Puffy Cloud means all things good. In Napkin World nothing bad happens on a puffy cloud day (also known as a Simpson’s cloud day).
Puffy cloud came about many years ago in my drawings because 1, I love puffy clouds and puffy cloud days and 2, I wanted something that helped define a sky, give it perspective depth with simplicity.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
Turtle is almost as old as Snake. She came into existence not long after a real turtle showed up on our front porch. It disappeared out our back door a few weeks later, but by that time Turtle had been drawn.
Early on Turtle represented the more spiritual, inward-looking side of life. Contemplative and deep. Snake was the charmer, the socialite, the schemer. Now they have matured into both being more well-rounded and kinder characters, though they do tend to slip into their old ways when things get stressful.
Turtle likes to travel. She has been to Bulgaria and The Isle of Man. Oh, and Lapland.
Take a look at an early appearance here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/digioreo/3478778530/
Drawing © Marty Coleman
We woke up this morning to a phone call telling us one of my wife’s employees had been killed in a car wreck. She has to go announce it to her division, make plans for how to respond as a company and as an individual to other individuals.
Sunday we were out furniture shopping when we met a saleswoman. We got into a conversation and learned her daughter had died in a car wreck just short of a year ago. She was just about to turn 15.
One of my recent friends on facebook (I went to high school with her sister and we connected via those FB connections) just recently came upon the 8th anniversary of her son’s death in a car wreck. Less than a month before she had to comfort an old friend whose son had just died in a car wreck.
What do they all have in common? We remain. The loved ones remain. The loved ones grieve. The loved ones suffer terrible loss. Where do we go with it? How do we carry that suitcase of grief? That heavy suitcase with no rollers, no convenient handles, a broken zipper so stuff keeps falling out on the street. That suitcase of grief that pops open at the most inconvenient times.
What do we do with that?
Whatever we do, life still is yours to live. It has fresh peaches in it. It has Kilimanjaro to climb. It is worth living.
drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“What looks like a loss may be the very event which is responsible for producing the major achievement of your life,” – Srully Blotnick, 1941-2004, American author and Journalist
I know. This is a creepy image. Ok, so it won’t be a fan favorite. But the drawing fits the idea.
The reason this man shouldn’t be trusted is because he has no discernment. Someone who only says good things about people has not shown they can discern when there is a dangerous, bad person to avoid. I am not talking about dissing someone. I am talking about having a realistic view. If someone looks, walks and talks like a crazed ax murderer, then it is not a bad thing to say so and avoid the person. You aren’t being mean because you are using your mind to keep yourself and others safe.
Could the guy possibly have a nice side? Yea, he could like broadway musicals and long walks on the beach, be nice to dogs and caterpillars and send money to his mom back home every month. But if that is ALL you see of the guy, then you are purposely avoiding reality. He is still a dangerous person and should be avoided.
Obviously, I am talking about extreme circumstances here. The more likely scenario is an everyday friend or relative whose judgment you can’t trust because you haven’t heard anything negative from him or her.
Think of all the American Idol contestants who have to be told by the judges that they aren’t any good at singing, even if their mothers said they were. Their mothers weren’t trustworthy as judges of their ability, they only said good things. They thought they were encouraging, but in fact they were disabling them, making them unable to discern where they were in their singing progress.
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“Never trust a man who speaks well of everybody.” – John Churton Collins, 1848-1908, British Essayist and Critic
All talk, no action.
Does she walk the walk, or just talk the talk?
Where’s the beef?
The cliche sayings about people who don’t back up their words with deeds can go on and on. Why is that?
Because words are easy.
Because words can fool people.
Because words don’t cost anything to say.
Because words can persuade the speaker that they are actually taking action.
Because deeds can be secret.
Because deeds can be explained away.
Because deeds are hard.
Because deeds are dangerous.
Because deeds seems harmless.
