At the Political Rally

Hubby and I went to a political rally today. Don't know what it was about, but they promised free food and hot air balloon rides. Thought it would be a good opportunity to sketch people in the wild.

It was held in a parking lot with zero shade except that from the balloon. I took up a position between two parked cars along the perimeter (this sounds like a military operation) in the shade of a few trees. From my vantage point I was far enough away from the crowd I could draw without raising too much suspicion.

These are a few of the folks milling around, visiting, and eating before the speechifying began. I tried to capture their body attitude...hand on hip, leg thrown out, gestures and such. The little people on the right need to be further up on the page to show they were further away. Sigh. Oh well, I wasn't thinking about that when I drew them.

The big guy in the green shirt had his cell phone glued to his ear the whole time. He was probably reporting back to Nancy Pelosi on all the subversives in attendance.



This is the hot air balloon at the political rally. It looked like it was getting away from the handlers a couple of times. I didn't think a balloon ride with these guys was a good idea even if it *was* free.

After I finished this sketch I had to stand up because my hiney had gone to sleep. I handed my journal to Hubby while I wrestled myself up from the ground. Some people had come over to share the shade and Hubby showed them my journal like a grandfather showing off pictures of his new grandbaby! Gave them a cover-to-cover review! Ack!

One guy was polite enough to ask if I sold my artwork, and I explained the illustrated journal concept to him. He actually looked disappointed. Maybe I shouldn't have said no so quickly.



When the speechifying began the crowd had grown to about 150 people. They were all crowded into the circle of shade provided by the hot air balloon. The first guy told everybody to pull out their cell phones and call the two senators from Arkansas and gave out their phone numbers.

The second speaker rambled on for a bit then said, "We shouldn't be buying oil from heathern nations." Yep, heathern, with an "r." Gotta love South Arkansas politicking.

We had been there for about an hour by then and my brain was about to explode from the heat. I actually wanted to leave before Hubby. It's a miracle.