into the curve on the right, formed by twisting Crepe Myrtle limbs.
The left side needed something. The heavy-set maid in the movie was an interesting character, so I added her to the composition. The exchange between the maid and the young man was so funny, and real. She had him helping her peel "spuds" into a bucket. He was not very nice in his comments to the older woman, but she didn't even know it. He was speaking to her in Polish.
I think that this painting came out with an abstract, dreamlike quality, with a bit of cubism thrown in. It is quite colorful.
I finished "Lavender Ladies" with Winsor Newton watercolors and watercolor pencils. By the time it was dry, and scanned, it was too late to send it in for the weekly challenge.
The picture is too large for my scanner, so today I showed you two details of the painting. By looking at both of them, you can probably see most of the painting.

This week's challenge is going to be a bit more difficult. Myrna used some special pens on a special kind of paper, and a photo program to "posterize" and break up a photo into shapes. I think that I may use some block printing paper and improvise for the pens. Maybe a bamboo pen. I'm not sure that I have anything on my computer that will posterize paintings, so I'm going to just break it up into shapes myself. I can do that-I think. Now to find a photo that I want to do.

Take a look at yesterday's post, below this one. I wrote a salute to veterans. I asked, below the first picture, if the statues, especially the one in the front, look like they are wearing shorts.
Let me know what you think.
Do you know the significance of the statues? I'm not sure about them, at all. It seems like my uncle told my mother where they were, but I just don't remember, now. Since this is being viewed world wide, maybe someone knows about them. Let me know if you have information about the statues in Rome behind my uncle.

I want to recognize and honor the veterans, and those who will be veterans on this Veterans Day. Many events were yesterday, but there are still observations today. I have heard from several people who told me a bit about the veterans in their families. There are so many stories out there. I hope that everyone is writing those down, and sharing them with others.
Thank you veterans, and troops!

Let me know if you see something of interest to you or that particularly appeals to you. Thanks for sharing and for your comments. I do appreciate your support.
I hope that you are enjoying my blog.
Don't forget to check out the links in my sidebar.

If you are interested in adding Blog Rush to your blog, let me know and I'll send you an invitation. If you add the widget through me, I will get more credit and my link will appear on more blog widgets. That way, I should get more traffic to my site. It's really easy to do, and very interesting as it shows how much traffic is coming to the site, and which post is viewed most.

For those readers who are interested in my posts on Macular Degeneration, those posts can be found in the Archives. They are all prefaced with the word Vision.

Hope your Monday wasn't too Blue. Or, if it was, I hope it was a pretty color and not the way you felt!

Vision-Deco Street

Deco Street
8.5" x 11"
acrylic on cardstock
black, white, and silver
"Deco Street" is one of six black, white, and silver acrylic paintings I did on cardstock. The idea for this series came when I was watching a black and white movie on tv. It was a western and there was a street scene. The stagecoach had just passed. There was a sign post on the street, a woman stood near it, wearing a dress with a silver bodice with silver spangles on it. There were two men also on the street, with dark suits on. To me, they were blurred and it was hard to make out details. I intended to show the blurry characters and buildings, but, as I worked, these art deco type characters appeared in glamorous poses, with tuxedoes, slicked back hair with a shine in it, and a woman in her silver dress. These images of a city scene were more distinct than what I saw, and, for some reason, I added a ghost-like figure in white lace. Sometimes, figures and features just happen in my work. They take on a life of their own.
The other paintings show a progression from the very blurry images that I actually see, to the more detailed, decorative pictures.
The silver does show up more in the original than in the scanned copy of the picture. Here, it appears more as gray.
I have posted one in this series earlier in my Vision postings. I thought that you might enjoy seeing another in the series.

