Drawing Challenge

Doodle #122, Three Coins in a Piggy Bank

| Whitt’s End Art

Don’t know why the image didn’t load but here is the picture.

Life is all about saving. It’s about putting a few coins away for the proverbial raining day. The problem is to many of us don’t. When I was younger I worked at several jobs which paid me a decent salary for the times. Some of the money I banked but most of it I spent of foolish things. As I look back on those days sure I had a good time but if I would have put some money away maybe today I would be set and ready for retirement. Alas I am not.

The Bible has many verses warning about the love of money and hoarding away stuff but tucked away in Proverbs is this verse in Proverbs 13:11, “Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.” What Solomon is saying is this. The quicker you get your money the less you’re going to understand the value of saving but when you take a portion of your money, put it in an IRA or savings account the more the money will increase over time. I’ve spent a lot of money on a lot of things over the years but have little to show for all my wastefulness. If you’re reading this take the time to out some money away. You’ll be thankful for it later.

Doodle #121, Let Your Flashlight Be Your Guide

| Whitt’s End Art

When we were kids we couldn’t wait until it got dark outside. The reason, we couldn’t wait to play flashlight tag. Our versions of flashlight tag went something like this. The person who was it got the flashlight. His or her job was to find the people who were hiding and illuminate them with the light. The first person found was it in the next round. The only problem with wandering in the dark is you tend to run into things. No matter the dangers, flashlight tag still ranks up there as one of my favorite things to do in the summer.

The analogy of the flashlight is a simple one, light illumines our way, while darkness hides what we do. God is often referred as light in the Bible. The reason for followers of Jesus is simple. If we follow God then his Word, “Is a light to my path,” which means He illuminates the path I need to follow. God is also, “lamp unto my feet.” Just like in flashlight tag the one with the light can see where they are going in the darkness, while the rest are left to stumble.

God’s light provides for me a clear path where I can see the obstacles that come along as I walk and help me to navigate around them. I hope you like my drawing inspired by the word flashlight, entitled, “The Light Brings Color.”

 

Doodle #120, The Rock Amidst the Water

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The drawing prompt for today is the word, rock. My drawing is a yet untitled rock formation with some weeds growing amongst them. The Neshaminy Creek was right down the side street from the house where I lived when I was a child. The creek was a fascinating place. You could go fishing, hang out on the rocks at rapids when the tide was down, search for bugs among other things. Right in the center of the creek by what we called the new bridge, for obvious reasons, was this humongous rock sticking out of the water.

During low tide you could wade out to the rock, climb on top of it wand look up down the creek in both directions. The rock seemed like a place of refuge in the midst of the water. My friends, particularly my friend Jeanie, had a lot of lot of good times at that rock and along the banks of the creek. Those days seemed so peaceful.

Today’s prompt also remind me of some words of Jesus in Matthew 16:18, ” on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” While some feel this verse is about Peter being the foundation for God’s church, while others feel Jesus is talking about the solid rock of the Word. God’s Word is like the rock in the middle of the Neshaminy Creek, floods and storms came and that rock was still there. As far as I know the rock is still there though I haven’t been down to look in over twenty years. As Christian’s we need to remember to stand on the rock of God’s Word through the storms and in the good peaceful days.

Doodle #119, Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

| Whitt’s End Art

The word of the day is, “hair.” The title of my doodle for today is, “Girl With the Pulled Up Hair.” Back in the day there was this little musical called “Hair.” The musical from the 1960’s was a rock musical born out of the hippie counterculture and sexual revolution of the time. While most of the musical was controversial back in the day the title song by the Cowalls is still one of my favorites:

“give me a head with hair, long beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming, steaming, flaxen, waxen
Give me down to there hair, shoulder length or longer
Here, baby, there, momma, everywhere, daddy, daddy
Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair”

A lot of people like from the 60’s and 70’s had long hair. It was sign of the times. The only problem is mine would always frizz and get curly but still I would let it grow to my momma’s dismay. Years later, now sporting a grey buzz cut I think back in fondness to all the hair I used to have. I realized years ago as my hair started to turn grey and I developed the middle aged look that you cannot hold onto the past. It is not something to be grasped in you hand . Our outward appearances change. Even our hearts desires change.  Still I sit back and wonder what happened to all the friends I used to know.  All I have left to say is something I heard somewhere, “Hold onto you memories tightly but hold onto your friend even tighter.”

Doodle #118, Round and Round and Round

| Whitt’s End Art

If you haven’t guessed by now the drawing prompt for today is the word, “round.” My drawing is entitled, “The Round Flower Pot.” I could have gone in a bunch of different directions with this one, some balls, wedding rings, glasses but instead I chose a kind of awkward flower pot. Why the flower pot? Well the reason is simple really. As a child I had big ambitions for myself. I wanted to be a rock star, a teacher, a business owner to name only a few. All of these ambitions had one thing in common, a lot intent but little follow through.

