Trail Ride

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Pre-pandemic, this is a sketch of a group of riders getting their horses saddled for a  trail ride at FreedomRide Inc. (1905 Lee Rd. Orlando, Florida.) I didn’t ride, I was just here to sketch. I love the subtle chaos in the stables.

The act of getting the horses saddled up happens rather fast so I had to rush to get people and horses on the page before they were gone.

Where I to do the sketch today, I am sure any unmasked riders would be breathing plumes of toxic COVID breath.

I have gotten requests online to be more of an ostrich, and ignore the pandemic, so here I present the lighter side of life with leather and confinement straps.

It was a sunny day but when the riders left, I stayed in the dark barn sketching.

A Trot

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This is a sketch done at a horse riding area on Lee Road in Orlando. I passed this spot after getting Mohs surgery to remove skin calendar on my right cheek.

I had mohs surgery once before and ended up with a small heart shaped scar on the bridge of my nose. This time, I am told, the scar runs from my ear lobe to the base of my nose. I suspect this will result in my looking like the Joker from Batman.

Pam took some photos of the gaping open wound but i haven’t had the stomach to look at them yet. I also haven’t seen the scar since I am still bandaged up.

Ironically the open wound never hurt but after getting sewn back up I can feel the pain seeping in. I have decoded that a fine tawny port is the best medicine for the night. I need to drink just enough so I don’t feel my skin anymore.

I have an offer to to fill a sketchbook at another local horse barn and look forward to the opportunity. It will be a good opportunity to improve on these informal sketches done back in 2009.

Choate Rosemary Hall

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Choate Rosemary Hall is a private, co-educational, college-preparatory boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1890, it took its present name and began a co-educational system with the 1971 merger of The Choate School for boys and Rosemary Hall for girls.

I did this quick sketch while listening to a spoken word and music session.

I have mountains of sketches like this which were never signed or shared online, so I will slip one in once in a while to lighten up the daily feed.

This was sketched pre-pandemic when it was nice to sit in an intimate enclosed space and enjoy the music. I wrote Nancy and Caroline’s names on the sketch probably with the idea of sharing it with them later but I never got around to it. It was just filed away like every other sketch.

In related news, Joni Mitchell is removing her music from Spotify following in the footsteps of Neal Young. They are protesting the platform that supports the misinformation of podcaster Joey Rogan. I am thankful that artists have begun to stand up and take a stand against misinformation which is killing Americans.

If more artists take a stand then streaming platforms like Spotify will eventually have to take notice, or eventually we will face a world of silence and conspiracy theories. Somewhere in my mountains of sketches I found several sketches done at a Simon and Garfunkel performance in Central Park in New York City on August 15, 1991.

Ripple

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Playwright Arthur Miller wrote a memoir called Timebends which recounted events in a non-linear fashion. I have decided I can do the same with sharing sketches.

This sketch dates back to 2009, the first year I started sharing a sketch every day online. For some reason I never posted it back then, perhaps because I didn’t feel it was good enough. However, looking back, I rather like the rushed direct ink line work. There is a real panic that the moment might be lost before the sketch was done.

This horse riding facility is called Freedom Ride (1905 Lee Rd, Orlando, FL).

Personally I never got on the backs of these beasts. I don’t trust them, but they are glorious to sketch. I used to sketch in the stables once a week. Returning to the same subject allowed me to refine what I wanted to put on the page.

Crealde COVID Classroom

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At my Crealde Urban Sketching Class I usually have one lesson inside while the other 5 lessons are outside.The goal of the one indoor class is to teach the students how to draw the classroom using one point or two point perspective. My sketch is done in two point perspective.

Before class I remove most of the tables and leave just one table for each student. My goal is to remove any chance of students sitting too close together. In the foreground of my sketch is the 6 foot long staff I bring to every class. I literally carry it around like Moses as a visual reminder that I need to keep 6 feet from students. Each table is 6 feet wide so that is another visual reminder. I sat more than six feet away by the open classroom door.

Next to the six foot staff is a rolled up drawing on brown paper that is a three dimensional map of the room with an orthographic view from above and orthographic views of the walls. When taped into a cube shape it is a decent representation of the room. The basic lesson is that an artist maps out his view of everyday places and events.

The next series of six Urban Sketching classes starts January 30, 2022.

Winter Olympic Bubble

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Can the Beijing Winter Olympics  bubble stop the highly transmissible Omicron variant? This will be the ultimate test of China’s zero-Covid strategy. China is where COVID-19 originated, yet, the Communist Party claims its handling of the virus is superior because of its authoritarian political system.

To limit the spread of infection, it is sealing the entire Games inside what authorities have called a “closed loop system” — a bubble completely cut off from the rest of the city.

The Beijing bubble is welcoming an estimated 11,000 people from around the world — and they will be shuttling through three competition zones up to 111 miles (180 kilometers) apart. The amount of security required to secure the bubble is staggering.

Daily COVID-19 infections among athletes and team officials at the Beijing Winter Olympics jumped to 19 on January 28, 2022 from two a day earlier, as Games organizers warned of more cases in coming days. Including the athletes and officials, 36 Games-related personnel were found to be infected — 29 when they arrived at the Beijing airport and seven already in the “closed loop” bubble that separates event personnel from the public, the organizing committee said in a statement on January 29, 2022.

Long COVID

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Though hospitalizations in America have peaked, hundreds of thousands of Americans are still testing positive every day. All people who had COVID-19 infections, whether they were hospitalized or only had slight symptoms, can experience long COVID.

Long Covid is a condition that arises after acute infection and often includes shortness of breath, fatigue, and “brain fog” but can also involve a wide range of debilitating problems in the heart, brain, lungs, gut, and other organs. These symptoms last for many months after the person initially recovers from the disease. Many doctors do not even acknowledge the existence of Long COVID, so those who suffer have no options for treatment.

The Omicron variant which is far more infectious that previous variants of COVID, seems to be causing similar symptoms as previous variants. It should not be treated as mild, and the long-term effects are still unknown. Research shows that even mild cases of COVID-19 can trigger long COVID.

Covid brain fog, is similar to “chemo brain,” which is a mind-numbing side effect that cancer patients endure when therapy to burn tumors away also inflames the brain. A person experiencing brain fog, has difficulty doing simple math, concentrating for more than a few minutes, or finding the right words.

A new study out of Israel which is not yet pier reviewed, has found that long COVID-19 symptoms are less likely in fully vaccinated people, according to Nature.

DeathSantis Puts All His Eggs in One Basket

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Florida Governor Ron DeathSantis has a one track mind. He has done little to encourage mask wearing or getting vaccinated, instead he put all his eggs in one basket by opening monoclonal Antibody treatment sites.

Monoclonal antibodies have helped in treating the Alpha and Delta variant of the virus if given early enough. But a far cheaper and simpler way would be to protect Floridians before they get infected with free masks and vaccines.

It turns out that the two widely used monoclonal antibody treatments from Regeneron and Eli Lilly, do nothing against the Omicron variant of COVID-19. Because of this the Biden administration stopped shipping the now useless treatments to Florida and other states. You don’t need to be a virologist to understand this simple idea. They DO NOT WORK against Omicron. Let me state this more simply, in a way that even a 2 year old could understand, Regeneron is USELESS against Omicron.

Citadel, a Chicago-based hedge fund, has $15.9 million in shares of Regeneron Pharmaceutical Inc., according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Citadel CEO Ken Griffin has donated $10.75 million to a political committee that supports Ron DeathSantis.

Florida continues to do nothing to stop the spread of COVID-19 while continuing to spread doubt and misinformation about vaccines and masks. The state has deaths so far from COVID-19. When Ron DeathSantis was asked if he had gotten a booster of vaccine, he blubbered and evaded the question. When the aspiring Florida Surgeon General, Joseph Ladapo, of demon sperm fame, was asked if vaccines worked, he dodged, ducked denied and deflected from giving a simple yes or no answer. Democrats walked out of the confirmation hearing since they were getting no meaningful answers from the DeathSantis stooge.

Lake Baldwin Dog Park

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For the final class of my Crealde Urban Sketching Class, I met my students at the Lake Baldwin Dog Park.My goal was to get the students to think of the people and the dogs just as small elements to the overall composition.

We met at a gazebo for the lesson itself and then I set the students free to explore the area. One student even brought her dog for the experience. I did a series of sketches to explain dog anatomy so that students understood how to draw the three masses and the legs.

In my sketch you can see one of the students sitting in his artist stool over on screen left. The great thing about this park is that the dogs will come right up to you for pets and attention. I also think the dogs suspect that artist supply bags much contain treats.

I wore my mask the entire time but not a single dog owner wore any form of mask. I agree that virus particles can better dissipate outside, but some of these folks stood clustered in tight groups for long periods of time talking at each others faces. This class starts up again January 30, 2022 and it is close to being booked full.

Stealth Omicron BA.2

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A “stealth” version of Omicron cannot be distinguished from other variants using the PCR tests that public health officials deploy to judge its spread around the world. Stealth Omicron (BA.2) has many mutations in common with standard Omicron, but it lacks a particular genetic change that allows lab-based PCR tests to be used as a rough and ready means of flagging up probable cases.

Both FDA-approved lab-based and at-home tests should detect BA.2, as well as the other Omicron (sub-lineage), BA.1.

This variant has been reported to be 50% more transmissible than the original Omicron variant (BA.1) first found in South Africa which spread around the world in a matter of weeks.

BA.2 has already been detected in California, Washington, New York, Texas, Utah, New Mexico and other states. It will likely overtake Omicron as the dominant variant in America.

It’s too soon to know for sure, but there are concerns that the specific mutations identified with the BA.2 sub-type could make it more contagious or better able to evade vaccines.

Preliminary research in Denmark, where cases involving BA.2 are rising, suggest that the sub-variant may be more contagious than the original omicron strain, which was already the most transmissible known variant to date. The BA.2 sub-type accounted for 20 percent of Denmark’s Covid-19 cases at the end of December, and it jumped to 45 percent of reported cases by the second week of January. Danish Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said this week that the BA.2 sub-variant is now dominant in the country.

So far, there is no evidence to suggest that the sub-variant causes more severe illness or symptoms, but it may be too soon to tell. More research is needed, but early reports show that vaccines are roughly as effective against BA.2 as they are against the original strain of omicron. Vaccines protect against serious illness and hospitalizations.

The United States has the highest levels of hospitalizations in the world right now partly because so many Americans chose not to get vaccinated. Hospitalizations have just peaked in America and are starting on the way down but once BA.2 spreads those numbers will likely again rise because so many people will be getting infected with the stealth Omicron variant.