Eric Waldemar?

A week later, another afternoon out drawing, starting with the quiet cafe (Common Grounds). Homare Ikeda’s show opened last night at Wm. Havu Gallery, and it is all I’d hoped from the early versions I saw a while back at his studio. I’ll return to the show with more time to spend. Today’s work ended with studies of clouds. Engaging with the world with a pencil again is beginning to make me sane, as I’d hoped. It’s been years since I’ve spent so much time gazing attentively, attentively, questioningly at the objects around me. In any case, at the moment, the play of light on objects is more interesting than anything I’ve got to say. Just looking around, which is fine for now.

A quick scribble of a rock in the yard got out of hand. The dentist drilled and patched my tooth today, so, half-numb jaw, even still, 6 hours later. Oonagh chased boys at the playground, and we ate outside on the porch. A bee!

A lot of drawings today, but for now, just this scribble of a querulous guy.

A plant, a chair… This is what I’ve got around me. This is straight from my phone into WordPress. What’s great about that is the fact that I don’t need to take a picture, then upload it to my computer, then upload it to my server, then resize it. The image isn’t as good as my camera or scanner, but who cares? – it’s a snapshot of a sketchbook page, after all.
WordPress for iPhone is a little quirky, like the fact that you CAN choose to resize images to your site’s ‘medium’ image size, but making the choice doesn’t do anything. So, ok, look at the code, change size & alignment. Not a big deal, but the extra step is enough to make posting a photo take much longer, maybe twice as long. The thing is, angelic WordPress code volunteers will fix it soon, I imagine. And though WordPress for iPhone ain’t perfect, it’s still a lot swifter than the other way. One of the most enjoyable thing about WordPress (and its little iPhone sister) is the way it just keeps getting better, solving problems that I never realized existed – but suddenly a complex process becomes much easier. Thanks, everyone.

A few people at Common Grounds, as I graded animations for 2D Design class, taking a moment to look around now and then. Some stunning ink & wash drawings in class today, during a critique of an unreasonably demanding project. People who are really interested in stretching themselves to make strong images do great work in my class, and lazier people get surly. You have no right to ask me to look and think… Just do the minimum then, but don’t ask me for a recommendation. Some amazing students make me hopeful and excited. Teaching would be thrilling, but for the dead weight of arrogant, aggressive indifference. A required class, and some people want to make sure you know they’d rather be elsewhere. I wish you were too, pal. Of course, I don’t mean YOU.

Drawing, I conclude, is the way through: a way to nudge myself to alert, thoughtful sensitivity when broad exhaustion lately tends to render me tired and numb. I associate filling sketchbook after sketchbook with … smart, happy times, and creative delight without ambition beyond the image at hand. Sociability, reflection, tiny insights. Expect more scribbles in days to come.