Mom’s Artwork: Exhibit 3: Man With a Camera

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This piece has no date, but it was Lesson 21, Assignment 2. Therefore it was completed after the lighthouse if the lessons were completed in order.

The artists at the Famous Artist School sent the painting back with critiques via a piece of translucent paper over the original piece and suggestions in writing and on the drawing itself:

man with a camera
Man With a Camera
critiques of man with a camera
critiques of man with a camera

Dad and friends at the Shangri La

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Found this among the photographs/letters/recipes/magazine clippings at Mom’s house. The photo was inside a two-fold handmade card with the Shangri-La Bar drawing taped to the front. On the inside, facing the photo are the addresses of the other sailors. They are hard to decipher, but here goes:

According to the back of the card the Shangri-La Bar was located in Panama City, Panama (156 Calle Del Estudiante, One Block from the Lesseps Park) and featured:

  • Newly and artistically remodeling
  • Better drinks at popular prices
  • Quick and competent service
  • Caters to all branches of the U.S.A Armed Forces and Canal Zone personnel
  • An honest to goodness modern bar that pleases the eye as well as the drinking taste of its customers

I checked, there is no Shangri-La bar in Panama City, Panama any longer, nor is there a park named Lesseps.

This is not politically correct and quite offensive, but this was probably 1949, so let’s give it a pass. Anyway, that woman was probably about to turn around and give the wolves a piece of her mind.

Three wolves dressed in navy gear at a bar
Shangri-La. Front of a handmade card

I love the look on the bartender’s face. These days we’d call it photobombing.

Four sailors and a bartender
Dad (far left) and friends.

Mom’s Artwork: Exhibit 2: Lighthouse in Several Shades of Gray

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This piece was completed July 27, 1967. It was lesson 1B, Assignment 2. Opaque Plate – 4. She was 32 when she painted this. I was 10, soon to be 11. Kevin was 4.

While my mother was not completely personally unfamiliar with real lighthouses in 1967 — she probably saw the Two Rivers lighthouses many times on her trips there to visit family — I don’t think she’d seen one that looked like this, on rocky cliffs. The idea of this drawing/painting was likely taken from a magazine photo.

I like the serenity of this piece. The ocean (or lake) is completely calm. Not a ripple or wave in sight. The sky is either cloudless or completely overcast. It must be dusk or dawn since the lighthouse is lit and it seems like there is a hint of light on the horizon. It could be anytime in between, though, and the glow is a city on the other side of a large lake.

The small house’s door seems too big, compared to the size of the lighthouse, but maybe it was a short lighthouse on top of a large hill.

lighthouse
Lighthouse in several shades of gray