by Marty Coleman | Apr 14, 2011 | Encyclopedia of Characters |
I haven’t added to The Napkin Dad’s Encyclopedia of Characters and Stuff for quite a while. I realized I had added some new characters lately and wanted to update.
Introducing our good friend, always in the distance, Radio Tower!
You will often see Radio Tower in the far distance, on a hill. She broadcasts all day and night, never resting. Her signal never grows weak and she can withstand gale force winds (though she doesn’t like them). You will see her when what is being said should be transmitted to a large audience. She’s your clue to share the napkin.
She is sometimes lonely, but a wind farm is moving in nearby and she is looking forward to flirting with the turbines, she hears they are sexy.
Who do you want to see next?
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by Marty Coleman | Apr 10, 2011 | Sketchbook History Tour |
Well, here we are, 39 years worth of drawings later, at the end of the Sketchbook History Tour. I started posting this tour on July, 18th, 2010, almost 9 months ago. We have gone all the way from the crude drawings of an adolescent 17 year old to the crude drawings of a 56 year old. I hope you enjoyed the journey as much as I did!
She’s bummed because the tour is over
She’s Wondering What’s Next
Drawing © 2016 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
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by Marty Coleman | Apr 10, 2011 | Sketchbook History Tour |
The Sketchbook History Tour is almost to the present. Next week we will be at 2011 and shortly after that I will have a whole new Sunday project!
I like drawing the piano player at church. She is angular, still, colorful and contrasting. The first 2 are from my small sketchbook of 2009-2010. It is inside a soft leather/suede cover that has slots for colored pencils. It even has a pencil sharpener attached to it. The last 2 are from my larger sketchbook from 2008-2010. 
Drawing © 2016 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
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by Marty Coleman | Mar 30, 2011 | Series |
About 4 or 5 years after our divorce my first wife called me to apologize. Not for divorcing me, but for making assumptions about what I was doing during our marriage. What she learned that led to the call was that what was in her mind about my motives and actions wasn’t necessarily true. She was projecting her understanding of things onto my actions and my life.
She felt that that was not a good assumption to make. She understood that It MIGHT be the case, but there shouldn’t be the assumption that it is. Assumptions build on top of assumptions, just as a house is built on a foundation. If the original assumption isn’t solid, then the rest of the assumptions aren’t solid either.
Jealousy and many other responses can be like that. Don’t let your judgment and understanding of yourself cloud your judgment and understanding of others. See less of yourself in others and more of who they really are. You might find out that your suspicions are valid, you might find out they are not. But either way, you will see the truth, and that is better than seeing too much.
Oh, and no, the drawing is not my unwife and myself. She was not and is not an angry or mean-spirited person in any way. I, meanwhile, am much more handsome and have several more hairs than the guy in the drawing.
Drawing and commentary 2025 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
Quote author is unknown
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by Marty Coleman | Mar 30, 2011 | Sketchbook History Tour |
It’s 2009 in the Sketchbook History Tour. Only 2 more weeks and we will have traveled through time 39 years, from 1972 to 2011!
Here we have 2 from 2009, both of them made up out of my head, just for fun.
Wiggle Dog Howling at the Moon Cat
I like this drawing. It makes me happy.
Woman with Mask – line drawing only
I like this one too. It makes me wonder.
Drawings © 2016 – Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
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by Marty Coleman | Mar 30, 2011 | Metaphor - 2011, Robert Frost |
It’s the last day of Metaphor Week!
I have been living in Oklahoma almost 17 years now and I have seen a LOT of video footage of tornadoes. I have even seen in person any number of storms that were threatening to become one. Luckily I haven’t seen an actual tornado. The most amazing thing about them is how tall and thin they are. They have virtually no substance to them at all and they usually don’t last very long.
Happiness is much the same way. Much like a tornado, happiness can effect much beyond it’s immediate borders even if it is only in existence for a few moments. What a person is rubs off on others. If you are happy AND express it, then others see it, feel it, and might be pulled in by it to move towards ‘happy’ as well.
