Students Working

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At Crealde I almost always sketch while my students are working on their sketches. I am fascinated by the gestures artists take as they create. One class of each of my 6 classes is held in the classroom and sometimes it is impossible to keep students 6 feet apart.

The more students I have, the harder it is to keep them safe. I always leave the classroom door open hoping to get a cross breeze.

I am certain this class would have been about perspective and fitting several fellow students into a sketch. As students sketch I pay attention to how much they look at the world around them as opposed to looking at the page. Part of my challenge to get them to accept what they produce without judgement. I am always delighted by the variety of work produced.

My next series of Crealde Urban Sketching classes starts up June 19, 2022.

Required Supplies include but are not limited to…

#2 pencil with an eraser, 05 and 08 micron pens, Stillman and Birn 9 x 12 inch spiral bound sketchbook (Alpha or Epsion series), Travel sized watercolor pallet (mine is a Windsor Newton with 14 color pans), Pentel water brush (water goes in the handle), Black Prismacolor pencil, Compact artist stool

North Korea Superspreader

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North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un held a huge North Korean military parade April 25, 2022 to showcase his military and nuclear might. That event has been identified as a Covid-19 super-spreader event. More than 20,000 soldiers marked in the parade and were part of the  a weapons display. Soldiers who marched in the event tested positive for Covid-19, Radio Free Asia reported.

The country has now topped 1.2 million cases of “fever,” state media KCNA reported May 16, 2022.

State media-released photos showed huge crowds at Pyongyang‘s Kim Il Sung Square unmasked and not socially distanced.

At the time, North Korea still had yet to report a single Covid-19 case since the pandemic began, although experts have expressed doubt over the accuracy of its Covid reporting.

After reporting its first-ever Covid case on May 12, 2022 the country is now experiencing a massive outbreak of a “fever” with at least 1.2 million cases, state media KCNA said on May 16, 2022. The country has not clarified how many of the “fever” cases tested positive for COVID-19. At least 50 people have died and more than half a million people are receiving medical treatment, the outlet added.

The current outbreak is “closely linked to the April 25, parade,” said Hong Min, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul.

Judge Retreat Superspreader Event

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Have you heard this one? 70 judges enter a swanky Hampton’s Yacht club and…

Twenty out of those 70 New York City judges who attended tested positive for COVID-19 in the days that followed. All the infected judges were vaccinated.

The judges retreat or conference took place at Gurney’s Star Island on Long Island in New York, which is sometimes referred to by its former name, the Montauk Yacht Club, according to the New York Times.

The three-night retreat was sponsored by the New York City Criminal Court Judges Association.

One of the activities at the event was a karaoke session, according to an unnamed source who spoke with the New York Times. The New York Times noted that singing has been linked to spread of the virus. It is kind of reassuring that these high heeled judges are a dumb as most other Americans who think the pandemic is over. It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.

One Million and Counting

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Over one million Americans have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began in March of 2020. Of each of those deaths about 9 people are left to morn the loss. COVID-19 has left an estimated 199,000 children in the U.S. without one or both of their parents. Lovers lost a partner. Some partners died within hour of each other unable to see one anoter in the final moments. The toll is incalculable.

Each wave has brought about an endless ticking of loses as people choose to go about life as normal assuming it can never happen to them.

The basic mitigation measure have not changed since the start of the pandemic, masking, washing hands, vaccination and social distancing. Yet this seems too much for many. Masking became a political flash point rather than a simple 50 cent tool to avoid infection. Misinformation convinced so many to avoid vaccines. Since the advent of the vaccines every other life lost could have been saved by that simple shot. It is an absolute tragedy. Over 300.000 could have lived if they only got the primary series of vaccinations.

ABC reported that as of March 25, 2022 about three quarters of the dead, or around 730,000, have been people 65 and older. Many of them were otherwise healthy and, statistically, would have lived many more years, said Jennifer Dowd, a demographer at the University of Oxford. About 240,000 Americans between the ages of 18 and 64 have died, nearly a quarter of the total toll.

