Yesterday, my wife and I attended the annual art in the park festival (Marietta Square)in which more than a 100 artists presented their work.  It was crowded with people of all ages strolling through the park and bordering streets, looking at the art, and occassionally buying a piece.  One of the artists that we were drawn to was Nautical Art by Larry Packard.  Larry does pen and ink drawings of sailing ships on nautical maps which he obtains from the USGS.  His art work is beautiful, and we purchased two of them.  A former combat comptroller in Vietnam, and pilot, Larry began to draw by sketching Vietnamese fishing boats on the back of radio logs, and scraps of paper.  Eventually, these boats turned into sailing ships, and he needed bigger paper—nautical maps.  For 35 years his work was shown exclusively in New Orleans, and the “fense” on Jackson Square.   While talking with Larry and his wife, we learned that they lived in New Orleans for more than 30 years, but after they lost their home to Katrina, they live an RV, and travel the East Coast attending art shows and presenting his work.  One of the drawings we purchased was “Eagle off Long Island.” Eagle is the US Coast Guards’ tall ship.  We were attracted to this piece because we often to go to New England (I am from Boston), and visit the area.  It is a beautiful piece of work, as are all of his drawings.  You can see more of his work by at the International Association of Marine Painters’ website.

Eagle off Long Island by Larry Packard

Larry told me that he lost his house because of Hurricane Katrina.  It was a total loss, as were the homes of many of his neighbors.  He explained that over time, the marshland, which protects the mainland from storm surge, has eroded away, and now there is little protection from surges created by fierce hurricanes like Katrina, and now, Gustav, which is heading directly towards New Orleans.  According to an article in Geotimes,

More than a century of building dams, levees and canals to control the Mississippi River changed the wetlands, limiting sediment and leading to soil compaction from the loss of vegetation.

Gustav is a category 3 storm, and could easily become a category 4 storm as it makes its way across the Gulf of Mexico.  We returned this morning to the art show to visit with Larry and his wife again, and purchased another pen and ink drawing of ship on a map of Sanibell Island.  Their cell phone kept ringing while we were with them.  It was their children who live in a suburb just north of New Orleans.  The discussion was whether to stay, or go.  They’ve decided to stay and ride out Gustav.

We all are watching this storm, and hoping that the preparations that are taking place now in the Gulf Region will lessen the impact on life and property.  This time people in Washington seem to be taking this storm seriously, unlike three years ago.