ARTMAN GREG'S SCRATCH PAD WEEKLY BLOG ARCHIVES ~
2009
MAY 2009
5-17-09 ~ This has been a good but challenging season for me right now. I am compelled to spend much of my free time to continue writing my book, which I hope to have completed by the end of the summer. As a result, I haven't been doing much artwork. I feel that writing the book is a creative work unto itself and I shouldn't feel bad for not creating art right now. The point is that I am still being creative. But I don't want to delay my art projects, so I am going to commit to doing a little bit of it each day, even if all I have the time for is a few scratches here or there. At least it is getting completed bit by bit instead of me waiting for a chunk of quality time to work on it. This time of year is always harder for me to be creative, because I have extra work to do outside in addition to the regular indoor chores. I am determined to write and create art, and I will commence to do so starting this week. I'll keep you updated on my progress.
5-29-09 ~ I did get some art done, some scratches here and there, and just that little bit I started was enough to motivate me to make sure I set aside time for it. The book is also coming along nicely. I've had a few hard chapters to write over the last few weeks but they have been rewarding as well.
We had a nice Memorial Day weekend; we played outside, blew bubbles, and drew chalk pictures on the ground. We even managed to get to the park to have a picnic, which was refreshing and nice. It felt good to just relax for a little while, and thank God for the freedom to be able to do so.
I also just completed the latest e-mail edition of Artman Greg's Scratch Pad, for those of you on my e-mailing list. If you'd like to join my mailing list, send me an e-mail from my "Contact" page.
4-20-09 ~ Now that the shawl is done I have been focusing a lot on writing my book about quiet time. I am also working on a couple of pieces that are related to bicycles and the 1890s. I'll keep you posted with more details as the work continues to develop.
4-04-09 ~ I'M DONE WITH THE SHAWL!! YAY! It took me about 8 weeks to do, and I'm very happy with how it turned out (so is my wife). The total length is 84":
I was done with it last week but I didn't have any batteries for my digital camera so I didn't blog about it. While I was working on the shawl I completed 2 scarves for some dear friends of ours, who were very appreciative of them.
But during the week as I was watching tv with my wife, I felt so empty-handed. I missed doing my loom knitting while watching tv! I felt like I needed to do more than just sit there, so now I am going to practice doing some different kinds of patterns on the loom. The more patterns I can master the better.
3-22-09 ~ It has been a productive week for knitting, and I am finally on my last ball of yarn! I have knitted this shawl out of 10 balls of yarn, and it took longer than I thought it would. But I am grateful for the journey and excited to present it to my wife. Right now it is 83" long, and I expect to have it done before the end of the week:
As you can see, it covers the whole door now. I had to use a different door to take this picture, since the door I used last time is right outside my daughter's room, and she's supposed to be sleeping. She would have heard me turning the camera on and run out into the hallway to take a picture.
You might ask, why is the shawl so long? So that two can easily share it, of course! : )
3-15-09 ~ I had some personal business to take care of last week, and it took a good part of my time, so I didn't work on the knitting projects too much. But when I was able to get back to it last weekend and during this week, I finished my wife's scarf! Here it is, finished, at 68" long:
It is like stained glass:
You will see different colors in it depending on the light you're in. It is so rich and beautiful, I love it, and so does my sweetie! A great big thank you to The Wool Peddler at TheWoolPeddler.com! I advise anyone looking for some great yarn to check out their website.
I decided to hang the shawl on the door so you could get a better idea of how long it is getting. That red at the top is just a towel I put there so the dust on top of the door wouldn't get on the shawl:
As you can see it is almost the full length of the door. Right now it is at 68" - same length as the scarf - and I have two more balls of yarn to go. I expect to have it done in early April. All this knitting has really been a wonderful experience for me, and I look forward to seeing what role it will take on in my life after I finish the shawl.
3-3-09 ~ March came in like a lion around here with 8-10 inches of snow! I had to leave extra early for work and I'm a little tired writing this right now, but I will do my best.
