Swine Flu

Swine Flu

8.5" x 11"

ink

Thankfully, so far, we haven't all come down with the dreaded Swine Flu (or number and letters whatever the politically correct are calling it now). They said it had characteristics of swine, bird, and human influenza. I wanted to do something about the thing that was a big item in the news, and spread concern around the world. So, I did my little version of the Swine and Bird Flu.

This little piggy and his birdie friend are laid up in bed with the flu, while humans check on them through the bedroom windows. Two people protect themselves with masks, while one visitor wonders what to do and if he should worry.

This drawing is on acid free 70 pound white drawing paper. It was done with a Pitt pen.
The size is 8.5" x 11".

I haven't added color to this one, yet. I sort of like it as a simple cartoon style drawing. I may add color to it, yet.

Enjoy!

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We haven't had the Swine Flu, but I've been dealing with a rash on my face, arms, and chest since Wednesday. My eyes were so swollen, I was getting concerned.

I joked with my grandson that I had big bags under my eyes, that, at one point, looked like someone deflated them and they started wrinkling!

Don't know what it is. It isn't poison ivy, I know. The others think it isn't contagious or someone else in the house would have it too. I've been taking benadryl and sleeping. It seems a bit better today. I thought it started when I had my arm on a clean towel that was very rough from being washed without a dryer sheet. That made my arm itch in one little spot, and then it spread to the other arm and my face by the next day. Very strange.

My mother used to say that I was like the princess in the story, "The Princess and the Pea". Way too sensitive to things! I couldn't stand a wrinkle in my sheets, or to touch things like paper or velvet. Rough towels and wash cloths are like using sandpaper on my skin. And that isn't because I am old. I've always been like that.

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Enjoyed watching some old movies on TCM today with Margaret Rutherford. I don't like mysteries or scarey things, but I do like the Miss Marple movies that starred Rutherford. I was kind of sleepy, still, from the benadryl, so I just watched the movies while I tried to wake up.

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Speaking of movies, I heard that the new "Star Trek" movie has some spectacular special effects. One person talked about going to see it in an IMAX theatre. That should be something to watch. However, I can't get too excited about Star Trek movies without William Shatner as Capt. Kirk, especially as he was in the first tv programs.

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If you know anyone with an interest in Calvert, Texas, I set up a group on Yahoo and another one on FaceBook just for them. I also set up one for former students at Calvert High. Please let anyone know who might be interested in joining, and sharing pictures, memories, comments, etc.

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Save the Calvert City Hall!

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Howdy, Fall!

Self Portrait as an Eagle

8.5" x 11"

pencil

It's fall! Cooler weather! Time for school and football. Band, cheerleaders, drill teams, and all.

Each year that I taught, it seemed like students became more and more apathetic and disinterested in almost everything. Some kids would run off from campus, rather than go to a pep rally or a program. Supporting the team was so dumb and boring, beneath their dignity, it seemed. At the pep rallies and games, they wouldn't stand, they wouldn't put their hands up in the eagle claw fashion, much less sing the school song or yell. They would run over anyone who got in their way, when they were trying to crowd out, before it was over. Nothing seemed to work. Their minds were on rushing home to the tv or video games, a boy or girl friend, friends to hang out with, a job, or something that was possibly illegal.

I wasn't a sports fan, of course, but tried to encourage the kids to enjoy all the opportunities that they had. We didn't have that much, or that much freedom, when I was growing up.

I dutifully put my hand up and sang the school song, as I watched for misbehaving students, or, at one point, took pictures to be used in the yearbook. When I didn't have a camera, I felt a bit lost. So, I took some paper and pencil and practiced gesture drawings.

What could we do to promote school spirit. Not everyone was in the band, or football, or cheerleading, or pep squad, or any of the other student activities. Sometimes, my art classes were called on to paint football signs. And that got quite a few kids involved. But, when the cheerleaders took on that job, that cut out one of the things that we could do in art.

I tried to get the students to be more observant, more aware of themselves, and others, and their surroundings. So, we did some short things at the beginning of the semester. After all, kids were constantly being put in my class, then moved somewhere else. So, we didn't know if we could finish anything that would take a few days.

I had students do a series of short drawings that would tell me about where they were in their development, and their skill level in art. We drew a person, an animal, the school mascot, a tree, a structure, a vehicle, a design, etc. Then we graduated a bit to drawing the person across from them at the table. I assigned students to do a self portrait at home, since I didn't have any mirrors in class. Only a few usually bothered to look at themselves in a mirror, and they just guessed while sitting in class when the drawing was due. Some actually followed instructions and studied themselves.

