Nothing Interferes With Creativity More Than Bearing Grudges

Hi. This little work has been around my desk for quite sometime now. It has become a mantra of sorts. I did it because I have so many problems accepting the fact that people  are all flawed and that it is important to not let anger at them build up. We do dumb things when we spend all our time being angry at others. It affects our judgement, it affects our ability to problem-solve. I know. But I find that prayer works wonders. It seems that if one spends enough time praying  for someone we can't stay mad with them. It appears to me at least that genuinely praying for someone's welfare makes it impossible to stay really angry at them.
     Art is important to me and though I am not ever going to be exceptional at it it has always brought me a great deal of pleasure. Ever since I was very young. So I always try to do my best with the abilities God has given me. And this little sign on my drafting table reminds me that if I want to be happy with what I am accomplishing, I can't have distractions by being angry at others. It is just not productive.
      God bless... Dale

I am a Christian

It has come to my attention recently how often I fall short on matters that are important to me. Faith is something that at times is sorely lacking in my life. Recently a situation has arisen that fills me with fear. Actually a couple of them. And I realize that I am not good at accepting these situations as being what they are. I know these situations are part of two problems that have been with me for a long time. I live in an urban environment and have most of my life. When I left some years ago to start over I returned and was the victim of a random act of violence. Now there is the potential to leave this area again and possibly start over in an area that is safer. Sometimes I regret my decision to return to the city. It changed my entire life. One person's crime altered my future permanently and now I realize that I just want to be free of this area. What does this have to do with my Christian beliefs? Romans 8:28 says that all things work together to the good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. So even though I would not have asked to be attacked, it all worked out. God gave me freedom that I never thought I would have had. Also I met a woman to share my life with who makes me happier than I ever thought possible. All because someone attacked me. And now there is the possibility again to move from this area and start fresh.  And it scares me. There is the potential for God to take me to places that I could only dream about.But my partner is happy here. We have lived in the same place for all the years of our marriage. This makes it difficult to move on.To trust God that some serious mishap won't occur again and lead to potentially deadly consequences.
     The other area I struggle with is trusting God that he can remove a flaw that I have battled all of my life. Or most of my life. Now I am directing my energies toward it and sometimes I see little progress. My faith is such that it seems difficult to believe that this area will really be an area of healing. There is a saying that is not scriptural and therefore has questionable authority, but it says that if God brings you to it, He will bring you through it. And I have a hard time trusting Him to heal me in an area of my life that I have struggled with for many years. Yet for many years I suffered from serious mental problems because of the assault. Today I am experiencing freedom in this area since I recommitted my life to Christ. I feel safe again. I feel free. Yet, there is still doubt that this new freedom will continue.And  that my other  flaws  with stand up to Christ's healing as   well. God bless... Dale

Bird Boxes, Number Two

This is my second attempt at the bird boxes. Number one was a failure, and so was this one. Closer, but no prize. This is a homage to spring. Yet the dark blue does not conform to the idea of spring. My wife suggested more pastel shades and I agree. The quote popped out of me and I think it is a wonderful way to express the idea of the coming of creativity. The emergence of God in all His glory. For me, winter is my most creative period, but my thoughts are always on the third week of March... Stay tuned for attempt three. It will be less derivative, hopefully, and more in keeping with my expression of the vernal equinox. Stay tuned   and God bless you for following my progress at this thing that has always colored my world. Dale

Bird Boxes

A painting that was inspired by a photograph. The photographer is unknown. The idea came from a colored pencil drawing from 2000. I have been following an artist who turned professional four years ago. It is amazing the difference between the amateur work and the professional stuff. How does one develop the ability to create professional work? Many years ago I sold everything I did at one point. Now my work just sits. I know I have developed some lazy habits and find myself more interested in selling work than perfecting it. I'm not sure how to get past this. How did the artists who developed into professionals find the necessary spark? Was it always there? I am not talking about artists like O'Keeffe or Calder or Wyeth. I am referring to just talented artists. I am in a rut and I'm unsure how to push past it. Lately my life is moving in an entirely new direction and I'm not sure if it is a good thing. People just don't seem interested in the new directions my life is going. There are times in an artist's life when he or she must commit to moving ahead. But outside pressures create tension and unmanageability. There are distractions that take so much energy that work becomes chaotic and uninspired. One wonders if the art one creates will ever move beyond amateurish. One wonders if there is a good reason to push past the blocks.

    I recently found Pinterest and it is an incredible source of inspiration. So much creativity flowing out of this site. Many good inspired artists end up on the site. There is so much good work going through  here that one can spend hours a day looking and it can be addictive. Pinterest has become the place that I go to see work that moves me.