Our home seems to be turning into Wild Kingdom lately. The week before last my daughter Julia exclaimed with alarm, "There are cows in our backyard!" My wife wasn't convinced about it until she happened to glance out the window and sure enough there were cows moseying through the yard, right next to the window! In hot pursuit was a police officer on foot, trying to catch them and figure out where they came from. It turns out the neighbor across the street has cows, so perhaps they broke loose and went a-wandering. We never did find out where they came from.
Then last week I pulled up in the driveway and got out of the car and who should I see looking up at me but a baby owl!! It was quite a surprise, though I had heard the owls early in the morning sometimes. I had just never seen one up to this point, and there he was, staring right back at me. I ran inside to get the camera, and here are pictures of the little bloke:
He stayed out there in the same spot for quite awhile, but when the sun went down, he was gone. I presume his Mom came and got him, or he just flew away to hunt.
And here are how my two projects (which turned into three) are doing. First, my wife's shawl, which is now longer than 40" and I forgot to find a better way to demonstrate how much it is growing from week to week; I'll have that and the measurement next week. Her scarf is at 26".
I had stopped working on the scarf because I ran out of recycled silk and had to order more. It came in the mail yesterday, but in the gap I started working on yet another scarf as a companion gift for someone. I am using a different brand of yarn to create it and so far it is working up nicely.
2-20-09 ~ I am so happy with the progress I've been making on these projects for my wife. The shawl is already at 37":
I'm going to measure one of her other shawls to make sure this one is the same length (or a bit longer). However I just noticed that even though I take a new picture of it, it probably looks the same to you from week to week. I'll have to figure out a way to illustrate that it is getting longer.
And her scarf is at17":
It isn't as hard to work with as I had imagined, though it will be thin in some spots. To me that makes it more delicate, and even though it will be a little thin, it is strong and will take a lot of abuse. The colors in it are so rich and luxurious, no one will guess that it didn't cost a lot when they see it!
I have a few more knitting projects that I'd like to complete before I let it go, but I'm keeping all that under wraps for now... : )
2-16-09 ~ Happy St. Valentine's Day! A lot of folks are forgetting that it is Saint Valentine's Day, not just Valentine's Day. We had a good one. We ate lunch with our daughter at a nice restaurant.
Here is the progress on the shawl:
So far it's up to 29". I think it is coming out even nicer than I thought it would.
I also just finished an all black scarf for a friend who doesn't know he/she is getting it yet.
And I just started a scarf for my wife, whom I had not made a scarf for yet. I bought some of that gorgeous recycled unrefined silk yarn I had blogged about last month from TheWoolPeddler.com. It is so soft and beautiful! I bought 200g of it. When it came it wasn't wrapped in a ball so I just started working with it right away. I soon learned that I had better make it into a ball before it turns into a tangled mess. Unfortunately I had already started, so it was starting to get tangled. I had always wondered why I would see in those old movies sometimes a person with their hands out holding the yarn while a second person winds it into a ball. Several hours and a few scissor clips later I had 4 balls of yarn of various sizes.
I wasn't sure if I had enough to make the length of scarf I wanted to make, but I figured I'd just start it and order more if I needed to. My wife loves the color and richness of it, and as I work with it, it becomes more and more beautiful, since the variety of colors in it will allow her to wear it with many different outfits. Here it is:
2-6-09 ~ It's cliche, but it's true: I can't believe it's February already!! And the weather is starting to get weird again. One day it's cold, the next day it's 50 degrees. Spring is just around the corner! And I love it because every day the sun is setting later and getting up earlier. Winter will soon be over.
Yes it is Black History Month, but this year is different. Now that we have a black President, people are debating whether or not we still need Black History Month. My opinion: yes we do, more than ever. Why? Because there are still plenty of people in this country who know very little about the accomplishments of black people besides George Washington Carver, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas, and a few others. Our history is rich with examples of inventors, scientists, artists, explorers, etc. Many inventions we take for granted today were the brainchildren of African Americans from yesteryear. But there are still many trailblazers living today that we can and should recognize for their role as living history. Our contribution to history should be recognized, and continuing the tradition of Black History Month will help do so.
I am almost at the halfway point knitting my wife's shawl. Here's a picture:
It is 23" long so far and I am on my 5th ball of yarn. I have 5 more left but I don't know if I'll use them all yet. I'm truly getting bit by the loom knitting bug now, and I've been thinking of other projects to do, like knitting a baby blanket to have "just in case" we get invited to a baby shower or to give to a local hospital.
