Wednesday, December 10

Recent Mural project

Over the course of several weeks I completed a mural for the Sisters at the Monastery of St. Joseph in Tulsa. They were very hospitable and took me in when I needed a place to stay during my time working in Tulsa this fall. I worked on it somewhat sporadically between other things. You can see a progression in these photos from soon after I had the bulk colors on the wall, to the finished picture a few days ago. The only thing waiting is for a shelf to be built onto the wall to hold the statue of the Sacred Heart centered in the gazebo (I am holding the statue in place in the last photo).

The mural is based from an old photo of the gazebo from the sister's mother house which enshrined a life-size statue of the Sacred Heart. Many of the older sisters would come watch me as I was painting and tell me stories of when they were younger and would go place flowers at the feet of the statue (the mural really brought back beautiful memories for them and made their history more real for me).



Monday, December 8

Guarding the tomb of the unkown soldier

Here is a video clip on MSNBC about the guards who keep perpetual watch over the tomb of the unknown soldier. My friend Adam from Clear Creek is featured in this video clip towards the end - he talks about instilling in the men he trains a desire for this duty and to consider it an honor.
MSNBC Video

Arlington National Cemetary Link
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/tombofun.htm
Another Video about the Tomb guards
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XiuZRb_4UU