Also worth mentioning is yesterday’s homeschool formal. This year’s theme was Marvel Comics. Here I am disguised as Stan Lee:

Upon joining the Army Air Corps during WWII, she began working on the designs for “Captivair” training devices (essentially an airplane that is anchored to the ground) and authored pilot training and maintenance manuals.  It is worth noting that she did this all in her late teens and early twenties. Throughout her career she has worked on restoration projects at the National Air and Space Museum.

You can read more about her here.

IN KEEPING WITH this blog’s subtitle, here is this Saturday’s post. Three-Piece Samurai began as an idea for a short video about a well-dressed ronin who goes around fighting giant robots. Even though this never got further than a simple storyboard, I still think about using the character. Maybe I will start a band with the same name.

Here is the illustration that inspired the character.

I am currently reading The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse. While looking at the gallery of covers for this particular book on the Russian Wodehouse Society’s website, this one struck me as familiar. Using Google Images’ nifty “Search by Image” tool, I found the cover to have been taken from the above poster by Alfred Leete, who was also the man behind this well-known WWI recruitment poster (which I parodied about two years ago).

This leaves me with a new favorite artist and a new blog post. I am going to bed.

The Salamanca Reel, The Banshee and The Sailor’s Bonnet by The Bothy Band

The Road to Errogie and The Reconciliation Reel by Tumbleweed

Postoi Paravoz preoformed by Yuri Nikulin

Flight of the Passing Fancy by Squirrel Nut Zippers

If you do not know what to make of all this, please refer to the Wikipedia Article on the Harrowing of Hell.

ACCORDING TO THE CALENDAR, Spring began three days ago. But, as the snowbanks still stand about three feet high around here, you really couldn’t tell. I have, therefore,  found much comfort in the warm, colorful paintings of Boris Kustodiev, who even manages to make the dreaded Russian Winter look inviting.  Above is a study after The Merchant’s Wife at Tea which, needless to say, does Kustodiev’s  original no justice.

FIRST OF ALL, long live Pope Francis! The above painting (P.S. Krøyer’s Hip, hip, hurra! Kunstnerfest på Skagen) sums up my feelings pretty well. I was naturally as surprised as anyone by the recent abdication of Pope Benedict XVI. All I can say is that I wish our former Roman Pontiff all of the best as he carries out the rest of his days.

Secondly, I have decided, painful though it may be, to learn how to draw (properly, that is).  Why painful? let us just say that the more I learn, the more apparent my ineptitude becomes, and, in turn, the more humiliating I find it to publicly display my drawings (hence the recent lack of posts). Seeing as humility is something I can always use more of, I have decided to share with you the fruits of my efforts, horrible as they are (also, the knowledge that my sketches will be made public should prompt me to put a little more work into them).

A few months ago, a friend gave me a small plastic skeleton model (thank you, Mrs. D.!). The picture below is a sketch in pen and crayon of the same. As you can see, I have quite a ways to go. If you have any recommendations as far as books on drawing go, please feel free to make a comment or send me an email.

 
Thirdly, I have changed the name of the blog (yet again). This time (as you can see) it is G.M.’s Weekly, which, besides being inaccurate so far, is a reference to something. Any guesses as to what?

Fourth and lastly, I wish you all a happy Feast of Saint Patrick!

Our group followed essentially the same itinerary as we did in 2011 and 2012, and were once again very generously accommodated  at the Saint Francis Hall. Our ultimate goal was to participate in the annual March for life, but we did get to see a fair bit of D.C. beforehand, as well as Emmitsburg, Maryland and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania after the March.

We were given an excellent tour of the Franciscan Commissariat to the Holy Land‘s beautiful Memorial Church by Brother Thomas.

I had the opportunity to visit the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

So… Many… TRILOBITES!

I was also able to return to the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution (I visited before in 2011).

The Vergeltungswaffen-2.

The U.S.S Enterprise (the original prop).

The Tintinnabulum & Conopæum of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

Regina Doman happened to be doing a book signing in the Basement of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. I purchased a copy of her manga, Habemus Papam (illustrated by Sean Lam), which I highly recommend.

Here we are, vexillum unfurled, on our way to join the March.

In the midst of the March.

There was an estimated 5 x 10⁵ people present.
 

If you are wondering about the big print, the U.S.Supreme Court Building’s facade was being restored.

While we were visiting Gettysburg, we stopped atop Little Round Top.

The memorial of Major General G.K. Warren.

In addition to regular images, I decided to try something new: my dad recently came across a neat program by the name of Microsoft ICE which allows one to stitch images into a panorama and project them onto the inside of a sphere (the result is similar to Google Maps’ Street View tool). You may need to download a plugin in order to view these panoramas, but here they are if you are interested:

1. Waiting for Mass to begin at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

2. The Main Altar and Baldachinum.

3. Right before the beginning of Mass.

4. The Basilica’s basement.

5. The Basilica from outside.

6. Inside the Basilica of the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton.

7. The Appolo-Soyuz display at Air and Space.

Lastly, I would like to express my thanks to everyone who made this pilgrimage possible: Father Gunwall for his spiritual direction, Mrs. Sauvageau for all of the planning and coordination on her part, all of our wonderful chaperones for keeping us from getting lost or worse, the Franciscans of the Commissariat to the Holy Land (especially Brother Max), everyone who supported us financially or through their prayers, and all of my fellow youth who made up our group. I enjoyed my five days with you all and hope to see you again soon!

Fin.

Later today I will be leaving for Washington D.C. to participate in the March for Life (I went before in 2011 and 2012).

Valete!

Above is a study I did of the figures in James Tissot’s Les rois mages en voyage.

Speaking of Tolkien, yesterday I read his essay On Fairy Stories (which you can read right now on this Ukrainian website). In it Tolkien writes about the history of fairy tales, the suspension of disbelief, Eucatastrophe, why certain mediums work or don’t work for certain types of stories, &c. I recommend reading it when you get the chance.

Also recommended by me  is his short story Leaf by Niggle (which can be read on this other Ukrainian website). It is the compelling tale of a grumpy, preoccupied artist. Fans of C.S. Lewis will probably probably enjoy it in the same way as they did The Great Divorce and The Last Battle.

(By the way: I began writing this post before midnight, so let’s just say that it still counts for January 3rd.)

Since I last posted: I had a wonderful Christmas Octave with my family, received a hoard of terrific presents (some of which I will be posting about here soon), and saw the Hobbit movie with my buddies. Also, I am no longer valetudinary (as was the excuse for my previous post).

They are all pretty frivolous; I hope you don’t mind.

Inspiration includes Jake Parker’s awesome Redcoat concept art.