1-30-09 ~ My scarf is done! I made mine the longest (72") because I like nice long scarves to wear. It is so soft and warm, I love it! My hat goes off to Lion's Brand yarn! So it took about 2.5 weeks, partly because last week I only worked on it 3 days:
And here is the progress on my wife's shawl. It is now 19":
Knitting has taken over for a moment but I will definitely be going back to "regular" art again when I'm done. Though I must say I was absolutely drooling over the recycled yarns on these websites: www.recycledsilk.com and http://knitting-yarn-store.com . The colors are so beautiful! I know I will be ordering some and making something special.
1-22-09 ~ Progress is so quick and visible when you knit, that is one of the most satisfying parts about it. Here's how they look after just two weeks. Mine measures 50",
the shawl is 12.5":
1-15-09 ~ Here are two more projects I have started this week. The first one is a scarf for me. My daughter loved her scarf when I gave it to her and I decided to make mine two colors too:
This is about 5 hours worth of knitting, and already I have 28" in length. I'm using the 8" loom. I hope to be done with it by the end of next week since the temperatures are in the single digits around here! I'm using the same yarn I used for all my other scarves: Lion's Brand Homespun.
This is the shawl that I started making for my wife:
It is a different brand of yarn: Patons Divine. The color is Denim Storm:
It has wispy strands, almost as if you had taken a comb to the yarn and pulled it through:
I thought those wispy strands were going to make it easier for the yarn to snag as I worked it, but it didn't. This is about 3 hours of knitting on the 20" loom. I have 3 inches of length. We bought ten 142 yard rolls of it, so hopefully that is enough to do the job. Can you tell that I'm really enjoying this?! What's next, Artman Greg scarves? Maybe.
1-8-09 ~ Who knew I'd be knitting my way into 2009?! Here is the scarf that I finished for my daughter:
It probably took about 1/4 of the red and not much of the white to complete. It measures 4.5 x 34.5. I decided to try knitting two colors together to see how it would look, and I think it came out great. The white yarn has various colors marbled into it, and you never know which color you are going to get as you work your way through the yarn. When I bought it I thought it would mostly be blue but there is also purple and brown so far; I'm sure other colors I haven't seen yet are hiding in there. If you look closely at the picture above you can tell that the white ends are both different colors. Here is a detail of the scarf:
It is as soft and warm as it looks! This scarf took the shortest amount of time to complete: 5 hours. It is the shortest and least wide of all of the ones I've done.
I was loom knitting this scarf as my wife and I sat in a public waiting room, and all the women on staff came over and commented on how nice it was coming out. One showed us a lavender and white baby blanket she had crocheted. It was beautiful! She also loom knitted: she made little hats for the premature babies to wear at a local hospital. She described how she made the hats and the little pom-poms for the top. She shared with me some tips on knitting and showed my wife (who has an interest in sewing) how to make the rail fence pattern for quilts. The women were surprised that I could get almost the entire scarf done in the amount of time we were sitting there and kept coming over to check my progress. If I get ambitious I might try to make a hat and maybe some mittens for her.
1-7-09 ~ Here is the black scarf that I finished for my brother-in-law:
Here is a detail:
I didn't measure the length but it is 1.75 rolls of this color yarn. It is not as wide as the others because the wider ones seemed more feminine to me.
1-3-09 ~ We finally made our Gingerbread House!! My wife had bought me a gingerbread house kit for Christmas 2 years ago and I had not gotten around to making it. So today I said to myself, "We are all going to spend some fun family time together making this house." And that is just what we did. With Jacki Velasquez' Christmas cd playing in the background, my daughter and I mixed the icing, and then my wife joined us in decorating the house with candy. Naturally the candy was stale 2 years later, but that didn't stop us from nibbling on it. The more you chewed the gumdrops the softer they got, though the taste didn't always improve. And I didn't care how messy it got (within reason, of course). Our daughter was delighted! Here is the result:
And this is the other side:
I didn't bother trying to attach the roof, since it all collapsed once when we first put the walls together. The second time we attached the walls to each other I tied it up with string so it would stay together until it dried, and it did. You can still see the string in the pictures. The house will go in the garbage by garbage day next week.
