Sunday, February 21, 2010
"In Deep Thought"
7:17am
I finally got the travel archives done. Last to go up were
photos from my trip to San Francisco in 2004. I found the old file of photo originals and was able to improve many of them. That let to renovating the photo gallery of items from San Francisco's Center for Asian Art and Culture.
I was curious to what this fascinating photo cropped out:
So I went to their museum website to find out. They have small, but quality photos, for they withstood much enlarging in the browser, keeping decent clarity. I'd thought it was a portrait of an old monk, but found it was "the Buddha Shakyamuni as an ascetic", in gilt bronze from China. I'm certain it was it based on a real monk, for he has such personality in his face.
Rather than use their photos, I sketched from them:
Perhaps my drawings and photo will have you curious to see this piece in person!
Monday, February 22, 2010 A
"Webcam Snaps"
6:19am
I finally got the webcam installed on the new computer yesterday. We had fun testing it out:
Julia looking a bit serious
This is how we were seen later in the evening through a friend's view
(That thing that looks like feathers coming out of my head is a striped towel draped over the water bottle.)
Monday, February 22, 2010 B
"Yesteryear Snaps"
9:22pm
Aunt June, my Dad, me and my Gramma enjoying looking at photos, July 4, 1972
(I know the date, for it is written on the old polaroid.)
I received a nice surprise in the mail today. My cousin sent me this old photo, which I scanned at 400 dpi. I will make 5x7 prints of it later.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
"'Scribble' Drawing - 'Family'"
5:30am
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
"Drawing of Richard Dawkins"
9:53pm
Julia's reading _A Devil's Chaplain: Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love_ by Richard Dawkins. We knew his sparring partner Stephen Jay Gould had died some years back, and wondered if Dawkins was still alive. Wikipedia revealed he is, and included a photo of him with an engaging smile. I had to draw that smile:
Colored pencil with a good bit of digital fixes...
The last paragraph of the first essay in that book summarizes Dawkin's thought quite well:
"Safety and happiness would mean being satisfied with easy answers and cheap comforts, living a warm comfortable lie. The daemonic alternative urged by my matured Devil's Chaplain is risky. You stand to lose comforting delusions: you can no longer suck at the pacifier of faith in immortality. To set against that risk, you stand to gain 'growth and happiness'; the joy of knowing that you have grown up, faced up to what existence means; to the fact that it is temporary and all the more precious for it." (page 13)
Friday, February 26, 2010
"'Perspective' - Columns at Edfu"
9:55pm
The Friday Illo theme of "Perspective" wasn't inspiring me very much. I looked at the other artists' contributions and had no clue. So I decided I'd skip this week. Then I meandered Flicker for a drawing idea, ANY drawing idea. I ended up at my favorite Egyptian art pool, and it wasn't very long before I saw the perfect thing to illustrate 'perspective':
'Creative Commons' photo source by 'macloo'
Quick sketch, no digital fixes!
'Macloo', (aka Mindy McAdams), explained "In temples built by the Greeks (like this one), the capitals of the columns differ from one another. In the older, true Egyptian temples, the capitals all match."
Saturday, February 27, 2010
"Improved 'Julia Reading'"
11:40am
I am going to get the portrait of Julia reading framed. But before I do, I wanted to make a few adjustments. The picture had a 'cold' feeling, so I added more yellow to it, and it is much improved:
 
Julia Reading - Earlier Version, Julia Reading, Improved
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