Inktober Sketching

I’ve chosen to take the Inktober challenge this month. Here is the prompt list for every day:

Here are my first few attempts at keeping up to the task. Follow my Instagram page, #witness24601 to get a bit more detail behind each drawing.

It’s been a while...

Wow, looking back at previous posts, it’s been 3 or 4 months since I last put anything up on this site.  I’ve been busy, but just not feeling the need to post.  But, prompted by one or two followers, I’ll put a few catch up pieces here for fun.

Here’s what I’ve been busy doing since July.  Just some doodles here and there for friends or people that I felt needed a little pick-me-up.

Inadequacy

A doodle for a friend who was just asked to take on a huge responsibility, and who is wondering if he will be adequate. I sent him this gentle reminder of how we can be made to be enough and more....

“Jesus’s miracles often begin with a recognition of want, need, failure, or inadequacy. Remember the loaves and the fishes? Each of the Gospel writers tells how Jesus miraculously fed the thousands who followed Him. But the story begins with the disciples’ recognition of their lack; they realized they had only “five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?” The disciples were right: they didn’t have enough food, but they gave what they had to Jesus, and then He provided the miracle.

Have you ever felt your talents and gifts were too small for the task ahead? I have. But you and I can give what we have to Christ, and He will multiply our efforts. What you have to offer is more than enough—even with your human frailties and weaknesses—if you rely on the grace of God.”

Michelle D. Craig, First Counselor, Young Women General Presidency

“Divine Discontent,” October 2018 General Conference

Worms

A few weeks ago I took my son fishing.  We had an enjoyable time...he lost interest much quicker than I did, but he enjoyed spending the time skipping rocks across the lake.  I looked at the worms, the awesome, squiggling, morphing tubes of color in my night crawler container.  A few weeks before the fishing trip, I painted one night crawler, for fun, but decided to paint an entire glob of them when I got home from camping.  So much wonderful color and detail in all of the world around us!  Even the creepy crawly things....or especially the crawly stuff.

Octopus and Night Sky

A couple of weeks ago, after hearing of the heartbreak of a friend in my neighborhood over his wayward son, I chose to paint an octopus as I reflected upon a promising quote that I had heard years ago about the influence of striving parents over their children.  I sent this little doodle to him with encouragement to continue to look for that "perfect brightness of hope" that can come to each of us through heaven.

Here's the quote that I referenced in his letter, and that tied into the little doodle that I sent off to him:

“The Prophet Joseph Smith declared—and he never taught a more comforting doctrine—that the eternal sealings of faithful parents and the divine promises made to them for valiant service in the Cause of Truth, would save not only themselves, but likewise their posterity. Though some of the sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold. Either in this life or the life to come, they will return. They will have to pay their debt to justice; they will suffer for their sins; and may tread a thorny path; but if it leads them at last, like the penitent Prodigal, to a loving and forgiving father’s heart and home, the painful experience will not have been in vain. Pray for your careless and disobedient children; hold on to them with your faith. Hope on, trust on, till you see the salvation of God” (Orson F. Whitney, in Conference Report, Apr. 1929, 110).

Yesterday I made it home after a weekend of camping up on the Mongollon Rim in Arizona and was enamored by the night sky, when there was no other light but that of the stars.  The forest was quiet except for intermittent cricket songs and the breeze playing across the needles of the pines that towered above.  It was marvelous to just stand under the handiwork of God and gaze into the heavens, such solace!  When I got home yesterday, I painted this night sky, trying to recall the feelings of being under the starry sky.

Continuing in the Garden...

Last week I posted a few doodles of snails, inspired by a recent book that I finished reading. These last few days I decided to continue to look for critters that would be found in a garden or in the wonderful nature that surrounds us, and paint them, cut them out, an do a collage or compilation of the things I have found.
I like the idea of painting a myriad of little creatures and then compose them on a paper in various ways until you get the layout that you want.  Here's one of the layouts which captures a frog from this week, a snail or two from last week, and a couple new critters and plants.

