Nobody sees a flower really; it is so small. We haven't time, and to see takes time - like to have a friend takes time.

Georgia O'Keeffe

I love this quote. Most people will pay attention to the big showy flowers, but the small wild strains not so much. I found a forgotten clump of these at the back of the property here in Sacramento and moved them. Over the past four years they have thrived and grown into big clumps. This year they bloomed in profusion. It was a stunning spring for iris and the big showy ones are through. I thought I had another month for these, and that they would send up their usual couple of blooms. This year each clump had thirty blooms about 4" across. They are a delicate pale yellow and lavender with touches of brown. I think they are related to the white and purple ones you see everywhere. These have red berries that are great for fall color. I scatter them here and there when I am doing fall clean up. I always think about my legacy as a gardener. What have I left behind? Have I planted things where they can survive without my care? With these iris, I know they will flourish. 

Hard to believe summer is just around the corner.

M

Little Things Make A Big Difference

Energy Speedometer

Energy Usage Blocks

Available Energy

It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.
John Wooden 
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/little_things.html#1C4VrzlV7Mq7XAOP.99 


I attend a church in Carmichael called Self Realization Fellowship. For me it is a social and spiritual network that has made a rather isolated life in Sacramento, wonderful. I don't go as often as I would like, but that is because of choices I make about time and money. 

I do participate in the Social Committee, which is about cooking and making sure the members of the church enjoy the pot lucks we have occasionally, and I assist with putting out juice after services once a month. And I contribute when we need something artistic done. In this case, it was not a big fancy something but some charts that help explain why we need to watch our energy usage so carefully.  

Churches get hit with a rather unfair and huge penalty when they go over a certain minimum with energy. It is aligned with peak usage rates for businesses.  With us the magic number is 21 kilo watts. If we go over that mark once the penalty is somewhere around $2000 for the year. Now for most churches, which are mostly non-profit, this is a big deal. So two members of our church have been working to bring the numbers down and to figure out a way to keep us below 21 kW. With summer coming we need to talk to the general membership about why the A/C will not be going full blast in every room and what is controlling it. So my simple diagrams and charts will help do that.

I did these in Adobe Illustrator. The Speedometer  will be mounted on foam core and will have a movable arrow to illustrate the increases in energy usage. The blue chart with the red at the top will be mounted on a magnetic white board, and we will use the smaller blocks to show why we can't have all the rooms running A/C at the same time - they won't all fit. The one I chose is our Base usage block which will sit at the bottom of the Blue Chart to indicate where we start. 

Little things can make a big difference. 

What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.
Henry David Thoreau 
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/goals.html#04lycCiGXX4kh6bj.99 

These are the three portraits I was working on last week. From right to left: Annie Turnbo Malone, Louis Latimer, and Madam C.J. Walker. They are part of a book "African American Inventors & Pioneers" by James Henry Williams. James and I met over the counter at Staples. He showed me the Calendar he was going to have printed. I asked him who did his illustrations because I knew I could do a better job, and It turned out he was looking for an illustrator.  When I found out it wasn't a conflict of interest with Staples, I did two drawings for him to show him what I could do. That was at the end of 2008. As of today, I have drawn a total of 16 portraits, and nine spot illustrations. With more to come in the future. They are in ink with graphite. Additionally, there are two color illustrations of Barack Obama, and one of Michelle Obama. One of each on the cover. The photos are old, and often the shadow side of the face is completely in hard, dark shadow. I lightened them to show their features more. 

So who have I become by achieving my goals? I am more confident. I believe, after many years of doubting why I am here, that what I do artistically is a big part of my purpose. And more than anything I have learned to be grateful for every opportunity. 

Thank you, James, for this one. 

Spring!!

 

“Spring passes and one remembers one's innocence.

Summer passes and one remembers one's exuberance.

Autumn passes and one remembers one's reverence.

Winter passes and one remembers one's perseverance.” 

