art

A Few Thoughts On…

by

  1. Creativity and imagination needs to be constantly fed.
  2. Reading is an anytime, anywhere pastime
  3. Slow down.
  4. Excuses delay the inevitable.
  5. Make time for good conversation.
  6. Apply what you know.
  7. Chase the knowledge.
  8. Organize your desk.
  9. Make yourself so good that they don’t want to let you go.
  10. You are only as good to them as your last quarter.
  11. Do or don’t.
  12. Try.
  13. Your best effort wants to come out. Give it a go.
  14. Essentialism > minimalism
  15. Personal development > formal education.
  16. Learning > formal education
  17. Moderation in all things (sugar, salt, social media, alcohol, spending)
  18. Let the tools do their job. Your brain can take care of the rest.
  19. Pen to paper > fingers to keyboard.
  20. What is your origin story? Document your progress.
  21. Change is good.
  22. Willingness to change is even better.
  23. Laughing is a habit-forming drug.
  24. No one told you because they didn’t know either.
  25. Asking is free.
  26. Doing > over-analyzing how to do it.
  27. Your thoughts are clouded and stuck in high fructose corn syrup.
  28. Youth is a feeling, not an age.
  29. Call your loved ones.
  30. Forgive yourself.
  31. Forgive them.
  32. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness > whatever else you are doing instead.

Just Do It

by

“We learn by doing.”

This is the way you master your hobby, by getting on and doing it. Learn, practice, re-learn and practice some more. This goes for writing, sketching, photography, painting, or everything else. You don’t get good without practice, keep your head down and move onward.

There are no shortcuts to becoming a good photographer. Just go out and take photos. You don’t need a specific lens or a new camera because you cannot buy skill. It does not matter whether you share images to your website or Instagram because all the “likes” will not help you improve. If you want to take good photos, you have to take numerous photos first. The majority will be crap, and that’s okay. I’ve come back home with maybe 5 usable images and been happy.

With your writing, it does not matter what software application you use, what blogging platform or newsletter publisher or what type of personal computing device you do it on. If the goal is to become a better writer, then just write. A lot of it will be crap, and that’s okay too. I’ve cranked out possibly 5 good articles a month and been happy.

Consistency and constantly. If it isn’t worth the time and effort to put into it, then perhaps it isn’t relevant for you.

You cannot buy in and expect dramatic results with your new gear. The gear doesn’t make you better. Only you can make yourself look good by trusting the process. It’s time to go out there and get it.

Beginner’s Mind

by

“It often happens that two students can solve difficulties in their work for one another better than the master can. The fellow-pupil can help because he knows less. The difficulty we want him to explain is one he has recently met. The expert met it so long ago he has forgotten.”

C.S. Lewis

When I was supervising a team of engineers, I would often train new hires but also bring in a recent “graduate” from a previous training session to sit in with these new hires. The concepts were still fresh in their minds, while I may have taken for granted what should be common knowledge because it was “basic.”

While learning how to sketch and paint here recently, I grabbed a couple of books such as “Beginning Watercoloring” or “Learn to Draw” that was absolutely worthless. I am drawing stick figures but the examples shown in the book were full on portraits in pencil that would take years to master.

If I were to ask an artist right now how do you do this or that, they may not be able to convey properly what I need to learn. No, I need someone who is at the same level to learn with and challenge each other to become better. I am ignorant and sometimes don’t know what to ask, so how can I effectively learn from a “master?”

This is a great time to document what you are doing and learning right now because eventually you can look back on it and see your progress. As opposed to making something crap, then posting for everyone to see and offer fake kudos or “likes.” This doesn’t help. The expert takes for granted all of the fundamental concepts needed because they’ve moved on. They’ve built their knowledge and their foundation and have put their own flair on it.

This applies to utility engineering, to drawing, to photography or everything else. Innate talent will only take you so far. Embrace your beginner status and learn to have fun. Document your progress and appreciate the journey.

Exploring Creativity

by

What does it mean to be an explorer of art? To reach out and investigate out of curiosity. Right now I am curious about analog art, that which is done by hand and not digitally like I have been doing for the past twenty years.

As a child, I was naturally curious in just about everything. That curiosity has been set aside through education and a career. Always on a back burner simmering until recently it has been boiling over and ready to go.

