Complacency Waves

Posted on by Thor

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla warned Wednesday of “constant waves” of COVID-19 caused by complacency around the virus, politicization of the pandemic, and waning immunity.

Cases are rising in the U.S., and the rate at which people are getting vaccinated is falling. In the week that ended May 22, 2022, the US reported 790,000 new cases, more than three times as many as were reported in the last week of March. Of course these numbers are a fraction of how many are becoming infected since testing sites are closed and people test at home if at all.

People are also growing tired of COVID-19 safety regulations, said Bourla, who was speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where world leaders and members of the business elite are gathered for an annual summit.

“What worries me is the complacency,” Bourla said in Davos, adding that fewer people were wearing masks and that even people who have already been vaccinated were less likely to get booster shots. The consequences will likely be seen in three to six months, he said.

Bourla said Pfizer believed that antiviral drugs would replace vaccines as the key weapon in fighting the coronavirus, at least until shots providing a longer period of immunity are developed. Pfizer is “doubling down” on producing its antiviral pill Paxlovid, he added.

COVID-19 Dating Game

Posted on by Thor

Your COVID-19 vaccination status is now a deal breaker for many singles. Your vaccination status can determine moral compatibility.

If you are dating a shlub who hadn’t gotten around to making a vaccination appointment, then that person cares only for themselves and isn’t very empathetic to the  health risks to people around them. It is a sure sign of moral ineptitude.

Across the country, about 41% of daters say they would not consider dating someone who is unvaccinated, while just over half say it wouldn’t matter to them, according to a Pew Research poll released in early April 2022. Only 2% report that they would only date an unvaccinated person.

About half of singles in their 20s and 30s are vaccinated, with some requiring that of potential partners and others having a more laissez-faire attitude. On the other hand most singles above 40 have gotten their shots, and they definitely want that in a match, too. OK Cupid, Bumble, and Tinder have added functionality where you can put your vaccination status onto your dating profile. The sites will even boost your exposure as a perk of getting the shot. Dating.com said 86% of its users list the vaccine as a deal breaker – no shot, no date. If someone is unvaccinated, then swipe left.

 

Swan Boats

Posted on by Thor

On Sunday I met an advanced Urban Sketching student at Lake Eola. Out mission was to sketch the swan boats.

Fencing has been added to this area making it impossible to sketch from nearby benches. Grass areas around the swan boats were also blocked of with yellow tape probably because new seed was added.

We settled on this view down a ramp to the water. I did this sketch as a demo to explain what I include in a sketch and why.

The first five minutes of a sketch are often the most important because the entire scene will be blocked in on the page and the rest is all about detail. I did the preliminary work in pencil and then let my student get to work as well.

The excitement of working on location is that different actors keep entering the scene while the sketch is in progress. At first a guy stood with his cell phone. Then a couple came by with a bag of seed and they fed the swans. Three Italian men held up a cell phone and spoke to relatives back home. I finally settled on this mother swan and her offspring. Dog owners kept walking by and the mother swan would lunge forward and hiss at the dogs. People are clueless. These swans have to be on the defensive every minute of their lives. Swan boats were loaded and returned in quick order as we sketched. Only one swan boat had a canopy, so I bet it got hot out there on the water.

A pug owner was walking his dog and the pup lay down next to my student and refused to move. She is a pug owner and he must have sniffed out his new friend. The pug leaned into all the pets and pretty much had to be dragged off to continue huffing along on his walk. We got to learn all about the owners history with pets. Sadly his last dog did not live long since it got cancer. These sorts of exchanges are what makes sketching on location such a pleasure.

Students Working

Posted on by Thor

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

Posted on by Thor

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.

Crealde 2 Point

Posted on by Thor

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

Posted on by Thor

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

Posted on by Thor

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

Posted on by Thor

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.

Lake Eola: Falun Dafa

Posted on by Thor

I have started working with a new student on location and it is an opportunity to get out of the studio and explore the world with my sketchbook again. We met near the red pagoda at Lake Eola.

I decided to keep masked even though we were outside. My reasoning is that I have no idea when a person might get curious about my sketch and stand close behind me, breaking down my neck. Pam always jokes about some woman resting her huge boobs on my shoulder as she watched me sketch one time. I discovered there is an added benefit to wearing the mask in that people tend to stay clear, perhaps thinking I might be infected.

For the two hour duration of this sketch, I only saw one other person wearing a mask. Lake Eola was packed since the farmers market was in full swing. It would seem Orlando is done with COVID-19 although the virus is not done with Orlando.

There were 59,430 new coronavirus cases recorded over the last two weeks among Florida residents, bringing the cumulative total close to 6 million. With 230 more fatalities on record, 74,060 Florida residents have died so far.  Deaths have been dropping with the new BA.2 variant of COVID but there are reports that long COVID is more common with the new variant. Positivity increased over the past two weeks from 6.1% to 9%. On the risk assessment map of the United States Florida ticked up from yellow to orange today. The state reports only show Florida resident cases and exclude non-residents cases, which are no longer available. The state works hard to promote ignorance. Local NPR reporter Nichole Darden Creston tested positive for COVID-19 this week. The last time I saw her, she handed me a travel pack of free tissues to promote WMFE.

Falun Dafa is an ancient, high-level Chinese cultivation practice which uses gentle movements and meditation to cultivate the body, mind, and spirit. None of the practitioners were masked. It consists of five simple exercises that can be performed by anyone, regardless of age, physical condition, infection status or prior experience. The practice is meant to relieve stress and create harmony, as it cleanses the mind and body, and focuses on increasing wisdom, morality, and promoting spiritual growth. Falun Dafa is guided by the characteristic of the universe: Truthfulness–Benevolence–Forbearance. The practice began in China which is now allowing citizens to stave to death in it’s zero COVID policy lock downs.

As people went through the movements, a sales person handed out pamphlets and offered free COVID shaped plastic flower sculptures. I was offered a flower but don’t really need one right now.