Daily Art

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.

Doodle #132, A Cup of Warmth to Start the Day

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I am a coffee drinker. Give me a cup of joe with some cream and stevia and I am a happy man. However I have partaken in a macchiato or capuccino now and then like the one in my drawing, “A Cup of Warmth.” For us coffee drinkers a daily cup is not only a caffeine fix but a cup of warmth to start the day.

While coffee may be my warmth each day I also try to make myself a little bit of warmth to others. I work in an inner city school. Each day I come in contact with students, many of whom have lives you wouldn’t believe if I could tell you. Some of the students respond to the warmth others not so much.

I however, choose not let myself take anything personally they may say. It is not because I am anyone special or am immune to biting words. I have just chosen to be a cup of comfort to each person I meet. In school I was bullied because of who I was and how I looked and dressed. I said myself then and there I was not going live my life being someone who differently because of who they are are. When I game my life to Christ it only enhanced my unconditional love for others. So be a cup of comfort to others,

Doodle #131, 3 Reasons to Reflect on Your Reflection

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Each day I get up for work and look in the mirror. I stand there for a few minutes and reflect on my reflection. No I am not going off the deep end. It is just that I ponder about who I am to other people. I know they see me and know my appearance but can they see me for who I really am…a follower of Jesus Christ who is supposed to exemplify his love and caring in this world. It is with these thoughts i have come up with 3 reasons to reflect on your reflection. Not a refection like in a mirror or a puddle like my drawing, “Seeing Yourself in the Water,” but a pondering of how others see you.

  1. People see your ways. No matter how much we feel like we live in isolation someone is always watching our movements. This is especially true of those who claim to be a person of faith. Do one thing out of character and people will be all over the misdeed questioning the validity of your reflection.
  2. People hear you words. Part of your reflection is what you say. As the saying goes, “if you’re going to talk the talk you need to walk the walk,” or as the Bible says, “Let you yes be yes and your no be no.”
  3. People follow your lead. What we say and what we do leads to the third part of your reflection. People will not follow what you claim, they will follow what they see. A hypocrite is a person who claims or preaches one thing but does the opposite of what they tell you, you should be doing.

As you can see looking in the mirror and pondering over your reflection is not all about just seeing how old you look these days. It is about making sure what your reflecting to others is what us truly in your heart.

Doodle #126, Blackbird Bye Bye

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Today’s challenge was to draw, of course, a bird. Here is my offering, “Blackbird Bye Bye.” Birds are not one of my favorite things to sketch or draw. The reason is I never think I do them justice by my finished renderings. Sure they look like birds but never like the birds I set out to draw. I guess life also turns out the same way. When we are little we set out to draw our life one way. When I was younger I wanted to be a teacher in the worst way. Instead, after high school, life added some lines of me going to work to earn some money. I intended to go back to school. Instead some more lines were added to my life drawing, me meeting someone and getting married.

My life drawing was still not complete. Some more lines were added and I ended up living somewhere I had never intended.  There I added some more lines to my life drawing. I gave my life over to Jesus Christ, finished my college education, with a degree I didn’t intend to have, and moved on from one layoff to another. A few years later and many more lines later I work at a school, no not as a teacher, but a teacher’s assistant. My life still hopefully has many more lines to go till it is a finished work and I am called home. Yet I reflect on the drawing and do not see the picture I intended to render but am secure in knowing no matter how I see my life, God sees it the way He intended to draw it in the first place.

Doodle #115, Nothing is Ever Ugly

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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. 

Getting from Point A to Point B, Doodle #88

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In our modern lives everything is all about transition, today’s prompt word.. It is figuring out before you take the first step how you’re going to get from Point A to Point B. Don’t get me wrong planning is good but there are times when we need to take off our logical caps and put on the caps of spontaneous creation. Art is one of those times.

When we art we need to be prepared to use transition not only in the creation of our drawings but also in when we apply color. My doodle for today is a tribute to Chuck Berry whose music was a true transition from the music of his early career. It is a simple outline drawing with some transition of color to give it a little pop.

Life is also filled with a lot of transitions.  I remember when I first went to high school as a ninth grader. I walked into this building filled with giant people. I had to transition from being the oldest class in the middle school to the new kids on the block. It wasn’t easy. There were a lot of freshman class pranks I had to endure, loves sought and and lost and ever changing friendships but I got through it and came out the other side a little wiser.

Life can be like those high school years. There are going to be times when we are going to go through transitions in our lives and if we are not careful we can be overcome by them. The key to working through transitions is remaining faithful and seeking help if necessary.

The Joy of it All, Doodle #81

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Joy can be found in many places in life. I find joy in creating art like today’s offering, “Lollipop Flowers” which is a silly drawing meant to create a smile.  However the most joy I get in life is helping others.I am an Ed Assistant in a urban school district. At this point in my life it is not the ideal job to have looking towards retirement but I love helping the students in my class.

It brings great joy to my heart when I help just one of my students learn something new. In life

Spring Into Something Renewed, Doodle #79

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Today is the first day of Spring. A time when all things are renewed. The flowers start blooming, the grass starts growing (ugh) and the trees start to come to life. Spring is also a time when thoughts start turning towards the summer season. Spring for me means the start of America’s favorite pastime, baseball, which is the inspiration for today’s doodle, “The Pitcher.” Football

I don’t know why I like baseball so much. Football and hockey appeal to me more because of my adult ADD with all the action packed into each game. Still there is something about baseball that causes me to anticipate the start of a new season. Maybe it is the crack of the bat and the runner trying to beat the ball to first base. It could be the anticipation of the next pitch or just the fact you can wear shorts and a t-shirt to the games. Of course there is always the taste of ballpark food.

As a follower of Jesus I sometimes find the past creeping into my thought process. Past failures and short comings keep me anchored to the past. I also use past failures as an excuse to not trying to move forward in my life. Baseball season is a reminder to me that sometimes in life we have to start over. We have to put our failures and setbacks behind us and try something new like a year long art challenge. As I grow older I plan to keep moving forward. I may fail but I will just dust myself off and keep going.

What’s Art Got To Do With Life?

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I must admit as an artist there are times I struggle with the whys.

  • Why am I spending so much time creating art?
  • Why do I get so frustrated when I can’t get a picture to look the way I picture in my mind?
  • Why do I think I am any good at this thing called art?
  • Why, why why?

Then I remember art is in my blood. It is something I feel compelled to do with my time. Not because it is essential to my life, no wait, yes it is essential to my daily life. Art to me set up everything else in my life. It helps me to see the details in every situation. It helps to insure I have as much determination and drove to learn in everything else I do in life. Most importantly my art helps me be me by allowing me to show my creative side.

Art is life drawn from the inside. It helps you relax when times are tough. It allows someone to express themselves when words can’t come to mind. We were all created to create art in one form or anther..