Some Truth for Today

“When I tell you that war is the foundation of all the arts, I mean also that it is the foundation of all the high virtues and faculties of men. It is very strange for me to discover this, and very dreadful, but I saw it to be quite an undeniable fact… I found, in brief, that all great nations learned their truth of word and strength of thought in war; that they were nourished in war and wasted in peace; taught by war and deceived by peace; trained by war and betrayed by peace; in a word, that they were born in war and expired in peace.”

—	John Ruskin, Crown of Wild Olive

Some Truth for Today

“It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world with words, but words can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it. The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled.”

—	John Berger, Ways of Seeing

Some Truth For Today

“The more I think, the more I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.”

—	Vincent van Gogh

An Artist You Should Know About

Frank Duveneck was a Kentucky born painter of German descent.  I can't find a lot of art by him or even tell you exactly what it is that attracts me to is work, but I thought I'd share and let you decide for yourself.

Some Truth For Today

“I must continue to follow the path I take now. If I do nothing, if I study nothing, if I cease searching, then, woe is me, I am lost.”

—	Vincent van Gogh

Some Honesty

As of writing this post I am discouraged.  Dragon Tamer is not going well, still.  Color comps are piling up and nothing's working, I feel remarkably unproductive.

After much procrastination I have finished 2 other projects, which is good.  You saw one of them on this post, the other is my sister's Save the Date.

I am distracted by everything lately.  And none of my distractions feel productive.  I feel rather worthless.

I am at war again - I'm not sure what I am at war with: myself?  The world?  God? I am also not sure what this fight is about.  But I feel anxiety welling up again, I'm entering a state of hyperawareness, analyzing everything, every word, look and action, trying to find some kind of meaning some sign of I don't know what.  I feel dissatisfied  but I don't know what about.  I've jumped and I don't know if I am in the middle of a free-fall or just waiting for my feet to hit the bridge.  Or am I supposed to fly?

Anyway, enough of that.  This was a nice note for my week.  If you don't already know, I am on Tumblr.  I am also on Instagram.

Whenever I get lost with a piece or when I start feeling "off" in my drawing abilities, I like to go back to basics.  So I drew a lot of hands and noses yesterday.  And ears.  Here's a few pictures:

This is for a super secret project I can't tell you about - just in case the person it's intended for visit this blog in the near future.

Anyway, I aim to drink ridiculously dangerous amounts of coffee and get out of this funk by next weeks post.  Sorry this one's a day late, but, that's life.

Have a great rest of the week!

An Artist You Should Know About

Edgar Alwin Payne was an American painter and muralist.  His landscape paintings capture the grandeur and  majesty of the West. In some ways he reminds me a lot of N.C. Wyeth.  You can find more examples of his work here.