Dogs are remarkable. In some ways they’re our artifacts, and we speak through them. In others ways we’re their artifacts, and they speak through us.
See also “bark…bark…bark”
I’m trying out some things in Sketch Club, like using my finger and not a stylus.
the fullness of emptiness
Sketch Club & Phonto
Done in Paper by Fifty Three using Phonto.
Only the most inconspicuous sculptors are permitted to depict proceedings in a court of law in which cameras are not allowed.
Paper by 53, 53 Paper, Paper by Fifty Three, Paper, and so on.
Just the other day, while listening to KPFA via Fresno, CA out of Berkeley, CA, I heard Lilac Wine sung by Nina Simone from the album “Wild is the Wind” (1966). Click here for a YouTube video. Try this alternate link if that YouTube link doesn’t work:
I was very moved by the song and especially Nina Simone’s rendering, so I spent some time in Procreate with her face based on this photo reference. See the lyrics below.
Lilac Wine
I lost myself on a cool damp night
Gave myself in that misty light
Was hypnotized by a strange delight
Under a lilac tree
I made wine from the lilac tree
Put my heart in its recipe
It makes me see what I want to see
And be what I want to be
When I think more than I want to think
Do things I never should do
I drink much more that I ought to drink
Because I brings me back you
Lilac wine is sweet and heady, like my love
Lilac wine, I feel unsteady, like my love
Listen to me, I cannot see clearly
Isn’t that she coming to me nearly here?
Annyth and I picked up 2 prints from Cuba that we had framed and then stopped off at the 17th St. Pub for a beer and some take out from J&R Tacos. I had a St. Peter’s Cream Stout that I snapped an iPhoto shot of because I thought I might try sketching it once I got home. (Nuffs been said about the 10th anniversary of Katrina, which we experienced first hand…well while on forced evacuation via CNN.)
Procreate. Note: I partially traced over the label on a separate layer…only the label, the rest is a freehand sketch using the above mentioned photo reference, as shown in this progress video.
Let me begin with: “Mea culpa.” When I saw the news that Crosby, Stills, and Nash are cruising to London with a boatload of fans, see NYT article, this image came to mind faster than you can say “Quaker Oats,” click here to understand why. I’m a CSN and a CSN&Y fan from way back, maybe not all the way back, but way back.
Procreate
Procreate and iColorama
Years ago an older colleague of mine pointed out that in society we have very few examples of people retiring gracefully. The observation, as I recall, was meant to highlight how so many of us continue to hold on to the vestiges of tangible and intangible, real and imagined relevance and importance long after their use-by date, at the heart of which is an unwillingness or incapacity to adjust to new circumstances. Well, while this may be true in many cases, it’s not true in all cases. Take President Jimmy Carter, whom I refer to as a teacher in this regard. Don’t take my word for it, watch him teach us how to embrace and accept ambiguity gracefully.
I used this reference photo in a freehand, side by side, humble rendering in Procreate with a tweak or two in iColorama.
Here’s one I did of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter in August of 2018
portfoliolongo 