If you read "GretaWire", Greta Van Susteran's blog, you can find a discussion there today on Macular Degeneration. Greta is a Fox News anchor, with her show "On The Record" on Fox News tv at 9:00 p.m. Central time, and 10:00 p.m. Eastern time. I had to add my two cents worth, of course.
http://gretawire.foxnews.com/2007/10/08/macular-degeneration/#comment-26340
http://gretawire.foxnews.com/
I'm not sure what comment started the discussion, but I couldn't help but wonder if it was what I said. She said she read the comment last night, but I posted mine a few days back. I told her about the time when I was at the George Bush Library to see Tony Snow and had to sit in the overflow auditorium. We were moved around to make more room and my grandson and I were separated. They directed me to the wall area, but I asked to sit on the aisle because I couldn't see very well . (Because of the AMD in one eye, and cataracts in both of them.) I stayed put. Snow and Bush 41 came into the auditorium and told us they would be back after the presentation in the main auditorium to answer questions. Meanwhile, we had to watch on a big screen. (Which probably worked better for me because I could see more than a doll sized person that way!)
When Bush and Snow returned, I leaned out into the aisle to see them , with several Secret Service men facing us and standing in front of the two celebrities. I thought that Tony Snow looked so much better than he had when he had been so ill. And I was suprised that he had brown hair instead of the gray that I was used to on tv.
"Whoops!" I thought. "I had better quit doing that!" I caught myself closing my bad eye, the one with the Macular Degeneration, and trying to see better with my good eye. Something that I noticed I was doing more and more.
I could envision myself being thrown on the ground and hauled off somewhere. No telling what they all might think that I was doing, winking at the former president and the Press Secretary!
That didn't happen, of course. They probably didn't even notice me due to the stage lights, but I felt like I was right in front of them and didn't want to appear weird.
Anyway, I'm glad that Greta started the AMD discussion today. So many have struggled and suffered from it, and so many more are going to have it. Maybe, with some national exposure, more help with be forthcoming. I had never heard of it before I was diagnosed with it months ago.
It's been about a year since I noticed the first symptoms of Macular Degeneration, wavey venetian blinds, a wavey handrail down a hall, and wavey telephone poles and street signs.
Look at my older posts that are prefaced with the word "Vision" to see my other posts on Macular Degeneration. And notice the links under "Eye Sites" for more information on this disease.

Saturday afternoon turned out to be a pretty good time. Lots of memories of a Saturday afternoon at the Eloia in Calvert, Miss Mollie's hamburger place, and Henry, the man who sometimes brought a sack of hamburgers to the picture show to eat while he sat on the front row with the little kids. Two Tim Holt movies, "StageCoach" and "My Darling Clementine" on tv, and I made myself a hamburger for lunch. Pulled my chair right up to the tv set, and it was like the old movie screen.
I clearly remember seeing "My Darling Clementine" and going back to my grandfather's dry goods store (Conitz Dry Goods Store, now Mud Creek Pottery), across the street, and spending the rest of the afternoon in the men's department, standing by the men's blue jean jackets and blue jeans, trying to get up nerve enough to ask Grandpa if I could have one of those men's jackets, like Tim wore in the movie. Of course, when I did, I got a big "No" from Grandpa, Grandma, my uncle, my dad, and my mother.
"Girls don't wear those kinds of things! Go to the ladies department and find yourself a nice pair of girls' jeans!"
That just wouldn't do. I envisioned myself, someday, riding the range, checking fences, and all with Tim-a sidekick, kind of like Chito, even if I was a girl. I could ride a horse, too, if I had one!
There was another Tim Holt movie this afternoon, "Fifth Avenue Girl", and "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" will be on in the next few days. Today I just made baked potatoes to enjoy with the movie. Any day with a Tim Holt movie has to be a good day!
Hope that you are having a nice Columbus Day! I just can't imagine how anyone could be so brave as to get on those little ships and sail on the ocean into the unknown. I would be terrified to even get on a big ship, or an airplane, today! I guess that it is good that some people are brave and adventurous, or we would all still be living in caves. Unlike when we were in school, it was just another school day here, and a day of sales when stores try to have Columbus Day specials. Kids probably didn't even get a special coloring sheet to color today, like we used to do for any special days that taught us about history. I know that they did math, though! Oh, those times tables! (And, if you read my blog, you know how I feel about math, and why.)