As the next wave slowly rolls in, ignorance persists and large indoor gatherings are the norm all over the country. Using my art to keep track of super spreading events has become an exhausting endeavor. It is impossible to keep up. Against this backdrop, testing sites are being closed and it has become impossible to keep track of the rising numbers of aces since people test at home or don’t bother testing since they want to avoid isolating at home. Such devastation has not been seen since World War II, when about 418,000 Americans died. This war is not over.

Eola Slumber

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I went to Lake Eola in Orlando Florida to conduct an advanced Urban Sketching workshop with a student. As I was walking around the lake to meet her near the swam boats, would be the only one in the park wearing a face mask. I was wrong. I saw someone on a park bench fast asleep using a face mask to cover their eyes, to keep out the bright Florida sun. I didn’t have time to sketch this person, so I committed it to memory.

It seemed to me a perfect analogy to where we are as a country right now. Most Americans are “done” with the pandemic and have decided to put on blinders to go about life as normal in the midst of the pandemic. We are in a momentary lull. But lulls don’t last in a pandemic. It ain’t over until the fat lady sings.

The White House may decide to back off on the COVID National Emergency status. The public health emergency (PHE) was initially declared by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in late January 2020, pursuant to Section 319 of the Public Health Service Act. A PHE lasts for 90 days and must be renewed to continue; the PHE for COVID-19 has been renewed several times, most recently in April 2022, and is currently scheduled to expire in mid-July 2022. Possibly allowing the PHE to expire isn’t being based on experts or any science but rather on the fact that there are mid term elections coming up and it would be impossible to get re-elected while the country was in the midst of a national emergency. The only solution is to put on the blinders.

Omicron is 6 Months Old

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Omicron is just 6 months old. It appeared as an entirely new strain of the virus not being related to the Alpha or Delta variants of COVID-19. Some researchers believe it may have infected mice and the strain and new variants blossomed in the mouse population before jumping back to infect humans.

The good new is that Omicron is less virulent than Delta which it replaced. Though less virulent, so many people became infected with Omicron all at once during the January spike, that it ultimately resulted in more deaths than from Delta.

Perhaps the fact that so many people have been infected has helped build up immunity. The trouble is that the immunity from infection and vaccination eventually wanes.

There are a lot of cases out there right now. The exact number is impossible to tell since testing sites across the country have been shut down and those who are infected take at home tests which are not counted or they don’t test at all.

Hospitalizations right now are lower than at any other time during the pandemic. Human nature is to say I am done with COVID when there is a perceived lull in cases. We have been here before, many times. However future variants combined with waning immunity may result in the next wave being much worse than what we are experiencing right now. This virus is unpredictable.  Any forecasts done prior to January of 2022 would not have any idea about Omicron. It was a curve ball that came out of nowhere.

We can hope that Omicron continues to become less severe in the future, but hope is not a good foundation for public health policy. The White House has made statements that hint that the worst of the pandemic is behind us, but lets face it a pandemic isn’t great a president’s chances of re-election in mid term elections. On the other  hand the White House warned of 100 million possible cases this fall and winter if the COVID funding package from Congress was not approved. Welcome to the strange world of mixed messaging.

Crealde 2 Point

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At my Crealde Urban Sketching class I worked hard to socially distance my students when we worked in the classroom. I would carry a six foot long staff with me to class to be sure students were more than six feet apart. I would leave the classroom door open to get some cross breeze and I organized the table into a large square positioning each student at a corner.

Masks were required at Crealde at the time but that mandate has been dropped. Thankfully I haven’t been back in the classroom since the masking has been dropped.

This sketch was done as a demo after I introduced students to the idea of using two point perspective in a sketch. They were tasked with including as many other students as they could in their sketch.

As I worked on my sketch I walked around at each phase to show the students how much work was involved with the pencil rough, the inking and the final watercolor. I also offered each student individualized sketch suggestions to incorporate into their sketch.

Most of our work was done outside, but for one class I wanted to convey how to sketch people and place them inside a room.  Much of the challenge comes in getting students to understand how to use horizontal, vertical, parallel and diagonal lines. I am convinced that basic geometry should be a requirement for any student of art. I work my students hard but those who are up to the task start producing some amazing work.

