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.

D-Day Memory

Irvin in Milan WWII

Family Photo

I wanted to write something about D-Day and our service men and women. I spent this anniversary date afternoon visiting with Thelma and she asked me what the D stood for in D-Day. Neither of us could remember. But, she told me that was the day of the allied landing in Normandy.

We went on and talked some more. I asked her if she remembered how she first heard of D-Day. Was it on the radio, in newspapers, or did they have to wait on news reels and magazines?

I was pretty small, then, and don't remember exactly how or what we first heard. I imagine it was on the radio, followed by newspapers, and later I do recall seeing the newsreels at the Eloia theatre. And, of course, still later, there was always news in "Life" magazine.

A couple of years ago, I had asked Thelma what she was doing on D-Day. She said that she was on a train, headed for Houston, then to Baytown, with Helen, to visit Helen's family. They were still students at Baylor in Waco.

I am still fond of the sliced chicken sandwiches that we used to get on the train, and at bus stations. Thelma usually got a club sandwich. But, she said that they ordered sliced chicken sandwiches on this day in June. She still laughs about the sandwiches. She said that they had so little meat on them, that, the only way they could tell that these were chicken sandwiches was that they found a feather in one of the sandwiches!

Helen's mother was an art major and had decorated her home, and Helen's room , beautifully. But Thelma didn't like sleeping in the canopy bed in Helen's room. She said she felt like she was in a coffin.

They had a wonderful time, visiting with Helen's family. Her brother took them sailing. Thelma didn't know that the sail might come around, so she just missed being knocked into the water as the sail came near her, by ducking.

As they had a pleasant trip, they didn't know about the big battle that was going on overseas, D-Day. The thought of their loved ones who were far from home, at war, like her brother, Irvin, were always with them, though.

I reminded Thelma of the story she had told me of her D-Day, last weekend, but she didn't remember much of it, except about the chicken sandwich and the feather. As she grew sleepy, she couldn't remember what she had told me about D-Day a few minutes before.

Now I'm still wondering how we found out about times like D-Day.

Uncle Tom had a nice radio that had short wave on it. We would huddle close to the radio to listen to the garbled sounds and squawking, fading in and out, to try to hear of news from overseas. I don't think we ever heard anything important, though, and would eventually return to the regular programs that we listened to. And everyone just hoped and prayed for good news.

Irvin wasn't there for the D-Day landings. He was with the 88th Infantry Division, the Blue Devils. They went to North Africa, first, and he finished his days in the service in Italy.

The picture above is one of his photos, of when he was on leave in Milan. (I have to assume that is where the picture was taken as that is what is written on the picture.) I don't have any idea who the other people are behind him. I thought that the soldiers behind him might be someone that he knew because they are in other pictures during that leave.

Margaret told me that she was there for D-Day. She was an Army nurse, and had quite a lot of experiences during WWII.

Of course, General Earl Rudder, of Rudder's Rangers fame, became president of Texas A&M University. Statues of him, and things named for him, are abundant here. His widow, Margaret, belonged to my church, and she was quite well known until her death. Both are still fondly remembered in this area. The new high school is named for him.

I spent some time on the weekend, using the remote control on the tv, trying to find something to watch about D-Day and our history during WWII. I only heard one comment by Geraldo Rivera on the news. And I'm not sure that he was talking about D-Day, but, instead was interviewing a reporter who had been injured in Iraq. He thanked her, and all who have served, for their service.

There were no movies shown on tv, not even on the History Channel. I always expect to see things like "D-Day, the Sixth of June" and "The Longest Day". The closest thing I found was "Darling Lili" with Julie Andrews and Rock Hudson, and that one was about WWI. Later, there was "On The Beach", not about the WWII era, either.

And there was a news item about a new museum near those beaches at Normandy, dedicated to America and 9/11. I guess there are already museums and such remembrances about the battles of WWII in that area. I do know that there are tours and cemeteries.

I started wondering if the younger folks who pick out the programs are just forgetting about times that were so important to our history. And they are just showing anything, rather than what would be appropriate.

Instead of WWII programs, the History Channel had something about men cutting down trees or something to do with axes, that went on and on and on. I thought it was most unpatriotic.

