Illustration

Doodle #126, Blackbird Bye Bye

| Whitt’s End Art

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 #125, Yellow, The Color of All Things Bright

| Whitt’s End Art

Today is yellow day. No it is not a National Holiday is it on the list for the May 5th drawing prompt. I could have went in a lot of directions with this prompt like a piece of lemon meringue pie, a banana, a yellow flower, a sunset among many other yellow items.. In fact I actually drew a lemon but switched to the more, “Whimsical Girl with Kitten,” for today’s drawing instead.

Yellow has always been one of my favorite colors to paint or color with because it exudes warmth, brightness and happiness. Yellow has also been associated, in our society, with cowardliness. Hence the phrase, “You’re yeller because you won’t fight me.” I added a little Southern in there due to my heritage. Whatever way you choose to look at the color yellow remember this there are a lot of colors which would not exist without this primary color.

Life is kind of like the primary color yellow. It is filled with a lot of happiness and warmth and maybe a little cowardice but when you add other colors to it, life can be so much more. As a young man I had a lot of friends come and go in my life most of whom I didn’t stay in contact. Still those friends who I left behind are important to me because they mixed into my life and added something to my primary color which helped me be who I am today. So the next time you are with your friends thank them for mixing into your life and helping you paint a beautiful portrait. Proverbs 17:17 says, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.”

Doodle #122, Three Coins in a Piggy Bank

| Whitt’s End Art

Don’t know why the image didn’t load but here is the picture.

Life is all about saving. It’s about putting a few coins away for the proverbial raining day. The problem is to many of us don’t. When I was younger I worked at several jobs which paid me a decent salary for the times. Some of the money I banked but most of it I spent of foolish things. As I look back on those days sure I had a good time but if I would have put some money away maybe today I would be set and ready for retirement. Alas I am not.

The Bible has many verses warning about the love of money and hoarding away stuff but tucked away in Proverbs is this verse in Proverbs 13:11, “Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.” What Solomon is saying is this. The quicker you get your money the less you’re going to understand the value of saving but when you take a portion of your money, put it in an IRA or savings account the more the money will increase over time. I’ve spent a lot of money on a lot of things over the years but have little to show for all my wastefulness. If you’re reading this take the time to out some money away. You’ll be thankful for it later.

Doodle #121, Let Your Flashlight Be Your Guide

| Whitt’s End Art

When we were kids we couldn’t wait until it got dark outside. The reason, we couldn’t wait to play flashlight tag. Our versions of flashlight tag went something like this. The person who was it got the flashlight. His or her job was to find the people who were hiding and illuminate them with the light. The first person found was it in the next round. The only problem with wandering in the dark is you tend to run into things. No matter the dangers, flashlight tag still ranks up there as one of my favorite things to do in the summer.

The analogy of the flashlight is a simple one, light illumines our way, while darkness hides what we do. God is often referred as light in the Bible. The reason for followers of Jesus is simple. If we follow God then his Word, “Is a light to my path,” which means He illuminates the path I need to follow. God is also, “lamp unto my feet.” Just like in flashlight tag the one with the light can see where they are going in the darkness, while the rest are left to stumble.

God’s light provides for me a clear path where I can see the obstacles that come along as I walk and help me to navigate around them. I hope you like my drawing inspired by the word flashlight, entitled, “The Light Brings Color.”

 

Doodle #120, The Rock Amidst the Water

| Whitt’s End Art


The drawing prompt for today is the word, rock. My drawing is a yet untitled rock formation with some weeds growing amongst them. The Neshaminy Creek was right down the side street from the house where I lived when I was a child. The creek was a fascinating place. You could go fishing, hang out on the rocks at rapids when the tide was down, search for bugs among other things. Right in the center of the creek by what we called the new bridge, for obvious reasons, was this humongous rock sticking out of the water.

During low tide you could wade out to the rock, climb on top of it wand look up down the creek in both directions. The rock seemed like a place of refuge in the midst of the water. My friends, particularly my friend Jeanie, had a lot of lot of good times at that rock and along the banks of the creek. Those days seemed so peaceful.

Today’s prompt also remind me of some words of Jesus in Matthew 16:18, ” on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” While some feel this verse is about Peter being the foundation for God’s church, while others feel Jesus is talking about the solid rock of the Word. God’s Word is like the rock in the middle of the Neshaminy Creek, floods and storms came and that rock was still there. As far as I know the rock is still there though I haven’t been down to look in over twenty years. As Christian’s we need to remember to stand on the rock of God’s Word through the storms and in the good peaceful days.

