Landscape of Virginia

In Virginia there are many rivers that run across the Commonwealth. One of them is the James River which runs far into the mountains for its origin and down past where I am at Howardsville and then on past Scottsville and on to Richmond, Gochland and finally into the Chesapeake Bay. Before roads where maintained other than for being horse trails rivers were the major means of transporting large amounts of drygoods. To do this there were a fleet of 'longboats' that traveled up and down the James River moving these goods along to the early settlers here in Central Virginia. In order to understand this some locals have refurbished and renewed a few of these old 'longboats' into operating with the help of some hearty volunteers. Once a year now, people man the longboats and a group of them float on downstream to Gochland from up near Lynchburg, Virginia. They come into Scottsville every June and I happen to catch site of them this year as they pulled into shore

I often enjoy live theater, at least this was the case when I lived in Philadelphia and also somewhat here in Central Virginia (Charlottesville,Va.) my theater attendance has been infrequent but I did go. I sat in many an audience during a live performance of said playwrite watching actors unfolding a tale. From stories teaching us a meaning to simply absurd situations unfolding before us I was their sitting taking it all in. But this year was somewhat of a different slant on written plays, I was in one as an actor. It was a small bit part but none the less I was onstage. I really enjoyed it. I saw it as a completion of my reading drama/comedy to seeing it performed and now being in it. The circle was now complete for my enjoyment of drama/comedy. And this moment showed up in my drawing from my imagination this spring. When I drew this drawing I didn't know where it came from but I could picture this man on stage having his ego stroked by an appreciative audien