focus

Depression is a focus on the past. Anxiety is a focus on the future. Breathe in presence. Exhale stress. Focus on what you can do. Do.

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?

Cont. to work on BnW illustrations, I wanted to focus on making the reflections have a realistic quality. I struggle with clouds, but I felt I was most refined here. My BnW's seem to have so much more life and expression than my paintings. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Yet another senseless lynching that has me here with a broken heart. Like my other paintings on this subject, I wanted to focus on life. Tyre was dynamic and energetic, so I wanted to paint him soring. I also wanted to paint him defiant in the face of his oppressors. He was a skater, and they are no strangers to defiance. Thankfully, I found some excellent references to help me with the composition. Aesthetically, I wanted the comp to be modern, colorful, and hopefully impactful. I went for a pop art, illustration, and false-color vibe and minimized blending and refining layer edges. I painted this in Rebelle 6 and Photoshop. Much respect.

To draw is to notice. To notice is to pause. And sometimes, all it takes is a barefoot boy in a camping chair, chasing the drips of a popsicle, to remind us what it means to be here. This is Popsiclence—a sacred kind of focus. It’s where observational drawing leads us: out of the swirl, into the now. And in that now, we heal.

Years ago, I sketched Gibby at work—pencil in hand, bold strokes alive with motion. I caught them from over the shoulder: just the back of their head, the soft curve of their face, and that focused arm bringing something into being. They were 9 or 10 then, already showing the spark of creativity and concentration that pointed toward who they’d become. Now in their mid-20s, Gibby is thoughtful, insightful—quick to listen, slow to speak, and wired to process the world with care. Their path has been remarkable: two degrees in 2.5 years, no debt. That didn’t happen by accident. It took grit, German immersion schooling, 16 college credits earned in high school, and testing out of 24 more once at university. That’s Gibby—quietly determined, resourceful, and steady. But their story isn’t just academic. Gibby’s always been gifted with their hands—drawn to set design, locksmithing, welding. Trades they wanted to pursue early on, and still feel pulled toward. They’re at a bike shop now. It’s not the dream, but it fits: their hands know how to build, repair, and reshape the world. There’s been frustration—maybe even anger—that we didn’t let them follow the trade route right away. I get that now. Life veers, and sometimes the path chosen isn't the one imagined. But Gibby’s resilience—their ability to adapt and press on—is what I admire most. They’ve embraced their journey with honesty, stepping into their identity as a they/them person, unafraid to define success in their own terms. That takes courage. I’m proud of them—not for a résumé, but for who they are. This old drawing isn’t just a memory—it’s a thread connecting past to present. A reminder that the creative spark, the steady hands, the deep soul I saw back then is still shining. So here’s to you, Gibby: the kid who sketched with fire and the adult who still shapes the world with quiet brilliance. Your value has never been about the path you’re on. It’s about the person you are. And I’ll be here, cheering you on—every step of the way.

For the moments I need to find focus.

I have a certain energy that runs through me, almost like a current. Balancing this energy can be quite a challenge, but I have found that meditation helps me to find my center. I like to quiet the noise around me and focus on my inner truth. Sometimes, I begin my meditation with my eyes closed, allowing my emotions to guide me in sketching out my experiences. This helps me to open up my channels of creativity, which I am currently using to work on my upcoming novel. I can't reveal too much about it yet, but I hope you will enjoy the sneak peeks I'll be sharing as I work toward completion.

The solar eclipse was incredible for me on many levels ~ In deep mediation the movement of the solar eclipse inspired me, grounded me and offered an intense level of focus and internal balance of the feminine and masculine within us all ~ Parts of this ongoing collage has been done with the left hand. Grounding and clearing tools I like to use: Florida water, Sage ash, Palo ash (all ethically sourced and pure)

Bob the Drag Queen is a legendary performer and personality. She is one of my favorite people. I kept the composition simple to focus on shading and facial dimensions. I paid close attention to not lightening her skin tone and respecting her heritage but also contrasting the gold dress and blue background.

Shes served her best Christmas with an enormous train led by Brain Tanaka. I used charcoal and pastel brushes in Rebelle 6. I wanted a really simple composition so I could focus on her dress and their pose together. Happy Holidays everyone.

Pink aliens in lieu of pink elephants here.

Club XXS was exposed at a music festival in the netherlands and used as a mini club, with dj booth inside and a line-up! :) It's my biggest doodle till now and it was amazing fun to do! my focus was allready on trying bigger stuff, so then a chance came by to do this huge caravan. Awesome.

As a child of the 70s, I have very fond memories of sitting on the floor in front of our little colour TV, and watching and adoring Lynda Carter bounce around, kicking ass and fighting crime. I’ve always loved Wonder Woman, and I'm fascinated by the myriad ways she’s been imagined and re-imagined over the years. For mine I focused on her dualism – the goddess beauty vs warrior strength, combined with the colour and curves of my childhood. In terms of the art, I thought it would be fun to allude to classicism for the subjects association with Greek mythology and form, and balletic contrapposto as a homage to Lynda's classic spin. Prints available via my website.

