The Saracen's Head

Ninety- Nine Going on a Hundred

St. Lawrence Church, consecrated April 20th, 1918

posted by Anna

"Godspeed"

 

...Beautiful and haughty, the great planes squatted on the level grass with their bold, blunt noses silhouetted against the brilliant African sunset and their majestic wings casting tremendous shadows across the airfield. Mechanics were still crawling over the big planes, calling to each other, doing last minute inspections. Trucks and jeeps moved about the airfield, lines of paratroopers marched to their planes, pilots stood in clumps talking of their plans... "Hand this charcoal around," said Schluch to Joe. The paratroopers smeared their faces with burnt cork as thoroughly as they could so that their faces would not show up pale and luminous in the dead of night. "This is it," said Dave, half to himself. Joe patted his shoulder in passing and Dave turned to meet his eye. Wordlessly they said goodbye, gripping each other's hard, strong, hand, trying to grin, but unable to speak. Who knew what fate awaited them in Sicily?

...At last, gaining speed, they started the takeoff, they were moving, running, hurtling down the runway, faster and faster until they lifted smoothly into the air and they were flying, gaining altitude and moving into formation. Hundreds of C-47's assembled over Tunisia that dark, windy night, and then the formation headed out for Sicily. Some paratroopers tried to relax, others stared blankly at nothing, clutching their reserve chutes. Dave twisted his sweaty hands, staring at the men across from him, their faces clear cut in a blurry haze, while old familiar prayers rattled in the back of his head...

"Thirty seconds," Joe said loudly, looking at his wristwatch. He was now to be the kicker, the last man out. Lieutenant Yates stood full in the door, clutching the sides of the plane. He would be the first to jump. Joe kept his eyes trained on the little red light by the door. Any second and he would give the signal to jump. Dave, a few men down the line, saw clearly every detail of Joe's good old familiar face in the light of a tracer bullet screaming by--the fine, thin features, the dark mustache, the clear blue eyes shining out of the smeary black soot...The light turned green. "Go!" Joe cried, thwacking the Lieutenant's shoulder, and with the undaunted cry "Geronimo!" the officer leapt into the darkness...

posted by Mary Rose

Saint Cards

I have been painting watercolor Saint cards for the Etsy shop and craft shows.

Our Lady (with Hungarian Embroidery)

Saint Joseph

Saint Lawrence

Saint Anne with Our Lady

Blessed Theodore Romzha

Saint Nicholas of Myra

Saint Elizabeth of Hungary

Saints Cyril and Methodius

Happy month of All Saints!     

Posted by Mary Rose

Tennessee...

 "Please, who won the battle here?"

..."I'd say the cussed bluebellies did, even if they withdrew over the other side of the breastworks. South of here is all Confederate-held now. Our old Gen'ral Hood'll attack 'em in Nashville later on. He'll track 'em there and whip 'em. He's goin' to make 'em bawl for what they done to us at Franklin on the last day of November, 1864."

-Patricia Beatty, Turn Homeward, Hannalee

 

Posted by Lydia GT

Artful Thursday: Bird ATC's

When I am in an exceedingly gloomy temper, I want to paint birds. Thus here are four bird ATC's I did the other day, that I call modern art, but some disagree. Three have hidden meanings.

1st is a fairly normal Song Sparrow based on a true sighting of the same crosswise perched on an upright branch:

Here is a pair of Eastern Kingbirds (Latin: Tyrannus tyrannus). One of the objects of this picture is to have the bird's head touching the top edge of the card and its tail the bottom. Usually I avoid such a thing, but not today.

 

This 3rd is a terribly allegorical picture; I was trying to put something terrible on paper that had nothing to do with birds.  {But then just ask MRE how I always prate on how birds are used in art to demonstrate bigger things.}

This depicts a Turkey Vulture and a subadult Bald Eagle in front of mountains and a sunset with storm clouds.

Finally, this fourth picture is of goldfinches frolicking in the sunshine while a huge storm looms up towards them.

Posted by Lydia G. T.

Another Szaszak Family Portrait

L-R: Vin, Ma, Joe, Meg, Fid, Dave, Liz

Posted by Anna R. B.

 

Wordless Wednesday: A Comic

posted by Mary Rose Edmund (click to enlarge so you can read it!)

Artful Thursday: Whoopers Make Off With Jeep

Whoop! Whoop! Wahoo!

Josiah walked by as I was scribbling in my sketchbk. and said,

"Draw a jeep with four Whooping Cranes driving it."

*The characters at the top of the first picture are the Fellowship of the Ring, not part of the picture.

posted by Lydia G.T.

Sketchbook! (New & Improved)

Here gaes fur a lang post wi' many a muckle o' pictures frae me twa sketchooks:

(Caution:This is an unhistorically correct paratrooper)

Also, when I first drew him he was a Marine, but I guess he transferred before I penned him in. He is a Papist Paratrooper, at any rate. There is in addition a fady-goon leering over his shoulder. (A fady-goon is something you started to draw, erased and is still visible).

(Everybody: Handkerchief!)

Paratrooper corporal on leave...

 Oh, now this is getting a little too sad for this early in the morning.... I mean, really.

Sailors on the docks of Pearl Harbor on a December night, 1941...Before the seventh.

 Take note, this next picture is the first picture I drew after my confirmation, thus making this the first time I signed my name Edmund Campion. Besides that, this picture is pretty accurate. The reason is 'cause for Christmas I got a super-duper amazing book of uniforms & insignia of Armed Forces of WWII! And a handy jackadandy book of just army uniforms of WWII which has most of the things that aren't in the former.

Well. These folks are 'chutists of the 82nd airborne division in Sicily, on July 10, 1943.

