October Notes

What if desperation did not motivate everything? (Universal Basic Income)

Sometimes my scars have a mind of their own.

Jamokes ~ an ordinary, unimpressive, or inept person —typically used as a term of mild or joking disparagement for a man. Also spelled jamook, giamoke, and giamope, the term as used for an idiot has also been suggested to derive from a dialectal Italian (Neapolitan or Sicilian) word giamope. In the 1960s it also began to be used as slang for male genitalia.

Dastard ~ a dishonorable or despicable person. Late Middle English (in the sense ‘stupid person’): probably from dazed, influenced by dotard and bastard

Senescent ~ the state of being old : the process of becoming old. the growth phase in a plant or plant part (such as a leaf) from full maturity to death.

Ethos ~ the characteristic spirit of a culture, era, or community as manifested in its beliefs and aspirations.

I have always felt that a human being could only be saved by another human being. I am aware that we do not save each other very often. But I am also aware that we save each other some of the time.

James Baldwin

wu wei — “trying not to try.” This state of harmony is both complex and holistic, involving as it does the integration of the body, the emotions, and the mind.

Syncope ~ temporary loss of consciousness caused by a fall in blood pressure. the omission of sounds or letters from within a word

There are more things … likely to frighten us than there are to crush us; we suffer more often in imagination than in reality.

Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca (c. 4 BC–AD 65)

House gifts will always be remembered and appreciated so never accept a dinner invitation or weekend’s stay without a small token of gratitude.

“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world.”– NEIL GAIMAN

A bowl of kallaloo — a traditional dish in the Virgin Islands dating back hundreds of years that speaks to the resourcefulness of the enslaved, especially on St. Croix. (Shutterstock image)

kallaloo (callaloo, calaloo, calalloo, or callalloo)) ~ a thick, Caribbean, whimsically seasoned melange of weeds, fish, salted beef or pigtails and conch and crab. Saint Lucians use Callaloo leaves/ dasheen bush, okra, coconut milk, pumpkin, onions, bell peppers, local seasonings and spices along with crabs or pigtails.

“Luck is when an opportunity comes along and you’re prepared for it.”

– Denzel Washington

Intermediate Art Project 4

As part of my personal growth in 2022, I am taking an intermediate drawing class at the Rivers School in Weston, Massachusetts. The class is taught by Jeff Nesbit.

After spending a couple of weeks drawing parts of a face, project four was to copy two statutes from a National Geographic magazine.

This image of Pericles with the Corinthian Helmet is in a National Geographic magazine.
This is my attempt at copying the statue of Pericles with the Corinthian Helmet with charcoal in a Carson XL 9 by 12 mixed media sketchbook

What went well? I like my shading and the contrast of the deep black, grey and white lines in the hair.

What would I do differently? My helmet is too short. Both eyes are too big. The right eye is too close to the right side of the head. My bottom lip is too big.

Bronze Ooni head, 12th-15th century, National Museum of Ife, Nigeria.
This is my attempt at coping the Bronze Ooni head with charcoal in a Carson XL 9 by 12 mixed media sketchbook. I plan to try this one again.

What went well? Start to finish took about 20 minutes. The entire face was done with vine charcoal.

What would I do differently? The shape of the face is off. I would draw and shade the figure with vine before adding the cross-contour lines with a sharp charcoal pencil and white chalk for the highlights. I would spend a lot more than 20 minutes.