As many of my followers have seen, I like to draw. Most of my work is about an older middle-aged woman I call Gerty. She started her journey through my mind as a plump, positive, and perceptive icon of goodness. Filled with awe and great gusto for life, she has weathered the 2020 (and on and on) Pandemic, increased her exercise, turned to a mostly plant-based diet, and marveled at Nature during her daily walks in the park and along the lakeshore near her home. Opposing her usually cheery scenes, a few drawings place Gerty alone in her home and looking a bit sad. One of her great comforts is her black cat who insists on following her nearly everywhere. Whether inside or outdoors, Gerty and the cat make the best of it.

In the last few weeks, after my vaccination against the novel coronavirus lessened my anxieties about the contagion, I experimented with a different sort of drawing and left Gerty to her own devices on the drawing pad. My new interest was visual puns about the bird called a tern. Related to gulls, terns live in colonies, dive for the fish they eat, and are well adapted for flight.

Years ago, a book of puns, substituting the bird’s name for the word, “turn” gave me some good laughs. I love puns and groan happily whenever I hear a good one. Here are a few I drew. The pun is both visual and in the caption.

A Terning Point

A TernCoat

After a while I missed drawing Gerty. Wondering what she was up to, I imagined her meeting a tern or two. The next drawing brings them together.

An Unexpected Tern of Events

Now I’ve reunited with Gerty and her cat. Drawing her again feels like a homecoming. As usual, I show Gerty relaxing in her cozy home, yet enjoying the Great Outdoors, too.

Gerty Finds Comfort in Little Things

Gerty Planting Bulbs by Moonlight

When this Pandemic abates, my Gerty drawings will reflect her inner life, her aspirations, and her interactions, clarified and modified by her past experiences. Life is a learning curve. Gerty and I have been on this journey together–BUT I am not she, and she is not Me. Nevertheless, through Gerty I see the world through a different lens, clear and 20/20.