Here’s a couple more sketches that I haven’t yet posted.   I will say that I’ve been focused more on living and doing stuff this summer than painting – I suppose I should not feel guilty about it because I’m living – but I also wondering what happens when it’s no longer summer, this fall.

I did this drawing about 6 weeks ago but didn’t post it, unless I did post it and forgot about it – not entirely impossible – I’ve been struggling since this spring to find what the next direction for me is – and I think this drawing, in subtle ways, reflects the struggle.

I also did this sketch in lower Manhattan, the same afternoon I went to Governer’s Island.

I also did this sketch last week, but didn’t spend long on it.  In a way, I’m doing so much Social Media work, and getting ready for my speaking engagements in California in the next few weeks – that I haven’t really focused on my painting at all.

But that’s not surprising, as I’ve often found that I grow best, by not focusing on any one thing for too long – which is partially why I paint much faster today than I did 20 or 30 years ago.  I know exactly what I’m after, and when I reach it, or feel I do, I stop.

Here’s a few more sketches I did last year.

 

Last Summer, I took a walk, sunny as it was, nearby to where I live, and saw this scene, felt moved to draw it, transfixed, in a daze, as it were, the hot sun hitting me, highlighting the building, brilliant blue sky with enormous fluffy clouds – I had to capture that moment, and I did – for me.

 

One evening last summer I went to view Art Openings in Chelsea, one of my favorite things to do.  Didn’t see much that night, but I sat down to have some coffee and pie nearby, on 10th Avenue and 22nd Street, in an outdoor Cafe, I drew the scene across the street, near dusk.

Some say my drawings are too dark – but it was dark out – near dusk – and I was capturing the feelings that hit me – again, the emptiness I often feel – the longing to fill it, the futility of trying to fill it – and achievement of transmuting my feeling, capturing them and fixing them on paper – as if I captured that moment in time, just for me.

Whatever else one can say about Art, the best reason, perhaps the most valid reason to do it, the only real reason, is for one’s own self, for my self development – all the other reasons, valid or not, are basically, unimportant.  If Art doesn’t help you grow, it’s not worth doing.

I felt my self grow by doing my work; sure, I’m still feeling the void, the emptiness that I often feel – the emptiness that never really goes away – and at the same time, the fullness that comes with pouring my heart out in the things I do, the Web Analytics I do, the Art I do, the work for the WAA that I do, for Social Networks – all those things, and the relationships I have, make me whole, if only for the moments I do it and the memories I have of it.

And here’s a few more sketches I’ve done in my notebook over the last 6 months.

When I got back from the Paris Trip last June – I was pretty sad; I sat down in a resturant nearby MOMA and drew this – pouring my heart out.

I was in Phila shortly to meet someone that was important to me at the time – as I sat in the station, beholding a large stature (above), while waiting for her, was moved to draw it.

At the end of the day the more attention I gave in this matter, the less effect I had – which is a lesson for the future.

It was a cloudy day, last June or July, I was in a melancholy mood, as the day, itself, was melancholy, sad with longing – and walking nearly, this street sign that said “Stop” stood, as an obelisk, in front of me. In my profound sadness, I drew it.

Last Summer, on one of my visits to the Metropolitan Museum, just before closing, on a Friday night, feeling lonely and sad, I drew from an ancient sculpture of lion (or tiger) from Greece; I was admiring the energy that was in that animal – real or imagined.

Thought I’d blog about some sketches I’ve done – been traveling a lot over the last week – first near Boston (at the beginning of the week for two days of training at Monster.com) and then 3 days in Miami – where I wrote Back from Miami – Social Networking & iDate Conference recap).  While I might have thought about painting – I really didn’t get to do anything till today – and went over to my studio for a few hours.

I took part in a critique of a few other artists in the studio – had a glass of wine and also sketched in my notebook (there wasn’t time to do anything else).

My sketches are as important to me as my paintings, and more personal.