Congrats to anyone else who took part in inktober this year! I focused on combining witches inspired by different types of teas and I had so much fun! I’m conquering my irrational fear of side profiles and I think it’s working, I’ve been really liking side profiles lately and finding them easier to do. I experimented on this piece with adding freckles (they’re a feature in all of my inktober sketches but I haven’t liked how freckles have looked when I’ve dotted them in with a pen or brush) and uh, I guess it was kind of a success? Next time I’ll use my lighter shading colour for them, as I used the ink I use for my lines and it turned out really dark and concentrated, but I think they’re cute! (and I have ink sprays everywhere)

An article/rant/annotation to an illustration. A #Hackney bar and its flies. This picture is not as sad and blue as it might at first seem, I promise. It is early in the week and the pub becomes the territory of the most outspoken drinkers. Raised somewhere between Churchill and Harold MacMillan, a night such as this is time for them to spin out a yarn of nostalgic fantasy. Encouraged by the lack of a crowd and with space to fill, statements start to fly. In the opening rounds the barman athletically hits back with factual blocks and reality-check haymakers; statistics and personal experiences are given. Two histories cross examined, one where 1982 means Thatcher and the Falklands, the other renders Reagan and the AIDS crisis. Stoicism and national pride vs mental health and realism. In the latter rounds the barman is fatigued, swaying on the backbar, glasses begin to stack up as form begins to drop. The older men seem stronger than ever. The barflies come in close now, they scrutinise his generations work ethic and make wild political comments on poverty, immigrants and the minimum wage. The barman is close to sheer bloody despair, he maintains his defence and focuses on breathing while maintaining his professional stance. But at the end of the night the barman knows HE will ring that bell, they will politely leave and they will return again in a week and maybe, just maybe there will be a change, common ground or maybe at least polite silence. But what these interactions have given despite the salt in the eye is community and an exchange between generations, culture and class of those participating. No home is ever straight forward, no relative without their good and bad traits and in a world where we often slide into echo chambers online or in our physical environments, the pub is still a place where society is family, face to face, pint to pint. Or maybe it's just a room with alcohol on tap?

Painted as a project for My Painting Environments class: https://skl.sh/32Khrti I am studying and working on my environment paintings, focusing on building textures and painting with light. This was submitted as my project for a Painting Environments course. If you have any advise, tips or comments on this painting I would love to hear from you. Thanks! Epic Valley Project parameters: - Hugh, expansive valley with mix of grassy and rocky terrain - Haunting, dramatic sky with rays of light beaming - Stone formations

Focused & Caturday

Chicago deep-dish is just out of this world...I had to say that. I'm not sure when or where the space idea came in, but I'm pretty okay with the result. Enjoy the mid-class doodle that's helped me stay focused during this week.

Taken me a while to finish this one - not feeling very focused lately. Also, I restricted myself to using Bic’s yellow ink, which is way more vibrant than the cheap 10-colour ink click pens that I usually use.

Okay, try not to focus on those ears... Try to appreciate the nice background and even the dragonflies flying around. Anything. But. The ears. But, my gosh, how adorable! Look at the way he wiggles his ears! How adorable! Isn’t it illegal to be this cute? It makes you want to pick it up and hug it to bits!

I think It's none other than my heart that covers one's eyes. To see, hear, think, and speak as the mind pleases. Mistakes can happen, and some people focus only on themselves and say things they shouldn't say to someone. When someone doesn't live blind anymore and one day can see the real world with one's own eyes, will feel deceived and feel anger and futility etc. I wanted to say that if look at the world with the eyes of heart, Can't see the reality.

This is my first full landscape project that I painted for a skillshare course. It was frustrating at times but I really enjoyed working through the multiple steps of this painting. I wanted to see what I could do it I pushed myself and I am happy with the final painting. I need to focus some more study on trees in the future, I like how the foreground tree came out, the forest edge was much more difficult. I attached the progess photos of this painting from sketch to final piece I painted this as my project piece for course on Skillshare: https://skl.sh/2O4p8Gp Here are my progess photos: https://www.skillshare.com/projects/Sacred-Valley/209235

Acrylic on canvas #painting #art #nature #landscape #acrylicpainting #canvaspainting #artwork #serenity #contemporaryart #artist #amazing #wonderful_places #natureart

For this series, I'm trying to hone my beginner skills by focusing on the architecture of each strange creature through reference photos, while also using it as a log for interesting animal facts.

I realized lately that I need to practice more instead of focussing too much on new ideas. So I started with face-practicing since I enjoy that the most. Thank you very much for looking at my drawing!

This is one of the pages of my handmade picture book (made w/ watercolor paper, watercolor paint, color pencils, and pen & ink). I really wanted to focus on illustrating the beauty of the architecture and vibrant colors of the buildings.

May 2019 was a month that I focused on collaging my own handmade paper together to create illustrations. I also started trying out gouache, to mixed results. It's a skill I intend to learn!

This #inktober I decided to focus on environmental issues. Because every life is #precious let's think about all that illegal logging.