50 Oldest Churches of NYC: Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sava

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The church building was constructed in 1850-55 and was designed by architect Richard Upjohn in English Gothic Revival style. At the time it was known as Trinity Chapel which was one of several uptown chapels of the Trinity Church parish.

Celebrated American writer Edith Wharton (Jones) married socialite Edward Wharton in 1885 in Trinity Chapel; she was later to immortalize the church in her famous novel of Victorian New York, The Age of Innocence. Trinity Chapel was an active Episcopal Church community for a number of decades until 1915, when the area became commercial and parishioners began to relocate farther north.

The chapel was sold to the Serbian Eastern Orthodox parish in 1942, re-opening as the Cathedral of St. Sava in 1944. The entire church complex with furnishings was purchased in 1942 for $30,000. The Deed, signed on March 15, 1943, did not include a park on the southwest side of the church (present-day parking lot), speculated to have been sold at a later date.

Following the end of World War II, the Cathedral reached out to huge waves of refugees and immigrants from Yugoslavia. It was the only place where Serbs could meet, where they could preserve their faith and national identity, simultaneously a place to learn English and enter into their new, alien society and culture.

In the 1960’s, a powerful explosion from across 26th Street destroyed the original stained glass altar windows, which were subsequently replaced with stained glass windows in a Byzantine style motif. The Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sava was declared a national landmark building by the National Register of Historic Places, U.S. Department of the Interior, and the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. On April 18, 1968, the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission stated that the Cathedral’s “striking appearance commands special attention,” and that “its special character, historic significance, and aesthetic interest and value of the development, heritage, and cultural characteristics of New York make it irreplaceable”.

Crealde Ventilation

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At my Crealde Urban Sketching class, I had the students sketch the darkened studio next to our classroom.

Black garbage bags and clear plastic were taped together to cover an open doorway to the studio, creating what looked to me like a scene from a horror movie. A small portable AC unit was set up to cool the room.

Part of the reason I had students work in the darkened room was that many student water colors never get dark enough. When water color dries the wash gets a bit lighter. With experience you adjust for this and paint a bit darker.

If you have a pure black on the page next to the pure white of the paper, that become an eye magnet. It is hard not to look at the high contrast. My goal is to get my students to create a full range of values from pure white to pitch black.

I have no idea what this doorway repair work was all about, but it offered a great way to show students how to look for a definite and clear light source in a scene. I usually make a concerted effort to be sure a person is in each sketch, but in this case it was liberating to just set the scene.

Breakthrough Deaths Rise

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ABC News analysis of federal data shows that breakthrough cases comprise an increasing proportion of those who die of COVID-19. In August of 2021, about 18.9% of COVID-19 deaths occurred among the vaccinated. Six months later, in February 2022, that proportional percent of deaths had increased to more than 40%.

In September 2021, just 1.1% of COVID-19 deaths occurred among Americans who had been fully vaccinated and boosted with their first dose. By February 2022, that percentage had increased to about 25%. Experts said the increase in breakthrough deaths is expected as more Americans reach full vaccination status.

“These data should not be interpreted as vaccines not working. In fact, these real-world analyses continue to reaffirm the incredible protection these vaccines afford especially when up to date with boosters,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor. Many vulnerable Americans are more than one year out from their primary vaccinations and have yet to receive booster doses. About 91.5 million eligible Americans, about half of those currently eligible, have yet to receive their first booster shot.

The increase in breakthrough deaths comes as a growing proportion of older Americans enter the hospital for COVID-19 related care. Throughout the omicron surge, the average age of those in the hospital with COVID-19 has steadily gotten older again. In recent months, during the omicron surge, 73% of deaths have been among those 65 and older. Vaccines and boosters continue to provide significant protection against severe disease. However, waning immunity re-emphasizes the urgency of boosting older Americans and high-risk Americans with additional doses. The best way to protect the older population is to make sure everyone around them is fully immunized.

Only about 10 million people have received a second booster, which is authorized for people 50 and older. With waning immunity and a coronavirus that seems to become more infectious with each new variant, it’s a good time to get a second booster.