I don’t know about you, but I know the deck is stacked in favor of words in my world. I have to be deliberate about my deeds; make decisions, choices, right, wrong, truth, lie, open, closed. Words – all I have to do is say them.
That is why I need to continually practice seeing the words and the deeds bound together like a hiker’s gear. It is a long journey and I need only bring the words along that are important to support the journey, the deed.
Thus endeth the sermon to myself.
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not words. Trust movement.” – Alfred Adler, 1870-1937, Austrian Physician
The second entry in my encyclopedia of characters and stuff.
Mechanoman first came on the scene back in the 80’s. He starred in a prismacolor drawing as a cool dude in a juice bar. Cupid shoots a cute girl who mechanoman has been eyeing. Turns out the girl is Psyche. The ensuing romance was a Greek tragedy of epic proportions.
You can see that drawing here.
A Woman and Sculpture with Cupid and Psyche Meeting Mechanoman in the Juice Bar
You may note that he doesn’t look the same now. Well, he had to go into the witness protection program a while back and his looks were changed to protect him. That story is still highly classified, otherwise I would tell it to you.
Drawings © Marty Coleman
Day two of ‘Trust’ week here at the Napkin Dad Daily. I am basically preaching to myself this week. This isn’t because I am not a trusting person, I am. More than most probably. I assume the best of intentions, I assume people will do what they say they are going to do. It doesn’t always happen, but I would rather get burned once in a while and be a trusting person than always be safe but have to trust no one.
Why I do need to hear this stuff about trust is because I am always needing to work on being a more trustworthy person. I think I am better than some, not as good as others. But I am not as trustworthy as I would always like to be. It’s a process of doing the right thing, the good thing, the promised thing, again and again and again. It takes patience and discipline, knowing boundaries and constantly remembering what I have promised.
I suppose most of us struggle with it, at least I hope I am not alone with it, am I?
Drawing and commentary © Marty Coleman
“To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved.” – George McDonald, 1824-1905, Scottish author and Christian minister.
Have issues with trust and expectations? Maybe this is part of the reason.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“The key is to get to know people and trust them to be who they are. Instead we trust people to be who we want them to be and when they are not, we cry.” – Anonymous.
I am starting an encyclopedia of characters so you can get to know them better. Think if it as their ‘online personals’. I will do one a week for a while.
I am starting with Singing Snake since he is probably my oldest creation. I started drawing him way way back when Beka, my oldest, was in elementary school (late 80s). Her teacher had a pet boa that she let stay with a different family over the summer every year. We got to keep the snake (named Spot) one summer. I loved it.
Plus a snake had great connotations and meanings to everyone, always something to interpret when you have a snake in your art! Oh, and can there be an easier thing to draw?
Many decades later ‘Singing Snake’ is an old friend, filling my need for song and commentary and meaning and innuendo and feelings.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
It is frustrating to hear a person talk about their low self-esteem, their feelings of inferiority all the while knowing that the only way to move past it is the one way they are not willing to take.
They have to step out, they need to attempt, to try, to pursue, to leap, to jump, to dive, to fly, to run, to love, to create, to build, to play, to meet, to greet, to talk, to write, to kiss, to touch, to bless, to work, to go, to swim, to do.
They do not need to figure out why they have low self-esteem first, before they act. They need to act, and act again and again and again.
My favorite song is ‘Jubilee’ by Mary Chapin-Carpenter. My favorite part in the song goes like this:
And I can tell by the way you’re talking
That the past isn’t letting you go
But there’s only so long you can take it all on
And then the wrong’s gotta be on its ownAnd when you’re ready to leave it behind you
You’ll look back, and all that you’ll see
Is the wreckage and rust that you left in the dust
On your way to the jubilee
You leave it behind you by moving, by acting, by doing. Go.
Drawing © Marty Coleman
“While one person hesitates because they feel inferior, the other is busy making mistakes and becoming superior.” – Henry C. Link, dates unknown, American author, wrote ‘Return To Religion’, 1937