Vision-Eyes Closed

Eyes Closed
Image size 8" x 11"
Paper size 9" x 12"
watercolors
In case you missed the answer at the end of yesterday's post, the title of the movie that I was watching was "Judgement at Neuremburg" starring Spencer Tracy, Marlene Dietrich, Richard Widmark, William Shatner, Judy Garland, Montgomery Clift, and others. The name of the actor I was showing was Richard Widmark, as he was talking to a witness on the stand. The courtroom audience was behind him. The painting showed the light rays I see coming from the tv set in a dark room, my foot hanging from the edge of the bed, and, on the screen, there was Widmark, with his face distorted and discolored from my AMD in one eye. Through my eyes-the way that I see things.
I got tired of trying to straighten out all these distortions and see what was going on correctly. So, I closed my eyes, hoping to sleep. "No rest for the weary," as the old saying goes.
With my eyes closed, this is what I continued seeing-the design in the painting above. White rays shot out, almost in a cross design, in the dark, from a center of yellow light. Purple surrounded the circle of light and that was outlined with a transparent green color. Short spikes of light blue shot out of the circle into the rays.
I opened my eyes to watch more tv. The design with my eyes closed was worse than watching distorted tv. It's a good thing that they have good movies on all night, now.
I thought that I might as well get up and do something. I could work on the computer, or paint something. But, I knew that I needed to have my feet up. My eyes were tired, but I couldn't sleep with all the designs going on . I should sleep, but that meant hours of tossing and turning, and trying to get the designs and distortions to go away. If I turned the tv off, there would still be distortions to contend with, in the dark, in lights outside, even in the stars and moon.
I had read that, sometimes, with Macular Degeneration and related problems, that the foggy, purple or dark spot just won't go away, even when the eyes are closed, making it difficult to sleep. I hoped that I wasn't going to have this spot before me all the time. So far, it just happens sometimes. At least that spot is not usually the same. The shape and colors change. More abstract designs.
I added a fun little "test" for you to try on my sidebar. I got this from Dianne McGhee, who does creative things with stained glass. Look under "What Color Are You?" and try the quiz. Just click on the link below it to take the quiz. I thought mine fit, although blue isn't my favorite color at this time. I do use a lot of Indigo Blue and the blue shade of Cerulean Blue, though. For some reason, when I added it, part of it is hidden under the border of my page. I don't know how to fix that. The same thing happened to my subscription button. The links do work, though.
I also added a link to a singer who uses her first name. She uses an 'i' while I use an 'e' in my name. You can hear her sing by clicking on the Youtube link on her page. Click on Cecilia under Interesting Sites.
Also under Interesting Sites, I have added a site called "Melody Lane", where they have old songs, to enjoy as you go down Memory Lane. I believe that you have to join that one, but it looked interesting.
I guess that I have watched so many Gene Autrey movies during the western channels' 100th birthday anniversary for Gene, that I'm really thinking about those old songs. I've just been singing along with Gene and Smiley Burnette, the Sons of the Pioneers, and all the crew since last week. I may go through withdrawel when they finish this series as I've had it going night and day, since it started.
Those of you who know me, and who read my blog, know that my hero was Tim Holt. Gene wasn't my favorite, but I still love those old westerns. I don't like many of the newer ones. The old ones seemed more real, the way that cowboys and the west should be. I wasn't a big fan of country music, either, but these were more swing and folk songs, even church songs. I sing along a little bit, then don't know the words for a while, so, at those forgotten parts, I have to just hum or put in "dum de dum" or something of that sort. I just do this around the house, since my voice is so croaky. Worse than Smiley with all his high and low ranges. My voice hasn't been the same since thryroid surgery a few years back.
I was remembering a time when I was probably 3 or 4 and was playing at my grandmother's house under the china berry tree. I wanted to make mud pies while Grandma was cooking. I wandered over to Uncle Rudloph's house across the pasture, where his wife, Pearl, was feeding chickens. I told Pearl my plight and we went in the house, where she checked her cooking on the wood stove in the kitchen.
I sure did want to make mudpies, but Grandma was busy and I didn't have any jar lids or anything to make my pies in. Pearl took me into her living room. We stood beside a table with a light bulb hanging from a single wire hanging over it.
Pearl opened a cabinet beside the stairs. There were no banisters or any kind of railing, just bare steps leading to the second floor. The cabinet was dark wood with cut out scroll work on the front. Behind the cut out area, there was a deep red fabric. The cabinet opened from the top, and looked like a 1960s stereo, except for the decorations on the front. Inside, there was a record player that played 78s. I was fascinated and had not seen anything like it, for this was only the early 1940s. There were no stereos, yet.
Pearl brought out albums and stacks of records and put them on the table. Gene Autrey and Tex Ritter were just some of the recording artists. There were also a few operas and symphonies. I knew the Gene Autrey records from the Saturday picture shows at the Eloia.
"Here, you can take these, " she said as she stacked a big pile of records and albums in front of me.