Some of us were thinking about that day, D-Day. And some were remembering what they were doing that day in history, those who served, and those who didn't make it home.

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The Texas Scottish Festival is over and I've heard, from those who were not too tired to do e-mail, that it was a wonderful weekend. There will be more about it as people rest up. I've left a link to it on my sidebar so that you can check it out.

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Now, we get ready for the 19th World Wide Sketch Crawl.

You can click on the Sketch Crawl logo at the top of my page, and go to that website.

I hope that you will make your plans to go out (or even stay inside) and draw something that day.

Let me know if you need more information about participating.

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I hope that you will pass this on to others to read. I encourage you to join my group if you haven't already. Just type in your e-mail address in the subscription box, or click on the form that will take you to my group, Art-By-Cecelia.

Thank your for your comments, and I'm so glad that you stopped by for a visit. If you see something that you are interested in, please let me know.

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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Be sure to check out the links in my sidebar. From time to time I will add new things there.

Also sign my guest book, at the bottom of the page.

You can subscribe to my blog to get updates easily. Just type your e-mail address where it says "Subscribe" and click on the button beside it. Or, you can click on the link where it says to join my group.

Let me know if you see something of interest to you. Most of the work on my blog is for sale. Barbara says that her work is for sale, too!

Thank you for sharing and for your support.

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April Fools Day

Second Grade Program

Calvert High School

Calvert, Texas

I wonder if these children played April Fools pranks

Didn't you just hate to go to school on April Fools Day? There was always some kid who would have to tell you that there was a bug on your back, or that someone liked you who really didn't.

My grandfather liked to joke around as much as anyone, no matter how old he was! One of his favorite things to do was to put his hand on someone's shoulder blade and say, "Guess whose back!" Some people would guess and guess, with no luck. He would finally tell them, "You! Isn't that your back!" And he would have a big chuckle while the poor victim would still be trying to figure out who was back.

So April Fools Day was right up his alley.

We would be concerned about what someone was going to come up with at school and then had to go to town after school and wonder what Grandpa had in store for us. There was the usual bug on the back and your shoes are untied and great fun for Grandpa with us- and the customers.

Daddy also tried with his little jokes, but we didn't fall for them, and he moved on to things he was more interested in.

Grandpa always had some little something to say. I wish that I could remember them all.

When we would measure out material for customers in Conitz Dry Goods Store, on the counter with the tape measure scotch taped to it, he would tell us, (before we cut with the big silver scissors), "Give her a good Methodist measure, now." Meaning to cut off a bit extra for the customer.

That was easy for me! My cuts were so crooked, usually giving the customer a lot more than they asked for, in a big triangular shape! Eventually, I got better at cutting a reasonably straight line. But, I sure did hate for anyone to see those pieces that I cut so crooked. Especially Grandpa! But I had the excuse that I was giving them a "good old Methodist measure"!

As a teacher, I was always glad when April Fools Day came on a weekend! I was so relieved when I could go home where I knew I was safe from any jokes. The kids always managed to work it in, although we tried to keep things pretty tight and busy on that day to keep everyone out of trouble. I just tried to be serious and act like I was not amused the whole day.

I had to laugh at Paul Hutchison's website today. He really pulled a good one! Usually, he posts small paintings of everyday objects like burned matches. Yesterday, he posted a photo of himself in his studio with a huge painting that he said he was thinking about going to rather than the small ones. And he asked people what they thought. He got a good response to that as the painting was really striking (can I say that about a painting of a huge burned match!).

Today he said that it was an April Fools joke. The painting was actually small, but, with the help of his computer, he made it look like it was a large painting in his studio.

Postcard From Puniho

I can never think of clever things or jokes. And, sadly, I can't remember but a few of the things that Grandpa used to say and do.

Hope that you had a good chuckle or two today, not at someone else's expense of course.

The old movie station has been showing old movies with the word Fool in them. I liked "My Foolish Heart" with Susan Hayward and Dana Andrews. They had some really old ones from the 1930s that were good, but, when they had silent movies, I just had to turn those off. I can't read what they say unless I sit right in front of the tv. That makes it too hard to keep up with from across the room.

