Week 24 - Reboot - Reset

A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist.

Louis Nizer

Reboot Reset

How do I reboot my artistic consciousness? By doing something just for me.

Art became my path in life. I guess It's my "calling". It's probably a good thing as I'm hopeless with numbers and languages. Numbers get switched up in my head. I'm ok if I can see them, but don't tell me your phone number... my brain will reel. Which leads me to a funny story of a job I had as a 911 operator in Barrie, ON... another time perhaps. All I can say is... Barrie is a safer place now.

Anyway... what's one of the things I do to reboot, reset? Sketching.

Sketching, that's still in the art category, right? That's right. The big difference is, I'm sketching for myself, I paint for other people.

People may find it surprising that I don't have any of my own work hanging in our house. It's not that I'm not a big fan, I am, obviously. It's just that I look at painting as, "my job". Everything I'm painting that's successful ends up in an art gallery. I'm lucky in the fact that I have total artistic control on what and how I work, but sometimes I need a break from that type of art producing stress.

That's where sketching comes in. It's not for the gallery, it's for me. It usually involves getting out of the studio/house/ and sometimes country. It's my reboot, my reset. No expectations, no pressure, just back to being a kid, scribbling.This week, my Guy and I took a few days to hang out on the Fundy Shore. Sketchbooks came along, and because of the heavy rain over the two days we were there, these sketches were done from inside the car with the windshield wipers going or from inside a restaurant.

What do you do to reboot?

Although these sketches are just for me, I'm would like to share them with you.

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A very underwhelming breakfast at Cora's in Halifax enroute to Parrsboro. This lady was totally into her phone, as was her husband sitting across from her.

When I was in London in April, I picked up a beautiful Lamy Fountain Pen. I also bought what I thought was waterproof ink for it. But in a shopping experience right out of Monty Python or Fawlty Towers, it turned out that the ink was in fact, not waterproof. So, what is an artist to do? Make lemonade. I had my water brush with me, so I added values to the sketch with that. B&W does have a nice simplicity about it.

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A just about, falling down, building in Great Village.
Now that's a positive name for any village.

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Sketching in a car with the windshield wipers going is an experience.
It was a heavy wind whipping, rain, but the view was still gorgeous.

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Tides out, rain has stopped... for a bit.
The tides on the Fundy Shore are amazing, the amount of water that comes and goes throughout the day is extraordinary.

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Everything in Nova Scotia is closed on Monday and Tuesday in June... or so it seems. A girl can't even get an ice cream by the beach in the rain.

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What to do while waiting for your food, sketch of course.
This dude was hanging out with his cellphone at the bar.

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My little traveling sketch kit.
Complete with my lovely red Lamy fountain pen, and the hero of the hour, my water brush.

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Until next week...