Dog and cat week continues at the NDD.
And humans try to be both, that’s why we like both dogs and cats, right? Which one do you like more, dogs or cats?
Drawing and questions by Marty Coleman, who was a golden retriever in a past life.
Quote by someone who won’t admit it.
It’s ‘Dogs and Cats’ Week at the NDD!
When I would come home to visit my parents from college or from whatever far off place I happened to be living my mother would go crazy wild with joy to see me. She would cry, she would hug, she would be loud and happy. That’s how dogs are.
I once went back to visit my home town of San Diego. While I was there I went to visit a family friend I had not seen in probably 20 years. His greeting to me was a mild handshake and a ‘hey, how are ya?’ as if he had seen me the day before. That’s how cats are.
Drawing and reminiscence by Marty Coleman, a dog for sure.
Quote by Dereke Bruce, maybe a chef, maybe a former vet, I am not sure.
I am continuing on with a series about the artists I love and who have influenced me in some way. Last week it was Rembrandt, this week it’s Henri Matisse.
Henri Matisse, 1869-1954, has been one of my main influences among modern artists in the use of color and in line drawing.
Le Danse with Nasturtiums – Oil on canvas – Matisse
I first saw Matisse’s work in NYC at the Museum of Modern Art when I was a young teenager, probably around 13 or 14. I loved the color and compositions. I bought a poster of this image above and had it in my room for the rest of my teen years.
Harmony in Red – Oil on canvas – Matisse
This is another painting that affected me greatly. I absolutely fell in love with the idea that the patterns could be equal in importance to the spatial depiction. yes, it’s a room, but it is flat and beautifully patterned as well. The composition is so perfect, I can’t imagine anything being changed in it. I love this piece.
The Piano Lesson – Oil on canvas – Matisse
Yet another fantastic image that combines the idea of space with the flatness of pattern, color, composition and contrast. You can see he is slowly moving away from a realistic depiction of space.
Pink Nude – Oil on canvas – Matisse
As Matisse aged he moved into a period where his emphasis was almost purely on color, shape and composition. He always had joy and brightness in his work but as he simplified he let those elements come out to an even greater extent.
from ‘Themes et variations’ – Henri Matisse
from ‘Themes et variations’ – Henri Matisse
Portrait – Line Drawing – Matisse
In my opinion, there is no greater minimalist draftsman then Matisse. His ability to express form and feeling in the fewest of lines is unequaled. I have spent most of my life as an artist drawing in sketchbooks. I have more than 30 of them now. If you look up ‘sketchbook history tour’ in the series drop down menu on the right you will be able to see a selection of that work over many years. My best drawings in those sketchbooks are the ones that are closest to the ideal of simplicity of line that Matisse taught me.
Matisse drawing while confined to his bed.
As Matisse neared the end of his life he was confined to both a wheelchair and to a bed at various times. In spite of that he continued to work, creating some of his greatest masterpieces by using the long extension for his drawing tool and with the use of cut outs. His simplification of beauty was complete and he left us as powerfully creative as when he started almost 70 years before.
Matisse working on a Cut Out while confined to a wheelchair
Tristel – Matisse Cut Out
I took my daughters to Europe in 2003 and made a stop at the Matisse Museum in Nice, France. I picked out this piece along with 2 others from that era and bought reproductions of them. When I got home I had them framed and they are great reminders of both his genius and a fantastic family adventure.
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Fall/Winter 2016
Summer 2014
Winter 2012/2013
Winter 2011/2012
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It’s day #3 of Laws of Attraction Week at the NDD. I might have to spill over into next week, but not sure yet!
Is this true? Discuss.
Drawing and question by Marty Coleman, who likes blue eyeshadow (but not on himself).
Quote by Anonymous, who does not like blue eyeshadow.
Laws of Attraction week continues at the NDD
Have you ever tried to fall in love? It’s sort of like trying to enjoy the taste of food you don’t like. It’s possible you could end up liking it, that is true. Obviously from childhood to adulthood we like things that at first we really hated. Just watch a kid take a taste of wine or beer or eat a bite of brussel sprouts. It’s not very likely they will have a happy face. But given enough time they might come to enjoy it. Will they come to love the taste? Perhaps. Will the come to be IN LOVE with that substance? Probably not. Probably the substance they are going to have the deepest affection for is the stuff they loved as a small child, from the beginning. That is why comfort food is called comfort food, because we are so in love with that great feeling of security and comfort we find in that food from our childhood.
