Well, I made it about a year and a half into retirement before circumstances pulled me back into web work. It’s a good cause and they had not updated their site in about 8 years. So, in preparation for more screen time, I treated myself to a new studio monitor. I had downsized from my more powerful set up to a MacBook Air with a decent sized monitor – however as my eyes age and the amount of detailed work I do increases, it seemed like a good purchase/investment. Just getting it set up this afternoon told me I was right! I can see so much more easily and that will speed things up quite a bit. So there will be a steep learning curve this winter. And I will have lots to work on next year.

This week has been another tropical heat wave. I have been getting up early and doing physical work and then hibernating as much as my appointments will allow, to stay cool. There’s no shortage of indoor work to do and I have 3 books that suddenly became available. So when I need to stop and rest, I have some interesting reading. One book I learned about from the “Just Make Art” podcast I told you about in my previous post. It’s entitled, The Loft Generation, from DeKoonings to Twombly, Portraits and Sketches 1942-2011 by Edith Schloss. I’m about a third of the way through it.

My pen tip for my iPad has disappeared so I am going to have to replace that. I have not been doing a lot of electronic sketching though, so there’s no big rush. I’ll stick with the many, many sketchbooks I have yet to fill. If the need for digital art arises in the next several months, I will focus on that. Otherwise, it’s on the perpetual “to do” lists I have. Digital scanning of photos and my old artwork will be MUCH easier to see on this monitor though. Nice.

I don’t usually post about elections, however it is something that is taking up my creative time right now. So it relates to the things that are filling my time when I would rather sketch. Midterms are coming up and you know we are voting. Our family never misses an election cycle. And while we all count on our duly elected officials to actually work for US, we know that quite often does not happen. So we also work with non-profits who move past the red tape and put people on the ground to do the work our elected officials SAY they are doing. Do you see the fruits of political promises lately or are you wondering why there’s so much excess at the top and so many costs at the bottom. Yup. We have lots of work ahead of us. So I encourage you to take the time to read up on things and not just ask the AI computer assistant.

Do your election officials send out sample ballots? Do they send each voter a booklet with information on all of the candidates, measures, etc? No? Well, if the system is run well, they should. I’ll get back to you after I’ve done my homework on some of the voter resources we have. If you don’t have them in your state, you should ask for them to be done and done well. Look for that in my next post.

Some of the regular news sources I use are GROUND news, which shows you the left, middle or right bias and also tells you the percentage of accuracy each article possesses. I will say be careful with the links because they link right to the source and some of them are not the best at protecting your data. So you have been warned. There is a fee for the service however they are actually offering a service with their bias and accuracy data. AP has been a fairly solid news source for me however, I often find their stories repetitive and so I enjoy a broader view. Reuters has also been solid for me, and while it is independent it is also corporate owned. Corporations always have an influence. Mega-conglomerates, even more so. So taking some time to dig through to find accurate information is worth it. I always find the judges the hardest. That takes a lot more digging. Yet we have all seen how critical our judges are. Soon, this process will be completed and hopefully we can all move on to enjoying the holidays. One can hope!

Back to sketching on a consistent basis. Do you sketch alone? Do you share a sketchbook with others? If so, do you give each artist 20 minutes in a coffee house and then take the sketchbook back or do you pass a sketchbook between you, each artist getting, for example, one week to put some sketches that took some time into the book? I have participated in the first two of these methods. With the last one, it was attempted once however, we never seemed to get the sketchbook back! I have found that working alone and also sharing sketches really does help keep you going. I’m currently looking for a new group of sketchers. My current group has been more in the crafting world and I really want to learn from other people who sketch consistently. So hopefully, I will migrate toward a group like that in the coming year.

So my friends, until I see you next time, good sketching, go vote, and start that holiday decorating!