With my ASL college course complete, I can finish storing my class notes with illustrations, especially those not found in textbooks. Our instructor Georgia Whalen taught us the ASL hand sign for DRY-CLEAN, a Canadian variant used in Ontario and the Maritimes. Instead of Dry or Clean, this visual shows the hangers for the freshly cleaned and pressed clothes. An image repeated on the dry-cleaner’s uniform and presentation of the English text. Both L hand signs pull down with the index fingers bending at the knuckle, Twice.
#ASL #signlanguage #Dry-clean #dry-cleaner #cartoon #myasldictionary
GRADES
I’m all smiles today. To my delight, the final marks came in for my ASL1020 sign language class. In celebration, I animated the number with some added applause for my favourite grade. I want to give Special thanks to our great ASL teacher, Georgia Whalen. Despite temperate weather and technical difficulties, she ensured each class was running. Her lessons were both educational and inspiring. Conestoga College’s American Sign Language courses are incredible, and if all goes well, I’ll begin the next class in May with the new textbook that just arrived today.
IN A PINCH
For Saint Patrick’s Day, a cartoon of Saint Patrick showing the ASL hand sign for his name. The patron saint of Ireland, he’s dressed in Green and carries a Golden Shamrock, the visual he used to describe God’s Holy Trinity when he brought Christianity to Ireland. The knuckle of the X hand shape twists into the arm, like the hand sign for PINCH.
The hand sign refers to the Saint Patrick’s day tradition of pinching anyone caught not wearing Ireland’s colours on this holiday. Folklore also states wearing Green makes you invisible to leprechauns, mischievous imps who like pinching.
#ASL #signlanguage #saintpatricksday #saint #cartoon #myasldictionary
SAINT PATRICK’S DAY PIXIE
Drawing and inking this Giant Leprechaun for a cardboard poster this March motivated me also to illustrate the reason for the season, the Patron Saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick, showing the ASL hand sign for his name. When the Big Leprechaun was painted and decked out in green to be set up for the celebrations tomorrow, I added a bit of Photoshop magic to this mischievous elf to have him show one of the ASL hand signs for LEPRECHAUN and then disappear with his gold the way leprechauns are said to do (my first time making gif animation from a photograph).
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day Tomorrow!
*Remember to wear green or you might get pinched by a leprechaun.
#ASL #signLanguage #signlanguage #leprechaun #SaintPatricksDay #cartoon #myasldictionary
PERFECT SCORE
I’ve always loved how ASL words are connected. While working on the ASL hand sign for OLDEST, I noticed its similarities to BEST (which I thought cool as I am the oldest in my family). I have seen other variations in signing OLDEST, some ending with a fist or an S hand shape while others finish with the thumb up in a 10. Looking back at my dictionary’s hand sign for BEST and BETTER, I first noticed my misspelling of changing as chaning (my apologies) but then understood the visual meaning of ending with a 10. For fans of the book, here’s the updated pictures, with the added hint I discovered).