Sig Agaid*

Well, I’m sick again (* see above). Sigh. I’m waiting for the cough suppressant to kick in before going to bed. I’m not keeping you awake with all this hacking, am I? Or maybe I should go to bed so I can get some sleep and get rid of the cough.

Shrug. Too late now.
(You're thinking, "Exactly! Go to bed!")

So, anyway, I figured that since I actually sat and drew today, I’d scan and post my drawing. Seems like lately I’ve been doing a lot of reading to prep for class, which I’ve really been enjoying. I get inspired, read some more, try to organize my lecture notes, and then think and revel in all the great ideas! And then, I get tired before getting to the drawing and painting part of the day (night).

I’ll be teaching another class starting in a few weeks which will be more focused on drawing, so I think this will force me to get back to design sketching. I find myself thinking, “Okay, where did I put all my markers?” I’m going through material that another instructor has prepared. One of the course requirements is to keep an observational sketch journal – drawing objects and really observing their form and proportions, material, construction, assembly, little details. This comes inspired by a chapter in a book, “How to Get Ideas” by Jack Foster (I’m going to order it to read the rest). The chapter sounds like it’s in the spirit of “Everyday Matters”.

You know:

Draw every day the everyday things around you and see how much more you notice and appreciate.

So, if you’ve happened upon this blog from a friendly link, or peruse some of my links, you’ll see that there are, happily, a lot of people who are not only doing this, but sharing their work as well. Isn’t it all wonderful? You all inspire me so. I need to do more of this and I think that teaching this new class and assigning this observation notebook may very well inspire me to keep up with it as well. Design sketching requires (demands) less fuzziness and vignetting than I’ve come to enjoy lately, so it’ll be a bit of a challenge to dial in my focus and precision (and craftsmanship. Egh!). Still, I know I won’t be able to suppress it, so I’m interested in how the fuzziness and vignetting ultimately express themselves.

But right now, I confess, I’m feeling a leeeettle bit rusty. I look at this sketch of my eaten lunch and think, "Wow, that's really hideous. And you post that on the internet? Yeesh."

[Big sigh]

It’s the fog of the sick, I think (thig).
That’s my excuse and I’m stickin’ with it.

You guys take care.