Daily Art

Daily Drawng #143, Hot Times Need A Cool Breeze

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I just realized I did a variation on the his picture before. This one is entitled, “Hot Times, Cool Breeze.” I am not a beach person, my wife, well it is hard to get her to leave. She loves the sea shore, the sand the ocean. Need I go on? While I am not a sandy beach person there is one thing however I do like about the shore, the ocean breeze. After a blazing hot day at the shore, driving up and down the highway looking in all the thrift stores, there is nothing like sitting by the ocean with breeze blowing in off the ocean. The cool air washes away the heat of the the day making you feel refreshed.

I often think of Sunday morning church in the same way. After a long week in the hot sun of a daily work week in our hectic world there is nothing like the cool breeze of a church service. The music, the fellowship, the sermon, the worship wash over you giving you a refreshed feeling like sitting on the beach at night. All is calm, all is bright.

 

Daily Drawing #142, An Upside Down World

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The drawing for today is entitled, “Upside Down Glasses.” The inspiration for the drawing came from this guy I used to run into where my mom worked. It was boarding house with a little bar attached. The guy was able to put a coaster on top of a glass filled with a liquid, flip it over and pull the coaster away without any liquid seeping out around the rim. No matter how many times I tried to replicate his trick I would spill some of whatever was in the glass. Of course the people who worked there didn’t like his trick because they would have to remove the glass and wipe up the liquid.

There is a verse in Isaiah 29:16 which says:

“You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker,
    “He did not make me”;
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
    “He has no understanding”?

Isaiah is talking here about our relationship with God. Like the glasses turned upside down we sometimes look at our relationship with God from the wrong perspective. We think God is there to do our bidding while we were put on this Earth to seek His will for our lives. I for one ask God every day what it is He needs me to do on that particular day. It is not wrong to give your petitions to the Lord but we must be careful not see God from the bottom up instead of from the top down. We live our live in a vertical relationship with God and must always be diligent to remember who made who.

Daily Drawing #141, A Furry Friend

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While I don’t think it is my forte I love drawing animals. There is something comforting about rendering a likeness of a furry friend.  My fascination with animals started as a child and was partly fueled by my first girl friend who had a red fox as a pet. They kept it in a huge pen on their property and you could actually go in the pen and interact with the fox.

Family trips to my sister’s farm in West Virginia also brought me into contact with many farm animals some of whom were a little ornery like the roosters. Those birds hold a grudge and  will fly at your head when they get mad at you. Nighttime in our neighborhood also brought out lots of raccoons like the one pictured in my drawing entitled, “Raccoon and the Yellow Flower.”

As I grew older and still to this day I have a fascination with animals and as I said they will appear in many of my drawings, especially dogs and cats.I hope you have enjoyed my artwork up until now. Until tomorrow remember we all need to have a little joy in our live, let it be drawing furry friends, or more importantly having the joy of knowing Jesus in your heart.

 

 

Daily Drawing #140, Life is a Landscape

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When I survey the landscape of my life I see may empty places I could have filled opportunities not fulfilled. Well enough of the waning philosophic. The drawing today is entitled, “The Mostly Barren Landscape.” It is a study piece for something I plan today later in acrylics. I hope to put the piece on as an extra offering sometime in the future.

While I usually try to write some kind of inspirational epitaph based on situations in my life this time it is a little tougher. You see my landscape (life) has never happened the way I envisioned. I thought when I was a teenager the rough times would be all behind me, back beyond the trees. I was wrong. There are many decisions I have made which I’ve wished I could unmake or get a redo. None of them have been major choice just ones where a second opinion or some advice from others would have been helpful.

So all I can say to anyone reading this is to not go it alone. If you’re in the process of some decision, big or small, first pray about the decision and then seek out wise council. You’ll be glad you did later. Also there will be less crabgrass and weeds growing in the landscape of your life.

Daily Drawing #138, The Circles In Your Life

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One of my favorite movies is Disney’s The Lion King. One of my favorite songs in the movie is the, “Circle of Life.” The songs deals with the cycle of life, death and then new life again. While I think our linage is renewed and lives on in our children I don’t believe life happens in a circle. We are born, live our lives and then we die. However in life I do believe there are many circles.

Growing up we have our circle of family. the first few years of life we are dependent on our parents and loved one to care for us. They feed us, nurture us, protect us and so much more. As we age we move on to a new circle..friends. Added to the circle of family is our school age friends some of who we spend years with. Friends bring a whole new circle of influence in our lives.. They help to develop our views of the world outside of  what is taught to us by our family. Friends also can lead us to our next circle…work.

Once we are done with school, however many years that takes, we move on to the circle of work. Many times in work we develop a whole new circle outside of family and friends. We have our work friends and our out of work friends who may never meet. Both groups still assert many of their attributes and traits on how we think. Added to all the circles already mentioned are any other circles you may be involved in such as church, a shared hobby etc.

