daily-ish notes…

  • of multitasking.

    I dabble in a lot of artistic stuff.

    I’ve been painting and posting it here, sure, but I have also been writing, taking photos, making short videos that I post on Youtube, and delving into the culinary “arts” as I bake and do other interesting things.

    I’m still struggling with the unanswerable question of whether to be broad or to be deep.

    Right now I’m exploring broadly. Maybe someday I’ll inspired to go deeper.

  • on photography.

    I bought a camera app. Well, precisely, I subscribed to an app for my phone for about ten bucks per year that simulates some of the features of an SLR camera. It’s not perfect, but it allows manual control over things like white balance and exposure that are all seemingly automated in the native camera app on the phone.

    Why did I do this? Well, for you to be frank.

    I’ve been posting a lot of photos of my art here and those photos are … well .. to be frank again, mediocre. I usually take at least a dozen of each sketch in various light trying to find the best, clearest, most true version of that sketch, but even the best of the best of those photos are hitting about 75% quality.

    Taking photos of art is a skill or requires gear or is impossible or something. I look at the real life sketches in my book and they are lively and bright and interesting. I look at the photos and they are … ok.

    Hopefully there really is an app for that.

  • to rule them all.

    It’s strange to admit but after nearly 18 months of actively sketching and painting I finally — finally! — bought a ruler.

    Six inches of light ruled stainless steel with a cork base just the right size to fit into my pencil case.

    Finally.

    Did I mention, finally!?

    I’ve been using the edges of books, pencils, or just winging it and drawing freehand.

    Straight lines were lessons in improvisation… until now. Now I finally own a proper straight-edge ruler and I’m fairly certain it will add a certain, let’s call it, accuracy to my sketches that may have been lacking before.

    Perspective. Parallel lines, Straight edges. Firm corners. Properly measured dimensions and lines drawn with an arc approaching zero.

    It’s a whole new world.

  • for supplies on hand.

    I work in the office downtown at least two days per week. I work from home the other three.

    At home I have lots of art supplies, including dozens of paint brushes, a half dozen paint sets, a small stack of art books, pens, erasers, rulers, masking fluid, markers, palettes, sponges, tape, easels, and a dedicated space to keep it all.

    At the office I have whatever I can squeeze into my backpack alongside my computer, notebook, mouse, coffee thermos, and other random work supplies.

    I usually try to squeeze in something, not because I expect to paint at the office when I should be working, but sometimes on a lunch break or between peaks in the waves requiring my attention, or after a particularly stressful meeting, the mind often needs a break and sketching is often the answer to that.

    I could fill that backpack with all the supplies I want and still leave things behind, but I really only have a bit of room, so learning to pack efficiently to be able to have what I need has become a well-practiced skill.

  • on half march.

    Getting to the half way point in any goal is something to be celebrated.

    As of today I’m about half way done my daily sketching goal for the month. I’ve got a lot more work to do to finalize that effort, but half way is a kind of symbolic milestone that it is possible to make it through multiple days across multiple weeks of doing something daily, in my case finding time and energy to sketch something, anything.

    Never trivialize a pat on the back for a job well done, even if that job consists of a whole month worth of mini-jobs that have been completed fifteen times in a row with success.