Author: -N-

Sketch of a Rose

Yesterday was another run-around-and-get-things-done day.  Whew!  Taxes, appointments, scheduling, ya-da-ya-da.  It’s boring stuff, believe me.

Anyway, today was drawing day.  Eating lunch between all the craziness, I clicked on Alphonso Dunn (my hero!) on YouTube, and his tutorial of a rose popped up.  Very simple way to look at a rather complicated subject.  Essentially, a rose is a cylinder with layers peeling back.  Voila, there it is.

I did use a pencil to create the shape, and erased it multiple times.  If you enlarge the picture, you will see the paper is pretty dirty after 3 and 4 erasures.  However, the paper held up (Bee), the ink went down (Micron 0.3), and so did the paint.  I’ve never really done a rose well before, so Dunn’s tutorial has, yet again, explained things I never thought about.  Go watch him!

 

A New Job

With the official retirement date of April Fool’s Day, I have been rethinking a lot of what I do and want to do.  Being retired is really like taking on a new job.  You have to figure out what is important, what is not important, and instead of someone directing your daily traffic, you are the one who has to make the decisions.  Of course, the daily chores of living set up a schedule in a way, but what if you just decide not to pay attention to them?  I think – I know – my life would totally fall apart!  I like my dishes and laundry done, bills paid, and a clean and ordered living environment – especially my studio – but I also want to have the room to be messy and creative.  That is really my new job:  what to do with my free time.

And what do I want to do?  I am finding my priority is painting and drawing.  These are my longest and deepest loves, ever since I can remember.  Philosophical battles wasted a lot of my time; rather than just doing things, I thought about their values.  These values were really external ones – who will value what I do?  In the end, it really doesn’t matter because I am not painting or drawing for an audience other than me.  That said, I also want to schedule – yes, schedule! – time for reading, writing, photography, socializing, sewing, spinning, knitting, baking, gardening, some travel.  Everyone says my time will be really easy to fill.  I had my doubts, but no more.

Having a return-to-work date from medical leave prior to the retirement decision kept these thoughts at bay.  Now, the world is wide open.  Enjoying retirement is my new job, one to cherish.  It’s like being a kid again, really!  The summer – however long it is now – without school – lies ahead.