Painting v. Drawing

I miss my pen sometimes.

The wife is out for the summer, so I'm going out on a limb and saying that my productivity will probably be going down. More quality marriage time, less quality art time. But! I'm going to try to write more with my posts, to show that I'm not just another pretty face. Yeah.

Smoker

I was a smoker for a few years. I quit 5 years, 2 months, and 3 days ago. It feels like much less time than that. Only occasionally in my smoking days were there bright colors surrounding me. I keep trying to restrain my palette and failing. I just want to use lots of colors, to make new colors and textures. I think I'm going to give up on restraint, and assume that this rainbow-palette leaning is just part of my style.

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Now playing: The Apples In Stereo - Can You Feel It?

Bird

I took another stab at the bird, this time to fit a frame and a color scheme. It's going to hang in my family room, above the fireplace. I named him Gus.

At church they showed a list of congregant family members who have died in military service. So many of them are since 2003. I cried. Humanity is tearing itself apart in the name of doing God's work. Satan knows he only needs to set us on each other to win. On a day like Memorial Day, it's not difficult to despair that he's up to the task.

Why I like watercolors

I'm looking for six that know about sound
Who promised to come back upside-down


I imagine this is somewhere on the north shore of Lake Superior.

With this image, by my count that makes 450 sketches, drawings, and paintings I've done since I heard Danny Gregory's talk at the HOW Conference in Atlanta on June 12 last year. That's far more than I ever expected. I feel very proud of myself that I've not only been able to stick with it this long, but am expanding my artistic repertoire with nearly every work I do these days. Thanks, Danny!

New links

Some new links on the right, which have played some small part in inspiring me over the last couple months.

Lauren Nassef
She's from Minnesota, I think?

Lapin
All in French, so I don't know anything except what I see. And what I see makes me want to cry for my lack of portraiture skills.

'skine.art
A great place to get a round up of some talented sketchbookers.

Sleep

Sleep Comes to Everyone / Sleep Comes to No One Else

Watercolor and crayon on paper.

The one on the left was originally going to be a yucca flower, but drastically lost its way somewhere along the line. The one on the right was always intended to be non-objective.

Ivan

Ivan Fyodorovich Karamazov.

Watercolor, salt, and literary fusion.

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Now playing: Busdriver & Radioinactive with Daedelus - Dj Furry

Boxers

Watercolors and ink. And salt… and starlight.

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Now playing: Portishead - All Mine

Rain

I stride boldly toward the misty hillside in the distance,
fully intending to remain exposed past my better judgment.
I will entice the rain to teach me. Come down here, you coward!
Turn the aim of your abilonious assault down from the mountains.
I'll be the one cowering under the oak, a knowing smirk across my face.

Quote

Thanks, Kierkegaard! But... I don't really get it. Meh.

Silhouette.

"Were it not for music, we might in these days say, the Beautiful is dead."
–Benjamin Disraeli

I've decided that in November I'm joining up with National Novel Writing Month to finally write that novel that I've been thinking about since late last week. Their goal is 50,000 words, but I set a personal goal for myself this year to write a 60,000-word work. So in November it'll be a lot less art posting, and way more word posting. I fully encourage you to join me, it'll be a hectic blast.

How dare you put this bow on me...

Summer in the rain shadow puts us at the mercy of the skies. It is warm, it is dry, I pine for fall, and winter in turn. I miss the quest for pockets of warmth and light. Christmas is welcome back at my house anytime.

[Original picture from stuffonmycat.com]

Confusion

"Wait, did I leave the oven on?" or "So Bruce Willis was dead the entire time?"

When I look back at drawings from even a few short months ago, I'm flabbergasted. Also, I really like the W/N watercolors. They're my new favorite toy. Always good stuff waiting to happen.

Fresh Chewy Lifeblood

An haiku homage to tedsher's "Signs of St. Cloud Bakery" series.
I know I wheez off his gig, but 1. he always updates fresh material, and 2. the composition is already there. Plus, I really like this series a lot. Don't judge me harshly. There are too many politicians to waste harsh judgment on me.

Happy post 400!

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Now playing: The Rentals - We Have A Technical

Wicked smaht update

Following up on my reading list from earlier in the year.

1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
Pretty good. I knew the twist at the end though. It did set up the seventh nicely.

2. A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man & Dubliners by James Joyce
I know how everyone in my generation loves this book, but I have to say I didn't much like it. If you aren't into Catholicism or Irish history or delusions of artistic genius, save some time and skip this one.

3. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Now THIS was a great book. I loved all 702 bruising pages of it. There were some fantastic passages, especially the book about Father Zossima. I highly recommend it.

4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
I bumped this up because after Karamazov I need a break. This starts today.

5. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Looming like a migraine.

Others in the works:

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Notes From Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Caterbury Tales by Chaucer
The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan
Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac

Fancy new paints

Winsor & Newton watercolors, to be exact. I think I'll like them eventually, though for now I'd rather keep using the Rose Art just to improve my skills without using the expensive paints. I do like having the wider range of colors to choose from, though. And my new Moleskine watercolor book seems to be pretty slamming as well.

Portrait party

We had a portrait party at lunch today. Sarah, Dan, and James done in charcoal, pastel, watercolor crayons, and conte crayons.