1-2-09 ~ H A P P Y N E W Y E A R !! Now I have to get used to writing 2009 on everything.
Here is the scarf that I just finished for my sister:
and here is a detail of the scarf:
I think it came out so nice. I didn't measure the length but it is 2.5 rolls of this color yarn. It took about 2 weeks to complete, working on it for about 1-2 hours a day during the week. I'm working on my brother-in-law's scarf right now and it should be done by the end of next week.
2008
3/28/08 - I just don't know where the time has gone. Speaking of which, I wanted to take a moment and describe how I completed my latest scratchboard, Soldiers (at a Market in Panama). I took the usual steps in my drawing process: First I enlarged the reference photograph I used and made a sketch, editing out a few soldiers and background information. Then I photocopied the sketch and added values - no, not the moral kind! I mean I decided what was going to be black or white in the sketch and used a marker to flesh it out. Then I traced my sketch onto the scratchboard and scratched away. But, of course, I really don't have the luxury of long stretches of time to devote to my work during the week. So I went with the 5 minute rule. Every day I would work on my piece for at least 5 minutes. This was hard at first, because I wanted to work for more than 5 minutes, and sometimes I did. But I always kept an eye on the clock. Now I'm usually pretty good at staying in my creative zone regardless of whether of 5 minutes or 105 minutes to work on a piece. But even I was surprised at how much I could get done in 5 minutes without rushing, and how easily I could pick up where I left off the day before. I proved to myself that no matter how little time I have I can always take time to be creative. Now stretching the work out over so many days seemed to make it take longer to complete. But the end result was just as satisfying.
Here is a picture of the work in progress. On the left is the values sketch underneath a piece of paper that I use which scratching to keep my hand from smudging the work. In the center is the work before I cut it out. On the right is the original photograph and the enlargement of it underneath:
I knew I didn't want the soldiers' uniforms to be white and I didn't want to put too much detail in them. At first I considered applying a dot screen to shade them, but then I experimented with pencil and that worked really well. The pencil picked up some of the texture that I had scratched into the board. I shaded each uniform very lightly and then massaged it with a shading stump to make it even. I had to be very careful though because the tip of the pencil was sharp enough to scratch away parts I didn't want it to, and the stump could also remove the black as well if I pressed too hard.
3/21/08
- First Full Day of Spring (on the East
coast), Good Friday, and the debut of
my new website and blog. Yeah, I'll be updating this once a week or maybe even more
frequently, so you'll want to check back in to see what's new and what's news on
my radar. A lot can happen in a week! If you've been to my website before, you
may be wondering... where are your photographs at? I now sell them on
items available from my Cafe Press store, Artman Greg's Gift Shoppe (www.CafePress.com/ArtmanGreg). My prints
(Bedtime Prayer, Are We There Yet, The Disk Jockey) are now only available on
. So if you want one, look up
ebay
item numbers 150226639294 (The
Disk Jockey),
150228045160 (Bedtime Prayer), and
150228051869 (Are We There Yet). Just copy and paste
the item number into Ebay's search. If you have been wanting to buy one, now is
the time!
Be sure to click on the new "Home Decor" links on the right. These will help convince you that, "Hey! Artman Greg's black and white art really will work in my home or office; I should buy one!"
Oh yeah, this is a read-only blog, so if you have any comments about something I said, e-mail them to me. If I like it, I'll post it. If I don't, I might post it anyway. I just made up this blog thing on Frontpage and it was relatively easy to do. But I will keep it updated. No, really!
4/25/2008 - I wasn't feeling so well this week - tummy troubles. My wife thinks it was probably a stomach virus. It really didn't affect my appetite very much, but it was annoying. It still hasn't completely gone away. But it hasn't stopped me from getting half of my drawing finished. So far it is coming along as I had planned and I'm happy with the progress.
