I LOVE hat mannequins that I see in shop windows on my neighborhood walks. But I don't wear hats! I think I'm saving them until I'm really old. New York just reached a plateau for the coronavirus pandemic, but nothing has changed in the "stay at home" rules. I look forward to donning mask and gloves and resuming my daily neighborhood walk. The stores are all closed, so the store windows will still be the same for now.
During one of the last days I felt comfortable taking a 1 mile walk around my neighborhood, I stopped in front of the store that sold Slippers. Here are 3 from the left end of the row - and I now worry that the store might not reopen, as part of the demise of small stores in NYC due to the Coronavirus shut down.
Stay home, and stay healthy. There are still too many small groups congregating in NYC and the Governor increased the fine for not maintaining social distancing from $500 to $1000. Being in the vulnerable age group for increased mortality from the virus, we fear that we may be indoors yet for months. We just have to hope for vaccines!
We are locked down in NYC and my last walk, with social distancing, was on March 13th. I miss my neighborhood drawings lots and haven't settled into a regular drawing project since then. When I fractured the wrist on my dominant hand in 2018 I almost immediately began a sketchbook to draw with my non-dominant hand. I'm not sure what is different now. But I know that this is temporary. In part it is because there are too many emails arriving daily about art online. How to choose, how to fit them in. I also think that it is my voracious reading to escape from my own worries that is just as much a part. The days are filled with reading news, watching news, and keeping in touch with our kids and grandkids by ZOOM and FACETIME. We've also had wonderful calls from old friends from across the country, and those calls are so meaningful.
Today I'm posting another one of my drawings done while window shopping at Canine Styles. The dogs were still dressed for winter, and standing in snow when I sketched this.
Union Rat: "The giant inflatable rat, with its sharp buck teeth and beady red eyes, has been a staple of union construction protests in NYC and across the country for decades." I was taking my walk one morning, turned the corner, and was face to face with "Scabby" the 12 foot inflatable Union Rat placed in the bed of a pick up truck. These rats are placed in front of construction projects that are not using union labor.
When I was still taking a walk every day I very quickly sketched this "bigger than life size" sculpture of Romeo and Juliet in front of the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. It was really cold, and the wind chill even lower that day. I still have drawings from my walks that aren't painted and that gives me something to do now that all outside activity is over for the last week. I love and appreciate all of the opportunities that are being arranged every day, but somehow my brain is happiest now reading. Our Book Group met via Zoom Monday night and it was wonderful!
Most of my time is spent keeping up with the news, reading for pleasure, and watching a few episodes of a streaming series in the evening with my husband. As retired physicians we applaud the front line doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, EMS workers that are working so hard under such miserable conditions. We have children and grandchildren spread out from Manhattan to Long Island and DC and we've been able to use Zoom with 3 grandchildren in NYC and Facetime with the others.
Stay in, and stay healthy friends.
Romeo and Juliet Sculpture in NYC Central Part:
