by Marty Coleman | Sep 20, 2015 | Henry David Thoreau, It's BEYOND Imagination! |
What I looked At
My piano was an old upright that had been in Kathy’s (my first wife) family for generations. She had left it with me after we divorced and she moved to California. Chelsea used it for years afterward at my house but when she moved into her first small apartment she got a smaller piano that would fit.
When Linda and I combined households upon our marriage a few years later, we doubled up on pianos. I contacted Kathy to see if she or anyone on her side of the family wanted it and I contacted Chelsea to see if she wanted it. No one wanted it.
Chelsea at the Piano
I researched what it would go for on the open market. Turns out it was very similar to many others trying to be sold and would be unlikely to get me much money.
Ready to be transformed
What I Saw
What I looked at was an old, unwanted piano. But what I saw was more than a piano. What I saw was a bookcase.
Starting the teardown
Take away the bulk of metal and strings and what was left was amazing wood.
Piano in Pieces
So I tore it apart, taking every single piece of wood and ditching the guts.
Almost finished – Just some sanding, staining and varnishing still to go.
I then made a bookshelf with the wood and gave it to Chelsea for her birthday.
What do you see when you look?
Drawing, writing, photos and bookshelf by Marty Coleman
Quote by Henry David Thoreau, 1817-1862, American author (among other things)
Periscope
You can see the drawing being created during a live video on Periscope.
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by Marty Coleman | Sep 15, 2015 | It's BEYOND Imagination! |
The Future
Without imagination it’s very hard to see into the future since it is undefined and can’t, for the most part, be defined by facts. One needs to imagine what is to come.
The Past
Without imagination it’s very hard to see into the past since it is defined only in story and memory. Without a story the past can’t be told and a story is never without imagination.
The Present
Without imagination it’s very hard to see into the present since it is only partially seen. To be able to see what is happening right now but is not present in front of us we need imagination.
Telescope
Your imagination is the soul’s telescope. It allows you to see into the past, the future and the present with more clarity, more detail and more curiosity than you possibly could without one. Don’t leave home (or stay home) without it!
Drawing and commentary © 2015 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
Quote by Henry Ward Beecher, 1813-1887, American preacher and abolitionist, brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe
You can watch a replay of the creation of this drawing here on Periscope. You can follow me @thenapkindad.
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by Marty Coleman | Sep 13, 2015 | How To Draw A Stick Figure - 2015 |
-
How to Draw a Stick figure – Part 1
- Draw a vertical line
- 2/3 of the way down, split the line in two.
- At the end of those two lines make 2 small horizontal lines.
- Go 3/4 of the way back up the first line.
- Draw 2 lines coming off that main line at an angle.
- Draw 3 lines off the ends of those angled lines.
- Draw an oval at the top of the first line.
- Draw in 3 dots in an upside down triangle formation in the top half of the oval.
- Draw a straight horizontal line in the bottom half of the oval.
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Appendix:
- To depict a female:
- Draw 2 circles on either side of the original line, just below the set of lines that are angled out from the center line. Size does not matter. (See illustration above)
- Optional:
- Draw little teeny weenie lines off of those circles.
- Draw a big half circle off the original line. Draw a smaller version of the entire stick figure inside that half circle.
- Extra Credit:
- Draw a 2nd smaller version in the same half circle
- To depict a male:
- Draw a straight vertical line coming down from the point at which the first line splits into two lines at the bottom.
- Size does matter – The vertical line should not be too long. Or too short.
- Optional:
- Draw the same line but at an angle.
- To depict a child:
- Repeat part 1 instructions above but make the oval at the top of the original line FREAKING huge.
- To Finish:
- Draw a bunch of other people, animals and things that tell a story that no one can figure out.
The Real Story
Ok, the real story is this. I actually did start a Periscope video broadcast with the title ‘How to Draw a Stick Figure’. But it was hijacked by funny, rude, silly, entertaining NapkinKin who kept asking me to draw things. First, a hat, then a dog, the a cat, then some gnats. and a house and a tree and of course someone wanted me to draw boobs.
It was too funny not to just go with the flow. This drawing was the result.