     Well, just wanted to post this work to keep in touch. It is as usual watercolor and pen and ink. I'd like to discover who the photographer was. I lost the photo long ago and I'm  uncertain where it came from and how much the art deviates from the original photo. I do like  the work and would like to do more with it. But I'm just not motivated. 

     Hope that everyone is enjoying a good week. This section of the country has been relatively mild. Potential for snow tomorrow, not enough to worry about. Take care and God bless... Dale

Sgraffito

This is my second attempt at sgraffito. It is kind of different from the first attempt that I made in that the entire time I was doing the first piece I was laughing most of the time. . I had wanted to do this for years and I began by ordering some used dental picks to scratch through the colored pencil image. It was not a complex image, just something I enjoy drawing, flowers. The sun and flowers are stylized and the composition is very simple. I decided that once I learned to do it I would try something more difficult. I found that dental tools don't work especially well but that an X-acto #11 blade does. So this is my second attempt and though I enjoyed the colored pencil drawing, the sgraffito technique did not work especially well on the back of matboard. My next attempt will be to use the dental tools on scratchboard. We'll see how that goes.
     I went to a shop on Friday to demonstrate my watercolors. I  spent three and a half hours working on one of my little inspirational drawings that was done in pen and ink and then painted with watercolor. The time spent was very exciting even though there was not  much interest. I was using a Kolinsky sable brush that I have had for years but I am not especially fond of. My other sable brush was forgotten in the rush to get out of the house. The Kolinsky showed me how to use it by trial and error. It is great for fine detail but not broad strokes. It is not stiff enough. I do these demonstrations once a month and I am beginning to really enjoy them. I never thought that I would get to the point where I would be able to block out the people around me but this proved to be quite easy. The Kolinsky brushes unwieldiness proved to be just the ticket... Well, I am sorry that I have not posted much lately. There has just been no time. Hopefully things will open up soon. God bless you for reading my posts. Dale.

Pirates

 This second ship for my blog  is another copy of a painting by David Shannon. It is done in watercolor and pen and ink. Shannon did his version in acrylic for the book, "How I Became a Pirate." I don't plan to sell this version I was just looking for a clear image of a pirate ship and Shannon's version  is excellent.Check the book out at your library if you have a chance, it is wonderful. I am not quite sure who the writer is. My grandson will be the new owner of this picture.. I posted another picture I did for him a little while ago. His mom requested a different, larger version. So this is it. I am going to try to find some copyright-free versions of ships for the purpose of scrimshaw. I bought some old dental picks to use for the purpose and a book on the subject. But I am having second thoughts. It all seems kind of complicated. Pen and ink and watercolor are my forte. I don't like handling sharp objects like dental picks plus they give me the creeps. Maybe I will stick with pen and ink. I am still considering selling my original work on Etsy but I cannot find anyone to give me a clear answer as to what the costs are. If anyone has any information,  a message to this blog would really be appreciated. Thank you and have a really good weekend. God bless you...Dale .............................

Scrimshaw

A while back I discovered scrimshaw. And with an eight year old grandson I rediscovered it. Scrimshaw is a folk art that sailors engaged in when they went  to sea to hunt whales. The sailors would take the ivory teeth from the whale and use needles to cut images into the teeth. Usually they were images of sailing ships. Since my grandson is into pirates I stumbled onto this folkart tradition again. This is my first attempt. I used a #11 blade in an x-acto knife on a wooden button. It didn't work out too well. I cut the image into the button and wiped india ink over the button. The idea is to let the ink settle into the knife strokes and then wipe it off. What should remain is the ink that has settled into the strokes. It didn't work out that way. The ink soaked into the wooden button and stained the entire thing black. The entire image was black and could not be removed. So what I did was cut into the button where the image was and the wood grain was revealed. Kind of like scratchboard or I guess sgriffito. Anyway, I kind of like it. I don't know what it would be like to carve into ivory and probably never will know. It is prohibitively expensive and protected. Many artists use bone. Lately I have had the urge to try new things. There is nothing like coming back to an old friend after exploring something new. I am going to try scratchboard next. After carving into the button I had a flash of insight that pointed to scratchboard. It is very cheap and it is a great way to learn more about values and reversing images. Art is a wonderful taskmaster. It is always leading you to new opportunities for growth. I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's day.  We stayed home. Hope that the upcoming year is a wonderful one.  Few years were as blessed as 2012 was for me.  I know a lot of people who struggled and were not fortunate.  Praise God, it was a wonderful year for my family overall. A prayer for all those who are glad 2012 is over. May 2013 bring new hope for our world.

God bless you. Dale