by Marty Coleman | Feb 12, 2014 | Sketchbook History Tour |
I had to drop off one of our cars to be serviced this week. I waited at a Tulsa Starbucks for a few hours hoping the car would be done without me having to drive home and back.
Here is the finished version of the line drawing I did in my sketchbook while there.
I thought it might be fun for you to see how one of my drawings looks before it is finished so I scanned it before I shaded it. Here’s the flat, color-only version.
The original drawing was done in pen. Here it is before any color was added.
What do you think? Is the final drawing the best or do you like one of the other two better?
And another question, what does it look like they were talking about? What are their stories?
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
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by Marty Coleman | Feb 10, 2014 | Breasts - 2012-2013, Joyce Grenfell |
I know many of the Napkin Kin would say the moment below is the moment, right?
Purchase the Original Drawing or Purchase a Print
The Sublime Moment
I don’t regularly have this sublime moment in my life repertoire, but I did have it once. The moment helped me understand the ecstasy of which my female friends speak. No, I didn’t enter a drag queen contest or dress up as a woman for Halloween (not that there’s anything wrong with that). I had to wear a heart monitor for 48 hours as part of my annual physical. It was strapped around my chest the whole time and what an annoyance it was. It was SO great to finally have it off. I figured out then that if I were female I would probably be one who takes her bra off the second she gets in her car to go home from work. I just knew I would want it off that bad.
Anyway, just a fun drawing today to let my female Napkin Kin know I understand your agony and ecstasy (at least a little bit!)
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Drawing by Marty Coleman
Quote by Joyce Grenfell, 1910-1979, English actor and songrwriter. She actually used the word ‘corset’ instead of ‘bra’ in the original quote. I can imagine a corset would be even harder to keep on all day.
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Happiness is the sublime moment when you get out of your bra at night
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by Marty Coleman | Feb 7, 2014 | Marcel Mariën |
What Enslaves Us
I found this quote yesterday and decided to use it on my morning’s napkin. I have my own things I am, or have been, slave to in my life, including a few on the list below. But I was interested in what others had to say about this topic so I posted the following question on Facebook:
Question: I am drawing a napkin today about what we are slaves to. What are you now, or have you been, slave to? What about others you know? Family traits, cultural?
Here is a list of the answers people talked about.
- Alcohol
- Insecurities
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Clichés
- Cell Phone
- Nothing
- Love
- Changing environment
- Government
- Voices in my head
- Petroleum
- Facebook
- The scale
- Rules
- Urgency
- Perfectionism
- Controlling things
- Consumerism
- Righteousness
- Fear
- Death
- My boss
- Need to please
- Society standards
- Work
- Beauty
- Guilt
- Masturbation
- Expectations
- Responsibilities
And finally,
Do you have others to add? It would make me happy if you would do so in the comments.
Rule Breaker/Rule Keeper
Out of that list I chose to illustrate the idea of ‘rules’. It seemed to me that most, if not all, the items on that list came back to our dealing with rules. Rules we either think we should or should not obey. Rules cover a lot.
I have family members and good friends who see themselves as rule keepers. They feel they are able to control their lives adequately by following the rules of society, government, work, and the rules in their own head. In most cases it seems to work for them. But I also know they get incredibly stressed out at times trying to follow all these rules. It’s draining because many of them are arbitrary, don’t contribute to actual goodness, and just make no sense. And yet they still obey those rules.
I also have family members and good friends who see themselves as rule breakers (myself included). They feel it gives them a freedom and a creativity to face the world with enthusiasm and fun. In most cases it works for them. But they also can get in trouble, or cause trouble, in situations where the trouble doesn’t help anyone. It’s not the positive trouble-making I mentioned a few days ago regarding entrepreneurs, it’s the trouble that comes from being oblivious to the benefits rules give to them and others. They break them without purpose, just to do it, or just ‘for fun’ without realizing how it may hurt themselves and others. And yet they still break the rules.
Some are in both camps. They are rule keepers to the world around them, but rule breakers secretly. We all are a bit like that I think, but some are so torn between the two that their public face and their private face have nothing in common. I believe that is a very dangerous place to be.
Why Polish?
Knowing what we are enslaved by is all well and good, but if we are interested in overcoming our slavery then the next, equally important question, is:
How and why do we ‘polish the chain’ that enslaves us? What causes us to do that?
What’s your answer?
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Drawing and questions by Marty Coleman, Answers by the Napkin Kin
Quote by Marcel Mariën, 1920-1993, Belgian Surrealist
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by Marty Coleman | Feb 5, 2014 | Norway |
I am published! Well, at least in Norway I am. I am in a book titled ‘Serviettboka’ which means ‘Napkin Book’ in Norwegian.
Napkin Book
Last year you might remember I posted a story about a woman in Norway, Inger Lise Skauge, who had collected upwards of 110,000 napkins over 65 years. She contacted me wanting to know if she could use some of my napkin drawings in a book she was writing about her napkins and napkins in general. I said yes and took the extra step of drawing a napkin specifically for her.
The Napkin Story
She was able to put it, along with the Napkin story and a number of other napkins, into a 2 page spread right in the middle of the book. It was in a section on alternative uses for napkins. I feel honored she chose to include me.
After it was published we decided to do a fair trade. I sent her the napkin for her to frame and put on her wall and she sent me the book to have.
Inger Lise promised to send me a photo of her with the napkin and here it is.
Inger Lise with Napkin
And there you have it, my first international publication, woo hoo!
Now on to conquer Sweden!
Here is my original post about how it all came about.
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Drawing, story and most of the photos by Marty Coleman
Book by Inger Lise Skauge
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by Marty Coleman | Feb 4, 2014 | James K. Glassman, Launching a Business - 2014 |
I hope I don’t cause trouble with #2 in my ‘Launching a Business’ series.
Launch
Last night was the first meeting of the 2014 TCC (Tulsa Community College) Launch program for Entrepreneurs. Napkin Dad Publishing is one of 15 teams taking this 16 week program on how to launch a business. As a result of this I thought I would do a series on launching a business. #1 in the series is linked below.
Me, A Trouble Maker?
Some might say so. But honestly, I am excited to learn the ‘right way’ to do things. That doesn’t mean I am going to do things that way mind you, just that I am going to learn those ways. I might do them too, who knows!
What is ‘making trouble’ anyway? I don’t know much about the business world but it seems the intent and effect of an entrepreneur with a good idea is to stir things up, causing a change to occur. For example, they might change the accepted order of things in their industry by putting out a product that threatens an existing product. They might brand, market, advertise and sell in ways completely foreign and bizarre to established players, vendors and competitors. Just look at the technology, networking and communication changes in the last 10-20 years if you don’t think that is possible. In any number of directions the entrepreneur is a trouble maker. I like that idea so maybe I am a trouble maker.
The Napkin Kin
I love my Napkin Kin and feel you all are some of the smartest and most insightful people around. I will be asking you questions, throwing out ideas, announcing directions and changes over the next several months. I am looking forward to hearing your ideas, suggestions, critiques and analysis as we move forward.
Feel free to send me your ideas. You can reach me by commenting on this or any blog post, of course. You can also drop a line directly to me at marty@napkindad.com. You can always reach me on The Napkin’s Facebook page or on twitter @thenapkindad. I look forward to hearing from you.
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Dreaming It – Launching a Business #1
The Trouble Maker – Launching a Business #2
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman
Quote by James K. Glassman, 1947 – not dead yet, American business writer
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