Awk, a sketch!

Here we are, in our new cartoon-type bodies, to tell our travel tales...

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"Any fool can tell a story. Take a few odds and ends of things that happen to you, dress them up, shuffle them about, add a dash of excitement, a little color, and there you have it."

- Lloyd Alexander, The Arkadians

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The Big Enchilada Question

An issue that continues to haunt me is that big enchilada question: what's the meaning of life? It is a frequent topic of discussion as we jounce along in Thistle. "Is this even the right question?" Ed queries, "Instead, should we be asking, how do we create value in our lives?" Oh yes, now there's a question that has some hope for an answer.

In my trendsetting age-group, we seem to be venturing out on yet another trendsetting excursion -- meaningful retirement. We will not quietly fade away, settling into a recliner with a remote control. For many of us, more so than previous generations, health, longevity and money stretch out before us, right along with the desire for fulfillment.

Historically, all generations have been set adrift in a sea of unstructured retirement but my generation is looking for more. We desire a retirement beyond comfort and mere entertainment. Something beyond the long held idea of simply staying amused and out of the way, as we await death. I see my peers seeking feisty over dull; accomplished over settled; independence over helplessness.

I feel an aha at the idea of structure being a key to filling my aging years with relevance. This has led me, personally, to reexamining not only what I do, but how I do it. I turn my attention to discipline. A walk a day, before coffee. Less, much less Facebook. Knowing more about the places we visit -- more studying, more observing, more questioning. Selecting increasingly weighty reading and definitely more biking.

Then I shift my attention to a skill I've wanted to develop for years -- sketching. On our most recent Thistle adventure I had all the tools -- pencils, pens, watercolors, brushes, sketchbooks, and even how-to sketch books -- but sketch creation was pathetic. If I could find a distraction, I did.

Here's my plan: A sketch a day and one blog posting a week that includes a sketch. Surely, insuring my public embarrassment if I don't perform, will be the kick in the butt I need.

Friends Watching

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"The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time."

- Mary Oliver

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Sketching

Anxious adjective \ˈaŋ(k)-shəs\: afraid or nervous especially about what may happen:  feeling anxiety:  causing or showing fear or nervousness.  ~ Merriam-Webster

Anxious.  This word seems suitable for my lack of progress in sketching.  I've wanted to sketch for years but I find I'm apprehensive about beginning.  My concern that I could fail shows up in a multitude of excuses -- too busy heading the list.   I know how irrational this is but I've been trapped in this unreasonable self evaluation for some time now.

This summer the Whidbey Island Sketchers came to our home to sketch.  I watched; I envied.  Here are some examples of the Fredley home sketches, as done by local Whidbey Island talent.

by
Judi Nyerges

Fredley Home
by Phyllis Ray

Garden & Greenhouse
by Kathy Lull

Orange Lily in Bud
by Sue Van Etten

These rough drawings are quick, fun and capture the moment.  Sketches become a swift way to tell a story and are often more expressive than a photograph.  Here Sue Van Etten shows a great talent at quickly capturing poultry in action.

by Sue Van Etten

by Sue Van Etten

As Walt Stanchfield says,  “We all have 10,000 bad drawings in us. The sooner we get them out the better.”   I'm posting this early sketch as the first of my 10,000 bad drawings.  9,999 to go before I'll post another sketch.

Oregon Coast Camping Neighbor
by Fran Abel

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"Now relax, think positively and begin -- the smile of success awaits you."

 ~ Claudia Nice, First Steps Drawing in Pen & Ink