Stopping to Smell the Flowers

I've been busy doing things for a while. It can seem that being busy and being productive are the same things. But my definition of "productive" has changed of late. Productive in what sense?

I fight my mind for which direction I should be going, want to go or am going. All do not lead to happiness. As of late, programming / designing as not been my happiness trail. I'm sure it will be later, but my needs now are on a different path.

It being spring may be the motivator for this, but doing little jobs around the house, painting, performing fixes on my neglected car "rattles" and getting the garden ready has brought me pleasant rewards.

Sometimes you just need a break from all the media in our lives. The quick sound bites, images and headlines that never truly satisfy. In no field is this more true than in the software field. So much information, ideas and products that are just out of reach, for now. Time and energy can be filled up with just trying to keep up, only to discover that just like sugar, it's mostly empty calories.

I just came back from a quick trip to Tucson where my wife and I flew down but drove back with a car to sell. It's a long way from Tucson to Park City, but the time with good company, lots of desert and no (ok, very little) technology. It was refreshing. The noise quieted down and I felt like coming back to life. Ah, perspective.

Still have a few more chores to do this weekend before I feel "caught up" in this category. Then onward to ....

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A Process

Once in a while I take photos of a work in progress. This is for me as well as others as the work moves from stage to stage. And it is done in stages with defined processes for each step. On this walkway overpass up in Spruce Pine, I've done both an ink / marker and an Ink / Wash on the same piece. This is the finished watercolor of the work. To start the process I did an ink drawing of it and then took a tracing from that. It's the tracing where I did another ink drawing but this time on watercolor paper. Tracings of a work is done with standard tracing paper. I get mine from CheapJoes.com and use the 8x10 size as that covers most of my needs. The tracing is done with a 0.3 ink pen (Winsor & Newton Fineliner). Once I have the tracing I can then use it for other paper or to do another work of the same subject. The tracing is just a start as I still need to get it transferred onto other paper. For that you need a very bright light...

Still Life

Life is never still, at least I don't think you would want it to be. That's why so many of us (i.e., retired care free people) travel. Keep seeing new things and places. Well the Hurricane so far inland was a new thing and one I would have rather forgone but life is what happens. Life keeps moving. Except a still life is forever and captures a slice of time frozen in a painting. This is from a wooden bowl of pears onboard our ship during dinner one nice. Again, just thought it looked nice. Enjoy.

3rd Try is a Charm

I've been trying to draw / paint these barns for a couple of years but never felt or got them right. This time I think they turned out right. So What went wrong before and what's right now with this drawing? This time, the light was right. It's coming from the upper right and the shadows just looked right. The other thing is the corn field on the left had to "be in season", otherwise it's just a plowed field. I had taken other photos from different angles but they never felt right. This angle has the road, power lines, corn field, etc. all leading to the right. The shadows on the lower right helps fill in that corner (don't forget about the corners!). The last part is trying to draw (ink paint maybe) the trees in the background. Not so easy when they are kind of a blob is green shades. So yeah, it's composition that is king. Many times I just don't see it until the drawing / painting is finished and when it's right it feels goo...

A Person, Artist, Software Engineer, Geologist.

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