daily drawing

Daily Drawing #162 Living the Golden Life is Not Always Good

| Whitt’s End Art

 

The prompt for today is the word, “yellow.” I created the little illustration entitled, “Mr. Fox Watches the Tree.” The title of the article is meant to be reflective of the fact that many people put there trust in things they believe to be golden The problem is that in they end up possessing worthless yellow imitations. What I am talking about is can’t miss opportunities or get rich schemes which fail to live up to their promise. The true golden worth of a person is not how much they have it is how much they have to give away.

In my walk from birth to sixty I have come across many people who had lots of money. These people however lacked the one thing they needed in order to be truly successful…kindness.  I have also known many people who had nothing but still gave away what they had to those who had even less. Who of these people shined like gold in the sunshine and which of these people had the gleam of faded yellow paint. In Mark 12:41-44 Jesus tell the tale of the widows offering. It is good parable to read in times of ego (times we seek our own golden lifestyle).

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 #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 #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

| 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 Drawing #152, A Couple Means Being Together

| Whitt’s End Art

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 #149, A Soothing Moment Each Day

| Whitt’s End Art

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

| Whitt’s End Art

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.