― Yoko Ono

I live on a piece of property on the Sacramento River. The center picture is from the middle standing just below my deck and looking north towards one end. The wind is so active today that this is the only side of the house where branches, stems and flowers are not dancing around. Most of my iris are in bloom, The callas are really putting on a show, and of course the cymbidiums are in bloom -- they are so wonderfully fool-proof! A month ago the air was filled with the sent of violets. The grasses already have seed heads. The weeds are doing what weeds do best. I have managed to get in my onions, one crop of beets and green onions, but not much else. I am itching to finish up!!

Duty calls, I have  three portraits to do for my friend and client James Williams. Interrupted by Easter I am just getting them back to him. He has been working too. He is an actor and has been working on an ad campaign. 

Happy Spring to all!!

"Guy with the tree in his head" 2010

The challenge was to catch an image that in one minute before or after would not exist. I looked over from my car, and snapped the photo just as the light had changed. I didn't even see this for what it was at the time. It is weird, and great at the same time. I had spent the entire day looking for an opportunity like this and found it just a couple of miles from home.

When you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, 'Certainly I can!' Then get busy and find out how to do it.

Theodore Roosevelt

Now if I am pretty sure I can do something, especially Design and Illustration work, some Photography then I will indeed say yes and just get to work. But if I don't, well that is a different story.

Recently, I came face to face the something that I know I will never tackle as a full blown aspect of being a Graphic Designer. I don't do Web Design. After taking the class two times I have decided to stay with what I do best. I am not going to create a masterful Web page for myself. I am putting my work into an online portfolio service. I am going to draw, design, make great images and illustrations. I am going to leave the Web Design to the people who love to do it. I understand it, but do it as part of my job? No, I just don't want to spend the time to learn it to the degree that I do it well. There are so many people out there who love it and who will do a great job. 

Me,  I draw well, am great with color and design. I can work big or small. I am competent with Adobe Suite. I can do what needs to be done to get a piece Where it needs to go. I can use all sorts of creative techniques and work with many different materials. And within that context I can do just about anything. Or I can figure it out. 

Missed my Sunday

Sometimes life gets in the way of the best laid plans.
The only deadline is the one I give myself.
Mark Thomas 
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/deadline.html#mt0UbEplh2cCfV7Y.99 

I had to look up Mark Thomas. One misses much of contemporary culture when one does not have TV. Never-the-less life goes on. There is a reason I missed my Sunday post. 

Thursday night at work I managed to lodge a peanut in a broken tooth. When I flossed it out I broke the last barrier between the tooth and the root. Anyone who has been through this before knows what happened next. I spent the night with my cheek on various ice packs, using ice chips to reduce the pain, and drinking a lot of cold water. And yes, I took every pain relieving substance in the house. Friday morning I texted my boss, that I would not be in and why, then trotted off the the dental clinic at the County. I knew walking in the door that the only option was to pull it. By this point the pain is very bad, and I am almost in tears. While I was waiting to be seen I watched Forrest Gump. What a great movie. Smart people showing movies with humor. 

Long story short- Appointment for Monday morning to have the tooth pulled, a large bottle of penicillin, and instructions to take acetaminophen for the pain. I went home, took the drugs texted my boss again that I would be in for my shift on Saturday. Then I went to bed, with my cheek on an ice pack. I was expecting the drugs to do their thing. Sure enough, by Friday evening I was good to go. 

Work was work, and Sunday was a day to make sure I was ready for what ever happened on Monday.  I changed my sheets. Everything is better with fresh sheets. I made a pot of garbanzo's. Soft, nutritious.  Then I went out and planted a bed of beets. And did other chores in the vegetable garden that needed to be done. I have a rather active bunch of raccoons that live on the property, and since I use worm castings in all my beds, I am careful to surround each one with a short fence of chicken wire. I have come out and seen little digs around the bottom of the fences. 

That night I did chores, got the trash out and up on the levee. Cleaned up and went to bed. I will confess I took a little more BP medication than normal. I didn't want to be told they could not do the surgery. I have had a lot of dental work done, too many Novocain shots. To me they hurt like hell. I have had some less than great experiences in the dentists chair, and it always starts with some dentist telling me that jell will make the shot not hurt. 

