Flip flop

Which do you prefer?
"bird on water"
a waterfall background

or "listening to the birds"?
2 people sitting and leaning in

Face to face

I like to doodle faces. Here are two sketches in pastels from my "5-minute" notebook.

Both were done while reaching over other books that I was "supposed to be reading." I didn't pick them up until I was almost done.

They're not symmetrical or polished but they are snaps of personality from I meet on the street.

The first is done in full sunlight.

Wide open color play

The second was done in the first tenuous appearance of early morning light.

House party

It starts as watercolor smears on a postcard

Then I add a few blocks of color and a few lines to see what it might look like. Nope, I already don't like some of this. So I let it sit for a few weeks.

When I pull it out, it's still "nothing." I wonder if I can redefine it with ink. As I'm editing someone's academic paper, I grab a black gel pen and scribble in a few ink lines.

I definitely like it better but it feels off balance. A few more strokes in the foreground - I don't have my reading glasses and am paying hardly any attention as I scratch in the lines. I set it aside again.

I think I'm done. Once it's in a frame, atop a buff art paper, I love it and put it in my office to inspire me to quick, intuitive artistic work between the detailed attention required of me as an editor.

Oh grow up.

thinking about growing - in studies, friendships, skills - in a 2-minute free for all:

Or playing with watercolors on an art paper postcard:

Start with a few water marks and scribbles

And a few more color washes to see what could happen.

Put in some marker lines ...

And before you know it, you have a view.

A half-week of words and edits

Teaching is energizing
and tiring.

Editing teaches
but it also drains.

Quick sketches
capture it all.

Visual journal - Singapore: teaching week1

Every day that I've been teaching in Singapore, I've done a quick (2-10 minute) page with really dreadful oil pastels. The colors are an uninspiring student grade, the texture is not great, and the paper is cheap.

But it's fun to play, if only for a few minutes at the end of the day. When you paint quickly, without thought, your hands and eyes tell your heart how it is feeling. It's not great art but more like a dip in the pond to refresh before bedtime.