I was driving to work on the interstate in the early morning this week. It was a rather uneventful commute up to that point; I was toggling the radio station between NPR's Morning Edition, the classical music station and the Gospel show on the Black station as I usually do. The sun was not up yet but it was twilight. Traffic was flowing smoothly and I expected to arrive at my usual time. A black car was driving rather fast about 20-30 car lengths in front of me when suddenly a baby deer darted out across the road in front of him! The car swerved violently to miss hitting the deer but as it swerved it went into a wild spin into the right hand lane. My heart was in my throat because I couldn't slow down fast enough to avoid what was sure to be a horrible collision. Though I had the windows closed I could hear his tires screeching as he spun around. The car in front of me continued to spin until it wound up again in my lane and stopped, facing me! I knew other cars were near me and were slowing down too in the other lanes but I wasn't sure if they were slowing down fast enough for me to make a quick move in their direction. Praise God, seconds before I reached the car, he accelerated and spun around into the left lane, facing the right direction, and stopped, though a little edge of his bumper remained in my way. I was able to go around him safely and continue on my way. Whew! What a sigh of relief! I thanked God for protecting me and continued my commute. What a close call! No less than 10 minutes later that same guy had caught up to me and passed me, speeding by in the right hand lane.
4/19/08 - I made the enlargement of the reference picture I needed and have begun the drawing. I make the initial drawing onto tracing paper, darken the back of the tracing paper with pencil, and then trace the drawing onto scratchboard. This process allows me to edit and tweak the piece as needed before it is applied to the scratchboard for the finished work.
I knew that working on this piece would require a lot of repetitive work, and I'm not just drawing each "item" as a duplicate; I decided to render each "item" as an individual object, so that each one will be slightly different. You will understand why that is important later on. I can tell this is going to be a highly emotional piece to create, and my goal is to channel all of that emotion into it.
I took my daughter to Walmart and we shopped for some paint. No, I'm not repainting the walls! It was paint for the artwork. At first I thought I might use ink, but I wanted to go for a uniform, flat look. As I thought about it more I wondered, "Maybe I should use ink anyway, because it gives a textured look once applied." I had used ink before (see The Magic Touch) but the way I had originally pictured the work was for it to be a flat color. I hadn't used acrylics on scratchboard before so I wasn't sure if it would warp it. Finally, I decided to buy a small amount of acrylic to test it on the scratchboard, and it worked without warping it. It dried lightning fast too. But I can't afford to make mistakes with it since that will mean scratching it and the scratchboard off beneath it to fix it.
4/11/08 - I'm lagging a bit behind with this art project. I need to get a reference picture enlarged but have not found a large format printer in the area. I may wind up enlarging it on the computer, printing it out in pieces and then putting those pieces back together. It's more work but at least it's free and in this economy every little bit helps. I will say that this piece is based on the American Flag but I have a little dilemma: if I reduce the number of stripes will it still "read" as a flag? If I use the correct number of stripes it could overstate my point, which may not necessarily be a bad thing, but isn't what I had originally planned. Hopefully this dilemma will not create a block for me because I really want to get the work done.
For me, another important part of creating the work is choosing the music I will listen to as I create the final piece. I need music that helps me stay focused and in whatever mood I'm trying to bring out in the piece. It also helps me to stay in the creative zone when I get interrupted or can't work on the piece for awhile. I can just put the music back on and it will trigger the emotion that I want in the piece. This was particularly effective when I created "Are We There Yet?" While I am thinking about what music I want to listen to I won't actually be choosing any until I start the finished work.
4/4/08 - This week I joined an artist's networking site - www.ArtScuttlebutt.com . It's a neat site with a lot of artists from different walks of life and all kinds of styles. Although they didn't have a category for scratchboard on there. So I had to categorize my artwork as "Other." I always knew I was special. So far I've met some pretty friendly folks. What I also like about it is that when I made up a blog, it appeared as a new blog on their home page right away, giving my blog more visibility. But don't worry, I'm not going to write 2 million blogs for you to read. This one and that one will be practically identical.