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If you are in this area, be sure to go by the P. David Romei Art Center in College Station to see the art show, "Extracurricular". These are works by area art teachers. There are outstanding artists in this group. The show runs through the month of April.

The reception is Thursday April 3 at 5:30 p.m. Hope to see you there!

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I only know one person, for sure, in the photo above. So, if you recognize the others, or if you have a copy that is labeled, I certainly would appreciate knowing who the rest of the members of this class are. This was probably in the 1930s.

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To see the results of the local 18th World Wide Sketch Crawl last Saturday, scroll down to my Sunday posts and read upward through Monday. I finally was able to get some of our pictures on through a slide show. You can see more of what people did worldwide by going to the Sketch Crawl website. Look under Forums, and click on 18th Sketch Crawl. Look at each post and click where it says results to see what was done. There is some really interesting work on there. Lots of humor too!

Go to http://www.sketchcrawl.com/

I'm anxious to know when the next one will be!

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Thanks for your comments and for sharing. Don't forget to sign my Guest Book at the bottom of the page and join my group, if you haven't already.

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Wow! I'm so excited! I see by the counter in my sidebar that over 5,000 people around the world have now viewed my blog!

Thanks, everyone, for reading and sharing!

I'm really thrilled that so many people have looked at my art and writing. It is nice to know that someone out there looks at what I am doing.

Hope that you enjoy what you see and will come back,

and share this with others.

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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Vision-Black and White Movie

Black & White Movie
8.5" x 11"
Acrylic on Paper


I love old movies-really old movies! Even black and white movies. One time, I was watching an old movie in black and white, and my youngest grandson asked, "Grandma, when did the world change from black and white to color?" I still laugh when I think about that.


Of course, it is helpful for artists to do value studies in black and white, whether that is in oil paint, acrylics, charcoal, pencil, tempera, ink, or whatever the media of choice is. Maybe watching all those old movies has made it easier for me to do those studies using only neutrals.


In the painting above, I had been watching an old movie from my bed. I blinked and tried to clear up the image, but it didn't help. I had to walk over to the tv set to see what movie I was watching. I could see a woman in a triangular shaped dress, wide at the shoulders, silver, with spangles on it. There were a couple of men, dressed in dark clothing, in the scene. Other characters were sort of smeared into the picture, with some rectangular, tall shapes that I thought might be fence posts or buildings. What looked like some Art Deco art to me, was actually a western movie. Men were dressed in dark suits, a woman, perhaps a dance hall girl, was dressed in a silver, spangled dress. It was a western street with buildings in the back and a sign near the woman. Actually, this image was sharper than what I actually saw.


As I painted "Black & White Movie", I was very aware that, although I was trying to paint something that was distorted and blurred, my brain was insisting that I paint something more realistic. Something that showed characters and buildings while still concentrating on contrast, light and shadow, and shapes. It seemed like a battle between the left and right brain. I wanted to let that right brain work, but that left brain just had to have its say in what I was doing.


I was determined to show what I was seeing, so I kept working on different versions. I seemed to work backward, from a more detailed painting, then taking away and distoring in subsequent pictures. There are six of these, each a little different. The last one, shown above, is closer to what I was seeing.


I began to think that my characters were more like Art Deco people than people in a western movie. I thought of the movie and song "42nd Street" as the paintings developed. Slick, greasey, black hair and tuxes for the men; slinky, clinging dresses and slick, waved hair for the ladies. A street scene that looks like a set for a dance number. I didn't want the painting to be about 42nd Street, so I decided to call it "Deco Street".


I actually like a lot of the old 20s, 30s, and 40s designs, including Art Deco, modern, and streamlined. I appreciate it more now, than I did when I was younger, and there were more of the original designs from that period still around.


I used only black, white, and silver acrlyic in this series of paintings. The metallic silver doesn't show up as well in the scans as they do in the original. Here, they are another gray tone. They are all on paper rather than canvas. I thought these little paintings might be studies for something larger on canvas, if they were successful as small pieces. And, too, I wanted to record the images I was seeing before I forgot them.

Deco Street

8.5" x 11"

Acrylic on Paper

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Hope you enjoy these Art Deco paintings.