I explained that they were drawing the thing that they had probably looked at most through their lives -themselves! After all, they looked at themselves when brushing their teeth, washing their face, combing their hair, putting on makeup, or dressing. So, they should know what they looked like.

After the self portrait, kids were a little tired of drawing ordinary things, so I turned it into something kind of silly and fun, with the idea, too, of promoting school spirit.

We drew our mascot, an eagle, in pencil, then another one which we colored and cut out.

That should give them some idea of what an eagle looked like. And they should have some awareness of what they looked like from the self portraits.

This time, I gave the assignment, "Draw your self as an eagle". After all, songs and yells said, "We are the eagles!" So, what would you look like, if you were an eagle?

This provided a bit of fun as we all drew eagles with our own characteristics.

These drawings were then colored and cut out. We hung these, in a line, with each class together. I always did one with the class, and I taped my eagle as if leading my students.

It made a colorful decoration for our windows and attracted attention from people walking outside the room.

Unfortunately, by the end of the season, the little eagles were pretty dusty, faded, and brittle, so most were thrown away. But they were enjoyable while they lasted.

The drawing above is one that I did of myself as an eagle. I've got claws, a beak (with lipstick!), and feathers. But, I've got on my earrings, have hair pulled back with a pony tail holder, have on slacks and an artist's smock. My pockets are stuffed with things like pencils, pens, scissors, rulers, brushes, and crayons. Of course, I am waving a pallette and brushes, signifying that I am the art teacher.

Cut letters saying, "We Are The Eagles" finished the display.

"See, now you really are an eagle!" I told my students. Maybe they would feel a little more like a part of their school and support it and themselves.

This assignment could be modified to fit almost any mascot. Or it could be used to create cartoons. There are many possibilities. Just let yourself go. It doesn't have to be limited to a school mascot. People could just pick out their favorite animal, or make up an animal.

Go, whatever your team is!

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Check out V....Vaughan's blog.

http://www.vvaughan.blogspot.com

She has a lovely painting of lights on a pier that she is going to auction off to help raise funds for hurricane relief efforts. A portion of the sales of this painting will go toward the Baptist men who we have seen helping out in Galveston.

Buy a painting and help out a group who we know is serving those in need.

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Plein Aire Painting Workshop

with

V....Vaughan

http://www.v-vaughan.com

Calvert, Texas

Saturday October 18

8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (officially)

But

7:30 a.m. to 6:51 p.m.

Sunrise to Sunset

(You will want to paint those, of course!)

demo-info-paint on location- V's famous "Chicken Clinic"

$80

Contact Cecelia at grannyc_54@yahoo.com

for information and a supply list

A fun, easy day, with breaks, lots of information, and those great Zamykal kolaches! This is the first ever plein aire painting workshop in the lovely little town of Calvert.

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The 20th World Wide Sketch Crawl is coming up Saturday October 25.

http://www.sketchcrawl.com

Let's Draw The Brazos Valley!

Would you like to be a contact person for your community or area?

Let me know.

You can register on your own, or, if you are local, you can join in with us, or work solo.

Click on the Sketch Crawl logo in my sidebar and that will take you to their site.

