The weather is bonkers right now (duh) but it’s giving us some gorgeous skys, hahaha. One of the things that I like about living where I do is that I can see the sky and the trees going into the distance. Sure there are houses too, but they somehow fit, with their palette of brown and creme. Part of my daily ritual, rain or shine, warm or cold is to stand on the porch for ten or twenty minutes waiting for the school bus in the morning and the afternoon. Something about making the conscious decision to actually be outside, experiencing some discomfort but also being open to the wonder of the world seems important to me.
I ran across this photo of five-year-old Abby the other day. She would wear those fake mustaches all afternoon, wiggling her lips when it tickled. hahaha.
I’m reading a collection of blog posts (essays) by Ursula K Le Guin. Her command of language…not just the musicality of it, but the ideas and imagery, its conversational yet somehow more. The essays cover topics ranging from old age, writing, memories, and music, to stories about her cat and her home and family. It’s really beautiful and personal. It feels like talking to an old friend. The kind of writing, the range of subjects reminds me of something I often tell my drawing students: “The more things you draw, the more things you’ll be able to draw.” The same could be said for writing, certainly. The more you read, the more you experience, the more you write, the more you’ll be able to.
Speaking of varied things, I’m wrapping up several bits of art on my desk and starting some new ones. There’s portraits, graphics, cartoons and paperdolls. I’m looking forward to the possibility of doing some comic pages soon too. I kind of just let everything fall by the wayside this year as I put my head down and just tried to get through. Weirdly, a lot of my work this year has been journaling and sketchbooks. While I feel like I’ve grown a lot through that work, I also don’t have much to show for it, and it left me feeling sort of disheartened…so I went through and updated my website portfolio, and added a design page.
Seeing a collection of my finished work together and in one place was like a breath of fresh air. This looks professional to me. I am capable of finding and doing quality work. I’m not just fooling people.
It’s hard to move forward sometimes without saying “but first I gotta”. Talking myself into updating my portfolio without first trying to do ten new things especially for it was so hard…and kind of ridiculous. I think I have some really solid work here, and I can add to it as I go along. I don’t need to do everything every day. Sometimes, something is enough.
Thank you all so much for your support, I appreciate you all every day. Until next week, take care and be good!
Your friend,
Jeffrey