Daily Art

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 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.

Daily Drawing #151, Curiosity by Candlelight

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In our society we don’t do much by candlelight anymore, well except those scented kind which rid the home of unwanted smell. In by gone days candles were the chief source of light along with oil lamps. I have often wondered what it was like reading by candlelight or any other task like sewing. People managed and people filled their, “Curiosities by Candlelight,” the title of my quick little drawing for today. The drawing is one of my practice illustrations. The curious little candle comes down off of his pedestal to read.

As a child reading was my thing. Others played sports, played in the band or just hung out but I liked to read. I read anything I could my hands on, fiction or non-fiction. I have lost count of the number of books I have read in my lifetime. The list keeps growing each day. The one book which is my favorite,The Bible, is still my go to book every morning, and at times in the evening. The Bible offers me advice, the Book of Proverbs, it give me direction for my life in Psalms and the New Testament. The Bible is not antiquated like some say. It is still relevant. I would read it by candlelight if I had to but the Bible is the one book I will pick up again and again.

Daily Drawing #150, Time to Play Broomball

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Wow my 150th published drawing. It is hard to believe. Of course there are many more drawings which I drew in the course of this challenge but which I don’t know if I’ll publish. We’ll see. Today’s drawing is entitled “Broomball.” When I was kid we liked to play baseball. The problem was many times we didn’t have a bat. So we would get inventive and use what ever we could round up, sticks, brooms or maybe even a badminton racket. Brooms are a good choice because they have a big end which allows for better contact on the ball.

My advice for the day is this, don’t let the lack of something keep you from doing what you love. I love art but their are times when I am not near any if my art supplies so I improvise by finding a pen and a piece of paper. Even scrap paper will suffice. I then draw what I see and save the drawing to transfer or redraw later.

As a follower of Jesus there are many times we have to improvise, not by changing God’s message but in the way the message is delivered. There are some people who are ready to hear the message but others may not be ready. Let the Holy Spirit be your guide and you will be sure to deliver the right message at the right time.

Daily Drawing #149, A Soothing Moment Each Day

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My art may not be noteworthy. My art may not hang in a gallery or in your home. While those things would be nice not being is okay with me.  You see I don’t create art I use are as my soothing moment each day to unwind from the chaotic world which surrounds daily life. We all need something soothing to occupy our down time. Some time where the cares of this life are let out of our minds. On this Memorial Day take the time to do something soothing and remember those who gave their lives for the freedoms we enjoy. God bless. See you on the morrow for the next drawing. By the way the drawing is entitled, “Plain White Daisy.”

Daily Drawing #148, The Woody Woodpecker Show

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Of course the drawing is not Woody Woodpecker, trademark issues being what they are but the bird is a woodpecker. Growing up Woody was one of my favorite cartoons along with many others like Magilla gorilla and Quick Draw McGraw. Each week I would sit in front of my television and watch episodes with great delight. Woody and the others were the foil of each episode (the things which the needed to be stopped). He was usually seen trying to take food that didn’t belong to him. Over the years I have seen less and less of those old cartoons but still enjoy them from time to time.

Woody is another one of my bird pictures. Like I have mentioned many times I seem to draw a lot of birds but feel they are not my greatest renderings. Bird drawings seem simple to draw but in the end are very complex in their renderings. I guess I will keep on drawing my feathered friends because as they say practice makes perfect.

Daily Drawing #145, Dancing Beneath the Streetlight 

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The title of today’s offering is based on the prompt, “streetlight” hence the title, “Dancin’ In the Streetlight.” The simple reminder for us all with this prompt and my brief message for today is this, light illumines, darkness hides all. We live in an age which many say is growing darker. Lawlessness seems to be growing. While that may be true I have been reading some old Life magazines and it seems like what we are going through now was true of earlier times. Some of the magazines from the 1950’s talk of gang violence and more. Back then they even dealt with the same diseases we’re dealing with now like cancer, diabetes among others, .

While each generation seems to think the good ole days were much better than the  world now things are not always as they appear. The only truth is this, no matter how the times appear, good or bad, as followers of Jesus we always need to be dancing in the light of God’s word, our streetlight to navigate through what is up ahead.