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The Last Day of Summer

The Last Day of Summer
The Frog Pond
8.5" x 11"
ink
The light has been different the past few days, as the days grow shorter. Tomorrow, it will be officially fall, and, before we know it, we will have the government mandated time changes. (Just about the time my body gets used to the sun going down earlier!) My dad would never change his clocks. He said that the cows didn't care what time it was. They expected their feed, etc., on their time, not the government's. But, he did have to abide by the time changes as he watched the news or other tv programs, went to church, or went downtown to the stores.
About the time I get ready to paint, my light is fading, so I just work on my drawing, or turn on several lamps over my drawing table. I don't have all the nice, new, artificial lighting where I work on my art. I just open the blinds and have a lot of natural light, on the north west side of the house.
In today's post, I am sharing a drawing that I made when I took my grandson to a wonderful swimming pool here. The pool has a giant frog with a slide in it, for the smaller kids to slide into the water through, and a huge floating, happy snake that divides the pool. There are features for older people too, of course, like the high diving boards. When my grandson was in swimming, there was a woman with a floppy hat and sun glasses, and there are always the mothers, urging their little ones to swim toward them.
While it is a fun pool, it is definitely a popular city pool with lots of people around.
The pool that I really liked was the country club pool where I grew up. It wasn't so big, and had metal pipes around the sides to hold onto. The water was always cold, which was great in the hot summer. There were wooden benches around the sides and wonderful lattice work that provided shade and even a little windbreak. There was a small bath house on the north side of the pool that had something like wooden flats on the floors so that water would drain off wet swimmers and onto the concrete floor and down a drain. Yellow Jackets seemed to like to invade the little house, at times, making us hurry with showers. That was all changed some years ago when they decided that an Olympic style pool was needed. It's nice, but it lacks the charm that the old pool had.
Near the pool was a wonderful, open, clubhouse that overlooked a small lake filled with lilly pads. A wooden swinging bridge led to the caretaker's home across the lake. That was an adventure to walk on, especially when a few boards rotted and fell out! There was a small rowboat that was parked on the lake, which some people used, when the craft was in good condition. When it wasn't, it was still nice to sit in it and talk, or pretend that we were boating. There was a picnic area, where barbeques were held, and a golf course among the oak trees. That was some wonderful barbeque! I wish I had their recipe!
I remember that a young woman, who was just a few years older, and who had a beautiful powder blue Oldsmobile convertable, drove a group of us out to swimming lessons at the pool in her car. I loved that drive, with my hair blowing. I hoped to have a car just like that someday.
I had one of my most embarrassing experiences at that time when it was my turn to dive in the pool and a strap on my bathing suit broke just as I was about to dive. I just fell in the water and stayed in there until someone could find a safety pin to fix my bathing suit with. I think that I didn't want to go swimming anymore. I dont' think anyone even noticed, though, except when I asked for a safety pin and I had to tell someone what happened. One of those embarrassing moments that you never forget.
Another memorabe swimming pool was in the mountains in Raton, New Mexico. My parents, my sister, and I were on our way from our home in Texas to Colorado and Salt Lake City, Utah for a week long vacation. I was about 10 years old. We spent the night in Amarillo, then drove on to New Mexico. I remember Daddy talking about Raton Pass. We were tired and cranky from being cooped up in the car for so long. We begged to stop at every swimming pool and play area or rest stop that we whizzed by. So, it was a surprise when we pulled up to a huge swimming pool in the mountains, and Daddy sent my sister and me in to swim. Our parents stayed in the car, and we were a little unsure of what to do in a strange pool. This pool was different. I think they said it was a double pool, like two put together. It was heated and there were deep parts at both ends, while the shallow part was in the middle. Not knowing where we were supposed to swim, exactly, we chose the middle part and edged toward the deeper parts, carefully. That was refreshing and the warm water was so nice in the cool air. We were happy, for a while.
And, then, there was the swimming pool in nearby Hearne, with its gates, bathhouse, and clubhouse all made of unusual red rocks. It had a pool for kids, a life guard, and a high diving board. As we got older, we really didn't go there to swim, but more to show off our new bathing suits and in hopes of getting to know some cute boys from out-of-town. My senior ring ended up in that pool. I let my sister wear it just two weeks after we got our rings, and she lost it when she was in swimming. I guess it drained out to the Brazos River or somewhere. We didn't meet any cute guys at the pool, but we got to look at some, and we got to show off our suits, and splash in the water, being very careful not to get our hair wet. We didn't have enough nerve, or gas money, to venture on to Bryan or College Station pools, where we might have met some college guys.
When I was about 4, I went to a summer camp where my mother's sister was a counselor. They had a huge swimming pool there. I was taking swimming lessons, riding horses, and all that the older kids were doing. The hard part was being in the large cabin, at night, without my mother. However, I managed to get Pink Eye, so while the other kids were splashing in the pool each day, I was sitting on the steps of the nurse's office, getting drops in my eye. Soon, kids started to go home, and then it was announced that there would be no more swimming. There were a couple of drownings, if I remember correctly, and then Polio struck. No one knew what caused Polio then, but it was thought that you could get it from crowds or going in swimming, and who knew what else. It was frightening. The pool was closed and then we were all sent home. We were all scared because we had been exposed. But, the consensus was that I would be alright because I had not been swimming lately due to my Pink Eye. (I had been hoping that would clear up and was counting the days until I could go swimming again, while I sat on the steps with drops in my eye.) But, then, no one was really sure what caused Polio, or how it was contracted, so there was still some cause for concern. Maybe that pool only seemed so big because I was so little. I still remember it as a huge pool, with concrete steps inside, all along the shallow end.
As the years passed, fun at the pool came in watching children, then grandchildren, enjoy swimming and playing in different pools. Now, I wouldn't be caught in a bathing suit or swimming pool, myself. It's fun to watch, and remember, though. It would be nice to walk barefoot in some surf along the beach , but that's quite a distance from here.
Hope you have some good memories of the summer, now that it is ending. Of course, it feels like summer ended and fall began a while back, when school started.
I did "The Frog Pond" from a sketch I made while sitting at the pool one summer. Later, I drew it in ink, in a cartoon style, that I thought might be nice as an illustration for children. This is one that I might still do in color.
Frogs are kind of fun, aren't they! Real frogs, cartoon frogs, and props of frogs-even those with slides through the middle.
Thanks for reading and for your comments and support. Please share with others. I do welcome inquiries and comments. It helps to know that someone is reading, enjoying, and, perhaps, even gaining in some way. Remember that you can see more of my stork drawings and the series on Macular Degeneration in the older posts or archives section. All the series on Macular Degeneration have titles that are prefaced with the word "Vision".
If you see something of interest, let me know.
Happy end of summer '07! Hope that fall is a great one!

