Paintings

[MauEvig]

I don't have Halloween on the mind year round. Not a chance!

[Murfreesboro]

Naw, not a chance in the world!

[MauEvig]

Here's another painting...this one I did as a dedication to all tigers...since it saddens me how the species is dying out:



It's the Great Tiger Spirit weeping for the dying species...it's a bit of a sad piece...but I felt the need to express how I felt about this topic.

[Murfreesboro]

Aww, and it's a white tiger, too! My daughter is especially fond of white tigers and did a report about them a few years ago. We have both a white and an orange tiger at the Nashville Zoo, and there are babies there from time to time. The species is not dying out in captivity, at least.

[MauEvig]

It's true; most Zoos and animal trainers keep the species alive through captive breeding. It's just a real shame that they are dying out in the wild. I can't imagine why people keep hunting them; and despite bans on doing so; the Tiger remains critically endangered due to poaching, ancient Chinese medicine which has not a single shred of evidence to even work, and of course for tiger pelts. I think the fur is more beautiful on the animal when it's alive; I just get sad when I see animals who have been stuffed or freeze dried. Sure I eat meat; I'm not an animal activist by any means; but I do believe common sense and animal welfare is needed when it comes to preserving the species. Things fall out of balance without a dominant apex predator. We should learn to live in balance with these creatures instead of hunting them to extinction. Plus as a cat lover this really gets me depressed. It's not just tigers either, many other large cat species are dying out as well.

I think it's great that your daughter did a report on white tigers. I honestly think more awareness needs to be raised; and that people should be discouraged from buying any products that promote destroying any more tiger habitats or any products made from the living tigers. Holding that baby tiger on my lap at the zoo makes me think how awesome they are and how powerful they can become. Tigers are so majestic and beautiful. I like tigers of all colors. Orange, White I think they are all beautiful. I made this one white because I wanted to capture it as a sort of powerful Tiger spirit.

But you are right. It's sad but at least captive breeders keep the species alive. Many captive breeders even help spread awareness for the tiger's cousins out in the wild.

[MauEvig]

I've been on a role with tigers lately:



I applied some glow in the dark paint for a cool effect. ^_^

I also made this one for my dad for father's day:



I made a painting of my mom's yorkie for my mom for mother's day:



I painted a dog too.

[Murfreesboro]

The tiger paintings remind me of the Blake poem, "Tyger, tyger, burning bright/ in the forests of the night. . . ."

[Kolchak]

Very nice paintings, you have a gift for that!

Bit of useless trivia.

Four most common nickames of high school and college sports teams in the US.

1. Tigers
2. Lions
3. Bulldogs
4. Eagles

I proposed changing my college sports teams to Raging Maniac Cannibals. Or Bloodthirsty Widow Makers.


I was made to go see the school shrink because of that. Don't know why? I think they were just jealous of my creativity.

[Murfreesboro]

My daughter is headed to Sewanee this fall. I think their team is the Tigers.

Older son is at Vanderbilt--his team is the Commodores. Second son is at MTSU. His team is the Blue Raiders. I think Commodores & Blue Raiders must be unique, or nearly so.

[Andybev01]

theOlder son is at Vanderbilt--his team is the Commodores. Second son is at MTSU. His team is the Blue Raiders. I think Commodores & Blue Raiders must be unique, or nearly so.

"She's a brick house
Mighty might just lettin' it all hang out
She's a brick house
The lady's stacked and that's a fact,
ain't holding nothing back."

[Kolchak]

The members of the Commodores all went to Tuskegee university, and they're called the Golden Tigers.
That song came out my senior year in high school. I can remember friends and me changing the lyrics somewhat, but I can't repeat what we changed them to.


Murph. Your daughter is going to love it at Sewanee. Great school, beautiful campus, and it's far enough away from home for her to be on her own, but not TOO far away, if you catch my drift?