I think I'll take a break from the envelopes for a while and play with my nature "cut-outs" for a bit.

This reminds me of when I was a little boy sitting in Sunday School classes and having the teacher put little cut outs of people on a flannel board...maybe I'm longing for Sunday School, or for more youth....I could probably use a good dose of both.

These are all done with gouache and outlined with pen and ink.

Here's the pile of critters from the past couple of weeks that I'm still trying to figure out how to compose.  So much fun!

Inspired by "Crawdads"

A few days ago I finished reading "Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens.  The book was an interesting read, and the story was quite a page turner.  There were a few scenes that were a bit too elicit for my liking, but aside from that, I was really quite intrigued by the story.  But equal to the story was a fascinating main character who spent most of her time collecting living things, or memento's of living creatures in the nature that surrounded her.  Not only would she collect, but she would catalog, and paint things to help her remember what the memento pertained to.  I was intrigued with some of the descriptions of what she collected, painted and how she put them together.  Consequently, I chose to do a little snail and shell collecting and doodling to satisfy my "fix" for a little nature gathering.

This is all done in gouache with a pen and ink outline.

Experiencing Change

It is the season of change.  Weather goes from cool to hot.  Animals go from egg to chick, or pup to adult. And some insects go from larvae to pupa to butterfly. Change seems to be constant.  In fact the thing that never changes is that there is always change.  Likewise, in our lives, change is inevitable.  We age, grow grumpier or happier, healthier or more sick, more active, or more sedentary.  In all this, much of how we change is up to us.

Recently I did a couple of envelopes for people that are being asked to go through some intense amount of change.  One, who is suffering the stark reality that their body is changing, is infected with a life threatening disease, and may end the life as they currently know it.

Another was for an individual who, after already undergoing extremely invasive surgery to remove a tumor, is about to undergo yet another surgery to continue to cut away at the growth deep inside of her her brain.

I can't imagine how each of them are feeling, how they will react to their circumstances, how they will grow through these challenges.  I trust that they will let the change happen, and come out on the other side a stronger, more beautiful, wise, and capable individual because of the transformation that occurs during difficult times.  At least, this is my hope for them both.

Both are done in gouache.

Everything is Blooming and Flying

Alas, the winter season has retreated (at least in some parts of the U.S.), and we are beginning to see the brilliant life that bursts through the earth every spring.  Seeds that sat dormant and plants that seemed dead are reaching colorfully past a season of dormancy.  The Easter Season is upon us and nature is a wonderful reminder that things that appear dead, gone, destroyed are able to rebound.  Things that are broken are able to be mended and flourish.  We need that reminder.
Here's an envelope that I did for an individual that recently lost her mother to cancer.  I thought a gentle sympathy of spring flowers and a message of a "perfect brightness of hope" would be appropriate in her time of sadness.

This is done with gouache, acrylic, prismacolor and bit of pen and ink.

I also recently did another envelope for a friend going through a difficult time, and who needed to be reminded that we are not forgotten in our struggles.  Here's the envelope that I sent to him:

Trunky

A while ago, when hearing that a friend’s brother was getting married, and that this brother had an obsession with the el train in Chicago, I doodled an envelope for him to use to put his gift in to present to his brother.  You can see that here.  Yesterday, this good gentleman came into my office after not having seen him for a while and said, “O.K. my sister is getting married in a week, and I need another envelope!  She loves elephants, can you hook me up?”  It was nice to be sought after, and I was happy to knock something out today for him.  Here’s how it came out, and I hope that his sister is pleased with the image.

