Today is Funny Friday, enjoy it and smile! I know, for some of you it is
Saturday so the alliteration doesn’t work. But you can still smile.
If you want it silent, why not just use a bow and arrow?
“If you shoot at mimes, should you use a silencer?” – Steven Wright, Comedian, 1955 – not dead yet
President Obama used this quote in his speech in Cairo, Egypt today. I
am glad he chose to use this quote, it is a truth not just for America, but for
any government, and any leader, to take into account.
I happened to like President Obama’s speech. If you saw or heard the whole
thing I would like to hear what you thought of it as well.
“I hope our wisdom will grow with our power and teach us that the less we use our power the greater it will be.” – Thomas Jefferson
How does the uninvited guest end up staying? By moving in while the
host is asleep. Why is the host asleep? Because she is tired. Why is the
host tired? Because she has spent herself chasing after the birds flying
overhead, shooing them away. Why does she feel she needs to shoo
them away? Because they make noise and poop all over her and her
home. What could she do to get rid of the birds and not be too tired?
She can go to the House of Need and helps someone there. The birds
will follow her and will get distracted while she is there, flying off to parts
unknown while she returns to her home free to slumber without fear.
“You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair.” – Chinese proverb
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Sometimes my drawings are just weird.
Here is my process of creating the napkins. Each morning I start with
a quote. I think about the day before or that morning and see if there
is a particular idea that comes to mind. Then I go looking for some
good quotes about that idea, either in the many quote books I have
or online. Sometimes I make the quote up, but not too often.
After I write the quote on the napkin, then I think about what the drawing
might be. I don’t take a long time with that decision, since I originally was
drawing these while I was making lunches for my daughters and had to work
fast.
I usually trust that I will come up with something interesting and just go for it.
But trusting your mind, your eye, your choices, also means you are sort of
walking a high wire. You have committed to do this thing and even if half way
across a big wind blows, you still need to finish. Sometimes my ‘big wind’ is a
odd color choice, or a pretty bizarre creature or person I have drawn into the napkin.
I like the challenge of figuring out how to make something work within the
limits of that odd thing I have in the drawing already. In this case the idea
of having a mind stretched was obviously the starting point. But I didn’t
want a bald person so I chose to have the hair stretched out to signify the
mind being stretched. B the funny hand/bird lips/sucking stretching things
on either side were a bit of a mess. Then I added the volcanoes, which I
always like as signifyers of something momentous and powerful. But the lava
turned out to be sort of confusing and dark, obscuring the volcanoes a bit
more than I wanted it to. I just kept going until I felt it looked interesting
and stimulating to the eye.
Sometimes this process can lead to beautiful images, and sometimes to
very strange images and sometimes to failed but interesting images. I am
not sure if this one is in the 2nd or 3rd category, but it doesn’t seem to
belong in the 1st, as best I can tell.
What do you think?
“A man’s mind, stretched by a new idea, never goes back to its original dimensions.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. – USA, Supreme Court Justice, 1841-1935
Hello All,
This is the last week of the ‘Absorbent Ideas’ exhibition here in Tulsa. If you would like to
purchase one of the framed drawings you can do so at the online version of the show, by check, credit card or Paypal.
Thanks to everyone who came by to see the show, bought pieces, commented and gave
ideas and encouraged me to continue! Thanks to Brian and Candice of DoubleShot
for their enthusiasm and help!
A Vintage Napkin from 2003, originally given to one of my daughter’s in her school lunch.
Which one are you?
