Tuesday, August 29, 2017

'Turnback Tuesday' features war games in Derby

In the summer of 1912, the New England and New York National Guards 'invaded' Derby in a war game. War games are a type of military exercise to test or improve tactical skills.
The two groups combined and collaborated so that each 'army' had a mix of soldiers from each guard. This image depicts the invading Red army which arrived with 50 carloads of soldiers, horses and equipment at Derby Depot on August 12. The next day they crossed the bridge into Shelton. On August 17 the defending Blue army was declared 'defeated' in Newtown.


Thanks to the Derby Public Library for sharing this interesting local history each week!

Recuperation journey: Trying my hand at water colors (again)

Valley Arts Council prez teaches water color painting at Derby Public Library

Valley Arts Council President Rich DiCarlo leads a step-by-step class in water color painting Monday at Derby Public Library. At upper right is DiCarlo's portrait of a woman that the class followed.

Here's what I drew to start: It was the easy part of the class.

As I've said before, using water color paints is quite the challenge. I was trying not to get frustrated by the drips and drops of water on my paper. One needs to do a lot of blotting and wiping throughout the process.


Class members work on their paintings.


One man's final product.

My daughter, Allegra, and I weren't too happy with our final products. 
She doesn't want to keep hers; I won't go that far! 
But I don't think I'll post a picture of my version.

Meanwhile we'll look forward to DiCarlo's next class when we'll try again to get the hang of it.

Community breakfast slated at Assumption Church hall in Ansonia


Seymour Pink to celebrate gift shop's anniversary this weekend