So why explore now? To inspire myself, to see new things or to see things in a different perspective and to create something different.

Recent examples have included making zines of my photos using Affinity Publisher or Apple Pages. Or by pushing buttons in GarageBand to generate “music” on a loop for a photo collage soundtrack.These are creative ways to explore the art of making photo books or collages. But there is still so much left to be explored and conquered such as sketching, painting, paper collage and somehow creating a hybrid of these with my photos. That reminds me to send some images to a photo lab and make paper prints for use later.

YOU ARE AN EXPLORER.
YOUR MISSION IS TO DOCUMENT AND OBSERVE THE WORLD AROUND YOU AS
IF YOU’VE NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE.
TAKE NOTES.
CoLLECT THINGS YoU FIND ON YOUR TRAVELS.
DOCUMENT YoUR FINDINGS. NOTICE PATTERNS.
COPY. TRACE.
FOCUS ON ONE THING AT A TIME.
RECORD WHAT YOU ARE DRAWN To.

HOw To BE AN EXPLORER OF THE WORLD
I. ALWAYS BE LOOKING. NOTICE THE GROUND BENEATH YOUR FEET.
2. CONSIDER EVERYTHING ALIVE & ANIMATED
3. EVERY THING•iS INTERESTING. LOOK CLOSER
4. ALTER YOUR COURSE OFTEN.
5. OBSERVE FOR LONG DURATIONS (AND SHORT ONES )
6. NoTICE THE STORIES GOING ON AROUND YOU.
7. NOTICE PATTERNS, MAKE CONNECTIONS.
8. DOCUMENT YOUR FINDINGS (FIELD NOTES) IN A VARIETY OF WAYS.
9. OBSERVE MOVEMENT.
10. CREATE A PERSONAL DIALOGUE WITH YOUR ENVIRONMENT. TALK TO IT.
11. TRACE THINGS BACK TO THEIR ORIGINS
12. USE ALL OF THE SENSES. IN YoUR INVESTIGATIONS.

Keri Smith, How To Be An Explorer of the World

Explorers, scientists and artists analyze the world around them in surprisingly similar ways, by observing, collecting, documenting, analyzing, and comparing. I don’t know what will come from all of this new art kick but I will enjoy exploring and discovering the world in ways I haven’t done or even imagined until recently.

Time to log off this laptop and apply pencil to paper.

Analog Art

by

Just picked up a couple of art supplies to start creating in analog as opposed to digital all the time. I have this need for a tactile experience. I am lousy and impatient but somehow feel the need to experience this. Oh, and the smell of wood and graphite when I open that tin is amazing.

Sketch Set
Watercolor Set

Art 1

by

Here are a few masterpieces of art I enjoyed while visiting the Art Institute of Chicago recently. As evidenced in my photo portraiture, I have a love for faces. We find portraits fascinating because we are fascinated by people like ourselves. We’re also fascinated by people unlike ourselves. It is who we are and that is what makes us delightfully human. Similar but different. Fascinating.

Khmer Empire Antiquities

by

Because I am still researching my novel based on the Khmer empire in Cambodia, I had hoped to discover some relics or art from this period and the Art Institute of Chicago did not disappoint.

What was disappointing were the descriptions of the artifacts. Which temple site was this taken from? Did the institute know?

One more disappointing concern? The description placards all say “Angkor period”. To be intellectually honest, let’s call it what it is. These were all from the Khmer Empire of Cambodia in the 11-12th centuries. The name Angkor is a reference to two of the biggest temples in this region, Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom. The terms “Khmer” or “empire” were not mentioned.

All these disappointments are cast aside for now because of the thrill of discovery. They were beautiful in a way that only those who study the culture can appreciate. Up until this moment I had only discovered a bas relief of an apsara dancer in the Houston Museum of Fine Arts.

For now, I will appreciate the experience but will write to the Art Institute for detailed information about this amazing collection.

Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, Angkor period 12/13th century Cambodia

Buddha, Khmer Empire period, 11th century. Here the naga (snake) raises him from flooding waters during his meditation and protects him from the rains on his head.
A goddess Angkor period, 12th century Cambodia
A celestial dancer called an Apsara. Angkor period, 11th century Cambodia
Guardian Lion Angkor period, 12th century Cambodia