by Marty Coleman | Apr 4, 2024 | Sketchbook History Tour |
Coffee People
I have been continuing to scan my sketchbooks. Each sketchbook has a unique focus due to its own properties of size, paper quality, etc. It also has to do with what I was doing at the time. This sketchbook has a lot of live drawings of people in public settings. I was spending time in coffee houses because I was live streaming regularly on the Periscope app and this was a fun and interesting way to engage my audience. The camera would be pointed at me and my drawing so I could talk while they saw my drawing appear. I would sometimes end the video with me going over the meet the subject of my drawing and introduce them as well.
These are a selection from my 2015-2017 sketchbook.
© 2024 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Marty Coleman | Feb 26, 2024 | Sketchbook History Tour, Travel |
Plane People
I’ve been scanning my sketchbooks this year and recently scanned one from 2000-2002. There were a number of drawings of people on planes or about to get on one. Planes and waiting rooms are wonderful places to people draw and I always make sure I have my sketchbook with me when I travel for that exact reason.
In some cases I met these people, found out their name and a small portion of their story. Some knew I was drawing them, like Jess the flight attendant. She was sitting staring down the aisle late at night and it was kind of hard to miss me drawing since I was the probably the only person with a light on in the cabin. Other times I am observing, taking in not just the face but the whole environment, like in ‘A Passenger’s Story’, which really more my story of what is happening all around her rather than what she is thinking. And then again I am often just imagining what someone might be thinking based on just a brief conversation like in ‘Cate Wishing’ or on nothing at all, like in ‘I Hope He’s Nice’.
Click on any image to start a slide show. Let me know what you think, do you have a favorite?
Gallery
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Marty Coleman | Feb 15, 2024 | Art, Digital Work |
These images weren’t first created with apartment buildings in mind. It was after they were done that I started to see personalities and interactions, conflict and companionship, connections and structure and found the tie-in to close living. Click any image to see the slide show.
Typically when I am creating a design on my ipad I start with a line or a shape and let it tell me what the next line or shape should be. I eventually discern a pattern and will build on it until I am happy. It sounds funny but I know I am done with a piece, on paper, canvas or screen, when I feel happy. By that I mean it feels like it is what it is supposed to be. There is no time frame for this, it can take minutes or it can take years. My digital work doesn’t usually take very long but I do have drawings and paintings from the ’80s and ’90s that I have taken out of a drawer and started to work on again, finally finishing them 30 to 40 years later.
There is no time limit on creativity.
© 2024 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com All rights reserved
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Marty Coleman | Feb 5, 2024 | Series |
‘The Napkin’ is 16 Years Old Today
16 years ago today I posted the first napkin to my new blog ‘The Napkin Dad Daily’. In December of 2023, A few months ago, I posted a newly drawn napkin.
And 25 Years AGO…
The first one I ever drew was in 1998. That makes 25 years of drawing on napkins and being the Napkin Dad. Not a bad streak if you ask me.
I guess that’s why they call it ‘wishful thinking’, right?
How do your wishes and desires influence what you think is real?
drawing © 2024 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
“Nothing is easier than self-deception. For what each person wishes, that he also believes to be true.”
Demosthenes
Like this:
Like Loading...
by Marty Coleman | Jan 3, 2024 | Sketchbook History Tour |
The Sad Women
“I can promise you that women working together – linked, informed and educated – can bring peace and prosperity to this forsaken planet.” – Isabel Allende
When I think about the Middle East recently I keep thinking about how powerless so many women must feel as they watch their world being destroyed. They have their differing opinions and beliefs but I believe their pain makes them much more alike than their religion and background make them different. Because of that I am confident of the same thing Allende is. I don’t know the solution to all these issues. But I believe the women of the region are more likely to find the answers than the men are. I can think of no better place and time than here and now to have women in charge instead of men.
The Sad Women, pen and ink on paper, 2024
Like this:
Like Loading...