I've been preparing to start a new piece of art that will be based on slavery. It will present slavery as a metaphor for something else. That is the only detail I am giving at this point, but I invite you to stay tuned as I share the progress and process of making it. I had this idea a few years ago but now is the right time for it to come forth. When I prepare to create some of my work, I usually base it on a thumbnail sketch of an idea I've captured on paper and filed away. I do online research on the subject. I try to find books that I have that reference the subject. After I'm satisfied with the research I begin my sketch, deciding how big or how small the work should be, how it will relate to the edges of the paper, and laying down the basic shapes in the work. Right now I have finished my sketch and will create a more finished drawing that I will base the actual work on. This time I will be using one color, and I haven't decided yet on how I want to apply the color to the scratchboard. I thought of one method so far but it may not be archival, and part of the impact of this piece will be the color I use. So far I have decided that the piece should be 14x30 but that may change as I work on it. I need it to be at least that size so the detail can be seen.
5/30/08 - I started getting back to work on my art again and it feels good. Right now I am transferring the drawing to the scratchboard by tracing over it. If it were a much smaller piece, I could probably scan the sketch into the computer and then copy it onto the scratchboard directly by running it through the printer. But this time it is a longer process, and due to the subject at hand it is better that I take my time and trace it by hand. The subject deserves to be rendered that way.
5/27/08 - Still feeling a little sore from the surgery and that has slowed me down. The pain medication tends to make me lethargic, so I really haven't had a lot of energy for doing any art. In fact, I haven't done any. But one good thing! I have been able to take a nap almost every day!
5/16/08 - This week I was able to complete the drawing and rub the back of it with a pencil. That way I can use it to transfer the image to the scratchboard. The next step is to trace the image onto the scratchboard and then scratch it out. As I trace the image I will make minor corrections and changes as I see fit, so it won't be an exact copy.
The end of this week was a little stressful. I had to get my adenoids removed under anesthesia and I have never had any kind of surgery before. As the date approached I tried to have a positive attitude but I couldn't help but wonder, "What was going to happen to me when I got anesthetized?" I had always wondered what it would be like but nothing really prepared me for it until it happened. I was laying there on the operating table in a very sterile, very cold room. They administered some of the anesthesia through an IV and as it entered my body it felt so, so cold. At first nothing was happening but I could feel it traveling through my body. Suddenly my eyes began to feel wobbly and I passed out. Next thin I knew it was an hour later and I woke up in another room with nurses around. Then they wheeled me into another room and called my wife in. I was glad to see her and glad the operation had gone successfully. I was also glad I didn't feel a thing. I can tell that having them out was the right decision and I can hear and talk better. Today it is still quite painful to swallow food or liquid and my tail has been dragging, so I have been taking it easy and resting as much as I can. I hope to be all better by Monday.
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.
6/28/08 - I am now 90% done with the tracing, and I am glad to nearly be finished with this part. I had a little setback during the week and didn't get to finish as much on it as I wanted to. But now I'm in the home stretch and will probably start scratching by the time you read my next blog! Scratching the scratchboard, that is.
6/20/08 - Happy First Day of Summer! I'm lovin' the warm weather! Though we did have a storm that knocked out the power for about 50 minutes.
Did not make as much progress on the tracing but I am about 75% done with it, so I am happy that it is closer to being finished. I work on it when I can. Some days I only get a few minutes; other days I have a little while to work on it. It could be frustrating but I won't let it be.
6/14/08 - Still tracing and hope to be done with the tracing part of it by the end of next week. It is emotionally draining working on this piece and I think that is why it is going so slowly. If I can stay on course then I will get it completed in my time frame. I hope to enter the finished piece in an exhibit that I read about this week, so now there is more of an incentive to get it done.
My daughter (with the help of her teacher at daycare) made me a special Father's Day gift! It is a coffee mug which is painted green and then her hand print is on the mug also. It is really special. At the school they had a Father's Day program where the children sang and acted out songs that they had learned. Afterwards there were refreshments. I thought perhaps I would chat with some of the other fathers but baby girl wanted me to sit on the floor and play with blocks after the program, so I did. I think the other kids could see I was a little different, because when I first got to the school some of the other Dads hadn't arrived yet. So I sat down in the baby chairs and played with my daughter. It didn't take long before the other kids came around wanting to play and sit on my lap too. When other grown-ups got there they would talk to each other or the teachers, but to me it was all about the kids and spending time with them. Happy Father's Day, all!