"But, won't you miss them? Won't Uncle Rudolph be mad?" I didn't want to take them, ruin them, then have an angry adult after me later.
"Nah," she said. "Those are old. We won't miss them. We usually listen to the radio, anyway. It's too much trouble to have to keep cranking that old record player, so we don't use it anymore. Besides, you need some dishes for your mudpies." She put some of the records back inside the cabinet and pulled the string on the light bulb. The light went on, then off, and she urged me toward the back door.
"You just go on back to Hermena's and make your mudpies, and don't worry about it. I've got to cook dinner, now."
I went down the steps slowly, thinking that she would change her mind and ask for the records back. I shuffled my feet through the dirt where the chickens were pecking, crossed the alley where an ancient plow was parked by a tree, and balanced the records over my head while I went through rows of corn, climbed through a barbed wire fence that separated the field from Grandma's driveway. I opened the gate to the white picket fence of the back yard, and looked back at Pearl's house to see if she was following me, wanting her records back. She wasn't there. I stepped on the concrete sidewalk, passed my aunt's collection of petrified rocks, the old cistern where Grandma had planted Cannas, and settled into my place under the wide windows of Grandma's kitchen, shaded by the China Berry tree. There was water in a faucet that stood up from the ground, lots of dirt to dig in, as long as I didn't dig where Grandma had flowers, or in her Victory Garden behind the clothesline. And, I sure didn't want to go in the back yard area where the chickens were without Grandpa or Grandma with me.
As I made my mudpies, diligently, I decided to use only one record for a dish, and made several pies on one dish. I thought that those records were too much of a treasure to ruin with mudpies. The dirt might wash off, but what would that do to the record.
One day, Grandpa was working with cows in one of the back yards, and he had to go to the toolshed. I was following him. As he went in the shed, I was looking around at some things that had been tossed out of the storage shed beside the tool shed. Buried in the mud was something metal. I dug it out and found a mud-covered, little wood stove, similar to Pearl's.
"Grandpa, can I have this?"
"Ask your grandmother," he answered from the tool shed.
I took it to the kitchen window. "Grandma, can I have this?"
"Sure you can. That's an old toy stove that a little girl gave me when I was a little girl. We used to cook on it. You can really build a fire in it and cook things. But, you will have to clean it up." She went back to the sink.
I took the stove to the faucet and washed the mud off, then left it to dry on the sidewalk. Then, when I visited, I played like I was cooking on the stove. Mudpies weren't all that great, now that I had something to cook real food on. Of course, I couldn't play with matches to light it, and the bottom of the oven was rusted almost away. But it had places to put your pies to cool, a tank for hot water, and holes with covers where you could cook food.
Eventually, I took the stove home and my sister and friends and I would put it on the front porch. My friend, Edie, had some little metal dishes and we put two plates inside the oven to make a floor for the wood. A melted candle held it together for years. We gathered sticks to make a fire in the stove. Then we cut up a potato for french fries, or got little bits of food to make soup with. It really worked! We had sturdy metal cooking utensils then, and dishes that were also sturdy. That was some good food that we cooked as little kids. It sure tasted better than mud pies and the soup we made from weeds and things that grew wild in the lot between our houses. (Of course, everyone had to eat some of what the group cooked, mudpie and soup wise. I wouldn't. Everyone knew I was a picky eater. Daddy told me that some of those weeds were poisonous so don't eat our creations. I didn't. I would run home, instead.)
I still have that little stove. At one time, I put an artificial ivy in it. The inside of the oven, the two plates, rusted away years ago. To keep it from rusting further, I painted it white. I've looked for information on that little stove. Possibly, it was actually a salesman's sample. I still think it would be fun to cook on!
Funny what Gene Autrey's songs led me to think about! "Back In The Saddle Again", "You Are My Sunshine", "Tweedleo Twill", "When It's Roundup Time In Texas", "Sioux City Sue", "Mexicali Rose", "That Silver Haired Daddy Of Mine"and all those good old songs. "When It's Roundup Time In Texas" is another story.
My favorite of his movies was the one in 1936 when it was the State of Texas Centennial. That movie was filmed at what is now the Texas State Fairgrounds in Dallas. I love those wonderful old Art Deco buildings, the way that I remember the fairgrounds. It was so interesting to see how it looked. And, so far, I haven't seen that movie in all the selections they have shown. It may have been on the other channel while I was watching something else. Incidentally, the State Fair of Texas is going on now.
Another one in this series that I liked was the one that he made just before going into service in WWII. That one is appropriate today.
I feel like I am thoroughly saturated with Gene Autrey movies. The stories and songs are all running together. I wish they would do that for Tim Holt movies. I could really watch those 24 hours a day, every day! It is nice to be able to count on seeing a good old western instead of things that you couldn't pay me to watch. I am amazed that they rate some of these movies as Parental Guidance. Those are wonderful old shows that had high morals and guided generations of youngsters as they grew up. We could use more of the Cowboy Code these days. I'm glad that they are giving "The Code" in between movies.
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Vision-TV Movie

