Laundry Warrior

Photo Reference

My silly side is coming out in me today. I started doing a study of SenshiStock's photo and listening for the dryer as I sketched. When I put the two thoughts together I came up with a Domestic Warrior idea. Today was laundry. Nothing could be more boring than laundry. Once I get started on a silly idea, it seems like it spreads in my mind and I can't help but expand on it. Before I was even done with this sketch, I was already coming up with more ideas for my Domestic Warrior series. The cook, the toilet bowl cleaner, the snack maker, the taxi driver, the homework helper, etc. To complete the irony, they would have to be done in a realistic style.

Then...

When I get famous for my Domestic Warrior series, I could say that these images reflect how our society creates drama from mundain daily life to put on display for our own amusement. Or something like that. No one has to know that it was just the by product of sketching while doing household chores. Right?

Oh yeah.. I am having way too much fun with this silly idea.

Day two of daily sketches

Photo Reference

Today was the second day of school. I made a new Pandora list today that I named 80's Girls. If you are not into cheesy 80's female pop artists, don't click that link. Again, I grabbed the first image of a person that came up on the stock images list at DeviantArt. It is a bit of a nostalgic day. The music is up loud and blasting as I go about my chores. A family of seven creates a lot of laundry and chores to do.

I am telling myself that this year I am going to push myself a little harder this year. I want to reach beyond the daily drill of doing studies from pictures and studies from life. I have made it a point to get the rest of my life organized enough to be able to focus more on what I want to do, instead of what I forgot to do.

Fall sketches begin

Photo Reference

The kids got on the bus this morning for the first day of school. Summer went very fast for me this year, but I think everyone was ready to begin a cycle of normalcy. I haven't had a day to myself since the end of May. The kids were very ready for social interaction with anyone they were not related to.

I listened to a Zencast podcast about attention that I downloaded a few days ago in anticipation of an hour of uninterrupted time. My Pandora was ready with my Supertramp list. I did some much needed chores and found myself feeling .... artsy. I forgot how "artsy" feels. It is a peaceful energy that comes over me that gently pushes me toward blank spaces and gives my hand the tingles. I found my sketchbook very quickly considering we tore apart the bookshelf and everything is in a much different order than it was before. My mechanical pencil was safely tucked away in a drawer next to my kneaded rubber erasers. The only thing stopping me from sketching was worry.

I worry a lot. Todays podcast seemed like a direct message. I worry about money, kids, husbands, dogs, garbage, organization, conversations with people I will never have in my lifetime and assorted nonsence that would be hard to explain. I think fast. I get stuck on a subject and work it over in my head to a ridiculous level. Unfortunately, thoughts alone do not achieve anything. It is what I do with them that counts.

When worry replaces actions, or making a true decision, it becomes counter productive.

That was my thought for the day as I grabbed the first reference photo on DeviantArt and began to draw. When I am ready to act upon or make decisions those other thoughts might come in handy. For today, they were just getting in my way.