The is a quick sketch of the view looking to my left, out the window, when I’m “working” at my computer. [I get my mail soon after the postman delivers it.]

One of the few paintings I own not painted by myself is a watercolor streetscene by my mom. While relying on the original drawing, still visible in the finished painting, her version is of course much more colorful than my pencil sketch [shown above]. But this is the part I liked about the watercolor: the visible sketch.

Our dogs, Blue and Molly. These were quick sketches of live subject matter [as opposed to using reference photos] so it was hard getting much detail. Trick is to do a quick gesture drawing which gets the basic layout down and then work on refining the sketch, adding darker lines along more important contours. I then added shadows by hatching.

My wife never puts the keys in the same place when she gets home. I’m not sure if this is a personality difference between us or just a male/female thing, but I tend to do the opposite - the keys go on the key hook near the door, the wallet goes on the same shelf when it’s not in the same back pocket of my pants. If I don’t know where my wallet is at any given time it grates on my nerves [although the only important thing in there is my license]. The wife on the other hand is never quite sure where she left her purse.

30boxes is a community-oriented online calendar. It’s nice looking, easy to add events and apparently works well for groups to use [I haven't checked out this last feature yet]. Bottomline: it’s slick, check it out!
link: 30 Boxes

How great are those little plastic combatants, frozen in heroic moments of victory . . . or fallen in [familiar] rigid defeat. I didn’t have tons of these growing up, I remember playing mostly with wooden blocks [they call that "old school"], before jumping directly to GI-Joes.

Inspiration - definition 1a: “Stimulation of the mind or emotions to a high level of feeling or activity.” *

This is the definition I normally use when making such statements as: I’ve got no inspiration, I lack any inspiration, or I ain’t got no more inspiration. Today I’m doing a lot of busy work, avoiding the reality that I am uninspired, unmotivated to do anything painting related. That said, I’ve learned not to let this bother me too much; there are plenty of other things that need to be done around here, and a person can’t be inspired all the time. This is the theory I’m going with anyway, and I have some thoughts to back this theory.

First, if a person is always inspired, is that person inspired or is that just the norm? Hmmm. Second, inspiration comes out of those times when we’re uninspired; downtime is the ground crew that maintains the launchpad . . . and inspiration is the rocket preparing to launch, of course. ["cringe" what a horrible analogy] Finally, looking at definition 6:

Inspiration - definition 6. “The act of drawing in, especially the inhalation of air into the lungs.” *

Inspiration is dependant upon expiration, and vice versa. In and out. Going up and going down. Inspiration and . . . expiration [uninspiration?]. Linguistics aside, there is much to be said for balance. Balance is good. [too much of a good thing, and all that] We need to be inspired and motivated, yes, but we also need times of reflection, times for sharpening the saw, times for rest.

Ecclesiastes 3 TNIV

¹ There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

² a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

* The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. (2003). Retrieved March 17 2006

I’ve decided to sharpen my “skillz” a little with some daily work in my sketchbook. I don’t expect to post online everyday, but I’ll be sure to post the highlights once or twice a week at least. Enjoy! [or else post your complaints below]