Mothers, Love Your Children

Mothers, Love Your Children (detail)
Image size 11.5" x 14.5 "
Paper size 12" x 15"
watercolors
I've been trying to take a good photograph of this painting for a while, but I couldn't get the colors right, or there was a reflection, or blurring-always unsatisfactory. I do have one whole photo of this picture, but it has sort of a white haze over it from sunlight. I finally just took the painting out of the frame tonight and put it on the scanner, which cut off parts of the sides, top, and bottom.
This looked really nice with a black mat, in a frame with marbelized green, and gold trim.
I got the idea for this when I was teaching, and showing students how I mixed colors to get a flesh tone. The small, center mother, holding up a child with a red ball, in place of the nose, just happened. I didn't want just a plain background, but decided to add in many children's faces. The effect of glowing, green faces, as if lit up by a neon light, gives contrast to the piece.
This was a fun piece to do. Even painting all those little faces was interesting and not as tedious as it might appear to be. I always liked to draw "girls", and find myself drawing girls when I am doodling (instead of taking notes for example!). This is not like the girls that I usually doodle, however. I do like to put some drama into my girls. They usually have a cartoon look to them, since this is the way that I taught myself to draw when I was growing up.
"Mothers, Love Your Children" was done on 140 pound watercolor paper using Winsor Newton watercolors.
Please share with others who also might enjoy my work and my stories. I do appreciate your support and your comments.

Froggy Went A Courtin'

FROGGY WENT A COURTIN' (detail)
Image Size 11.5" x 15.5"
Paper Size 12" x 16"
Mixed Media
On an autumn night, when the moon was full, Old Mr. Froggy put on his best overalls and his lace-up boots and rode in his carriage over to the holler where Miss Mousie lived. He met Miss Goldie Frog, his true love who lived near the bog. While fireflies danced around them, and stars twinkled in the sky, they spooned by the light of the harvest moon, all on a Saturday night. He gave to her a flower fair and laid his cheek on her golden hair. His grin was as wide as the sky, and , while her smile was shy, her toes curled up as she looked at him.
And who else did he see in the moonlight, but little Miss Mousie, who came out of her door, and old Mr. Grasshopper, who brought a bouquet of posies. Miss Lady Bug came dressed in her finery, but who should she meet but old Mr. Flea.
This is how I pictured the old song, as Grandma and Grandpa Miles sang it to me when I was a child. I thought that Froggy really needed a girl frog instead of a girl mouse to court. And I thought of him riding on either a horse, or taking a fringed carriage to take Miss Froggy for a moonlight ride. "Why doesn't he just hop over there?" I asked. A frog would hop, not ride a horse or a carriage, in my way of thinking. I guess I made up my own story! Grandma and Grandpa had a hard time teaching me this song, because I had my own idea of how the old story should go.
The image I have shown above is a portion of the top part of the painting. There is more which shows their feet, the other characters, and Miss Mousie's house. I know. there could be more characters, but I thought that these were enough. (After all, Miss Mousie needs a mouse boy friend, Mr. Grasshopper needs a lady grasshopper, and Miss Lady Bug and Mr. Flea need them a date, too.)
The colors in the original are a bit different than the scanned image. The purples, especially, are more interesting in the painting.
I started this one by pressing Dewberries on the paper. These are in the distant trees or brush that appear rust colored. Usually, I get a beautiful purple color by starting a painting with Dewberries. But, this time, unlike the way I usually work, I had to stop and put this one aside for a while, after I did the drawing and applied the berries. By the time I decided to finish the painting, a year later, the purple area appered more brown.
It sort of inspires me to see that lovely Dewberry color on my paper or canvas. The next step is to add some Cobalt Violet paint, then use my yellows and work to my darker purples and blues. With watercolors, you work light to dark, while in oils, it is the opposite.
Someone told me that the acid in the berries would damage the paper, and that the sugar would attract bugs. But I use natural materials sort of like watercolors, or, when I do press the berries on paper, I use water on a brush over it, which dilutes the juices, once it has stained to the color I want. And, I have found that, if these paintings, where I experiment with using different natural materials, are framed and sealed in properly, they will last many years. So far, I haven't seen any show signs of deteriorating. This painting is the only one that has shown even a change in color, and I feel that is because a lighter weight paper (140# Arches, while I have used vellum or 300# watercolor paper in the past for this technique) was used, and it was left untouched for so long. Using the water and other colors with it probably helps. And there have been no bugs, at all.
White acrylic paint was used to make the fireflies show up and for the occasional small highlight.
Once I got into this one, I enjoyed working on it. It just took me so long to get around to it! (I am kind of slow-spend a lot of time thinking about things before I actually do them-, and I get distracted, sometimes. So, be patient. I will get things done, eventually.) I have others that I have painted with the theme of old songs that I remember, including "Big Rock Candy Mountain", and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat". I even have a drawing of Grandpa Miles, baking in our kitchen and singing "Billy Boy", and other old songs.
With cooler temperatures and the arrival of autumn, I've noticed that other artists are posting some fall themed paintings on their blogs and their websites. So, I thought that this one might be kind of fun to show, with a bit of a fall theme.
Hope you enjoy this one, and share it with others .
Please be sure to notice the new artists and authors that I have added, and the new Organizations section. There are also some new things under Eye Sites.
For those interested in Vision Problems, I noticed that there is a website called Don't Lose Sight, and, on that site, actress Jane Seymour has a page as a spokesman. Her mother, who just died this month, had AMD and she tells a very interesting story. I didn't know that Seymour also is an artist. I tried to add a link to those two sites, but they just wouldn't save. So, maybe, if you are interested, you can just do a search for them.
I also had an e-mail from Prevent Blindness America yesterday, concerning legislation to help prevent and treat loss of vision. I did a Google search for HB 3750, the Vision Preservation Act of 2007. Believe me, I contacted my legislators as fast as I could. I just thought that I would pass this on, in case you have an interest.
Also check out BlogRush in my sidebar. They are making updates and improvements in it. If you have your own blog, and want to add that widget to your own blog, know that they are working on the feature.
Thanks for your comments and support.

