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In relation to a writer, most readers believe in the Double Standard: they may be unfaithful to him as often as they like, but he must never, never be unfaithful to them.
-- W. H. Auden
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I've gotten into the habit of taking my camera with me everywhere I go now. I'm trying to increase my visual vocabulary, if you will. I'm absorbing more information in new ways to help me broaden how I communicate. A picture's worth a thousand words. Why not make it like play?  I think every artist has to overcome shyness at some point to be bold enough to ask subjects to pose or stand still. Or be disinvested in the opinion of others enough that getting out of a car to take a picture of a stop sign is all that matters.  Tamara tolerates it all. She's great for me that way, allowing me my nerdiness and picture-taking. (I love her for that.)  Like today, when we went to lunch and I took a picture of our waitress.  She even helps me with shots, suggesting that I take advantage of this great tree near our home to have the younger boys pose for me.  Don't be afraid. Play. Experiment. Do it. Whatever it is that you wish you would do more of, do that.  Do it until it becomes habit. |
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This is a post about expectations. It's about what we notice. We go about our business. We go forward with the things that matter to us. We assemble the puzzle of our lives as best we can.  It's not easy to assemble a puzzle, just as life is not always easy. There are the pieces that nearly fit. The color seemed right. It looked right. But it wasn't. And so a new piece looks promising, and we try that too. Assembling 499 pieces correctly is an astonishing task, in its own way. In life, you can get 499 pieces just right after much trial and error. But that's not what gets noticed. It's the missing piece that draws your attention.  It's the missed expectation. Success success success success success success success success success success success success success success success success success success success success success success success success success success success success success success success success success success success success oops success success success success success success. And what do people remember? What do you remember? The successes and the good? Or are you so very mindful of what went missing? |
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Some people don't naturally see the good in life. It's not that it's not there for them to see; they're just looking in the wrong direction. I was out on a walk with Tamara the other night and I noticed this.  The clouds were kind of drab. Kind of bluish-gray. It was an Eeyore sky.  If I turned slightly to the left, there was a dramatic difference...  Color and awe. It's amazing what a shift in position can do. It can "pink up" your whole outlook.  It's not why the idea can't work... it's how the idea can work. A lot of people are familiar with Michelangelo's quote: "The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark." He also said this: "Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can accomplish." Birth never happens unless you push. Push hard. |
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The Best Cook in the World |
This was dinner last night... chicken and ribs - grilled to perfection and smothered in homemade barbecue sauce.  It's a hell of a thing being married to the best cook in the world. Just sayin'... |
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The redesign is getting closer. You can take a peek at the new look here. There are a lot of reasons for the redesign. But chiefly, I felt that the look of the site was too busy. I wanted to make it more focused. I also wanted it more airy and playful. This is, most of all, my playground. I screw around on this site, putting up melodies I hum, pictures I take, thoughts I ponder, and links I like. I'll be writing more about this later, but I've found that I've been limited by constraints I placed around myself and it pisses me off that I've done that. I've been bound by my own definitions and it's amazing what limits come with that. In a week or so, the site redesign should be complete and when it is, I'll also take down Art By Brett. When I do, I'll tell you why. Lots going on with me right now, and I feel very good about it. So, off for a bike ride with my beautiful wife on this most gorgeous of days :)  ETC: After the bike ride, some pictures - one of the new bike, a Gary Fisher Zebrano, one of the middle of the Farm Bureau "lake," and one of the north end. And then a quick pencil sketch of the south end. Very, very windy for a ride, but for the first ride of the year, it felt great.     |
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 I was going to title this post, "Exploring," but it's really more about the dad and the son being in two totally different places, near each other, but very far away. |
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Painting is relatively easy. Color makes it so. It's not hard to select the hue that matches what I see and then put that spot down. Drawing is harder. There is no color. The mind has to reduce everything to values and then capture the essence of the subject. I haven't really drawn for a while. I need to discipline myself to do so before I paint again. Sitting on the couch with Tamara last night, I started drawing. The thing about drawing from life is that things often aren't what you think they are. If I asked you to draw a foot, would the toes extend past the foot, or would they kind of float in the midst of it? I would have thought that they would extend past the foot, but that's not necessarily true.  And so I was reminded last night, as I often am, that the first step in drawing is to forget what I know and see it as for the first time. I can't draw a foot; I have to draw the contours and values that I see. They're not at all the same thing. And I have to remember that it's okay to get it wrong, so to speak. I'm not a camera. I see with filters and biases and skewed points of view. Check out how the chair is tilted.  Our dog, Dochas, lay just long enough for me to outline her.  And then another take on Tamara's foot.  She has the most pretty feet. And yet, looking at my sketches, they looked too thick. I'm back to learning anew how to draw. I'm okay with that. I think it got better and felt more relaxed as I went. I think it's good - and healthy - to believe that we're not an expert despite our achievements and to tackle a task again with humility. Assumptions will always kill us. |
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