Inspiration

Doodle #106, Easter, Not Chocolate Flavored

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Growing up Easter for me was a time of chocolate bunnies and candy. It was a time of rabbits and chicks. Sure I knew about the connection between Easter and Jesus. I had heard the story of the resurrection and how Jesus still lives today. The problem for me was at the time it was just fanciful stories told to me by what I referred to as Bible thumpers. Those thespians who spun tales of woe in order to get me to behave.

You see me parents grew up around church but never imparted any what I will call outright “Bible knowledge” to me. My mom, however taught me biblical principles growing up. Things she learned from her parents like love your neighbor, treat others as you want to be treated among other truths. I learned but it really didn’t know where the wisdom came from, until I was in my twenties and received Jesus into my heart.

Now many years later I look at what Easter has become and have to ask as my rabbit friends ask “whatever happened to the true meaning of Easter?” From the cross to the grave, three days later He arose.

Doodle #103, America Stuck in the Dessert

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What can said about Americans but that we love our desserts. According to a USA Today article published in 2013 at least, “40% of consumers surveyed say they’re eating desserts after a meal at least twice weekly,” but that number is probably higher.  Why the love for sweets? America seems to have developed a taste for overindulgence for sugar.

I know I am one of those people. As a small child and beyond my mom always told me, “Timmy stop eating all them sweets, it is not good for you.” Now as I age and hindsight being what it is I should have headed her warning.  I, for the last 15 years, am a diabetic. Part of the root cause was eating too much sugary foods and soda. The other part was being to sedentary. Truthfully my doctor told me I would have developed diabetes at some point in my life, but I could have put it off for many more years had I been in better health.

Today’s advice is both Biblical and just that advice. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 9:27, “But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” In other words avoid the sweets and other things bad for you and eat right. Also make sure not to be sedentary and keep moving. I wish I would have sought to be healthier when I was younger maybe I would have been in better health now.

Doodle #101, Everybody Loves Lemonade ,Even Cats

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I am a Southern boy, born in the south but raised in the north but I still love some of the southern traditions. One of those traditions is sitting on the front porch sipping on a glass of lemonade or sweet tea while you’re casually conversing with your family members or next door neighbors.

Even cats I’ve had in the past will drink lemonade if you leave it sit around long enough. So here’s to a cool glass of lemonade on a hot day, some good conversation with friends, family and neighbors and a warm season spent making memories.

What Is True Art?

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Have you ever looked at a piece of art only to say to yourself, “That is not true art.” I know I have. In fact many times in this drawing challenge I have question the validity of the pictures I am creating. Today I published my 100th doodle and as always I have doubts in my mind about whether they are even good enough to see the light of day. I have been taught as an artist, unless your work is well, great, it is not art.

However I have come to realize through this challenge that art does not have to be a perfect configurations of lines and colors to be considered true art. The key to creating true art is simply learning the basic principles of art such as composition, color to name two and then going about the creation process.  The only reason I mention learning the basics is so when you break the rules in creating abstracts and the like you know what rules your are breaking.

So in the end you see true art is not what is true to others it is true to you. I am not a trained artist. I did not go to any fancy art school. I simple took a couple community college art classes and moved on from there. My art may not be earth shattering and not fit into everybody’s tastes but it is the types of art I like to create. It is my true art.

Doodle #98 Getting the Bird to Pose

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My doodle “Getting the Bird to Pose,” was inspired by the word prompt, hummingbird. I have only seen hummingbirds a few times in my lifetime. Each year my wife puts out one of those hummingbird feeders in order to try and draw the birds out. So far she has had limited success.  Hummingbirds are interesting little creatures They flit and flutter around with seeming tirelessness from flower to flower sucking out the nectar.

How hard it must be to get one of these little birds to pose for a picture. Which reminds me of those early days as a parent when you try to get the perfect picture of your children. Nothing ever seems to go right. One child is looking one way, another will not smile and still another is crying. Still my wife perseveres in order to get that one magical moment when all the children look perfect for the photographer. It seldom worked but each year we went through the same ritual.  Just one of the joys of parenting I miss, not.

Don’t get me wrong. I love to have pictures of my kids and grandchildren readily available for others to see. I however like the unplanned spontaneous moments when the children are being children. The best family moments to capture on your camera, smart phone, or whatever are those that come when you’re not planning for them, when your family is being a family at play. Remember just like you’ll never get a bird to pose for picture you’ll never get the true essence of family life unless you are prepared and ready to capture the spontaneous.

The Empty Nest is Full of Broken Shells, Doodle #94

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Today’s prompt is the word, nest. The drawing is entitled, “Girl With Nesting Hair.”  I am sitting here writing this wondering when my doodle challenge also turned into a inspirational challenge. Somewhere along the line I decided if I was going to draw something every day I may as well a few words to my posts. Since I am older and on the edge of retirement i guess those words have turned somewhat informative and inspirational.

I am not one when asked who will bot hesitate to talk about my faith and how much Jesus means to me. I am also one who has been through a lit in my life and want to share in case maybe you are going or have went through the same thing and just need a few words of encouragement. My wife and I have been empty nesters since last August. I must admit for me it was more traumatic than my wife. Don’t get me wrong my wife misses our children but my son and I had like interests. We could converse about those interests for long periods of time.

I miss those conversations in fact so much so some of those interests, like super hero movies and shows have lost their luster. I say this because if you’re an empty nester or close to being one I urge you to start to develop new interests with your wife. She will be the one who is also craving for something to do with the rest of her life. Start to travel, go places, do something together but find some way to channel the energy you used to use for raising your children.

Every Day Has a Future, Doodle #90

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Well it has been three months and I am still rolling along with my doodle challenge. At the start of the challenge I had high ambitions for the future by creating a piece of art every day. Once I started I decided, because of time constraints, to switch to doodle drawings. In the future I plan on going back and redoing some of the doodles into full fledged art which I will re-post. Some of the others I feel are pretty cool as they are and I will reproduce for resale.  The rest still will go into my good try but not ready for prime time file.

As an artist getting to the end of any art work is both an exhilarating as well as an oh no experience. The oh no part can come with staring at the future and the start of a new project and wondering where do I go from here. I however am one of those artists which has a number of projects going on at once. I always have a future piece waiting on an easel or drawing board.  I chalk it up to my adult ADD but it keeps me from suffering the moments where you sit around staring into space wondering what project to do in the future.

Outside of art, any new start , a job, a relationship, whatever it may be is fraught with future expectations and nervous feelings to control.  I learned years ago from a book entitled, “How to Eat an Elephant,” by Bill Hogan, which is actually a financial advice book. any big task or future expectation must be broken down into bite sized pieces. These smaller pieces allow you to get the task done without it seeming so daunting.

When I first started this challenge I panicked because I thought there was no way I could do that many drawings. Then I remember the task was made of 365 smaller tasks one done each day. I could meet the challenge. So in life don’t panic when you have to do something big just brake it down to smaller portions. I have found this also works in art. I hope you like today’s doodle, “Contemplating the Future.”

Love is a Many Splendored Thing, Doodle #84

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The word love has become a multifaceted overused  word in the English language.  In the same breath we love our pizza and our significant other. We can love our car or our pets, which is my doodle for today, “Love My Pets.”  What I’m getting at is that when we love it does not mean what it once did. There seems to be no more deep rooted conviction to loving something or someone.

In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul gives a definition of love we can all hold onto, “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”

In truth love is not self centered , it is not self concerning and the word is not used to donate affection for those things which cannot love you back. Let us love with a true heart.

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..