negative, positive

Time flies!

I have been drawing with a broad-nibbed Pilot Parallel pen belonging to Ansel. It's incredible. Totally unwieldy, totally unpredictable.

I enjoy its thick, fat marks and the fact that they could either indicate negative or positive space. Who's to say what's what, anyway? And that one can't transform into the other?

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.

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:

bartok

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

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

happy international fountain pen day!

I peacefully coexist with at least 10 fountain pens. I don't know how it happened; it just did. There was the Waterman. Then, finally, the Pelikan.  3 "vintage" ones of my mom's. And then Ansel got a Kaweco, and a Rotring.

All in all we get along great. A long time ago, there was an incident with a bottle of royal blue Pelikan ink, my backpack, and a cement floor in front of my locker in high school...but no one remembers that. Oh yes, and the parent of a girl I babysat who called me over and met me at the door with the old Sheaffer fountain pen I'd given his daughter, safely housed in a plastic ziplock bag. "I don't know what you meant, giving her this, but please take it back, we don't want it in the house." 

Okay. Not for everyone. But definitely for me! Hooray for fountain pens, dangerous, messy, unpredictable, beautiful, small and mighty.

Featured here: Pelikan fountain pen with Pelikan turquoise ink; Pilot Petit-1 fountain pen with J. Herbin mostly Lierre sauvage and a little Vert pré green ink; Pilot Cavalier fountain pen with J. Herbin mostly Gris nuage and a little Perle noire ink, Waterman fountain pen with a different mix of J. Herbin Vert pré and Lierre sauvage (ne jamais mélanger deux encres différentes notwithstanding)

spend some time with these guys

another sunday evening

We are in the wilds at the moment, as a people, as a country. We need clear thinking, we need compassion, we need creativity, we need honesty. What is each of us doing to bring that to the table?

                                                                                 *

wee notebooks

Lately I haven't had much time to write. As if in compensation, I've been making notebooks whenever I have the time.

lass bluehen

I have been struggling - with having not enough ideas, with having too many ideas.

A sure sign that I'm a little off-track is when I have very strong, directly conflicting feelings.

How can I have both "no" ideas and "too many" ideas?

It is clearly a question of dealing with them all. Sorting them, storing them, acting on them, working on them, letting them go.

A hundred in a day

Let them bloom! Let things take their course.

Hermann Hesse

"Voll blüten"

sketches & notes

Life has been a little hectic lately and most of my drawings & paintings have appeared on lists of things to do.

Also this little guy appeared when I was trying to show Ansel some key places in my home state of California...

These little fairy magicians were helping me remember the words to a song:

And this guy is illustrating a point - his toes are beyond strange and his arms are way off, but maybe that's part of the point ;)

My first 5 attempts at this cartoon all looked like they were doing yoga, so when this guy showed up, I decided to be happy with the result.

get less mad

The other day I was ranting and raving in my voice lesson. I was mad about a lot of things.
"I need to make more things," I told my teacher Teryle. "I WANT TO MAKE MORE THINGS!"

excellence

There has been some disagreement between me and my environment - perhaps my whole life, but definitely in the last few months - about what excellence is.

I have spoken out about it before, and will continue to speak out about it, again and again.

Here is what I believe is excellent: being able to immerse yourself in something you care about deeply; exploring it, openly, freely, with passion and heart; being open to learning new things and seeing new points of view, being willing to try new things, being open and honest and clear.

Whatever you create operating in this way will be excellent.

bubble people

Yesterday we were talking about those plastic bubbles that you can wear and run around and bump into people.

lake day

Yesterday I visited one of my favorite places: Canandaigua Lake. It was sunny and a little bit chilly but there were a lot of people out and I enjoyed sitting on the rocks and looking out over the water. I even got a chance to draw a couple of quick scenes:

katie's studio

I spent a nice afternoon hanging out (like these skeletons ;) ) in Katie's Alexander Technique studio and got some drawings!

The skeleton below has a neon green mustache and a three-cornered hat.

happy birthday, F.M.!

Happy birthday to this very hip dude. For more information please visit my talented friend Katie's website: www.alexandertechniquerochester.com