A little limbo...

/r/sketchdaily submission to the Ballet theme  -  Guillem, Lopatkina, and Zakharova.

I'm both entrenched in and fascinated by in-between-ness. Alleyways betwixt buildings. Stuck in ruts. Spinning wheels. Transitions. Limbo. Liaison. Breezeways and corridors. Bridges and tunnels. Unable to move forward while trying to not look back. Waiting.

Waiting for a couple of currently de-swelling fingers so I can get back to drawing projects and I'm thinking about the major news of the week. Malaysia Airliner MH370. Now, most likely the fate of this plane and those on-board is already determined, we're just not informed yet. But all I can think of when I see some new report or counter-report is the families and friends of those passengers.

It's awful enough to experience the common tragedies of car accidents or heart attacks. Lives lost quickly. And you grieve. You'll think of plans to make with that person and remember with a violent shock that they are gone and suddenly you're crumbling and swaying like gravity is pulling you in all the wrong ways. But the days pass and the waves crash a little less hard. You finished that chapter and you must read on.

Unless you're caught in the footnote on that page and you find that the rest of the book has been torn from the binding and lost. And you realize it must have torn off in your friend's bag, which is at their house, or with them at school, or maybe it's actually in your room somewhere. You can't be sure. And you don't know if there are twenty chapters to go or twenty pages or if you've already read the end and only the back cover is missing. But surely there must be more?

I keep thinking about how their families must be caught in the deepest and most sickening part of grief. Where there are too many questions and variables and maybe you can still see your loved one again... or not? Or maybe yes? Or no? And I can't imagine waking to that everyday or attempting to sleep or functioning... at all. If hell were a real place I think it would be that. Being endlessly caught in an unsettled place with no possible closure.

I've felt like I was there for much of my life, but it's mostly a passive and gentle thing. Not even a molecule of what they're going through. And dammit I hope it's solved soon.

Then there's Ukraine and Venezuela, Turkey and even Australia now. Transitions and unsolved issues of their own.

"MOM! CAN I KEEP HIM!"

And on the much less serious side, Mesut's first season with Arsenal. Had an absolutely brilliant game against Everton. Then screwed up his hamstring in the opening minutes against Bayern and continued to play on it gingerly for the rest of the first half. D'awww. Poor kid. Out for a few weeks with the press ripping him to pieces. Just like Madrid. Lol. At least there were really ridiculously adorable pictures from Everton to hold us fans over. XD

Giroud is quite a character. If only he could finish as competently as he cuddles. Lol. I'm an asshole.

Arsenal have wildly exceeded my expectations. Freaking everyone but the center-backs is injured now. How the hell are they still near the top of the table?!??!!! Incredible. I know the long-time fans are super depressed and angry, but geez, I'm all pleased as punch and shit. So that's fun. Good chance of the FA Cup and placing decently for the league. No shame in that! Also really happy to see Real Madrid doing well. Seems like Ancelotti kind of swung back towards using a lot of the older team rather than the newbies. And DiMaria has managed to do well waaay out of his position. Fine job! I hope they win the league. Too bad Sami hasn't been able to play after his ACL. I still want him to get a trophy! And Benz, too!

And the little nephew is getting his first teeth in. That's a fun transition. Ha!
I better stop typing or my fingers will actually fall off my hand.

Maybe movie stuff next time?
Out.

Re-visiting...

As I'm getting into a steadier clip of drawing, I've opened some old sketchbooks and perused ideas. Old pieces that I abandoned for lack of skill or time or confidence... one of which was 'The Seamstress'. It was a project I worked on for etching class and got the first handful of states on it and got less and less happy with how it was evolving. After many bouts of scraping and re-etching and scraping again it was downright ugly.



Ick. Makes me cringe. Lol.
I still like the whimsy/fantasy of the original idea, so I revisited the piece with graphite instead. It's much better now and is close to completion. Just filling out the borders and making final decisions about coloring. The hummingbird above is hovering to the left and the sewing lady is drawn with the same style/detail.


I'll probably be re-visiting lots of old pieces that I liked, but didn't have the skill to execute at the time. Really satisfying to go back and nail down what you couldn't before.

Been watching lots of curling. Heh. Norway should win gold by default for their pants.

In 8-ish hours the shit will be hitting the fan at the Emirates. Champions League game. Arsenal vs. Bayern Munich. Lawd have mercy. The expectation is that Bayern will totally slay. Probably true... but stranger things have happened. Should be an exciting game regardless. There'll be like a million Germans on the pitch. Practically the entire starting 11 for the German National Team, which I love dearly. That'll be fun/hilarious.

ALL ZE GERMANS!

Recently learned that the art teacher I've learned the most from is retiring after 30 years. Got me emotional. Fantastic teacher. Perfect balance of critical and encouraging and just a ridiculous wealth of knowledge.

...kind of a bittersweet note.

I'm craving chocolate cake right now. What in the world. I don't even like cake.
O.o

All that is gold...

Got to doodling and overlaying and flipping and coloring and...

somewhat gilding the lily.

Heh. Kinda wild.

Big rainstorm coming. Woo!

Winter is trying...

... but mostly failing to come. Slightly colder. And we had some light rain for a day. The drought is seriously screwing California though. It's dangerous. Can only imagine how rough this is for farmers and anyone with agricultural concerns.

Doodling away.

Seeing advertisements for Cosmos during the Super Bowl was glorious. It made up for the Scientology ones. So excited for it.



Bring it, NDT!