A little back-and-forth

Me: I think I'll go to the gym tomorrow.
He: You should use more assertive language.
Me: [squinting] You should say, "That's great! Yes, you should (go to the gym tomorrow)".
He: Yes, I should.
Me: Pfeh.

===

He: Boy, today turned out great. The temperature was just perfect. Not too hot, not too cold. Just Perfect.
Me: (reciting) 'This porridge is too hot! Oh my! And this porridge is too cold! …'
He: … so I mixed them together and ate them both.
Me: Bahahaha!

Happy weekend, all! xox -w

Stringing you along

20080207_string Click to see this photo's flickr page

The thing about every day things, for me, is that every thing - - EVERY thing - - that is manufactured or assembled, had to be designed. It might not always be elegant, but these things had to be mindfully and deliberately designed, so they could be manufactured (can you hear it?: Ka-Chung! Ka-Chung! Ka-chung! The big, loud machines of industry, churning out stuff..).

You have to remember that I'm a product designer, so all the little details are things that I know someone, possible another designer or engineer or artisan, had to consider and create. Every once in a while I get lost in reverie, spending the time to look at the little details - zipper pulls, knobs, hooks, fasteners - and get lost in looking at someone else's work. My guy says I read more labels (especially food. Hello?! Counting calories?!) and get lost in details more than anyone he knows.

Of course I do. It's what I do.

Toothpaste pingpong

I'm a Crest kid!

Diving into a new sketchbook without worrying about committing to that perfect first mark on that pristine first page.

I like the format that Karen Blados uses for her daily sketches. And Jane's sketch journals are really nice snippets of her days. Illustrated lives, indeed.

Maybe this way I can get away with spending less time typing, documenting the little daily stories. The blank white block for entering text with the blinking cursor is like that brand new white sheet of drawing paper. I try to find those perfect words for that perfect, pristing new (digital) page... As much as I enjoy the crafting of words, I also need to streamline my days a little bit, when I can.

And besides, some of these daily drawings seem so naked all by themselves on the pages of my sketch book, hanging out there all by their lonesome.

Thursday already? Wuf! Heading into the stretch towards the weekend.. have a good one out there. -w

Haiku

While on the freeway
Camry's axle disconnects:
Wendee's moving day!

You were perhaps wondering how the move went. This captures but just one small episode. Indeed. To summarize the long story, the move is done except for the part where the SalvationArmy comes and takes away a truckload of furniture and goods, where I cart off one last load of incidentals, turn off the DSL and turn in my keys.

Oh. And, yes, I'm ready to give my old mechanic a &@#*-'in piece of my mind about a ring they apparently overlooked that, oh, secures the axle to the rest of the transmission.
Feh...

Camry: Good
Wendee: Good
Jan: Good
Wendee's stuff: Good
The new place: Good

My watercolor crayons and plein aire brushes managed to get stashed into storage. I'm on a mission to go fetch them and get back at it all. D'ja miss me?

More adventures, in a bit.

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.