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| My new art journal before COVID |
Sitting in doctors' offices to have my eyes checked regularly or having a cup of coffee at outdoor patios became my routine outside activity for the last year and a half. To pass the time, I pulled out my small art journal that became my COVID diary and began to draw. Sometimes I would make doodles in small squares, similar to Zentangles, but with my own patterns. Sometimes I would draw the people and objects around me.
I am now at the end of my COVID Diary. The counties around me are considering opening up from the important mask mandates that have kept us safer than other parts of the country. The rates of COVID are down in our area, and we can only hope that this time, loosening restrictions will be okay. As I finish this journal, I also consider that it is time for me to continue to expand my contained universe of the last year and a half with activities that take me more and more into relatively safe experiences.
Visiting towns around the Bay Area has been one way for Bill and me to explore the area we've lived in for many years. This week we drove to San Rafael to drop off two watercolor paintings of mine that have been accepted in the CWA juried member show for the fall. The local show is an opportunity for painters like me to enter smaller shows. I look through national shows occasionally for inspiration and realize I'm not ready for those shows, but the member shows fit my level of work well.
The center's building is a restored Victorian on a hill near the mission in San Rafael. It is the former home of the Dollar family, another wealthy family from the 20th century, with roots in the Bay Area. The property was saved from development by community members in 1974. The grounds contain a water-wise garden as well as exotic trees from other Mediterranean climates. This time of year, the grounds are dry and dusty, but the inside of the house is light and airy, the perfect place for an art exhibit.
We've found other interesting places to explore. Walnut Creek's plazas are good places to people-watch and draw.
Fillmore Street in San Francisco offers coffee shops, book stores, and good places to eat outside in their parklet patios.
How have you been keeping a record of COVID times?
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I've had several people ask me about my visits to the eye doctors. I have glaucoma, which causes pressure on the optic nerve. I've had it for over 15 years. My right eye has a narrow strip of lost vision that I only notice when I close my left eye. It is amazing how eyes can compensate. My glaucoma is controlled by eye drops, a stent in my right eye, and frequent visits to my eye doctor to check the pressure. I am stable and lucky. The people in my sketches have macular degeneration, which is much harder on people, I think, leaving many people with vision loss. Best advice: annual vision checks to catch either eye disease.
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Three writers from the Friday Writers group that I attend have published books during COVID. They are all good reads:
In My Mother's Footsteps: a Palestinian Refugee Returns Home by Mona Halaby is a memoir of growing up in Egypt and Geneva after being uprooted from the family home in Palestine in 1948 during the Nakba, the occupation of Palestine. Her writing is a tender remembrance of close family life and the effect the Nakba has had on her family and other Palestinians.
75 - a Number, a Passage, a Present by Audrey Ward tells us the story of living in Europe for two months after her retirement plans changed. The poem at the beginning of the book will grab you. Audrey earlier wrote a memoir, Hidden Biscuits, about growing up with an itinerant preacher/father and mother who traveled through the South to lead Revival meetings.
Shelter in Place Art & Limericks: In the Time of COVID by Mary-Jo Murphy, who is a wonderful artist and writer, has kept a COVID diary too.
Here are the links to Mona Halaby's, Mary-Jo Murphy's, and Audrey Ward's books:
https://imeu.org/article/mona-hajjar-halabys-new-book-and-the-journey-behind-it
https://bookshop.org/books/75-a-number-a-passage-a-present/9781636610160
https://www.mary-jomurphy.com/illustrations.html
Check out Zentangles on their website here:
Learn more about San Rafael's Falkirk Cultural Center here:
From Mona by email: I so enjoyed your Friday's Postcards in the Air, and the quick sketches in your journal of the patients in the doctor's waiting room. I thought it was such a good idea that you recorded this time in history and your observations about it. I also liked the other sketches of restaurants and places that mean something to you.
ReplyDeleteI want to thank you for mentioning the publication of my book in your latest post. That was so kind of you to promote my book to your mailing list. Thank you!
Reply: You are welcome, Mona. I hope more people will get a chance to read your book.
I love your sketch diary, Martha. I also did some "Covid journaling." In different ways--through photos, through floral doodles, traditional journaling, and even lettering practice. I wish I had thought to keep everything in one place. Thanks, too, for the book recommendations. I will check them out!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Chandra. I think journaling is such a helpful way to review events in your life -- especially disruptive such as the pandemic.
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