hello

Hello out there, loyal readers, casual stopper-byers, people stumbling across this blog by accident. Hello, hello! I'm taking this opportunity to say hello since I haven't posted in a while.

There are so many reasons for this. I won't regale you with them; instead I'll tell you that I recently made an inner pledge to draw just a little bit more and since I was on my way to yoga class right as I made that pledge, I brought with me a little sketchbook and my favorite brush pen (thank you again, Ansel) and drew people as they warmed up.

Then I went to work and right before my first student appeared I had time to sketch these cute birds from the bird calendar hanging on the wall in my studio:

I love the action in the picture above.

I have been reading about Goethe, who struggled with reconciling different parts of himself: the artist, the man, the member of society, the efficacious maker of policies and shaper of civil life.

He wanted to be it all, cultivate it all: he felt it all within himself, could not let one part die so that another could live. 

That, he felt, would be an untruth.

As far as I can tell what he felt, of course.

Here's what I can share with you about Goethe with certainty:

something's happening

I'm just not exactly sure what.
I got a clue, though, while I was drawing in one of my favorite places in the world:

Skaneateles.

Aptly and justly nicknamed Jewel of the Finger Lakes.

Anyway, I found myself not doing the work to actually look at things, work with them, be with them, create them as living as I could on the page. I was taking shortcuts.

On one drawing I actually scrawled: "Lazy!"

As a description of myself. 

I don't recommend name-calling as part of one's self-talk repertoire, but there it is. It happens.

I felt BORED.

I seldom feel bored.

But again, there it is. It happens.

I think boredom - or at least, my boredom - is a sign of emotional exhaustion. It becomes difficult to care, so you don't. And because you don't care, you don't pay attention, and the world of beautiful gesture, color and detail no longer reveals itself to you.

That's ok.

If I'm emotionally, mentally, physically exhausted, it means I need to rest.

I might have to step back, rethink some things, get a new perspective.

The next day I looked at this maple seed and it was beautiful:

So I spent some time with it, immersing myself in its gradations of color, its subtle undulations, its presence, weight and weightlessness.

That felt good.

bugs

It's been one of those times when the only drawing I do is doodling on to-do lists. 

Someone who knew about these things once told me "there's no such thing as 'bugs'". And yet, here they are.

random drawings

Katie allowed me to draw her - this isn't her, but it captures something about her. And she requested a ruff, after I said I'd made her look like a young Shakespearean actor.

San Francisco, and its patron saint, have been on my mind.

People in water.

just 4 days late

to honor This Guy:

guest artist sara fraser!

Here is a downright beautiful representation of what can happen when we allow ourselves to become part of the music. Conceived of and drawn by one of my students, Sara Fraser - who very graciously allowed me to share it here.

bartok

This man, I think, said what he had to say in the only way he had to say it.

seamus coleman...and what i've been up to

In my spare moments, I've been making notebooks. Notebooks out of junk mail, flyers, foam board, old containers, sardine can boxes, etc etc...

small ones, long ones, tall ones, weird ones, straight-laced ones.

Many of them have landed with Ansel, being my beloved and directly in the line of fire (as well as a great source of inspiration and helpful suggestions).

So when Seamus Coleman, right-back for Everton FC, suffered his horrific leg break as a result of a nasty tackle in an Ireland-Wales game and Ansel asked me: "Can I commission a notebook?",

"Of course," I said.

He designed it, I made it.

Our hearts go out to Coleman, who always shows up, always works his hardest, always brings a million things to the table.

creatures for march

Hello, hello! Meet this horned lizard, whom I've named Theo. He's ready to cuddle.

And here are the Birdlets of Chivor!

things living and no longer living

mid-january musings

snowman joy

Friends, I'm still here!

A terrible cold over the holidays left me with little energy to do anything but - strangely - learn languages on my computer. So there was no drawing or painting really but some doodling! Ansel got me this wonderful pen. To wield it is to see a world unfold.