(Link to video on Facebook) Driving through Maryland we noticed the school buses parked behind this house. It still had an old TV antenna on top.
In the video, you can hear the voice of Cindy, who hung out with us for a while and told us what it was like to drive the buses.
Wonderful sense of light and form in this painting, as always. The purple shadows seem to be filling up the car in front of the house.
ReplyDeleteI drove a school bus in the mid-1970's. It was priceless experience for later being a classroom teacher. The biggest counter-intuitive lesson I learned was that the kids actually preferred a somewhat orderly, calm environment with someone in charge rather than complete chaos. I had to stop the bus one day on a junior high run, remove the keys from the ignition, and deliver a brief sermon about the need for a radically reduced decibel level in the bus. I announced the bus wouldn't be leaving the shoulder of the road until peace prevailed. Later, a student I had regarded as one of the rowdiest ring-leaders of the previous madness thanked me as she departed the bus at her stop.
I'm guessing one of the biggest changes in school bus driving since my time is the transmissions. In 1974, I drove a standard transmission. You had to double clutch for the first three gears. You were in 5th gear at 25 mph.
Lovely little painting.
ReplyDeleteSteve's comments about bus etiquette are as equally fascinating as the painting, which is of course fantastic. Thanks for sharing these impromptu sketchbook paintings. They remain my favorite part of your daily blog because the informal nature of these sorts of quick paintings eliminates the anxiety that occurs with a larger project. Basically, it's really fun to see you having fun doing what you love to do.
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