Love can be the same way. I once saw a report on arranged marriages and how statistically they have an equal or better chance of lasting than a typical western ‘fall in love, romantic’ marriage. Why is that? A lot of reasons beyond being in love, obviously. But the report did interview a number of long term married couples who started in arranged marriages. Their comments could be reduced to this; ‘marriage first, love later’. Western inclinations lean towards the opposite; ‘love first, marriage later’. But how many of our western marriage actually keep that ‘in love’ feeling alive after so many years? Doesn’t the marriage have to rely on something more than that feeling, which may or may not always be there?
So, in my head while you can’t, and shouldn’t, force love, you can build love. You can, over time, find things about the other person that cause you to fall ‘in love’ with them again and again, but in new ways you could not have anticipated because life and what happens to us is unexpected. The key is to always be open and available for that to happen at any moment now or into the future. It might be an event, it might be a change in your heart, who knows. But it can happen, and if you are paying attention, it might happen sooner than you think.
Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, a lover not a fighter.
Quote by anonymous
I had a conversation yesterday about attraction with an online friend in Norway. I had responded to an FB posting about attraction that a mutual friend of ours (also in Norway) had posted. The thread of the conversation revolved around the question, When do you have control over your attraction? Sometimes it seemed to me that your attraction was visceral, immediate and you had very little control over it, at least at first. Her point was that it was actually something you did control since it was YOU who was feeling whatever it was you were feeling. I didn’t agree that just because it was me meant I had control since the initial response is primarily unconscious. We started using the word ‘choice’ instead and that changed things a bit. You can’t really control what you are not conscious of, but you do, through repetition and familiarity, make choices about things even when you aren’t fully conscious you are making them.
What are your thoughts about attraction and how it comes about? Is it primarily unconscious at first? What sort of control or choices do you have available to you?
Drawing, commentary and quote (adapted from an anonymous one) by Marty Coleman, who chose to post this today.
Another in my occasional series on writing.
Have you ever been on a movie set? If you have you know how fake the whole thing is. Beautiful buildings, looking solid in marble and brick are in fact wood facades with painted on brick and marble. Luscious landscaping with exotic plants turn out to be plastic and fake. Actresses in ornate costumes turn out to have old t-shirts and shorts on underneath, not the sexy lingerie the outer garment suggests.
Writing is similar. All the stylistic hoops you jump through won’t be of value unless there is a real story underneath. Something of substance that is worth the reader spending their time paying attention.
Pay attention to that and all the style you want can be added on. Ignore it and all the style in the world won’t overcome the emptiness.
© 2025 by Marty Coleman, who types left handed \ napkindad.com
Quote by Stanley Schmidt, 1944- not dead yet, American science fiction author
I thought you might like to see some of the artists who have influenced me over the course of my career. We will go from oldest to youngest over the next few weeks.
First up is Rembrandt, 1606-1669. Rembrandt was actually his first name. His full name was Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn. A Dutch master of oil painting, drawing and intaglio (etching) Rembrandt focused primarily on the powerful emotional effect of light on form.
Bathing Bathsheba – Oil on Canvas – 1654
Bathsheba has a letter demanding that she go see King David. Her husband, Uriah, at David’s direction, is about to be sent to the front lines of war, where he will be killed. The resignation and depression in her face and body is perfect. All the sensual nudity in the world could not overcome that, and Rembrandt illustrates it perfectly.
Saskia Sleeping – Ink on paper – 1655
In this ink wash image Rembrandt uses the ink to let us know her hair is dark, but the rest of the image he is simply depicting shadows. The deep shadows in her eyes, the simple rounded strokes over her shoulders and hip and the wider, darker strokes below her all contribute to you feeling her weight pressing down, making the title completely believable.
Ecce Homo (Behold the Man) version 1 – Etching – 1655
Ecce Homo – version 2 – Etching – 1655
Rembrandt was a master printmaker. His etchings were very influential on me pursuing printmaking as an undergraduate and graduate student. My Grandfather had 4 prints of his (copies, not originals) that I saw in his home from an early age.