6/8/08 - I'm about 20% done with the tracing part of this piece; it is going a little slower than I would like so this week I plan to pick up the pace. I would like to have this piece completed by the end of July and if I pick up the pace on it right now, that will be possible.
Drama. I've had enough of it while driving as of late. One day this week I was driving to work early in the morning. It had rained overnight and was still lightly raining when I left. I was making good time in spite of it. I was just about to turn 6am when suddenly I heard a noise, as if I got a nail stuck in the tire. As I listened more carefully it sounded like something was stuck on the tire, hitting the bumper again and again as the wheel turned. Naturally, I pulled over to see what was the matter. I was concerned about pulling over because earlier in the week someone was hit by a car just after they pulled over. I prayed, got out of the car and watched traffic carefully as trucks and cars whizzed by, kicking up a spray of dirty mist. I saw something hanging off of the tire, only to discover that it was part of the tire! I had almost had a blowout! Part of the tread was separating from the tire, but it was not losing air. I still had about an hour before I needed to be at work so I figured I could change the tire in time. But naturally when I went to use the jack, it had rusted over and I couldn't get it to budge. I had just taken out my phone to call for help when the NJ Emergency Service Patrol came by and stopped. The man came over with a smile, offered to help by changing the tire, and did it in record time. The service was free and I got to work on time. I thank God for sending them my way in my time of need. Having a blowout is scary enough but having it in the dark in the rain in the center lane of a highway would have been terror. God saved my life twice this year while driving.
7-25-08 ~ Merry Christmas in July! A radio station that I like celebrates Christmas every July 25 by playing Christmas music and programming all day long. I love it !!! I also love the fact that I have finished my tracing and have begun scratching my artwork onto the scratchboard! Starting the scratching part of this work has made me feel so good. No matter what else may be going on in my life, the moment I start scratching on that board all the stress melts away. Yay! And I'm also working on my commission! Yay! Good news all around.
And my daughter has finally discovered how to open the door to her room (and every other doorknob that isn't babyproofed). So bedtime or naptime can be a little challenging sometimes, but manageable. However, the novelty of opening the door at will is slowly wearing off.
7-15-08 ~ Been a little while since I last wrote in my blog. The real world has kept me real busy. Much has happened, most of it having nothing to do with art (or so it seems). I have nearly finished the tracing for my drawing while beginning to work on a commission that I received, so I'm hoping I can maintain the momentum I started. On Independence Day, our daughter celebrated her independence by sleeping her first night in a big girl bed! No more crib, and she wasn't scared to sleep in it either. We were fortunate that she adjusted to it right away, in part because we showed her how excited and grown up it was going to be for her. It took a day or two to discover that toys can be played with and brought into bed, and a thorough exploration of every nook and cranny of the room can now be accomplished unsupervised.
8-29-08 ~ What an awesome time we live in, when a black man could be President of the U.S., or a woman could be Vice President! It will truly be historic, whomever wins.
My commission is about halfway done. I am experimenting with a new technique which I hope will work. If not, I will still be ahead of the game in finishing the work. Once I am done with the commission I will post it on this site. I anticipate being done with it in another two weeks.
As I sit here typing, I am confronted with a pile of my daughter's artwork. Yes I have the very first piece of artwork she did: it was a painting using cool whip dyed red. The color has long since faded but the memory has not. Now I am faced with deciding which ones of her work are "important" enough to keep and which ones to throw out. I may consider asking her about it, but I have a feeling she will want to keep it all and that is not the goal. She has done some good work, I think, so it may not be as hard a decision as I'm making it.
8-23-08 ~ Spent quite a bit of time preparing for a garage sale this weekend, and it paid off. I had 7 dusty old trunks that I wasn't sure would sell, and every one sold! That was nice. And I met some nice people to boot. Plus my cuckoo clock sold. I loved my clock, but we really don't have a place to keep it out of the reach of my daughter so I sold it. One day I will get another one.
I am hoping to have my commission completed by the end of August, so I stopped working on my other artwork for now. I'll resume working on it when I'm through. Balancing work and art and family time isn't easy, but if you give a little time to each one you can accomplish much.