Be a happiness tornado for a moment or two today. See who you can pull in.
Drawing © 2025 by Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
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by Marty Coleman | Mar 30, 2011 | Death - 2001-2011, Metaphor - 2011, Rose MaCaulay |
It’s day 3 of Metaphor week. I am enjoying my new book, ‘I Never Metaphor I Didn’t Like – a comprehensive compilation of history’s greatest analogies, metaphors, and similes’, but I am realizing as I go that so many quotes I have read and used over the years have been in one of those three categories already!
Sometimes I feel like that myself. I am a very social person and I actually keep up with many people from my past, people who are life-long friends, but like many men, I don’t have a ton of close guy friends.
I first realized this when I got divorced in 2000. One of the elements that led up to the divorce caused there to be a split between friend and I. Until that happened I thought of him as a guy I saw once in a while. We socialized, had some creative and extended family elements in common, but that was about it. But after it happened I realized that he was one of my closest guy friends. It actually seemed sort of pathetic to me at the time. This guy I spend barely any time with turns to be one of my closest friends. It made the divorce all the harder.
That is one reason I like organized recreation, such as the running group I am in. I have been injured lately (achilles tendon) and so have not been running. I have really missed it. In part because of the exercise (I have gained weight for sure) but also because of the friendships. I miss hearing what is going on in people’s lives. I miss telling stories of my life. I miss encouraging my friends.
Yesterday I mentioned something I used to say to my daughters as they went to school in the morning. I would say ‘Make good friends, keep good friends’. How do you do those two things?
Drawing 2025 by Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
Quote by Rose MaCaulay, 1881-1958, British writer
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by Marty Coleman | Mar 30, 2011 | Metaphor - 2011, Robert Louis Stevenson |
It’s day #2 of Metaphor Week!
This goes along with something I said to my daughters many mornings as they left for school, “Make good friends, keep good friends”.
Drawing by Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
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by Marty Coleman | Mar 30, 2011 | F. Scott Fitzgerald, Metaphor - 2011 |
It’s Metaphor Week at the NDD! First, a definition. A metaphor is a direct claim that
A is X. A simile is similar, but it says A is like X, not A is X.
Want to stay young at heart? Have not only the courage of your convictions, but the courage to explore them thoroughly.
Drawing and commentary 2025 by Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
Quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1896-1940, American author and screenwriter. Ironically he died at the exact age of the older person in his quote.
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by Marty Coleman | Mar 30, 2011 | Sketchbook History Tour |
About 3 years ago, on March 2nd, 2008 I was hanging out at Barnes and Noble in Tulsa. I saw a woman reading intently. I liked her face structure and the way her hair poofed up so I drew her. Here is the drawing.
Aime at Barnes and Noble
After I finished I went over and showed the drawing to her and the gentleman sitting with her. She liked the drawing and we exchanged emails so I could scan it and send it to her. I asked if I could draw her again and also take some photos of her. She liked that idea so a few weeks later we met so she could model for me. Here is the drawing I did at that time.
Aime at Shades of Brown Coffee House
After I did the drawing we went a few blocks over to the walled garden at All Souls Unitarian Church where we did the photo shoot. Here are a few pics from the session.
Purple Aime at Shades of Brown
Golden Aime
Aime and the Cracked Pot
We had a great time during the shoot and she and her by then fiance loved the photos. A number of months later Aime called me and told me she was getting married. Since they were originally from Boston they would be getting married back east, but they needed some engagements photos taken in advance. Here are a few of those.
Aime at the Make Up Counter
Engagement Portrait
They have since had a child and have another on the way. Unfortunately they moved back to Boston so my chances of photographing them are much slimmer these days.
Anyway, I thought I would show you the evolution of how some of my drawings leads to friendships and great memories. Hope you enjoyed the journey.
Drawings and Photos © 2016 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
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