This piece captures the essence of country life. The detailed lines and shading bring out the rustic charm of the countryside, with a cozy home nestled amidst lush greenery.
As I reflect on my past experiences, I am accutely aware of how often I have spoken from opinion rather than from experience. I have made mistakes. This makes me think of the Mark Twain quote -"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement." Let's go out and get some experience, shall we?
Vine Charcoal and Oil Pastel make for a messy, smudgy experience. A certain amount of messiness can make a process feel more real and human. When things aren’t perfectly polished, it reflects a genuine effort, imperfections, and growth. In personal life, letting go of the need for everything to be tidy can promote a more authentic existence. The hat is a Stormy Chromer. It also evolved out of a mess. More on that later. Peace.
2B pencil focusing on the eye, nose and mouth. The reflection today is a suggestion that we find what we look for, and we see what we want to see. Our family dinners include a sharing time of: 1. Who blessed you today? 2. Who did you bless today? and 3. What are you thankful for? It is suggested by some that if you focus on the abundance, you will not see so much of the lack, but if you focus on the lack, you will not be able to see the abundance so well. This was illustrated by the questions: "How many red cars did you see on the way to work this morning?" My answer was: "No Idea!" It is because I was not looking. If I was being given $100.00 for each red car I spotted, I would have certainly been looking, and maybe even getting creative with the definition of 'red'. What are you looking for? What are you finding?
In this drawing, I was striving to capture the spirit of contemplation and reflection, a sort of spiritual sojourn, an ancient practice of pilgrimage, focusing on subjects of transcendent nature, and exploring destinations of spiritual significance. (words taken from scholarlysojourns.com). It is a self-portrait (me as a 14-year-old boy). We had just moved from Mequon to Rhinelander. It was then that I began to romanticize the natural beauty of Mequon. But at the same time, I was falling in love with the beauty of Rhinelander. In this picture, I am walking through the countryside of Mequon. The stringed musical instruments symbolize my love for the progressive classical and folk-tinged acoustic and orchestral music that was coming out of England in the late 60s and early 70s, specifically the quieter pieces of music performed by the Moody Blues, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Yes, and Jethro Tull. A song called Reasons for Waiting by Jethro Tull is a good accompanying piece for this drawing.
4 year old Henry engaged fully with thick applications of watercolor and oil pastels. He said it was a stormy sea with a small boat. This was at the onset of the pandemic, when we were all a bit uncertain and confined to our homes. I was reminded of an insight by Kierkegaard written in the early 1800s: “When the sailor is out on the sea and everything is changing around him, as the waves are continually being born and dying, he does not stare into the depths of these, since they vary. He looks up at the stars. And why? Because they are faithful – as they stand now, they stood for the patriarchs, and will stand for coming generations. By what means then does he conquer changing conditions? Through the eternal: By means of the eternal, one can conquer the future, because the eternal is the foundation of the future.”
Hello, my name is Dean C. Graf, 