This is where the flower pot comes in. You see ambitions in life are like flowers once planted they need a lot of care or else they will not thrive. No, with proper care and feeding even plants like the ones in a garden will wither and die. This is what happened to a lot of my ambitions. I did not care and feed them as I was growing older. Then like the flowers they fizzled and died.

So my quick advice for today is this. If you seek to do something, pray about it, seek God’s help to stay it, and do it till you feel like you want to give up but don’t. What you want to do is push forward so your ambitions will be like a well cared for flower. it will blossom and be beautiful.

Doodle 117, Green Weeds, White Flowers

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The drawing prompt for today is the word “green.” I chose to draw a piece entitled, “Green Fields, White Weeds.” The piece is an abstract watercolor with some colored pencil highlights. Behind the house I grew up in there was a big field. In the summertime the field had weeds which grew real tall. Among the weeds were tall white flowers. This is inspiration for my drawing.

The field was alive with all manner of creatures hiding in the weeds some of which were field rats. I remember several times where one of my cats was squared off against one of those rats almost as big as the cat. Even with all the creatures my friends and I knew were lurking among the weeds we were not afraid to cut across the field to get where we wanted to go. Maybe it was a little naivete of us but we didn’t care.

In our adult lives often times there are fields of weeds we must cross in order to get where we need to go. We cannot cross those fields blindly. We must proceed with caution ever vigilant of what is lurking among the weed. The Bible says in Proverbs 14:16, “The wise are cautious and avoid danger; fools plunge ahead with reckless confidence.” Good advice to remember at all times.

Doodle #116, A Basket Full of Memories

| Whitt’s End Art

The drawing prompt for today was basket. When I saw the prompt the first thing to pop in my head was all the years I spent delivering newspapers which was the inspiration for my drawing, “Bike and Basket.” I delivered newspapers as a kid with my friend and then for 26 years as an adult. The drawing prompt for today also invoked memories of these baskets my mom used to have filled with photographs of past memories. I think we all have a basket we fill with memories of each day.

Some of us have actual baskets or boxes where we keep physical photographs which in a lot of cases are never seen once they are put away, except for special occasions.  In theses modern times our baskets have been replaced with SD cards or space on the Cloud of your choice. Thousands of memories are stored each day some or most of them still long forgotten. It seems no matter where we put our memories they are forgotten except on the day by a sheer happenstance a lost memory is retrieved. Then the time for reminiscing begins.

What is my point in all this. While I love the idea of photographs because they helps us to remember good times past with loved ones long gone or moved away. I also know we can’t be too caught up in taking every moment of every event in our lives lest we miss the most important thing, the time spent with those we love. So fill your baskets with memories, those trapped in our hearts for a lifetime first and those we keep as reminders when the ones trapped in our hearts start to fade into the past.

Doodle #115, Nothing is Ever Ugly

| Whitt’s End Art

The drawing prompt for today was to draw something ugly but which you still really love. The result is my drawing “The Orange Thing.” I do not know where this object came from nor do I know if it was created by one of my children because the inscribed initials do no belong to one of them. However this object is still dear to my heart because it is a reminder to me that nothing is really ugly if you seek to look for the beauty first.

We are quick to label something or someone ugly just because they do not fit into a preconceived set of unwritten standards. In high school my friends and I were labeled as “ugly” and “inferior” simply because we did not meet the so called “in kids” set of standards for appearance, dress and behavior.  I thought things would change when I became an adult but they didn’t. I discovered that out in the world there are still all kinds of labels and if you don’t fit those labels then you are almost shunned by the so called “in crowd.”

I decided early in life,even before I accepted Jesus into my heart, to always look at a person’s heart instead of what I see. I was not going to be an imitator of past treatments. While some may see that as a weakness I however see it as a sign of strength. Proverbs 31:9 states to,” Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” Judging righteously means to look at the heart and not the appearance because it is in the heart where the true person lies. 

Doodle #108, Down By The Water

| Whitt’s End Art

The prompt word for the day was the word, “water.” Even though I am not a beach person the first thing to pop in my mind was the ocean. I grew up taking my family summer vacations in the mountains of my home state West Virginia. I can remember going to Wildwood, New Jersey once as a child. After that I never returned ocean side until I could drive myself there.

I didn’t go to the beach for the crowds, sun or sand. In fact I didn’t usually go to the beach in the summer, I went during the off season. I liked to do what my friend and I are doing in the picture above, sit and listen to the waves and marvel at the great wonder that is the ocean. Since growing up and having a family of my own I have been to the beach many times, even though it is not my favorite place to vacation. The thing I still love about the beach today is the sound of the surf and the many marvelous finds lying in the sand. Not the people, but the tumbled stones driftwood and many photo ops for art.

I encourage anyone who has the time to go an walk along the beach, on a trail, someplace. It is very relaxing and helps take your mind off of what is going on in this thing we call life. God’s creation brings comfort.