After several months off for a little R and R, am back at the keyboard and drawing board. The time that I have taken off, has been productive. A little travel and with it a change of scenery and many new reference photos. Also, during my time off has allowed time to experiment with new techniques and material. I find that during this time, there is a lot of growth that occurs. I have also have some time to share ideas and samples of work with my best critique. We review each others work and give advice and much encouragement. And believe me that is very important.

One thing also about some time off, is take some time to give back to your community. Volunteer at a food bank, a shelter, youth group, or community organization. That is time well spent and is certainly rewarding in many ways.

This time away is a time to fill your tank and get ready to expand your artistic range. Looking forward to the weeks and days ahead.

Every once in a while, you will come across a piece that just needs to be drawn or painted. And this piece is just such a piece. It is a rendering of a photo by Scott Schuman of the late New York Times fashion and society photographer Bill Cunningham. He didn’t start out as a photographer, but picked it up in his thirties when a friend gave him his first camera. He would ride his bike around mid-town of New York snapping street fashion. He said, “He who seeks beauty will find it.” For years people thought he was just a crazy guy riding around the city in the snow, the sleet, the rain, but he was always out there looking for beauty. Maybe we should all be like Bill Cunningham and jump on a bike and go looking for beauty.

Over the Christmas holiday, we can get a lot of “stuff” that may seem useless. One such item, is the large popcorn container. And every year I look forward to getting a new one and discover new ways to reuse it or recycle it. Now, if you are lucky to live in an area with a popcorn store, you may be able to make it back and get it filled with your favorite popcorn blend. Other uses that I have found for these containers are to use them as a storage unit. They are a great way to store various items that you do not want damaged.

This year I did something a little different with my popcorn can. I repurposed it into my whittling container. That’s right a “whittling container”. Now, stay with me on this. Presently, it is the winter months. We have less hours of day light and it can be rather cold outside. I like to whittle outside and let the chips fall where they may. But during the winter months, I am not as likely to be outside whittling. So, the alternative is the whittle inside. That presents a problem of wood chips everywhere. That tends to irritate my better half. Like the old saying states: “Happy wife, happy life!” So, to maintain a happy life I needed to find someway to contain my wood chips. Thus the popcorn can. I can sit in my living room chair, or in what ever chair I choose to sit and and not have chips all over the house. Just whittle right over the can. Problem solved.

I also purchased a waiters apron with pockets. I tied this around my popcorn can and have a convent place to store my safety glove, sandpaper and knives, all in one handy container. With the basic black apron, it looks nice, not goddy. And I can set it in the corner out of the way. Several problems solved.

Well, it is 2012! And glad 2020 is over. The Christmas decorations are all packed away for another year. All the Christmas goodies hav been eaten at the expense of the waistline.

So now it is time to get down to producing artwork. Have made some runs to the local art store to get some supplies. Have looked at some new art format and styles to take up this year. All in all, it looks like an exciting year ahead. So here is to a better, safer and healthier 2021.

Every once in a while, you have to go out on a limb. I did that recently with changing up my canvas. I switched over to a leaf. Fall is here and leafs are abundant, I decided to give something new a try. Paint a picture on a leaf. I must confess it was a challenge that you do not run into with normal water color paper. The rough and delicate surface makes the process much more difficult, but not unobtainable. It was fun and is another avenue for my art work, but I am not going to dive head long into doing all my work on a leaf.