My Hobbit Mural

The Hobbit, 1979, crappy paint on cinderblock, Holly Lisle
The Hobbit, 1979, crappy paint on cinderblock, Holly Lisle

Click each image to see it much larger.

This is the other remaining mural of the three I did in this classroom: The Hobbit, which I pitched to Mr. Rose as real literature that should be worth the same 50 points other Big Fat Books earned when you read them—and I won my argument. And then he let me paint a picture from the book on his wall, otherwise decorated with things like Beowulf, and the witches from Macbeth. (both pictured below)

Taking an artsy tone here: In this picture, you’ll notice that the artist’s compositional skills had improved marginally, as had her use of the medium of crappy paint on cinderblock. Also notable in this painting is the use of the block signature in the right hand corner in its original state, still lacking the surrounding chop block and without the year the painting was done incorporated into those surrounding lines.

End artsy tone.
I did this standing on an aluminum ladder with my head sometimes bumping the ceiling. And people say Michelangelo had it hard. 😉

So here are the other pictures. I’m sorry that I don’t know who painted them. They were already on the walls when I started my junior year and got Mr. Rose—one of the most fortunate formative events in my young life, getting Mr. Kerr for science the same year being the other. I had these two great men as teachers for both my junior and senior years, and with them, Doc Stok (Mr. Stockdale) for chemistry.

A lightly aged versision of Mr. Rose's classroom, 1970s to 2015
A lightly aged versision of Mr. Rose’s classroom, 1970s to 2015
Beowulf, artist not known by me, from pre-1977.
Beowulf, artist not known by me, from pre-1977.
Macbeth mural, Mr. Rose's classroom, pre-1977, Beaver Local High School.
Macbeth mural, Mr. Rose’s classroom, pre-1977, Beaver Local High School.

Finally and belatedly, huge thanks to Jean Schara, graduate of BLHS in 1978 (not the great and awesome 1979) for providing me with these pictures. I would have had no record of these painting I did when I was—I have now realized—seventeen and eighteen years old, had she not taken these and then passed them on to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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7 responses to “My Hobbit Mural”

  1. Grace V. Robinette Avatar
    Grace V. Robinette

    Have you read MacBeth and Son (c) Jackie French? She helped me to understand the extent to which Shakespeare was compelled by politics to distort the recent history in order to appease the ruling monarch – and gain monetary rewards. The ancient Romans and his comedies were much safer, so far as it went to keeping food in his bey and his head on his neck. The Scottish kings were elected from the best person to serve. I t was the English king who insisted on family dynasty.
    Congratulations for having such incredible teachers.
    Amazingrace

  2. Claudette Avatar

    I knew you had an artist’s eye when you began with Minecraft. Now you’ve pulled out all the stops, Holly. Good for you. I’m glad to know that you’ve used your visualization for other mediums than words, as well.

  3. meham Avatar
    meham

    I remember reading the book in Jr High. My friend Franny Cohen had even learned to read and write runes. Never took with me, though. Great cover art reproduction 🙂 Love the ‘lollipop’ trees.
    m

  4. Amy Avatar

    Because I’m a picture nerd, I fixed the perspective and did a content-aware delete of the corner of the whiteboard. It’s not perfect, but I didn’t want to get in and pixel-edit someone else’s art. This version is a lot cleaner than the original, though.
    http://goo.gl/hpWmaQ

  5. Jean Avatar

    Mr. Rose added The Hobbit to The List? He was a man able to listen to well-reasoned arguments.

    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      He was indeed.

      I successfully talked him into counting The Hobbit for me. Because I never got another copy of The List, I don’t know whether he added it or not.

      I hope he did. In spite of the bad rep it got by being popular with hippies in the late sixties and early seventies, it was a book with compelling and epic themes, high-caliber writing, and enough of a downer ending to satisfy the literary snobs who claim that happy endings can’t occur in REAL literature.

  6. Jean Avatar

    Oh, a slight upon my class, eh? Them’s fightin’ words. Grin.

    As for the pictures, I can only take credit for saving them from Facebook when I saw them posted there. Other Beaver Local alumni were on scene to take the photos.

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