Tranquility

I’ve shared on my blog before the respect that I have for the young people, of many different faiths, that go out and work to serve other people and lose themselves in that service.  The opportunities for service are countless, and deeply needed.  For a while, I spent lot’s of my time sending sketched envelopes and letters of thanks for many of the young people that I know that went out and served.  Other posts on this blog can be found speaking of those.  Gratefully, my own children have gone out and made that same sacrifice.  My middle son is currently on a mission in Colorado Springs serving the people there.  It’s been almost 2 years since he left to go and do that work and will be home in a few months.  This week’s envelope was painted for him and will accompany a letter that will be headed off to tranquil Colorado thanking him for his example.  I tried to think of something that is Colorado-like, and thought about the beautiful aspen forests that populate so much of the mountains in that part of the country.
This one is going out to him this week.
Done in gouache and a little pen and ink, with spatters of prismacolor here and there.

Continuing to Move Forward

A few weeks ago I painted another turtle.  I’m continuing to really enjoy painting turtles and thinking about the reality that in this life there are a lot of circumstances where it would be easy to sink into our warm, safe, shell, especially during difficult times.  Yet, in doing so, we stop forward momentum.  Yes, there are times when circumstances dictate a well planned retreat, especially if to survive.  Yet, I love the resilience of the turtle who, despite the many times that he has had to suck in his head, bravely puts it back out again and moves a few more steps forward.  I’ve painted turtles on envelopes for friends before, when they are struggling, or when life has dealt them a blow that seems impossible to overcome.
This one was done for a childhood friend who recently lost her son in an unexpected, tragic manner.  Who wouldn’t need to simply retreat in a time like this, to regroup, to find strength, to try to answer so many of the countless questions that must arise.  But, I know she is strong, and will move forward, one step at a time.

This was done in gouache, and a little pen and ink.

Tentacles and Vines

Lately, I haven't been as prolific in my painting as I used to be.  The schedule was to knock out a friendly note and painted envelope to someone at lease once a week, but I have been a slacker, and have not kept up the pace.  Surprisingly, I've had a couple of people reach out and express frustration for not being able to get a "weekly fix" of the posting of what was painted from the week before.  Whoops....

Nonetheless, here are a couple of things that I've done in the "designer envelope" portfolio from the past couple of weeks.

As stated in a previous post, I have a good friend with which I correspond on a fairly regular basis.  We use snail mail, or regular post office, home grown, pen to paper communication.  But in an effort to keep all the correspondence in one place, we send a large sketchbook back and forth to each other with letters written to each other on it's pages.  I enjoy being able to go back and read what has been written previously, and it reads like a thoughtful conversation of counsel going back and forth between friends.

Almost a good as the written word inside, is the chance for me to paint on the package as it goes back and forth.  I used a quote about the "Tentacles of Divine Providence" in my last letter to my friend, which spoke about the ever reaching influence of Diety on our families as we strive to watch over and serve and love them.  Consequently, I thought it would be fun to decorate his package with a giant tentacle.  Here's how it turned out:

 So that is going to the post-office this week.

Also, I found out recently that a dear friend of mine from Rome, GA suffered a stroke and is currently recuperating at a health care rehabilitation center away from her home and her husband.  I feel sad at the struggle that she is facing, and the uncertainty of what lies ahead for her and her family.  I painted her this envelope and included a note about how I've been grateful for her good example, and how she has done so much to stay attached to the "True Vine" (See John 15:1).  I thought a little doodle of a vine would be a nice visual to reinforce the message.

This too, will have a trip to the post office this week.

 Both are done in gouache, with a small amount of inking.

By their fruits shall ye know them

There is a little elderly couple in our neighborhood that has been very sweet to us and the rest of the neighbors.  Last year, she called around to many of the people in our vicinity and wanted to share the lemons off of her lemon tree.  She would ask, I have lemons, how many do you want?  After inquiring, she went around from house to house and dropped off two, or three lemons, or however many were requested, on to the porch of the neighborhood.  At almost 90, this effort was touching and inspiring.
Sadly, the husband of this good lady passed away during the Christmas holiday.  We had the chance to go to the services held for this good man to support the family, but I wanted to paint her a little token of appreciation for her example, and for the many acts of service that has filled up her life and that of her husband.
I thought it would be appropriate to doodle a few lemons, and thank her for her “fruits.”

This is done in gouache.