Daily Drawing #160, The Details Are In The Background

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The drawing word prompt for today is, “background.” The title of my drawing is, “Black Cat in the Snow.” We live in a superficial society where everything is taken at face value. If we see what is right in front of our face and like what we see then it is okay in our book. There is an old adage that says, “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover. Literal translation, the details are not always obvious and are sometimes hidden in the background somewhere.

Throughout my lifetime, mystery novels have always been one of my favorite reads. Out of all the detectives in those novels my favorite detective has always been Sherlock Holmes. He is the master of observation. There is no detail he does not see those which are obvious and those found in the background. We need to be like Sherlock Holmes, no not detectives but people who look to the background and learn all the facts before we make a decision. The says in Proverbs 18:17, “The first to plead his case seems right, until another comes and examines him.” Learn to examine everything in life and you will make wise decisions leading to less hassles in life.

 

Daily Drawing #159, First the Storm Then The Calm

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. The prompt for today is the word, “calm” and the drawing I created is called, “After Storm, Calm Lake.” In life we’re going to have storms. These storms usually come quickly giving us little time to prepare. I myself have been through many of these storms in the last couple of years the most recent being a bought with cancer and tumultuous school year which saw many changes in the classroom I was in even a change of classrooms. People often ask me how I can keep a smile on my face after all I have been through. The key for me is to weather the storms and wait for the calm.

I would be remiss if I didn’t admit to times of depression and worry which come with the storms. These are the times when I like Peter take my eyes off of Jesus and start to sink. Still I weather even these moments as well as the storms by keeping my faith in God and knowing He is there walking alongside me keeping me safe during the high winds and battering seas. This may sound cliche for some or tiresome for others but it is how I get through the storms and will get through those yet to come for however many years I have left.

Daily Drawing #158, Try Being A Wise Guy or Girl

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The word prompt for today is, “evening.” I chose to draw an owl because it was the first thing which popped into my head. When I was young and out walking around at dusk I would look for owls. We had a lot of woods around us and I figured there had to be owls making their homes in the tree. I don’t remember if I ever saw one or not but I have seen barn owls and such.

Owls are birds which have always been associated with wisdom, hence the phrase, “as wise an owl.” Now I am not an owl expert but I am an expert on wisdom. The reason I say that is there are many times in my life when I failed to use wisdom in my decision making process. This has led to many missteps and difficulties. Oh yeah, it has cost me a lot of money and unwarranted debt.

I have learned in these the later years of my life not to make any rash decisions. If I am unsure how to proceed in a certain situation I seek the wise council of someone who has more knowledge in dealing with the situation. Wisdom I think, is not something you’re totally born with it is something which grows inside you as you learn and age. The more you grow through the more wisdom you gain. So you younger people don’t write off us older adults. We’ve been there, done that and are willing to offer advice free of charge.

Daily Drawing #157, Seeing Things From Different Angles

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As a child we see the world looking up. Everything seems so big, so out of reach. As we grow the world around us shrinks and we no longer need reaching things. As adults we see things from a different angles sometimes below us like my drawing, “Down in the Valley,” or sometimes above us like the mountains in the background.  Why all the talk about angles mainly because we need to be careful not to look down on anyone.

We are all in the same race, the human race and as such we need to do as Jesus instructed us in Mark 12:31, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” The next question is who is your neighbor? It is not only the people who live around you. It is all the people you come in contact with on a daily basis. Treat everyone with a high angle by looking upward to God to give you the wisdom to deal with even those who you deem worse off or not up to your standards.

Daily Drawing #156, Taking the First Steps

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steps

My drawing is a simple pen drawing of a man taking the steps to get to the top of the hill. It is entitled, “The Steps Worth Taking.” The first steps of anything in life are the hardest to take but we must take them in order to become better. I don’t remember way back to when I began to walk but I can remember when I started to read. At first trying to decode those words on the page were very frustrating. Over time however it became easier and easier to read books. These days I am avid reader. The same is true of being an artist. I look at my first pictures and the initial steps I took in creating my art pieces a Many times I thought about stopping and just giving up but like my drawing you can’t get to the top of the hill without taking all the steps. My advice for today is simple this no matter what you are trying to learn, don’t stop but keep taking the steps to get better.

Daily Drawing #155, Oh What A Colorful World We Create

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As an artist I love to throw splashes of color on a page and see what I can create from the random colors. There are other times when I create a pen or pencil drawing and fill the drawing in with colors like today’s offering, “A Colorful Flower.” Color is very important to an artist. Color is the conveyor of our story. The teller of tales we wish others to read visually. Artists see diversity in color a thing to be grasped and learned.

Diversity is also something we need to grasp, not just in art but in life. We need to look around us and see the people of different cultures and learn from them. I live in the greater Philadelphia area. The city I live in has a very culturally diverse population. I never shy away from meeting people of all cultures because I look at each conversation as an opportunity to learn something new about a culture I know very little about. God made each of us different for a reason. If we were all the same it would be a very boring world. In life create art but also take the time to create friend because who knows what they be able to teach you.

Daily Drawing #154, The Befores and Afters of Life

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The prompt for today was to draw something, “before and after.” My drawing is simply entitled, “The Dandelions.” I guess technically a weed but before they are a bright yellow flower and after those puffy white seed pods which carry in the wind. Each year people spend millions in order to get rid of the dandelions before they can reproduce or even just grown. Still dandelions are persistent little buggers which come back it seems no matter how much we try to get rid of them.

In life there are befores and which depending on how we handle them can lead to good or bad afters. The Bible says in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” In other words pray about your before situation and trust in God’s good decision making and the after will be a lot smoother. I like to say think about it twice and make a decision once.

When I was growing up I wasn’t always a good decision maker. My befores were usually spontaneous and off the cuff. In the end it left me paying for it in my afters. Some of those poor before decisions I am still paying for in my after to this day. So it summing it all up “think before you leap.”

Daily Art #153, The Noisy Pencil

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The prompt for today is the word,”noisy.” Right away my thoughts turned to music because I work at a place where the students are always listening to music…out loud. I like music but when you’re trying to help the instructor teach a lesson it can be downright distracting. My mind also hearkened back to when people actually used a pencil to write on pages. Words on a page can make a lot of noise when read out loud or just to yourself.

When I was in school teachers used to tell us to read our papers back to ourselves so we could find our mistakes. Still in my case the choice of the pencil for my drawing entitled, “The Noisy Pencil,” was more because as an artist my favorite tools to create my noise on paper is the pencil. I love to draw and create using a pencil first then filling in the details later. There is something fulfilling about picking up a pencil and creating. God who is the ultimate artist put the desire to create in our hearts. It is up to us to use our gift and create.

Daily Drawing #152, A Couple Means Being Together

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The prompt for today was the word, “together.” I came up with all sorts of ideas for things which go together like PB&J,  ham on rye or the Lone Ranger and Tonto.  Over the years there have been many great pairings many of which would have made great drawings. I chose the drawing of the girl and boy entitled, “Together,” because a couple must be together in all things. There is an old adage, “Divided we fall, Together We Stand.”

This is true in a relationship, in marriage, at work and at church. There are times in the life of a church when we forget God put us together to do His work. These are the times when the church loses its togetherness and becomes a group of people all with their own agendas. This leads to broken relationships and hurting hearts. The key to being in a healthy relationship is a paraphrased version of an old JFK quote, “Ask not what the relationship can do for you, ask what you can do for the relationship.” No matter what the relationship is, husband/wife, employee/employer, church member/church leader. As God says seek to out others higher than yourself and life will feel so much more fulfilling.