Learn To Really See

"Learning to draw is really a matter of learning to see, to see correctly,
and that means a good deal more than merely looking with the eye."
~ Kimon Nicolaides

 Day 51 ~ SE-51-25

Don't Just Exist

"Don't just learn, experience.

Don't just read, absorb.

Don't just change, transform.

Don't just relate, advocate.

Don't just promise, prove.

Don't just criticize, encourage.

Don't just think, ponder.

Don't just take, give.

Don't just see, feel.

Don’t just dream, do.

Don't just hear, listen.

Don't just talk, act.

Don't just tell, show.

Don't just exist, live.”
~ Roy T. Bennett

Day 49 ~ SE-49-25

Courage

"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” ~ Winston Churchill

Day 48 ~ SE-48-25 

Opportunity

 "In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity." ~ Albert Einstein

Day 47 ~ SE-47-25

Don't Quit

"When you get tired, learn to rest, not quit. ~ Banksy

 Day 46 ~ SE-46-25 

Never Let It Rest

 "Good. Better. Best. Never let it rest. ‘Til your good is better, and your better is best."
~ St. Jerome

Day 45 ~ SE-45-25

Determination

"You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction." ~ George Lorimer

Day 44 ~ SE-44-25 

I Am Still Seeking

"I am seeking. I am striving. I am in it with all my heart." ~ Vincent van Gogh I added a background wash and beefed up some of my line work today. Sometimes you just have to try things out and not worry about 'ruining' your piece. There is no other way of learning. Which way do you like this watercolor sketch better, with or without a background?

Day 41 ~ SE-41-25

Making Progress

"As practice makes perfect, I cannot but make progress; each drawing one makes, each study one paints, is a step forward." ~ Vincent Van Gogh

 Day 39 ~ SE-39-25

✍️💙✒️🎨

Embrace Your Second Wind

"Most people never run far enough on their first wind 

to find out they've got a second."  

~ William James 


"Difficult things take a long time, impossible things a little longer." 

~ André A. Jackson

My hummingbirds are zooming around in full throttle here and already fattening up and training for their long upcoming journey. For this summer's hatchlings, it will be their maiden voyage and probably the most dangerous one ever. They've got a lot to learn and many hundreds of miles to maneuver and survive through until they come back to me next spring. You can see a couple of short recent videos on my facebook page here.

I love hummingbirds and they continue to fascinate and inspire me.

They are a strong symbol to me of enthusiastically accomplishing that which seems impossible.

A Fun Game

"If you slightly squint your eyes, you will see 

that at least 2 and possibly 3 values of color 

make up any object in the natural world. 

Practice creating entire paintings with 

no more than 3 values on any object. 

Paint a few of those and you'll discern a rhythm 

between areas of 1, 2 and 3 values. It's a fun game." 

~ Cristina Acosta

Revisiting Some Friends

"Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things."

 

This reference photo can be found in a July 2011 post. I decided to flip the bird and had another go at it. I had some fun with the color combo too! It was like visiting with an old friend. I vividly remember the countless hours of sitting out among the butterfly bushes with my camera, tripod and  flashes; trying to get that elusive, perfect hummingbird shot. I think I like this little color combination. What do you think?

Love Is All

"Ah, love is old,

love is new.
Love is all,

 love is you." 

~ John Lennon & Paul McCartney

"When you find something you love, feed and nurture that passion. 

Run after it, like it's the last train of the night

and it's already starting to leave the station."

~ Sandy

It Is Happiness To Wonder

“Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.”
  ~  Socrates

 

 

 

“The invariable mark of wisdom 

is to see the miraculous in the common.”
  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Magic Things

“The world is full of magic things, 

patiently waiting for 

our senses to grow sharper.”
   ~ W.B. Yeats

 

It was a beautiful day to have lunch out in the yard among the hummingbirds and butterflies.

Relaxing and soaking in all the magic things, with friend and fellow artist, Irvane Spracklin.

Addicted to Art

"A frenzied passion for art 

is a canker that devours everything else." 

~ Charles Baudelaire 

 

"It's the addicts that stay with it. 

They're not necessarily the most talented, 

they're just the ones that just 

can't get it out of their systems." 

~ Harold Brown

Our Finest Moments

"Believe in your heart that you're meant to 

live a life full of passion, purpose, magic and miracles.” 
~  Roy T. Bennett

“Passion. It lies in all of us. Sleeping... waiting...  

and though unwanted, unbidden, it will stir... open its jaws and howl. 

It speaks to us... guides us. Passion rules us all. And we obey. 

What other choice do we have? Passion is the source of our finest moments."

 ~  Joss Whedon

Imagination is Limitless

“I believe in intuition and inspiration.

Imagination is more important than knowledge. 

For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination 

embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, 

giving birth to evolution."
~ Albert Einstein

“The world of reality has its limits; 

the world of imagination is boundless.”
   ~Jean-Jacques Rousseau

A Victor, Not A Victim

“You are stronger than you know.”
~ Lori Osterman 

We have so many hummingbirds here now . . . . 

But none as significant as this one, "Brave Little Survivor",

who holds a special place in my heart.

See her incredible story here ...

I sketched her in my 300 series Strathmore 70# drawing pad

using a 5B drawing pencil from the photo above.

 

Happy Creating My Friends!

X ♥  O

 

It Is A Happy Talent

"It is a happy talent to know how to play."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Today's sketch was inspired by another PMP reference photo.

 

I had fun using my intuition and imagination on the coloring of the hummingbird.

 

"Creativity is about play and a kind of willingness to go with your intuition.

It's crucial to an artist. If you know where you are going and

what you are going to do, why do it?

 ~ Frank Gehry

 

Happy Creating My Friends!

X ♥  O