Louis' Gallery
I've sketched and doodled all my life. I got an "A" in vertebrate anatomy under Dr. Hershey at Florence State largely because of my sketches of the various specimens we observed. I wanted to change from pre-med to pre-architecture when I enrolled at Florence State for my sophomore year when I ran out of my college education funds at Vanderbilt and couldn't (or didn't try to) get a full-tuition scholarship. I figured I could draw well enough to be an architect but couldn't afford to go to med school.
I never took formal art lessons, but I kept on sketching as a hobby and as a part of my work as a pathologist. I wish I had saved my drawings and doodles (especially the illustrations of congenital heart anomalies that were part of my autopsy reports during my tenure as an Assistant Professor of Pathology at UAB, but, alas, most have been discarded or left behind as I moved to new positions.
Here is a sample of what's left.
Sketches while waiting for my youngest grandchild to be born:
Sophia Marie was born at Tisch Hospital, Manhattan, NYC, on Memorial Day in 1994. We waited and waited at Chris and Ellen's condominium in Jackson Heights, Queens, for almost 2 weeks past the estimated delivery date.
Furniture and artifacts in the N.Y. condo
Table decoration on the living room coffee table
A parody of our 3 grandchildren who were taking violin lessons
My dog, Coco
A potted plant in the living room. I call it "What's for Lunch."
A fantasy beast called, "Kitty."
Another fantasy beast called "Ancestor."
This was, of course, sketched after Sophie arrived. From a photo.
The only drawings I kept from my earlier period are these two that I created in 1968 when I finally decided to quit a 4 pack per day smoking habit while I was in the Navy at Pensacola USNH. I got creative in my attempt to kick the habit. I carried a pack of Kools in my shirt pocket for months, telling myself you can wait one more hour . . . . one more day . . . . one more month. But, in the meantime, I drew these two reminders of my two greatest health fears: emphysema and cancer of the floor of the mouth. I also found a great cigarette box, a donkey with a box on its back where the cigarettes were stored. To get one, you pulled the ears forward and the cigarette appeared, filter end first, out of the opposite end of the animal.
Emphysema
Surgical removal of the lower jaw for floor of mouth cancer.
In recent years, I have dabbled with water colours.
Japanese magnolia
Seascape
Settin' Down
Poppies
Birches
Autumn
Seascape with dunes
Symphony
In Search of The Bhuda
The Singer
Rocky Coast Surf
Seashell
The Light
This was done for my daughter-in-law who loves turtles because she is convinced that was the form of a guardian angel who was looking over Kennedy, our third grandchild who almost drowned in a pool accident. Kennedy brought a turtle to her earlier during the pool party before he was found at the bottom of the swimming pool. The view from underwater resembles the tunnel with brilliant light at the other end described by many near death victims.
Break in the Clouds
Irises
Children's table and chairs with UA football theme.
I discovered this unfinished wood set of table and chairs that had been commissioned by someone who abandoned them at the woodworker's shop. I fixed them up for my grandchildren to use when they visit, and they love them.
Eastern Bluebird
Colored pencil on paper.
But, I really have fun with glass mosaics. It's a real challenge to configure bits and pieces of glass so that they fit into a visual image. I envy the ancient mosaicists. One day, I hope to take a study vacation in Ravenna where they teach you to create mosaics like the ones you see in Pompeii and early Christian churches.
Bicycle Built for Two
I did this one for my brother Robert when he and Suzy got their new RV in which they live on the road for about half the year, it seems, looking for good bicycle trails or canoeing streams. This seemed a good metaphor for the RV.
Denny Chimes, UA campus
Flowers
Pompeian Woman
"Paz e Amore" in progress
This was done for my son's housewarming when he graduated from renting in New York to condo-ownership. He loves Brazil, and the golden parakeet is the official bird of brazil. Paz e amore means "peace and love."
Paz e Amore
"Frogs" by W. A. Anderson--not by me. This is the model for my unfinished mosaic to your right.
My "Frogs"
Nine Down, Nine To Go
A 65th birthday present to my brother, an avid golfer. It's an allusion to many more years of retirement golfing.
I did a series of whimsical animals on 4" x 4" tiles as Christmas gifts to the grandchildren and some of their parents who begged for them. I photographed them all, but now I cannot locate the main collection of photos, of course.
Sea Gull
Crawfish