Monday morning I got up and took another does of BP medication. No salt, no caffeine, lots of water for 24 hours. My landlord, Fred, gave me a ride over. We sat in the car and talked about ways to relax before I went in, which helped a lot.  He waited while they did the procedure. They told me an hour. For once a doctor listen to me. He was putting the gel on and I told him he might want to do the first shot a bit farther back. So he did. That first one hurt a lot, they always do. The subsequent ones not so much. When I told him that it wears off quickly with me he tested the tooth before he started pulling on it, and gave me more. Then, although it took a lot of effort he just pulled the tooth out. He said there was only a membrane separating it from my sinuses and to watch blowing my nose and coughing for a week. They squirted it with anti-sceptic, packed it with gauze, gave me some script and out I went. NO follow up. Fred said it was just under an hour.  Fred and I went to Jack-in-the-Box while I waited for the Vicodin. By the time I got the drugs the novocain was wearing off, but the drugs kicked in eventually. I took a nap on an ice pack to reduce the swelling and have felt fine ever since. There is a bit of swelling but no bruising as far as I can tell. 

It wasn't the most positive experience to go through, but considering what it was, It was OK. 

Getting an audience is hard. Sustaining an audience is hard. It demands a consistency of thought, of purpose, and of action over a long period of time.
Bruce Springsteen 
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/consistency.html#GaqhobBvoblMfghM.99 

Using consistency in a business Model.

http://www.youtube.com/user/marieforleo

Now I am working very hard at consistency. Or rather I am working at certain things that I have not been consistent about. The link is to Marie TV aka Marie Forleo. I believe she is going to be a superstar. She gets so many things, but one thing she gets and can communicate is the power of online business. Within that context, and within the context of business she talks at great length, and discusses the importance of consistency, She is the reason I took a look at what was not working and realized I need to be regular, and yes more consistent with my posts. Bruce Springsteen is just another voice.

So following that though I said I would fix the 'Cat in the Door' piece and repost it. I liked the darkness of the first one because I think it communicated mystery, and that sense of night I wanted. I am working on this between other projects.  It is still a work in progress. 

I am working on Discipline

“Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, whether you like it or not.”
― Thomas Henry Huxley

I am actually fairly disciplined, but I am not very disciplined. Being very disciplined makes me feel hemmed in and restricted. The spontaneous parts of life don't fit well into a disciplined one. I like drifting off track from time to time and discovering other things. I like following a path and becoming emersed in something creative and seeing what develops.

I am disciplined about things I believe are important. I get up early because I work better in the morning. I feed the animals after I make coffee, but before I eat myself because it is only fair since they cannot feed themselves. I walk the dog as soon as it gets light, or when he comes to tell me it is time, because that also seems fair. The animals are my responsibility, so I have disciplines around them.  The small orange cat that has become a part of our yard, is now a responsibility. he is very sweet and does not act or look like a ferral. I feed him every day, for which I am rewarded by being able to pet him. He even lets me pick him up for a short time.

I water my plants, put them all in the garage when the weather freezes. I prune and weed, and mow and dig because it is what is necessary to keep my yard from taking over in ways that are not appealing. The current yard discipline is two fold: mowing and putting in the February vegetable garden. Starting the plants for March inside and under lights is more than I want to pay for, so they are out in little plastic containers I get food in. Little greenhouses. So far the lettuce is the only thing that is coming up, but it is really a February start. The grass is high, so mowing is the order of the day tomorrow.

What is interfering with discipline now is the inability to walk as fast or as much, and being unable to spend all day on my feet. Now I choose carefully because not everything is possible.

I am usually disciplined about school, and work and the things for which there are outside rules and imitations. So I need to get to bed, another minor discipline. I need to start drawing in the mornings again, but tomorrow I have to write code in the morning, an errand to run, and after the mowing, a second set of onions to plant, then watering and more vegetable beds to dig and turn. The weather is just starting to warm, but I already feel I am late.

Spring is here, blossoms on trees, green shoots and buds. Time is a wastin'.

Day 21

Since I missed two, I hope I am on 21.

"You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new."

— Steve Jobs: was an American inventor and businessman

I found all these posts I had somehow saved as drafts and am posting them. The things stress will do. 

Day 11

Let each man exercise the art he knows.

Aristophanes (450 BC - 388 BC),