Meet Dr. Lorna Breen. She was in the trenches of the front line inside the New York hot zone during the first wave of the pandemic. She saw the massive influx of patients she knew she could not save (29,000 deaths reported in April, 2020). She contracted the virus and after recuperating, went straight back to work. A week and a half later, the hospital sent her home. Her family intervened to bring her back home to Charlottesville, Virginia. During her visit with her family, she seemed “detached.” She passed away April 26, 2020 at the UVA University Hospital in Charlottesville from self-inflicted wounds.
"She tried to do her job, and it killed her… Make sure she’s praised as a hero. Because she was, she’s a casualty just as much as anyone else who has died."
—Dr. Philip C. Breen, Father
Daily Drawing 685
Odette made this amazing cover of AC/DC's song "Thunderstruck" for Like a Version. My most recent music discovery. What about you, discovered anything interesting lately?
Mark Twain (1835–1910)
In the 1870s and ’80s, the Twain family spent their summers at Quarry Farm in New York, about two hundred miles west of their Hartford, Connecticut, home. Twain found those summers the most productive time for his literary work, especially after 1874, when the farm owners built him a small private study on the property. That same summer, Twain began writing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. His routine was simple: he would go to the study in the morning after a hearty breakfast and stay there until dinner at about 5:00. Since he skipped lunch, and since his family would not venture near the study—they would blow a horn if they needed him—he could usually work uninterruptedly for several hours. “On hot days,” he wrote to a friend, “I spread the study wide open, anchor my papers down with brickbats, and write in the midst of the hurricane, clothed in the same thin linen we make shirts of.”
Whether or not he was working, he smoked cigars constantly. One of his closest friends, the writer William Dean Howells, recalled that after a visit from Twain, “the whole house had to be aired, for he smoked all over it from breakfast to bedtime.”
- From Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey
“Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.”
― Mark Twain
#dailyrituals #inktober #MarkTwain @masoncurrey
More ballpoint pen experiments. This is with a Bic Round Stic (12 for $1.49 at Staples!) on just a bond paper. Making progress with this medium, methinks!
I generally make marks on something every day, but I'm really TRYING to do it purposefully in one single journal at a time. Here is a successful attempt from that particular day. I also have super ADHD, which means I pretty much never go up to my actual studio and only use what's out on my desk, because out-of-sight-out-of-mind.
Patternz - Series 3. In this series I'm still sticking with the Patterned backgrounds, but this time they have been carefully chosen to compliment the chosen animal subject, rather than the human portraits of series 1 & 2.
Seemingly trapped indoors and inside your head indefinitely, the possibility of living a normal life after COVID seems like a fevered dream. Still one of my favourite drawings from 2020 and a technique breakthrough. Ballpoint Pen on Archival 8.5" x 11" paper
I finally attempted to do a drawing completely in ballpoint pen (I faced my fears of messing up). Thank you to my friend for donating their face to this cause, very much appreciated. The drawing isn't 100% accurate, I think we can all agree on that, but a decent first try.
This is my first sketch ever posted online and you may also watch the making of this sketch on this link and comment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1VwPtdsOmQ&t=41s
One of my favourite series. I'm trying to strike the right balance between the abstract and the realism, and I think I try to do that through my use of colours. It's the most rewarding feeling when you use unexpected colours and they come together somehow! Acrylics, watercolour pens and posca markers.
My husband is finishing "...just one more episode of Law & Order: SVU" but Jane needs sleep... (shared notebook with my grandkids, hence the always-present random marks.)
