The early spring wildflowers are here, not in as great profusion as in some years, but still not a shabby display.  This being the time of the Covid Pandemic, we are on Stay in Shelter status; however, the guidelines allow us to go outdoors for exercise, so long as we stay 6 feet away from other people.  So, we are still able to take the dog for walks.  Here are a few photos, all taken with my iPhone 7 Plus, edited n the Camera+ app and Instagram. 

"It is spring again.  The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart." -- Rainer Maria Rilke

Blanche Barrow, married to Buck Barrow, Clyde Barrow's brother, became part of Bonnie and Clyde's gang.  We don't know if she was enthusiastic about the enterprise, but it was the family business after all.  According to Wikipedia, she only spent four months with the gang, but she still managed to become a nationally recognized fugitive from the law.  She was blinded in one eye during one of their getaways.  A posse caught up with her and Buck, fatally wounding him. She served 6 years in prison for intent to kill the sheriff of Platte County, MO.  And yet, so says Wikipedia, he treated her sympathetically.  She remarried after her release from prison, apparently living a quiet, unremarkable life, and died Christmas Eve, 1988, just short of her 78th birthday.

​I tried to give her a sense of quiet tragedy.  What would life have been, if she hadn't chosen her husband so poorly?  Did she just go along to get along, or did she relish that life?    

I assume a police mugshot is in the public domain.  

#blanchebarrow

The cell phone, meant to be a means of communication, has also become a device of disconnection.  Lately I've become interested in how the phone shields the face, if only partially.  Go out to eat, and you almost always  will see a group of people, a family, where each person is on a mobile device.  Sometimes even toddlers will be occupied with an iPad.  A friend who works in Special Education at an elementary told me a few years ago that they are seeing more and more children arriving in Kindergarten with delay in both expressive and receptive language skills. She blames the mobile devices, and the research seems to back her up.

Here are four recent works. These pieces were all drawn on my iPad Pro, Apple Pencil in hand, no image loads, using the Sketch Club app for IOS. 

I recently visited the Blanton Museum of Art on the University of Texas campus to see an exhibit of works by American artist Charles White.  I was particularly taken with a large drawing titled "Awaken from the Unknowing," 1961.  Charcoal and Wolff crayon on paperboard. Here is my sketch, drawn freehand on my iPad Pro, using the Sketch Club app. For more info on the work itself, visit: hammer.ucla.edu/now-dig-this/art/awaken-from-the-unknowing

Recently, at the grocery store, I saw sunflowers for sale.  Bought a bouquet of three.  It had been awhile since I drew flowers.  When lacking inspiration, setting up a still life can be a simple way to jumpstart the creative juices.  Here are two sketches, of two different sunflowers. Both drawn freehand on my iPad Pro, using the Sketch Club app, Apple Pencil between my fingers.  As a reminder, "drawn freehand" means no image load involved.

I recently visited the Dallas Museum of Art to see their temporary exhibit of gowns by the house of Dior.  The exhibit includes Dior himself, and the designers who followed him.  You have to buy a ticket ahead of time, and they are timed tickets.  You have 45 minutes to see the exhibit, then you must clear out for the next group.  If you miss your time, oh, well!  I picked a few gowns out of the many  to sketch. These were, by necessity, done very quickly.  I wish I had more time, but, on, such fun!

All drawn freehand on my iPad Pro, using the Sketch Club app.  

Four very quick sketches, done on four different visits.  It's interesting to me to see the varying approaches.  All three drawn freehand.  The first on an iPad 2, the second and third on an iPad Air 2, and the fourth, the most recent, on an iPad Pro. It's intriguing to me that my favorite is the one I did first, 8 years ago. Perhaps I should have stopped while I was ahead!