meditation

I spent several hours of this week at the Art Institute of Chicago contemplating some works of art that are specifically spiritual. I am personally working on some art for my church. This is a study I made of a painting by Peter Paul Rubens titled "St. Francis in meditation". I love the sensitive face, the eyes and hands.  I find that sketching while looking and thinking is the best way for me to really see.

The Lord is my shepherd

The Lord is my shepherd;

 I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul,

He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,




I will fear no evil.







for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

My cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life.

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Psalm 23

paradise

Plucked on a walk around the neighborhood while visiting Florida. Might have been growing on the neighbor's property?

the cat who does Not like me

She has held a grudge against me for years now. And she does not forget an insult.

The first occasion was when I came to visit with my dog. That was several years ago but she still snarls at me when I arrive at the door.
The second unforgivable offense is when I came to stay for an extended visit and the beloved mistress disappeared  for a few nights returning with (hiss) a newborn baby! Of course she blamed me for the arrival of the baby. Hadn't I been the person who brought a dog? It's only logical that I am to blame for all insulting new disruptions to her household.

good thoughts

number seven

This two year old child is my seventh grandchild. My greatest joy in life is the time I have with these children.

observation of nature

A heightened sense of the observation of nature is one of the chief delights that has come to me through trying to paint. (Winston Churchill)

drawing while witnessing Church baptism

worship band

drawing in Church

flower vendor

Another page from my Mexico sketchbook of a vendor with fruit and calla lilies sitting in front of an historic church in Queteraro. Some of these I drew on the spot while sitting at an outdoor cafe table, or a convenient spot on the plaza. This one I drew later from a photo I took. I was not sure if this woman was sleeping and I wanted to get close to the flowers.

drawing your sense

Drawing is not following a line on the model, it is drawing your sense of the thing. Robert Henri
Here are offered a few more of my sketchbook drawings from traveling in Mexico. This is not a
travel blog but I do seem to fill up the sketchbook most when I am traveling.
I do love to travel, book me a ticket, 2 hours drive or 24 hours flight away, make me happy.

One of the sights I enjoyed in Mexico, including two extended trips recently to the city of Queretaro, are the street vendors, fruit and flowers especially. Diego Rivera made the flower vendors an iconic sight, but I am also fond of the fruit vendors.

These sketches of a coconut vendor with his jaunty wagon, and a mango seller at night were special to my eyes.
They reminded me of my childhood in the Philippines, fruit is one of my favorite treats. I posted about the Philippines and my recent trip here and here and here. And my love of mangos here.

a time for everything under heaven

A Time for Everything

1For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

2a time to be born, and a time to die;  Ecclesiastes 3 

waiting

Two years ago waiting with my daughter and son-in-law for the birth of my seventh grandchild.

fishing

"Many go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after."~ Henry David Thoreau

experience

"You should keep on painting no matter how difficult it is, because this is all part of experience, and the more experience you have, the better it is... unless it kills you, and then you know you have gone too far."
~ Alice Neel

dearest freshness

“And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

Gerard Manley Hopkins:

beautiful blue water

I will do water - beautiful, blue water. Claude Monet

I am painting a series, I have a passion for water and waves. I can sit and watch the motion of water endlessly and I want to translate the beauty to my art. So far I have worked up a number of watercolor sketches and oil paintings while on the beach in St. Joseph, Michigan. More to come.

back and forth

02-02-2020

I just wanted to be able to write that on my sketchbook page!
A palindrome number for the date sounds and looks very cool.
Yesterday's Super Bowl party was super fun, snacks, pulled pork sandwiches, guacamole, more snacks and the commercials and half-time. That's why I am here.

I sketched like crazy but it was really hard to catch that action, everything on TV seems to happen faster and faster every year.

who will you vote for?

No I don't mean that election. 
I mean who are you rooting for during this SuperBowl 2020 game?
Let's see last year I was for the LA Rams and my support did not give them any help.
Seriously, I am a very  indifferent sports viewer.
I will be at the party for the snacks, a glass of wine and the interesting commercials.
 I'll bring my sketchbook and see if I can grab an action sketch moment like this one.

such friends

You that would judge me, do not judge alone
This book or that, come to this hallowed place
Where my friends' portraits hang and look thereon;
Ireland's history in their lineaments trace;
Think where man's glory most begins and ends
And say my glory was I had such friends.
The Municipal Gallery RevisitedWilliam Butler Yeats