[Murfreesboro]

Your lips to God's ears, Kolchak. She has been so unenthusiastic about college, even though she is an excellent student, top of her class, etc. But she got wait-listed by Vanderbilt, which had been "our" school, so she is now in a mood to be bummed by everything else. Also she was accepted to NYU, with a nice scholarship, but her dad didn't want her up there on the dispersed campus in the middle of Manhattan. I think she will enjoy Sewanee, too, and that it is actually an ideal fit for her, but she is not in the mood to see that right now.

Oh, yes, the Commodores! I hadn't thought about them in a while, but I enjoyed their music, too.

[MauEvig]

Thank you all for your kind compliments everyone!

My High School was the eagles, but I liked my college mascot at GCC which was a cougar. I'm not too sure what Dabney's is because I don't think they have a football team. They just have pictures of Mountains in their logo.
Dabney; the college I'm going to right now I learned is going to partner with Mary Baldwin! As y'all know I was thinking about transferring to MB as one of my choices. I've heard good things about it and was thinking of looking into other colleges, but in light of this news I think this might be the best route for me. It's more local than Roanoke or Staunton; and I'm hoping they'll offer courses online as well. One thing I like about going to "class" online is that it's easier to fit around my schedule. I can check into class at Midnight if I wanted to. Thanks to technological advances I think there should be more job opportunities to work online. If I can't get a job in a traditional classroom, maybe I can get one teaching a virtual classroom. I think that'd be fun and I'm already pretty computer savvy.
Going back to the mascots; I thought my Highschool should be the Griffons instead. I thought that would be more original. There was like...I think 3 other schools in New York State with that same mascot. I still remember this project we had to do for my art class there. We made this really cool looking eagle head. Then the teacher made copies of it, and told us to make the eagle heads into students; basically anthropomorphic eagles doing something related to school. Well; I wanted to do one where the students are hanging out at the lockers with their friends. I planned to add one as a cat and one as another type of animal. One of the students snobbishly said I couldn't do that...and then the teacher sided with her! I'll never forget that. I even pointed out that the other animals could be "foreign exchange students." Of course it's been over 10 years ago now and it's moot point...though I have been tempted to re-do the piece the way I wanted it done just for personal closure. The thing that I didn't like about that art class was that I didn't feel like there was enough artistic freedom to really express one's self. I'm not in school now though; so I get to paint or draw to express myself the way I want to and that suits me just fine.

I like the mascots around here in Virginia though.

Murf I feel for your daughter. I got rejected by specific colleges as well when I was younger. Though I wish now that I would have taken my school Councillor's advice and just went to a Community College to begin with. But things happen a certain way for a reason I think. Hopefully she'll still get to attend Vanderbilt someday though. Maybe she can transfer in later on?

[Murfreesboro]

We'll see. If she transfers now she'll lose her National Merit Scholarship, not that it amounts to so much financially, but still. If Vandy had chosen her, she would have used it there. Once they are awarded to specific schools, you don't get a "re-do."

I left Mary Baldwin in 1993, just before the internet became a big thing, so I never used it there. However, I was active in the Adult Degree Program, which catered to independent studies with students beyond the traditional college age. This included some who mailed in their work. So I am sure that the ADP at Mary Baldwin is using the internet now. I think it is wonderful that your school is now partnering with them. Mary Baldwin is a neat place. In its way, it is a little like Sewanee, I guess, in that both are very small, Southern, liberal arts schools in picturesque settings, with lots of tradition behind them.

My daughter is highly talented in art but was turned off by high school art programs, too, for much the same reason you give--she hated having to conform to specific assignments, wanted to do things her way.

[Kolchak]

I wouldn't worry too much Murph I bet once she gets there and gets settled in, meets new friends, and gets into her classes, things will change. Has she decided on a major? Once she has been there awhile, she will see that there are a zillion kids that would trade places with her in a heartbeat, and then she'll see how lucky she is to be enrolled at such a fine school.