The scene above is the moment when Pilate presents Jesus to the crowd and asks whether he should be let go or condemned. We know the answer obviously. The etching actually went through more than 2 versions, more like 8, but these two are the defining images of the print because they represent 2 very different approaches to the story. The first is a scene you are witnessing. The second is a scene you are participating in. There is no barrier preventin you being in the crowd, preventing you being the one Pilate is expecting an answer from. Combine that immediacy with the two dark, foreboding tunnels into the underworld below Pilate and Jesus and you have a choice to make which direction you will take.
I once took a semester long seminar at the Boston Museum of Art through the school I was going to at the time, Brandeis University. We were able to study the prints of Rembrandt, including these, close up, with magnifying glasses. We also got to study Durer and Goya in the same glass. It was a profound experience for me as a young artist.
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Fall/Winter 2016
Summer 2014
Winter 2012/2013
Winter 2011/2012
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Is your pessimism actually cowardice in disguise? It makes sense, since we don’t really like to face our weaknesses, nor even acknowledge we have them in many cases, that we would build a world view that turns our personal feelings of impotence, incompetence and inadequacy into ‘it’s just the way it is’. Pessimism becomes that world view. You expect failure, disappointment, calamity, dissatisfaction and any other number of negative outcomes because ‘it’s just the way it is’.
That response is much easier than saying there is something wrong with me that I could change if I set my mind to it. It’s easier than saying there are major problems in the world and I am going to do something about them. It’s easier than saying I can see through the bad things to the great things that can come from them. It’s easier than the hard work of making something happen for yourself, your business, your family.
Pessimism is laying the circumstances of your life at someone else’s door. It might be God’s door. It might be society’s door. It might be science’s door. But it isn’t your door. Optimism is realizing your circumstances are at your own door, taking them in and doing something with them.
© 2025 by Marty Coleman, chronic optimist.
Quote by Bernard De Voto, 1897-1955, American historian and author. They say he was pugnacious.
I am positive it’s day #5 of Optimism/Pessimism Week at the NDD.
My friend Marcy (who I met via Blog World, read the story below to see the irony), wrote a recent blog post titled, ‘Asking the Universe to Dance’. In it she told the story of a young fellow who introduced himself to her at a conference but never asked her the important question of ‘Are you looking to hire?’ He had the opportunity but he didn’t take it. Her point was that you have to ASK if you want something. The Universe (and the person you are talking to) does not have ESP.
I wrote the following in response to her story and then found the napkin quote a few minutes later. Because this is Optimism/Pessimism week it all seemed to fit together.
Just in case people need more reasons to ‘just ask’…In 2010 I just happen to see a tweet scroll by from someone I followed but didn’t really know from Eve. She simply said something like ‘So, what do you want?’ I was about to respond with something witty and silly but instead I decided to investigate who she was. I went to her twitter page, then to her website and found out she was a life and career coach focusing on helping creative people. So, I responded on twitter with, ‘I want two hours of your time.’
She called me that afternoon and we spent 1/2 an hour talking about how she couldn’t give 2, but would give 1 hour in a phone consultation the next day after she had time to review my work, my blog and my website.
The next day we spent 1 1/2 hours on the phone going over where I was, what steps I could take to move forward. What was essential to be fixed immediately, what could put off. How to focus on what would return good results, how to let go of distracting elements, and more.
Her request when I asked what I could do to return the favor was that I donate time to help the homeless. She didn’t want a follow up, didn’t want me to feel obligated to her. She just wanted me to help the homeless somehow.As a result of that conversation I submitted a proposal to Social Media Tulsa to be a speaker. At that session I was heard by two women, one hired me to be a speaker at an organization’s state conference and another, Becky McCray, has become my champion and encouraged me to submit a proposal to Blog World.
As a result of my speaking at the state conference I was hired to be the keynote at their regional conference this year. As a result of speaking at Blog World I have been invited to speak at the Blog World New York event which is co-located with BookExpo NY, where you can be sure I will be asking all about getting my book published!
Are you listening for the door or complaining of the noise?
© 2025 by Marty Coleman, who took typing in High School | napkindad.com
Quote by Oscar Wilde, who did not.