TV Movie
Image size 8"x 11"
Paper size 9"x 12"
watercolors

Can you guess who the actor is? Do you know what movie I was watching?

It was an August night, the wee hours of the morning, actually, the time when the best old movies seem to come on tv. I hung one foot off the edge of the bed as I watched the television set in my bedroom. Flares of blue light surrounded the screen and broke the darkness of the room.

It is a good movie. One of those that I didn't appreciate when it first came out, but one that grows on me the more I see it. I first became more interested after watching "Star Trek" and realizing that a young William Shatner was in it. He really looked good then. And, in more recent years, I have decided that this is an excellent move.

Another movie that falls in that category is "Treasure of Sierra Madre". As a loyal Tim Holt fan, I would watch any movie with him in it, over and over. But, when this one came out, I didn't like it. I hated that beard Tim wore in the movie. He was so good looking and that awful beard just hid his face. I didn't care for Humphry Bogart, but I got more interested when I read that Jack Holt, Tim's father, had a tiny part in the movie. It took me a long time to find the scene that he was in, but I finally found it. As I watched, and grew older, the movie, and the story, became more interesting. So, now, when it is on, I am going to watch it, with my chair in front of the tv set so I can see their faces. (I still don't like that beard, though. I think the story would have worked without it.)

The faces, now, as I watch, are distorted in color and shape, unless I am sitting about 2 feet in front of the tv. Yes, color, although this was a black and white movie that I was watching! There was a purple circle over the main part of the picture, with green surrounding the purple area. A warm glow washed over the rest of the image. I could just make out a shape of the tv screen behind the rays of light.