Doodle #116, A Basket Full of Memories

| Whitt’s End Art

The drawing prompt for today was basket. When I saw the prompt the first thing to pop in my head was all the years I spent delivering newspapers which was the inspiration for my drawing, “Bike and Basket.” I delivered newspapers as a kid with my friend and then for 26 years as an adult. The drawing prompt for today also invoked memories of these baskets my mom used to have filled with photographs of past memories. I think we all have a basket we fill with memories of each day.

Some of us have actual baskets or boxes where we keep physical photographs which in a lot of cases are never seen once they are put away, except for special occasions.  In theses modern times our baskets have been replaced with SD cards or space on the Cloud of your choice. Thousands of memories are stored each day some or most of them still long forgotten. It seems no matter where we put our memories they are forgotten except on the day by a sheer happenstance a lost memory is retrieved. Then the time for reminiscing begins.

What is my point in all this. While I love the idea of photographs because they helps us to remember good times past with loved ones long gone or moved away. I also know we can’t be too caught up in taking every moment of every event in our lives lest we miss the most important thing, the time spent with those we love. So fill your baskets with memories, those trapped in our hearts for a lifetime first and those we keep as reminders when the ones trapped in our hearts start to fade into the past.

Doodle #114, Looking Beyond the Fence

| Whitt’s End Art

The task for today was to draw or paint a fence. The end result is my drawing “Me, My Dog and a Fence.”  When I was younger one of my favorite songs was “Signs” by the Five Man Electric Band.  I loved the part of the sing where he complains about people putting up fences to keep people out. Well as a child a fence for me was an opportunity see what was beyond the fence. Peeking through holes,cracks any opening I could find I would try to spy what was beyond the fence. Sadly as an adult I still have a fondness for trying to see what lies behind any fences I come across.

In life I think we do the same. We try look beyond the fence of each day ahead to tomorrow. At times we get so concerned about what is behind the fence we forget to live the life we have on this side of the fence. I know I am going through that right now because of my bought with cancer.  Instead of, as the Bible states letting, “tomorrow worry about itself,” I let my mind wander ahead to the future beyond the fence instead of living in the here and now on this side of the fence. Each day I have to remind myself the fence is not only there to keep things out but to keep things in, as my life should be, kept in the here and now enjoying each day to the fullest.

Doodle #113, Livin’ the Fresh Life

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The word for today was fresh. My doodle for today is entitled, “The Freshness of the Great Outdoors.” When I was a kid my friends and I lived outdoors.  In the summertime from the time we woke up to the time we went to bed we played games out in the fresh air. Oh yeah, we did take breaks to eat and get something to drink but other than that we stayed outdoors. What did we do out in all that fresh air you might ask.

I don’t really know every last detail but we played games like tag, and war and took hikes down along the creek. We picked fresh blackberries and then ate them later with some cream and sugar. We went to the ponds and watched the minnows swim around. Me personally I would hand with my best friend Jeannie and just discuss the future. Well by now you get the picture. Outside in the fresh air of each and every fresh new day we did whatever our little hearts were led to do that day.

It seems today the fresh outdoors has be forgotten by many kids. They would rather hang indoors playing video games or texting on their phones. Friends it seems no longer visit each other in person they just Face Time. I think parents should encourage their children to get outside and do something with their friend, not only for the health benefits but also so they don’t unlearn what it really means to socialize in person.

Doodle #112, What’s In Your Bowl?

| Whitt’s End Art

The drawing prompt for today is the word, “bowl.” My doodle is lovingly entitled, “A Bowl Full of Flowers.” A lot of good things come in a bowl, soup, cereal, ice cream, flower and of course life. Yes, you heard me correctly. Most who read my blog know the old phrase, “my plate is too full,” meaning they are doing so much they can’t fit one more thing into their day. Well in years past my personal life as well as my church life felt so full at times that if I didn’t put it all into a bowl instead of on a plate many things would fall off and be forgotten.

Then a friend of mine gave me some good all purpose advice, “You don’t always have to say yes.” I was one of those people who loved and still love to do things for other people. My problem was I couldn’t say no because I felt I was letting the other person down. I would always say yes which meant I would burden myself down with commitments. This led to a full bowl of a life. I finally had to step back for a moment, take a deep breath, and say no to those requests I knew I could not throw into my bowl.

In the end my life became a little less full and a lot less stressed. So my advice to you today is do not over commit. Do what you can do and be satisfied. People will respect you more if explain why you can’t do something then if you commit to something and fail to get the job done. Matthew 5:37, “ Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.”