Protect and Celebrate

Protect and Celebrate
8.5" x 11"
ink and watercolor

It was about this time of day. 2001. I had a sore throat so I called in, early, for a substitute teacher to take my classes at school, and went back to bed. My tv was going, as usual, and I slept.
"Wake up and look at the tv!" my daughter turned on the light in the room. I tried to open my eyes, and look at the small screen. The morning news was on. I'm not an easy person to wake up.
"Look! They said that a small plane has crashed into one of those skyscrapers in New York," she told me. "It may have been lost, or gone off course, but it hit way up there."
I sat up in bed, watching a stream of smoke coming from the distant building.
"Now, they are saying that they think it might be a bigger plane," she came back in the room with updates, although I was watching.
She went back into her room, with plans to go back to sleep, now that her sons were off to school.
I got up and stood in front of the tv set, in order to see better, as a speck in the sky appeared and headed for the second of the twin towers.
"Are you watching!" I shouted into my daughter's bedroom. "There's another plane."
The rest of the day was spent, watching the events of that September day unfold on television.
In the days that followed, television sets were on, even at school, all tuned to the news. As a journalism and art teacher, I thought that this was important to watch. We wrote about it, we made cards to send, and we did art work as we watched. I felt bad that some people seemed to be apathetic and cold, lacked feelings of patriotism, or even concern for, not only other human beings, but also for our country. I hoped that maybe, inside, they were feeling something, and just thought it best to be unresponsive and go about their business as usual. Most people seemed to be in shock and expressed disbelief at what was happening.
I was involved with watching, as one after another events occured. I didn't think of doing art work or writing myself. I watched and directed others, encouraged them to express themselves and do what little we could at a distance. It was hard to write or draw about that time, as it was happening. Events kept happening and it was hard to make sense of or understand what was happening.
I thought that, if I had the money, and the freedom to do so, I should go to New York and help in some way. But, I had a job, and not enough money, and, of course, I didn't think of my age and the difficulties I was having with my knees as being more of a hinderance than help in most situations. So, we made cards, we watched, and we learned.
In our small town life, we didn't know much about cities, skyscrapers, or what was inside them. We thought it was quite an adventure to go on a field trip and ride an elevator to the second or third floor of a building. Our legs ached and we huffed and puffed, if we went somewhere and had to walk up several flights of stairs. Nothing in our home area was over 2 or 3 stories tall. But, we learned quite a bit about those amazing places in New York, and are still learning. We didn't know much about flying in an airplane, either. We saw them fly over, sometimes. And, occasionally, we could go to a small airport and watch small, but large, to us, planes land or take off. We all ran to the windows to watch when a Life Flight helicopter landed in the field near the school to transport patients to a larger hospital.
We had not thought of what went on inside buildings. We had just seen pictures of the exteriors. We had no idea that there were lower levels and even trains running underneath.
Such terrible things to see, though, as we watched from afar. I still wonder about the people and their stories. I don't think it is possible to know exactly how many people were involved and lost on that day.
We continued keeping the news channel on at school, in all rooms for a while. And, in my art/journalism room, for the rest of the year. More things kept occuring and we needed to know about them.
When the "Shock and Awe" operation occured, the principal spoke over the intercom and announced that this is something historic. Something we have never seen before, and, hopefully, will never see again in our lifetimes. And, we watched in silence as bombs fell and sirens screamed.
What would happen now that we were in another war? I remembered back to World War II. And I thought that we needed to prepare, and think of how life was then. Almost everyone was involved, and there was always the fear that we would be attacked. We sacrificed, we supported, and there was an all out effort to win.
I thought of the cold fear that hit me as I drove home from school late one afternoon. The announcement came over the radio that we were at war in Iraq. The first Iraq War with the first president Bush. What was going to happen next? What could I do to ensure the safety of my family and my students, and to help my country? My car was the only one on the highway at that time. I wondered if I was supposed to pull over to the side of the road and stop, or should I just keep driving. I chose to drive home and hug my grandchildren.
