5/9/08 - Tummy troubles are finally just about gone. I don't know what that was about but I'm glad it's over.

I'm 95% done with my drawing; I just have to add the final touches to it and then I can make a value sketch. I'm pretty certain already how the piece will look even without the value sketch, but I will still do it just to be sure. I'd rather not have any surprises later on when I'm working on the finished piece.

Part of the image involves a knot. I haven't drawn a knot in fabric for quite a while, so I was concerned with how it was going to look. I knotted a piece of fabric for reference and began to draw. At first it was hard to keep from drawing on autopilot. My brain said, "Oh, ok. I have a general idea of what knots should look like, so instead of drawing what I see I'll draw a knot from memory." I could tell this was starting to happen so I forced myself to really see the knot and draw it. Then my brain said, "Ok, now that you've decided to draw what you see, it has to look exactly like it." That really wasn't my goal either. If it's too perfect it won't work with the rest of the drawing. In the end I enhanced my drawing with the knots from memory, while editing what I captured from the knot in front of me. At first I didn't like how it came out. But after I left it alone for awhile and came back, it looked just right. Do you experience something similar when you draw?

5/2/08 - My tummy troubles persist. I was fine for a couple of days but then it came back again today. The bad thing about it is I want to feed it so it will stop, but feeding it doesn't always make it stop. I may have to go to the doctor next week if it keeps up.

I'm about 50% through my drawing, and it is coming along fine. As I work on it I think about what people's reaction to it may be, and I wonder if it has been done before. I haven't seen anything that looks like what I'm doing so I expect it to have the desired effect when I'm done. As I work on it I can tell it will be a gripping image once it's done. In order to completely finish the drawing I'm going to need another reference picture, or set up the shot I need and draw it. That shouldn't take me too long to do but I can't focus on it right now. I just want to get this aspect of the work done before I think about the next step too much.

I have also been working on my book about quiet time for creative people. I have a bunch of manilla folders, and each folder represents a chapter. That way it is much easier for me to put articles, comments, and resources into the folder that represents the chapter they will be used in. It's finally coming together after years of gathering resources to aid in writing it.