Sketching the Pandemic Year 2020 week 3

Bat watercolor, ink and color pencils by Meera Rao

At the  monthly meetings of the Peninsula Chapter of Virginia Master Naturalists,  the second hour is devoted to continuing education.  In January 2020 the guest speaker introduced us to Bats.  She even brought Bats for the show and tell.  Looking back, even though Covid-19 whose origins were suspected to have ‘jumped’ from bats to humans was raging in China and the first cases had already shown up in the US - we were not aware of what lay ahead. When I chose to sketch a bat for that week,  I also did not realize it was juxtapositioned against ‘Sheridan’s cavalry condition powder’ that promised to prevent and cure cattle plague, anthrax, and hog cholera...! What irony !! 

Week 3 2020 Smithsonian Engagement calendar and my sketch