Graffiti Grandma

Each stroke of this grandma's (babushka's) arm brought a fresh

stroke of white, and it appears from the series of photos that she

was the chalk graffiti artist (four photos in all from a passing

auto, as it was driven through the outskirts of Odessa, Ukraine --

notice the artististic socks and the strong Ukrainian nose) Your

ratings and critiques are most welcome. (Please submit a helpful

and constructive comment if you rate harshly or negatively/Please

share your superior knowledge to help improve my photography).

Thanks! Enjoy! ;~)) John

Babushka shouldn't be having to work so hard. :-(

Nice capture John.

She appears to be the world's most unlikely graffiti artist, having fun at 6:00 a.m., sneaking in some graffiti before the neighbors wake up. Hard work? Looks like she's just "expressing her feelings" or "venting" like some teenager. Hard work, no, Fun, yes! John. ;~))

Oh, this is good, good, good. The play of color to neutral. The jagged rectangles and triangles against her round, colorful self. Really really cool. And it is almost as if she is trying to change her gray, linear world into something round and colorful, like herself.

I really, really like your comment -- it opened my eyes -- I hadn't thought of it in those terms. Sometimes it takes a good commentator to tell me why an image is successful on a higher level than 'neat shot' or 'good image'. Yours is an exceptional comment. Thanks for such insight and erudition. John

For the most part, I am one of those commentators that says "cool" or "wow". I very rarely can pinpoint why I like or dislike something. So, when I have a concrete thought, I try to pass it on.

I'll say it again....cool image! WOW!

Tiffany -- Your comment above was one of the top five I have received on PN since I started contributing, and, unlike the others, which I had figured out, yours gets a gold star, because I had not figured out what it is you said and it took me completely by surprise. How wonderful. As you say. "Cool" John (With respect).

the artist's scarf/headdress and the artist's print skirt -- further strong evidence she's putting up graffiti, not taking it down (plus my photos show chalk in her hands). John

It's a well researched fact -- Russian and Ukrainian men die young -- 55 to 57 while the women live to their 70s on average. The women also complain that these 'scarce' men have mistresses and are not faithful as well as drink too much.

 

Do these women who start out as some of the world's most beautiful just accumulate pounds because of a hard life and a lot of potatoes and butter (butter's cheap), or is it a sign of happiness when they have children and was it expected of a woman of former times (Communist) who settled down with children.

 

Certainly present-day men won't be so attracted to such a woman as he would one of Ukraine's beauties --- is that why Ukrainian and Russian wives expect their husband will have a mistress -- or do the husbands get mistresses because their wives let themselves go? Chicken or egg?

 

(This woman IS emblematic of many women of her age behind the 'former' Iron Curtain as viewed by her 'lumpiness' in my experience -- I've lived in Russia part-time and visited many, many times).

 

So, which came first, the kids and the pounds, then the husband's mistress, or the husband's mistress, then the pounds? (Neither is good in my view, and both are destructive.)

 

John

sweet!

One artist captured by another: well done.

to be called an 'artist' by you, Terry, -- especially after being driven all night after a 36-hour flight and a 12-hour overnight drive, and finding this outside the window of my driver's car as we entered Odessa. What a find, hunh?!!! John