What is important anytime we enter a new circle is not to let the circle influence us in. negative way. We must always be the light which shines out of the circle to the others. So take the time to think about all your circles and determine are they shaping you or you being a light to them.

Daily Art #137 Pika, Pika, Pika Shoo

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The drawing prompt today was to draw a living thing be it an animal or plant. I usually lean to drawing cats which on another blog I am up to cat drawing #24. I also draw a lot of faces so I didn’t want to go in that direction. In searching for something to draw I found an article about how China is killing of the Pikas. I clicked on the link and to my surprise I found a Pika is a real animal. I sketched one and created my drawing, “The Little Pika is Going Shoo.”

When my son was growing up he watched Pokemon episodes and also collected the toys. One of my favorite characters was the little yellow creature known as Pikachu. The only word he spoke was “Pika” even when he was animated. No pun intended. I was amazed to learn the students at the school where I work still watch Pokemon. I had thought it fizzed out years ago. I guess Pokemon is not a true fad because it seems to have staying power.

There are times in life we get caught up in the fad of the moment. Need I mention Pet Rocks, Cabbage Patch Kids or Beanie Babies. Sadly for some becoming a follower of Jesus Christ is a fad. They rush in whole heartily like people do with fads but somewhere along the line things change and the luster of the moment wears off. This is when they turn away and lay their supposed live for Jesus on the fad shelf.

The problem with many is they don’t realize when you walk with Jesus there is no promise of a joy filled and rosy life. I have found in my own life that things seemed to get harder. It is not easy to stand up against opposition for what you believe. Maybe this is the reason people walk away from their faith. I don’t know. All I know is that that true faith in Jesus is not a fad it is a relationship which is built on love and faith.

Daily Art #136, Stumped

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The prompt I chose for today was the word, “wooden.” I had this picture of a stump for a while so I decided to use it for today’s drawing entitled, “Stumped.”  I have a lot of trees near my house. In fact at one point I had two of them by house removed some time ago. When the tree service took the trees down they gave me an estimate for taking out the stumps. I was amazed to find removing the stumps would cost as much or more than taking down the trees.  I asked, “Why?” The guy went on to explain that the base of the tree carries into the ground so they must bring in a stump grinder to get rid of the stump.

I am reminded that how deeply we are rooted into something is a good indication of how well we will stick with the task at hand. Of course this applies to faith in Jesus Christ. The deeper our faith the more we will stand like a tall tree when the storms come. However I think the simile of the tree stump applies to anything in life. How deeply rooted we are in loosing weight, trying to stop smoking, being a good employee at work and any number of things is how strong we will stand. The shallower our roots (belief in what we’re doing) the sooner we will fall when the strong winds come. So remember to make sure your stump will be hard to get out of the soil anytime you commit to something.

Daily Art  #134, A Bouquet for Mother’s Day

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I have decided on this day honoring mothers to up my game in this doodle challenge and switch back to my original concept of doing a daily art challenge. While some of pieces of art will not be totally finished pieces and some may be no more than doodles. I feel they are representations of art done in my weird and unique style. My mom would have wanted me to do my best and while I love to doodle I strive to be an artist. So in honor of mom I am going to do my best. Please read my message to mothers below the picture.‘

Today is Mother’s Day.  In honor of my mother and my mother in law who both passed on a few years ago I would like to give a shout out to all the mothers reading this. I hope you enjoy your day. My drawing today is entitled, “A Bouquet for All Mothers.”

My mother while she was alive was the world to a little boy and a grown man. As a young lad my mother and father separated. My mother took the reins of the household and supported me until I met my wife and moved out. We didn’t have much but what she did give me I knew was out of love. So all you mothers out there who are giving it their all…here’s to you…here’s to you.

Doodle #133, Life is All About Chain-ges 

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Growing up one of my favorite movies was “A Christmas Carol.” While I realize it is not the Christmas season today’s prompt of the word “chain” reminded me of the movie so I created the unfinished drawing, “A Man Chained to Change.” In the movie, for those who don’t know, Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the ghost of Jacob Marley who comes rattling  his chains. He warns Scrooge that if he doesn’t change he will be burdened in the afterlife by dragging around chains. In the end after being visited by 3 ghosts Scrooge sees the error of his ways and changes his attitude.

I left the picture unfinished for a reason. In life we often are chained to the life we are living until someone or something shows us the error or our ways. Scrooge had his supernatural visit so can we. If we see the error of our ways like Scrooge and ask for forgiveness sincerely in our hearts, we can know the freedom and love he also received. The key to breaking the fear of chain-ge for us comes in starting and developing a relationship with Jesus Christ. It is through him that we can find true freedom and be released from the chains of what is holding us back.