8-5-08 ~ Hard to believe that it is already August. I decided I would make my Christmas gifts this year, thanks to this economy. Handmade gifts always seem more special anyway. I won't tell you what I'm going to make but I will post a picture once they are given on Christmas Day. This gift is a relatively simple one to make but it will have my stamp of personality on it.
Both commission and scratchboard art are coming along, neither as fast as I would like. But progress is being made so I can't complain.
9-14-08 ~ I expect my work on the commission to be complete by the end of this week. I am in the home stretch of it now, and it is coming along quite well. Once it is done I will post a photo of it here.
I pray for all those people impacted by the hurricanes over the last few weeks. The weather here in NJ has been relatively calm all summer. I can't imagine what it would be like to lose everything and not be able to even get back to what's left right away.
I observed 9-11 somberly this year. I took a moment to reflect on what happened and thank God for the safety of my family on that day. I could just as easily have been one of those people mourning the loss of a loved one.
9-26-08 ~ Commission still not done yet due to some unexpected work that needed to be done on something else. But it is only a minor setback before it is completed. I'm sure the client will be happy with what I've done. Nobody likes to be kept waiting.
11-11-08 ~ Time continues to fly by, as the end of the year fast approaches. My commission is still unfinished due to a change requested by the client. I expect to have it completed by Thanksgiving. The client already saw the progress on the work and is so happy with it! I am too.
11-5-08 ~ OBAMA WON! This is absolutely amazing, that a black man will soon become the President of the United States. Really, when only such a short time ago we were considered to be inferior inhuman creatures. Dr. King would be proud. As I went to the store to get extra copies of the newspapers with Obama on it, a white man held the door open for me with a smile. That's just what happened on election day. People of all races who voted held the door of the Oval Office open for a black man.
12-27-08 ~ Now that Christmas is over, I can reveal what else besides my client's commission that I have been working on, for Christmas gifts: scarves! I knew back in the summertime that I wanted to make handmade gifts for my family this year, but I thought I was going to be able to learn how to quilt. I wanted to make quilts for everyone with family pictures on them. Rather ambitious for someone who has never quilted before!! So after I did a little research at the local yarn and craft store, I decided to make something different. I had always wanted one of those hand-cranked knitting machines and I started looking for it. Surprisingly, my wife found it when she was in the local thrift store and bought it for me. I tried it out, but I wasn't too happy with the results. Sometimes it would miss the yarn and you had to re-thread it back in, which made it difficult to simply turn the crank and knit without a care. So I went to Wal-mart and bought a Knifty Knitter loom and some yarn to practice. It was slow going at first, having to learn a new craft. But the directions were very easy to follow (once I read them several times and studied the pictures). And in no time I was loom knitting. I've discovered a new way to relax and create something wonderful for the people I love. The photo below is a picture of me nearly done with the scarf for my mother-in-law:
I sent it to her and she was absolutely delighted with it. I made one for my parents too but haven't heard back yet since they weren't available when I called. I haven't finished two more I'm making for other family members. Once I got started, I enjoyed it so much. It is a very peaceful and fulfilling activity, since you see the progress you are making so rapidly.
12-25-08 ~ M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S
12-24-08 ~ Ice Storm today. I was on my way to work, driving slowly and was just 10 minutes from my job when boom! There was an accident ahead of me on the exit ramp. I couldn't see it, so I thought everyone had slowed down. For a few minutes we were making progress, creeping along slowly. But then... it all came to a halt, and the police closed off the exit ramp. I could not back up and turn around. At first I thought, "Oh, we'll get moving in a minute, and I'll make it to work on time." But soon it became apparent we were not going anywhere after I listened to the traffic report on the radio. I decided to listen to Christmas music and make the best of it, reading the paper and working on my Christmas gifts. If I had only known I'd be sitting there for 3 HOURS!! But I was thankful to God that it wasn't me in the accident, and I prayed for those who were. The ground only looked wet from rain when it was actually slick from icy rain.
12-2-08 ~ I finally finished my client's commission. Here it is below:
Some of the pictures I had to work from were really small so I had to use a magnifying glass to see the detail on the faces. It took me several months to complete, only because I couldn't devote all of my free time to finish it like I wanted to.