daily-ish index.

on fountain pens.

I’ve been trying out fountain pens again. About a year ago I bought a dip pen, some ink, and a bunch of motivation to learn to use them. It turns out I’m not a fan of dip pens. Fun, but delicate and messy. Not my style. But then last week — in my ongoing search

… gear
of spring-spiration.

It’s the first day of spring. Or, officially, the spring equinox and the astronomical point at which the planetary axis corresponds to this thing we think of as a seasonal change. I was thinking about being outside again and painting in the fresh air. I could, in theory, paint outside year-round, but since watercolour needs

… thought
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

… observation
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

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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,

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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

… advice, gear
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

… goal
on pi comics.

I used to draw a web comic more and paint a lot less. I note that fact today because the premise of my comic was centered around the notion of dad jokes, and the patron saint holiday of dad jokes is, obviously, pi day. My parenting humour aside, my efforts have paid off and my

… event
on maintenance days.

Some days you need to just put aside time to do maintenance. On your tools. On your supplies. On yourself. As a guy who runs multiple websites, I need to set aside time once per month or so to do routine upgrades on the software, clean up log files, and make sure all these systems

… observation
about the details.

I’m not a details person. In my head I think I’d like to be, but it takes a special sort of mood for me to focus on the little things. So, when I’m in that mood and that mood corresponds to a point in time when I happen to have a paint brush in my

… thought
of peaks and valleys.

I’m in a bit of a valley right now. I’ll admit, the daily drawing has resulted in a few recent pics that I haven’t been in a rush to upload and post. Anyone who reads more than a page or two on this site will know that I’m not a professional, but rather a guy

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on brush care.

A couple yards of fabric, a sewing machine, an evening of work, and a simple idea. I spent Wednesday after work and until bedtime using my crafting skills to make myself a paint roll-up, a slotted case into which I can tuck each of my paintbrushes into a neat, organized row and then roll it

… result
re: the renaissance man.

The term “renaissance man” is one of those labels that someone is not allowed to give themselves, I think. A renaissance man is a term for someone (man or woman, I think, gender identity aside) who cultivates a broad and expansive interests and expertise in many areas, creating a skillset that reaches into both diverging

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on daily surprise.

It may be a surprise to learn that when I wake up each morning during these daily efforts of drawing or writing or whatever, I don’t actually have a plan. The point of daily effort is sometimes the emergent nature of the effort itself. For example, today I had no idea (as usual) what to

… observation
drawing on complexity.

Today’s sketch caught me doodling while looking out the window of my office during my lunch break. I work nearly twenty floors up in a downtown office tower, and have a panoramic view of the city. I was looking out the window with my mind set on drawing a building or two and before I
on kudos.

Having support from other people, positive words of encouragement, or other kinds of thumbs up for your efforts is nice, but you can’t rely on it. Sometimes people get jealous of the things you are able to achieve, or are envious that you are able to achieve something they cannot. Sometimes people just aren’t in

… observation
in support of practice paper.

Maybe it seems obvious, but when I first started watercolour and was dealing with the cost of supplies, I overlooked adding practice paper to my kit. Y’know. Practice paper: a book or pad of okay paper on which you can doodle, experiment, goof around, try out techniques, swatch colours, et cetera, et cetera. It took

… advice
to march fo(u)rth.

March forth and never give up. March forth through not just the easy tasks, the obvious solutions or the simple actions, but through the difficult, challenging and complex. March forth against the adversity presented by your self doubt. March forth and do the crazy thing that no one else is doing. March forth, but rest

… advice
on defining purpose.

For over five months I ran this website as a simple collection of a few medium-length blog posts. Then, about three weeks ago, I decided to add a bunch of new features: this daily blog, a gallery of my sketches, and some space for creative writing. It went from very simple, to moderately complex, and

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for finding inspiration, part one.

How do we find something to draw? I still struggle to think like a painter when I’m so used to thinking like a photographer. I look for scenes or composition, and I need to more often look for objects or shapes or colours or something that can’t even be captured through a lens. Look in

… advice
on painting sunsets.

Over the last couple days I’ve left a short note about two different things; sunrises and daily sketching in March. As March begins and I pull out my sketchbook for the first of thirty one consecutive days sketching and painting, I return here to note that this first sketch is compounding from those two previous

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about #mARTch.

As February draws to a close, I look to the changing of the calendar page (as I often do) for inspiration for a month of — something. (In April I’m already planning a fitness blast and looking to run every day of that month, but for March I figured something a little more creative and

… goal
of sunrises.

March, just hours away as I write this, is often a month of sunrises. Sure, there are sunrises all year long, but where I live the timing, angle, and moisture levels in the air make March a month of spectacularly beautiful sunrises at a convenient time of day. I used to take lots of sunrise

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about addendum b.

Continuing on from yesterday’s note and the addendums to my About Me page, I thought it worth noting that in the last week or so I’ve branched out from purely watercolour painting notes and added a quiet little section where I’ve been trying to evoke my inner Asimov and write fiction on the daily. There

… about
about addendum a.

I have a fairly vague and creatively idiosyncratic-bent About Me page on this site. Of course this would do little favour to a website that was actually hoping to lure in long-term repeat visitors and actually cared about things like audience retention or selling a product… which I don’t. I’ve thought about rewriting my About

… about