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.)

Vison-Actress

Actress

9"x 12"

watercolors

She was a beautiful lady, with her chin lifted slightly, a red scarf falling over her dark hair onto her shoulders. The steady gaze of her wide brown eyes, her high cheekbones with a hint of color, and her full, red lips caught my attention as I watched the movie on tv.

The distortion of her bent nose and a purple, transparent fog that fell in a circle below her nose, disturbed the scene. Still, the frosted pink light on the wall behind her was clear.

I did a pencil sketch of her as she remained in the pose for a short while. Another distorted vision that was a result of my Macular Degeneration, but one that was like abstract art. Another in my pathway down deteriorating vision.

Actually, I like the pencil sketch a little better, as far as her look is concerned. But, the colors in the painting are more the way I was seeing her. I'll post the sketch below so that you can see what I am talking about.

Walking over to the tv set cleared the image, and the distortions in shape and color disappeared. But, by then, the scene with the beautiful lady was over.

"Actress" was painted with Winsor Newton watercolors on 140 pound Arches watercolor paper.

Thanks for all the comments, and for sharing my work with others. I really appreciate that.

If you want to see previous art and stories about my experiences with Macular Degeneration, look under the Older Posts section, and find the archived entries that are prefaced with the word "Vision".

Actress

8.5" x 11"

pencil

Really Cooking

Really Cooking
Toy Stove
8.5" x 11"
pencil
We were really cooking, there on our little porch. My sister, my friend, and I. Maw, the part Blue Maltese cat, that had many, many kittens, lounged over the brick work, and watched. Poochie, the black dog that looked like a Spitz, watched from the flower bed behind a low cedar bush by the steps.
We made a fire in the little wood stove that I had found in the mud at my grandmother's house. Sticks worked for firewood, and my mother gave us small amounts of food to make soup and french fries with. Soup was water, onion, potato, a bit of soup meat, roast, or steak, with canned tomatoes. We had little metal cookware and dishes to use.
Our food sure tasted better than mudpies and weed soup! And, if Mama was too busy to make us a plate of french fries for a snack after school, we could make our own miniature french fries. As we grew older, we could go to the City Cafe for a platter of french fries for 10 cents and a Coke for 5 cents. We could stop by the drugstore and get a funny book for a dime, then head for the cafe, to while away the afternoon. Or, we could stay at the drugstore and read comic books and movie magazines, and sip a Coke or eat a dish or a cone of ice cream. A nickel would give us an afternoon treat, and we could get a movie magazine for a quarter, if it had someone special in it. Hanging out at the drugstore with other kids was the best, but the cafe french fries were really tasty. A lot of grownups were in the cafe, though, for pie, coffee, or a sandwich. They did have juke box music, and we could ignore the adults while we relaxed after school.
I told about finding the stove at my grandmother's house in my last post. In the drawing above, you can see it from the back. Someone told me that it might have been a salesman's sample for selling wood stoves. Or, it could be a child's toy. I don't know. When my grandmother was little, another girl, who had outgrown the toy, gave it to her. I belive that stove may be close to 100 years old.
It is a pretty little thing, and certainly is sturdy. The covers for the holes in the stove top were lost over the years, the little metal thing that lifted the covers is gone, and the inside of the oven needs to be repaired. It's given a lot of pleasure to generations of little cooks.
It took me a while to do this sketch. The thing that gave me a little trouble was Poochie, the dog. I wasn't going to add her, but decided to since she was part of the family and the neighborhood for 20 years. Where my sister went, Poochie followed. Poochie is another story.
Don't forget to check out the links on my sidebar. And, if you haven't joined my Google group, I hope that you will do so. That will let you know when I have updated my blog.
One little note that I thought I should add. Last week, I sent out an angel and called my post An Angel for Laura. Sadly, it was only a few days later that Laura died. That is so hard to believe. She will be forever young, to me, with a dry wit and a Texas drawl.
While Laura probably never saw the angel I sent her, the thought was there. I know that the angel painting touched others. And that is part of the purpose of this blog.

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.
Let me know if there is something of interest to you. It helps to get your comments. I welcome your inquiries. Please share this with anyone who you think might be interested.

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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