 Would you believe it, I drew a Jeep! And what'd'y' know, these folks are from the 4th division, they're not even paratroopers! Ho!

 GUNS: (this is my other sketchbook, the one I scribble randomly in).

 These-uns all have inscriptions, an' if you can't read 'em, well, they're all discreet references, anyway.
 Also, lookee, amazing, three of the pictures are from the 19th century, instead of the 20th!

 These are all from the 20th. (I spy with my little eye...) A jeep, a hand grenade, three signal corps people putting up telegraph wires, two signal corps people unwinding cables, one signal corps GI with a walkie-talkie, a random GI, a GI from the 5th division smoking a cigarette, a gunner on a battleship and someone's helmet full of pancake batter. (Listen, it is really true about the pancake batter, I saw a photograph of Marines making batter in their helmet and cooking them on the top of an oil drum over an open fire.)

 These three next are random Royal Air Force people from awhile ago, with writing.
(This style is Norman-Rockwell-influenced.)

Well, now this Thursday is made Artful. 

posted by Mary Rose

 

Remember Pearl Harbour

Posted by Mary Rose

St. Nicholas' Day on the Front

Happy feast of good Sinterklaus, Mikulas, Nicholas, etc.! Did you get cigarettes in your combat boots like these GIs or did you only get oranges and peppermint sticks? Or both, or neither, or something else? Or do you happen to live in the nineteenth century instead, in which case, did you get horehound candy in your high button shoes? Anyways....

In case you were wondering, I did finish my novel on time.

If you see any big white birds with invasion stripes painted under their wings, you know you've seen... a Snowy Owl. They are invading the Nor'eastern US. They have established a beachhead in New Jersey.

Just Sayin'.

posted by Mary Rose

 

November 19th, century-and-a-half

 Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing...

 

posted by Lydia

Artful Thursday: The P-40 A.T.C. Swap

The local population is in varying degrees living in WWII and suddenly willing to draw anything from people smoking cigarettes to tanks, and other hitherto undesirable artistic subjects.

So, last month, several of us had an Artist Trading Card swap solely concerning the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, despite the fact that two-thirds of the participants had practically never drawn airplanes previously.

Mary Rose made these two ATC's:

The first shows a scene inspired by the movie Tora! Tora! Tora! (as was the entire swap) in which two pilots dubbed Merry and Pippin rush to their respective P-40's. The second illustrates by means of P-40's the Air Force Song, Off we go into the Wild Blue Yonder, which is lately exceeding popular.

 I also depicted American P-40's, flying. The first is practically a field guide illustration, 'P-40 in flight, USA green morph'. The other was supposed to be reminiscent of a painting of birds, in which it was successful (Josiah  axed if they were flying over Tom's Cove).

Josiah drew the P-40 pilot's-eye view; visible is the ME 109 his adversary. And he just about said, ha ha, we'll never be able to tell whether the plane is American or British, upon which we others all groaned. Second, the British P-40 on the ground. I daresay, they had more imagination in aeroplane paint.

 You may conclude rightly, we had a jolly time swapping. Airplanes are surprisingly fun to draw. But.......... Hey! let's close with a nice leetle quotation from Michael Harwood's The View From Hawk Mountain.

* * * * *

"To describe what man does in his winged machines as "flying" is more than generous, compared to the hawk, man just bangs the air, slams through it."

 

 ahh... that's more like it!

posted by Lydia

Artful Thursday: Before the Early Flight

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings....

Howdy, you fo'c'sle hands! It's almost November!!!!!!!!!! Nanowrimo is upon us, whether we would risk it or no. Tonight is the night when writers around the world write out the title page in their notebooks, head the first page with AMDG and write the long anticipated date: 11/1/13, at 11:55 PM. Tonight is the night when writers around the world cease their eager chatter as the clock strikes twelve and the world echoes with the sound of the first pencil strokes and the first clacking of keys of the newest novels. Tonight is the night!!!!!!

But other than that.....I have drawn a Fighter base swarming with men in Air Force Blue, as they all shout and talk loudly to keep their minds from what lies ahead or smoke their pipes and cigarettes reflectively thinking on that very same topic.

Royal Air Force Pilots again! (saith you)  However, there are eighteen ground crewmen. It was especial fun to make their faces all grey and the shadows of the Mustangs, and to try to give it all a cold effect. Did I succeed? Also the pilot lighting his fag with his lucifer was fun!

Besides, gifted was the poet who said: Never was so much owed by so many to so few, or something like that.

One of the great American fighter aces (in England) Robert Johnson, having flown two five hour sorties in a day:

"It was really quite a lot, when you stop and think that my breakfast was a piece of brown bread and peanut butter and a cup of really heavy stuff they called coffee. We came home, had a quick sandwich and a little shot of whiskey, and then back in the airplanes and off we'd go again. We'd come home and flop on our beds with our clothes on and never moved again until they waked us for another mission early the next morning."

Here's to the Fighter Pilots who flew two five hour sorties a day!

Here's to the Bomber crews who nearly froze in their B-17s!

Here's to the Mechanics who kept 'em flying!

The above is a bonus, the back of the picture.

There'll always be an England, and England shall be free, if England means as much to you as England means to me.

posted by Mary Rose

Homecoming Servicemen

I was looking at some of Norman Rockwell's paintings Saturday night and especially at the section called "Americans in Uniform". One of my favorites is a Train Station at Christmas time in 1944 full of  servicemen and thier families. So I sketched some myself...

USAAF Pilot



Chief Petty Officer on leave for Christmas.

posted by Mary Rose

PS Hurrah! We've blogged every day in September!