Category Archives: sketching

Feeling like a slug!

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Me standing on a block behind my tall daughter in her prom dress
Me and Girl2 on prom night

First, check out Girl2 in her prom dress. This picture was taken on her very last day of high school! She will graduate cum laude, with a cosmetology degree, an associates degree in science and math, and VERY close to completing Eagle Scout. I can’t manage to change my socks daily. This is why, as happy as I am for her and as proud, I feel like a slug.

I  had all of these great plans for 2023. I was going to do a fair every month. I was going to complete a large painting every week, a couple of small paintings, and sketch every day.

With the exception of a couple of small watercolors, I haven’t managed to complete a single painting. I have done a small handful of sketches, but nothing near the volume I wanted to do.

So what’s wrong me? Why can’t I manage to follow through? It’s so easy to get down on myself and think about how terrible I am. But doing nothing is the norm. That is the standard that the human body wants to maintain. Inertia. A body at rest will remain at rest until acted upon by a force, right?

So the real question is what happened before that motivated me to do something? How did I manage to get up and do anything before? We typically throw around words like “discipline” and “plan” without really understanding how those words become actions.

I don’t have an answer to that. I know that routine is the best way for me to get things accomplished. If I manage to sit at a drawing table with my pens and paper, I will draw something. So I have to set the routine to have my pens and paper out, maybe at a specific time or at least convenient place every day. Like the saying goes, “Chance favors the prepared mind.” If my space is prepared and my materials available, it’s a whole lot easier for me to actually sit down and get some work done. The current state of the studio is not conducive to that effort, to say the least

Garage studio is trashed

I did manage to take some supplies with me to the mall while the wife and kids explored the shops. I didn’t get a whole lot of sketches in, but something is a brazillian times more than nothing, right?

Boy2 enjoying some Chinese food at the food court

Plein Air Watercolor: Veterans Memorial Museum Liberty Tree, Katy, TX

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This week, I loaded up on the bike and zipped out to Veterans of Foreign War post 9182 to see the Katy Veterans Memorial Museum. Bob Lee showed me around and gave me a brief interview so I could share it with you. The museum has areas dedicated to each branch of the military and memorabilia from every generation of the American military history. Their prize display is a set of the Medals of Honor offered by the branches that congress has granted them for display purposes.

Then I spent a pleasant hour or so setting up and sketching their liberty tree

There’s a video at the YouTube if you would like to hear the interview and watch the time lapse sketch:

Biker Once More

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Motorcycle with backpack strapped to it
Azula loaded for an art ride

I bought a motorcycle last October. I told the wife I needed one and she agreed. It’s a 2011 Yamaha Stryker 1300. I will be cruising along wondering why everyone is going so slow before I look down to discover I’m going 90 and couldn’t tell.

I’ve been unemployed (again) for a little over a month. After a morning of filling out applications, sending resumes, I decided to load the art bag on her and take her out for a spin.

30 minutes down the road from me is No Label Brewery. Founded in 2010 they are in an old rice grainery. I thought the grainery would make a nice sketch so that’s what I did.

rice grainery
No Label Brewing Co.
ink and wash sketch
Ink and wash sketch

I did most of it live on Twitch, but it was difficult to get the camera to stay still, especially when the wind picked up. However, I did manage to video most of the process so watch for it on the you tube. I’ll update this later with the link.

Daddy/Daughter Breakfast 21SEP2013

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image

We had a long talk today about the importance of practice. She asked why I draw so many coffee cups. I said because I’m not as good at it as I want to be. She said that I was very good, way better than her. I said I had more practice. She lamented she wasn’t very good and that she would never be able to do it. I reminded her that she didn’t used to be able to walk, but she practiced and now she can run. She didn’t used to be able to talk. But she practiced and now she can sing. And right now, you don’t think you draw very well, but with practice you’ll be drawing coffee cups with the best of them. Maybe you’ll even draw a cat.