I guess my cataracts create the effect of the rays and blurring, while Macular Degeneration causes the distortion and strange colors. Put them all together, and it makes for some abstract views. When I close the good eye, the purple and green spot with distorted lines around it, are always there. And, the image is darker. With both eyes open, I can see better, but things are still as in the painting above, blurred and distorted, unless I am really close. At least they are brighter and closer to a realistic color. Print is sometimes very faint, a light gray or blue, and just marks. If I move back a bit, they become wavey and look like squiggles instead of letters. From my bed, I can't make out what the tv says at all. I have to constantly get up and walk over to the tv set, if I want to find out what I am watching, what time it is, or what year a movie was made. The same is true of watching tv from the couch in the den. If I really want to see a program, I move my rocking chair and a tv tray in front of the tv set. Of course, no one else in the family can see, then. I guess it is lucky that they don't like most of what I like to watch, so they leave me in front of the tv while they go their rooms and watch what they want. They don't know what they are missing!

Have you guessed the movie or the actor, yet? I was going to give you a cliff hanger and tell you to come back tomorrow to find out. But, I won't do that to you. The actor was Richard Widmark. The movie was "Judgement at Neuremburg".

"TV Movie" was done with Winsor Newton watercolors on 140 pound Arches watercolor paper.

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Saturday Afternoon

Tickets Please 8.5" x 11" pencil

Saturday just doesn't feel like Saturday without a good, old cowboy movie to watch. It has to be one of those black and white "shoot 'em ups", where the hero is always the good guy. He has to have a wonderful, loyal horse and a sidekick, or even a small gang of good guys of his own (preferably a group that sings as they ride or sit around the campfire). They fight for right and freedom, but never just to be mean. And the heroine usually gets left behind with not so much as a kiss.

Growing up in Calvert, Texas, we had the Eloia Theatre on Main Street. It's still there, but is not used as a theatre anymore. Wide screens and tv ended their years of providing entertainment. After a fire, it was rebuilt with all the latest features including double wide seats at the end of every other row, and a cry room. You can't miss this theatre with its maroon tile with white paint .

This was a family operation with Miss Eloise (all women were called "Miss") working in the ticket booth . Her husband, Carl, sold popcorn, took tickets, as he is in my drawing, cleaned up, ran the projector, and still looked like he was very casual and not doing much of anything. Their son, Carl Jr., ran the projector and also sold popcorn. We thought he was so cute in his Aggie uniform selling popcorn, although we were much youger. He probably considered us pesky little kids!

The Eloia was named for Miss Eloise. I have shown her here in the ticket booth. She was so pale with a lot of powder, red lipstick, light blue eyes, and red hair softly curled. She always wore soft dresses or suits in pinks, lavenders, light green, colors that complimented her fair skin. I wondered if she might have once been an actress and had fallen in love with Carl, then settled in our small town. I don't really know their story.

As a child, I know that I probably looked at her with my mouth hanging open. I wondered if she were real. Her little booth reminded me of one of those gypsy fortune tellers that we saw in a little booth at the State Fair of Texas and Houston Fat Stock Show. Those gypsy ladies were not real, of course, but we wondered, as they moved their hand across cards, and seemed to look right at us. I was surprised when Miss Eloise would leave her booth and walk into the audience to watch for misbehaving children, budding romances, or people who were sitting through more than one show without paying .

Tim Holt was my hero and I would try to sit through every show when one of his movies was playing on a weekend, then pay to go back the next day. But, usually, Miss Eloise would let me sit through the second movie, if there weren't many people there. That 25 cents was hard to come by and I usually had to go from relative to relative, asking for a nickel until I had enough money. Sometimes I didn't get enough so I had to sadly watch people go into the show from the plate glass windows in my grandfather's dry goods store across the street. I didn't get an allowance, and, occasionally, they would let me work at the dry goods store. But, if I worked, I couldn't go to the show because I would be working on Saturday.

