Lessons on Graceful Acceptance: President Jimmy Carter, Teacher

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.

President Jimmy Carter

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

Gold Gush

I started this off in unfamiliar ArtRage and went as far as I could go. Then I imported it into familiar Procreate and tweaked on. Then I messed with it iColorama until I called it quits. It rhymes with this one?

Gold-Gush

1st Impression: Coming up for air at our new house.

It’s been 3 months since the closing. Remember when we got the keys? The relocation encompassed a move of approximately 2.5 miles; but, that could have reduced, if only the Parsons Ave. ferry were in operation. Consequently, we had to go by way of Cuba! Well, we also had some work done: resurfaced a few floors, refaced the kitchen cabinets, repainted a few walls, and added a new countertop, backsplash, and some lighting fixtures.
Now it’s all about unpacking and learning how to operate the light switches.

Here’s a quick sketch in Paper by Fifty Three, tweaked in Procreate. Now back to unpacking before our first trip of the day to Lowes!
Coming Up For Air

Cover Artwork: We Need to Talk, Fergus

A couple of months ago I was asked by a friend, Josh, here in Merced, CA to create an iPad drawing for his group’s new CD, We Need to Talk by Fergus. Once I became familiar with the music and lyrics, I ran an idea by Josh. A dialogue and a few revisions ensued. Now that We Need to Talk by Fergus is available on iTunes, I’m pleased to share the image along with a 46-second video below exploring the evolution of the drawing and featuring a snippet of Track #9: Hold On, Let Go.

Fergus-we_need_to_talk

Throw Dog: Background and Foreground


“Throw Dog” was selected to be among the top 100 by jurors at the Mobile Digital Art & Creativity Summit.

Exhibition opening: Palo Alto Art Center, Aug. 7, 2015, 5:30 to 8 p.m.

 
I’m honored one of my submissions was selected. I’m planning to attend the opening and stick around for the two-day summit. Hope to see you there!

July 29th is John F. Appreciation Day

Any friend of my wife’s family is a friend of mine; but John F. Is different: John F. visits my blog via Facebook practically every time I post something; plus, he almost always likes it! He’s portfoliolongo.com’s most frequent flyer!

I hope he won’t mind that my rendition of him is only a rough approximation. I also hope he doesn’t mind that I expropriated a photo of him from his own Facebook page…and that I cropped out his buddy, my favorite uncle-in-law, Jack A..

So, I’d like to wish everyone at portfoliolongo.com a Happy John F. Appreciation Day, especially John F., himself. Thank you, John F. for visiting and for the enduring encouragement!

Click here for the accelerated, 40-second progress video. It’s all practice; so, if you have any technical advice, feel free to leave a comment in the space provided.

 

 

July 29 John F appreciation day

 

 

Cowboy with Ball in the Grass

Yesterday’s post attracted the attention of a few dog lover bloggers, probably the #dog tag … :-). I’ve had a dog-on dog on my mind and at my side all day long, so earlier this afternoon I asked Annyth if she had a good picture of our Belgian Tervuren, Cowboy. She sent several. I chose this one because of his eyes.

cowboyinthegrasswithball

This is a digital, freehand, side-by-side, iPad drawing using a reference photo and a Sty-HD stylus.