creativity

Daily Drawing #163, The Sands of Time Ebb Away

| Whitt’s End Art

The title of my piece for today is, “The Long But Shorter Road.” The prompt for today was the word, “sand,” that is why I chose a person stuck in the desert of life with the long road ahead but which ebbs away each day. “Movies are written in sand: applauded today, forgotten tomorrow.” D. W. Griffit Isn’t life like that also. We try to get a names for ourselves in this life, a reputation people will applaud but which will be forgotten tomorrow. In the end the only accolades we should live our lives seeking are the word of Jesus when He says, “Welcome good and faithful servant.

With the hectic summer some of my message will be brief, but always accompanied by a new drawing. Have a good and safe summer and remember others are watching, waiting for you to show them love.

Daily Drawing #161, Tending the Garden is Hard Work

| Whitt’s End Art

The prompt for today was the word,”garden.” The title of my little drawing is,”Flower By The Pond.” I have had to cut grass for as long as I can remember. In my current home I figured I would cut down on the grass mowing by adding flower beds. Well, to my dismay I discovered flower beds and gardens are tougher to take care of then mowing the grass.

You have to weed them, thin out the flower herds, and mulch them. Then you have to keep on weeding the gardens throughout the year. I know what you’re going to say, “Buy some of that some kind of weed be gone product or some of mesh fabric to cut back on the weeds.” Well I have and they only work for a limited time and then the weed come back. I am planning to cut back on my gardens this year and go back to more grass. I’d rather cut grass than weed.

Life is like a garden. If we are not careful the weeds will over take us and choke out the beautiful flowers which would otherwise grow. So tend you garden and live a life of beauty.

Daily Drawing #160, The Details Are In The Background

| Whitt’s End Art

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 #158, Try Being A Wise Guy or Girl

| Whitt’s End Art

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

| Whitt’s End Art

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

| Whitt’s End Art

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

| Whitt’s End Art

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

| Whitt’s End Art

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

| Whitt’s End Art

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.