Everyone in town went to the Eloia. It was like a socail thing, and the town was like a big family. Today, family members might have their certain places to sit as they watch tv. Back then, it was like that as they sat in the everyday living room, to listen to the radio. And, the same applied when people went to the picture show, to church, or certain events. Everyone had their own place to sit. At the Eloia, little kids sat on the first couple of rows, and, as they grew older, they moved back. There was a rotund farmer, with great red cheeks, and a hearty laugh, who rode to town on his tractor. He would go to Miss Molly's hamburger place next door to my grandfather's dry goods store, and buy a small sack of hamburgers, which he would take to the show. He would sit on the double seat, on the first row, with all the little kids, eat his hamburgers, and have a great time at the show. They didn't sell drinks or snacks at the Eloia, just popcorn, and had a drinking fountain with cold water in the lobby. I think they said they put those double seats in just for Henry, the farmer, and thought he might choose other places to sit. But he stayed right up front with the kids.

I thought that, when I grew up and had lots of money, I would be sure to go to Miss Molly's, get a sack with maybe two dozen sissyburgers, and spend Saturday afternoon watching Tim Holt shows at the Eloia. But in the back row, not the front.

My parents always chose the back row, where Daddy would sit with his arm around Mama's shoulder. I usually sat in the middle rows, or where the kids my age were sitting. But, if I had a date, and after I married, we would sit in the back, on a side row-not in the center where my parents sat. My parents didn't go to the show so much after I grew up. Like everyone else, they were happy to stay at home, with tv dinners on a tv tray, and watch the shows there.

The picture show family had a beautiful home near Main Street. I was so surprised that they had a home! I, like a lot of kids, thought that people who we always saw at businesses, were always there. Just like teachers. We didn't realize that they were human beings, until we were older. We thought they lived at school, or their business, never ate or slept, drank or went to the bathroom, didn't have families, or a home.

In the front yard, just off the sidewalk, there was a fish pond with gold fish swimming around. For kids walking to town from school or home, stopping by the fish pond was about as good as a trip to the zoo. I think some kids dropped gum wrappers in the pond, so, if we were seen, one of the family would shoo us away. There was another fish pond in town, just like that one, so we had two places to watch the fish swim.

I went to the house at least one time, to see Miss Eloise. I was scared silly and hoped she wouldn't come to the door. I may have gone by to sell magazines or candy, but, I know this one time, I was intent on asking for one of the posters advertising a Tim Holt movie. I got to peek inside the leaded glass door, and I remember beautiful woodwork and hardwood floors in a wide room with gingerbread across an arch, and little wooden beads worked into the design. Miss Eloise told me that if she ever had an extra one that she didn't have to send back, she would save it for me.

I didn't get a poster, but I did have photo albums full of movie star pictures. All we had to do in those times was to write a fan letter to a star, and address it to Hollywood, California. Soon, we would have wonderful photos back, sometimes with a signature. Some started charging 25 cents as postage went up from 2 cents to mail an out of town letter.

The Chatmas Theatre in nearby Hearne got a widescreen when those became popular. Since the Eloia was new, they didn't want to have to make that investment, so they closed after a while. I still think that was one of the best theatres. I'm still not that wild about wide screens.

When I watch an old movie on tv, with the lights out, I can just go back to the Eloia. I can see my friends giggling and whispering secrets, Henry laughing, some kids helping the good guys with "gun noises", older couples holding hands, and the boys in our class making silly noises, like the Three Stooges. I can feel the cool we sought on a hot day in the dark theatre, the warmth in winter. Smell the popcorn from the colorful machine out in front. And wait for Miss Eloise or Carl, to walk the aisles. Maybe they are doing that still.

Cowboy shows, Tarzan, The Three Stooges, those type of movies are Saturday shows. Technicolor was for Sunday movies, and dramas, mysteries, the latest blockbusters or classics are weekday shows. That was the schedule, and I guess it was as ingrained in us as church on Sunday, washday on Monday, ironing on Tuesday, cleaning house on Wednesday, parties on Thursday, shopping or yardwork on Friday.