The End
Drawing and Lesson © 2015 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
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by Marty Coleman | Sep 11, 2015 | It's BEYOND Imagination!, Pablo Picasso |
I am starting a new series called ‘BEYOND Imagination’. My wife and I always crack up when we hear that phrase because obviously if someone is telling us a story it had to be imagined, thus NOTHING can be beyond it.
When Imagination Becomes Bad
When kids are young, in elementary school, they are allowed to let their imaginations soar. If they want to draw a unicorn, nobody is going to stop them. If they want to make a robot that also poops cookies, that’s a cute and funny thing. But when they get to adolescence they are directed by schools, parents, the world, and themselves to make things real. The suddenly want to make that drawing of a car look JUST like a car. If they don’t they get ridiculed by their peers and perhaps others as ‘drawing like a child’. Nothing is more humiliating than that for a teenager trying to be grown up. So they try really hard to copy reality.
And of course most of them fail. They fail because their desire in themselves and the pressure from others is not matched with training on how to draw realistically. Many then get frustrated, feel like a failure and quit.
When Imagination Becomes Good
Those who don’t quit in frustration will eventually learn techniques and methods and get so they can draw accurately. But then what? Many of the best artists then realize that accuracy isn’t enough. So what if it looks like a photograph? It may woo a crowd but it doesn’t really express much about themselves as artists or fulfill their desire to communicate.
Thinking, Feeling, Seeing
Then they start to get back to their child-like imagination. Then they start to create art based on the quote above. Or maybe it’s not about what they think but instead it’s about what they feel. Either way, they become free from the tyranny of realistic accuracy and move towards using color, form, shape, texture, line, etc. (the formal elements of art) to express what is inside them. And we get to see inside them, not just outside. That to me is a fulfilling starting point for great art.
Drawing and commentary © 2015 Marty Coleman | Napkindad.com
Quote by Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso, 1881-1973, Spanish Artist
Periscope
You can watch the Periscope video of the creation of this drawing and the guessing of the quote here.
If you are on Periscope you can find me @thenapkindad
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by Marty Coleman | Sep 9, 2015 | Kindness101 - 2015 |
Today is the final installment of my Kindness 101 series. I started it as one commissioned piece for Natalie Hamilton (@hammyton on Periscope, @nhammyton on twitter) but it turned into an entire series. This final one also happened to be in conjunction with me filling in for Natalie to do her daily Periscope #bekind101 challenge while she was on vacation. You can see the scope at the bottom of this post.
Arguing
The world is filled with arguments. It isn’t just some current thing, it’s has always been filled with it. And many arguments are needed and necessary. We need to argue about policies of our government. We need to argue about what laws to pass and why.
But what we don’t need to do is argue in such a way that we are unkind. These can happen politics of course, but it’s usually amateur wannabe politicians who are the most cruel. Professional politicians and diplomats understand that even if you disagree with someone you will likely still need to work with them. And that isn’t going to happen if you trash them publicly. It’s why negative campaigning is always so hard to watch or listen to and it’s one of the reasons Donald Trump is so worrisome to many. The idea that he could be negotiating with a foreign power and calling them ‘loser’ or ‘3rd rate’ make people worried that it could lead to a disaster.
Kinding
In most day-to-day cases, in person but especially online, arguing can often become so important to someone that they forget about being kind. They become hurtful and mean in a personal attack on a person instead. It even gets to the point that when a person tries to be kind to both sides in an argument and see each other’s position with some compassion and understanding, that person can be vilified from both sides as being not pure enough in their position. It can be a vicious cycle.
Recently for example the case of Kim Davis has been in the news. She is the Rowan County Clerk in Kentucky who refuses to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. She even went to jail over Labor Day weekend for being in contempt of court. I disagree with her position, simple as that. HOWEVER, I am not against her personally. I am not going to attack her religion or her marriage history or her or her husband’s clothing style. I think it is completely and utterly irrelevant. Not only that, it’s mean and hurtful. Putting that forward among many online who disagree with her position leads me to be suspect. I am not sufficiently angry. I am not sufficiently willing to attack her on all fronts.
But I think we should choose kindness even in the midst of our argument against her position and that means we don’t attack her personally.
You can view the periscope video that shows the creation of the drawing and the discussion about the ‘Kindness101 Challenge’ here.
Drawing and commentary © 2015 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
Quote by Wayne Dyer, 1940-2015, American author and speaker
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