I had my students make cards to send to the people in service, especially those who were from our town, or those we knew. Some students didn't want to do any work at all, and made silly, rude cards. (Those were not sent.) I told them that, someday, they may be in service, away from home, and would be happy to get anything from home-even a little handmade card from a student in our little school. They didn't believe me. But, sure enough, eventually, many of those same kids came by, on leave, in their uniforms, and thanked us for the cards, and gave me a big hug. I was so glad for those hugs because it meant that they were home, safe. I covered my bulletin boards in the front of the room, with newspaper clippings and pictures from the local newspaper about our former students who were in service, and added notes that we received back, thanking us for the cards. That was a thrill, to know that someone was happy to communicate with us. We couldn't say a prayer at school, but we could do so in our hearts.
An American flag that had been carried in Iraq was given to our school and placed on the bulletin board across from the office. People gathered to look at that flag, in awe, and to look at the pictures of the medical group that had given us the flag.
And, then there was Korea, and, later, Viet Nam. The country seemed to become less involved with each war. I knew a few people of my age group, who went to Korea. But, I didn't really see them aftr they left. I worried that we were too complacent in this country. We were not prepared or aware. Some of the WWII vets that I knew, felt that the great war was behind us, they had done their part, and they were wanting to live the rest of their lives at home, in peace. That concerned me. Who would fight for us? And who was better prepared for that than the experienced veterans?
And, so, in something that was a bit like a "Little Rascals" or "Our Gang" movie, I started a children's army. If the adults weren't ready, we would be. But, that's another story.
During Viet Nam, I didn't know anyone who was in service. The only way we knew there was a war was in seeing the occasional train with Army tanks, trucks, and Jeeps, heading for Houston, and through the reporting on the evening news of people like Dan Rather. Pictures came into our living rooms as we were having supper. We heard stories of protestors, who burned their bras and draft cards, and that they were disrespectful to returning veterans. I didn't see any of that, except on television. Like others, I was busy with my children and work. Still, in the background, there was the concern that we wouldn't win, that Communists would take over the world, or would invade our country. As we worried about Russia and Communism, some people started soothing everyone by saying that it wasn't the Russians who would take over the world, but the real danger was from the "Yellow Race". They emphasized this by saying that it is in the Bible. I never saw it, but people who belonged to another church were insisting that it was true.
We still, today, have great concerns that our way of life and our freedoms are threatened. Some people seem to think that we don't have to be strong and fight for what we have. They appear to be saying that, if we just tend to our own business, and keep to ourselves, go about our little daily routines, the rest of the world will "play nice" and not bother us. It doesn't, unfortunately, work that way.
I don't intend to get political or preachy in my blog. But, this is a time to reflect, and each day, we can't help but think about our history and our future.
My picture today is a sketch that I started for July 4th. I had several things that I worked on with a patriotic theme that day. I had not finished this one, and decided to use another one, that day, showing the days when we had our morning opening ceremony at the flag pole at school. You can see that one in my Archives for July.
I thought that I should put something on my blog today, with thoughts of 9-11 and this country. I added some color (watercolors) to this drawing and decided to use it, instead of the one I had planned to use on my Macular Degeneration experience. I hope it shows a bit of patriotism, joy, strength, celebration, continuity, tradition, and rememberance.
This is another of my works that is in my cartoon style, a technique that I easily revert to when I just want to draw something .
Tomorrow, look for more art work on my experiences with Macular Degeneration. Thanks for looking at my work. I couldn't get online yesterday or last night to post anything, in case you missed a post from me yesterday. It seems to be working again today.
Today, I will listen to the news, paint, and remember.