Sure it's not a fighting barbarian picture, but I'm sure that when the little guy hits his mark that's what she'll call him.
This piece is a little more finished than some of my recent pieces. It's called "Surprise!" I did it a few months ago, and while it's not necessarily a "barbarian" piece, I like it and wanted to put it up. My blog my rules as my father might say.
So what do you make of this little guy? He was actually inspired by some pieces I like to call the "Flying Davids" project. I was sketching during breaks in a figure class and began penciling little naked men "flying" all about. I brought it home and my wife loved them so I made some more. I actually created an oil painting that hangs in our kitchen of these little buggers. Someday I'll post a picture of that here.
It's funny how you find yourself just "messing around" and suddenly something turns out pretty special. I think that that is how some of the greatest inventions were probably thought up. Edison was sitting by a candle and thought, "Hey, if I could switch this on and off how cool would that be?". Mr Sham-Wow was wiping down his bass boat and thought, "Hey, if I had a towel that could soak up 50 gallons of water, how cool would that be?" You get the point.
I often wonder how many great ideas never went anywhere because people thought it wasn't really an idea.
As a matter of fact, I often wonder. Some would call this ADD, and if I was 7 years old I'm sure I'd be on Adderall or Ritalin or something. In the old days we were called daydreamers. The kids who couldn't really focus on what we were supposed to do because we were wrapped up in a world of what might be cool to do. I have trouble getting out of that world sometimes, but enough daydreaming let's get on to a real topic.
Like healthcare. No, wait, let's go back to dreamland, the people are nicer.
As you might have already gleaned from some of my earlier posts, I love to doodle. I find myself in a meeting and suddenly my hand begins to race around the page scratching out weird images and hash marks. I find that it actually helps me concentrate on what people are saying. Probably because the drawing is second nature and the focus that it brings allow my ears to open up and hear what people are saying.
I wish more people could do this, not doodle, but listen and actually hear what others are saying. There are times when I've been in a meeting and when I, or someone else speaks you see the rest of the room look up, but you know they're not really listening. They have that look on their face that my dog gets when I whistle. They kind of tilt their head and smile and you know that they're thinking,"I have to get my back waxed" or some other such nonsense.
I know I have trouble hearing people. I've been trying to work on this, but my progress, I'll admit, is slow. It takes a lot of practice to really hear what others are saying. Then to actually give a crap adds a whole other dimension, but you have to start somewhere.
Which brings me to tonight's point (okay, there's no real point, the title of this blog is "Bits and pieces of a fractured mind" so play along) I'm working on a pro bono project. It's a recipe book for a fine charity that helps dogs and cats find new homes. I would normally try to trade my time for creative control of a project, but this time I just caved early and said I'll do whatever, just send me your files.
Today, I laughed out loud when one of the recipes came across my computer and is for, get this, 9 gallons of Whipped Cream Horseradish Sauce! It actually says, "432 portions". This, I suppose, is so a layman can do the math and reduce it for a dinner party. But just in case you're having 432 of your best friends over for dinner you'll know what to serve with the prime rib.
As I typed this recipe I decided that my job really is no longer about trying to create good work. My job is about getting work done. There are times when you just have to realize that most people don't want good work, they just want to be done, so you might as well go along and not get your knickers all bunched up. Just enjoy the laughter and go on with your life.
Now, if you'll excuse me I've got to track down 6 and half pounds of horseradish root and 432 dinner guests.
Cheers!
This piece is a little more finished than some of my recent pieces. It's called "Surprise!" I did it a few months ago, and while it's not necessarily a "barbarian" piece, I like it and wanted to put it up. My blog my rules as my father might say.
So what do you make of this little guy? He was actually inspired by some pieces I like to call the "Flying Davids" project. I was sketching during breaks in a figure class and began penciling little naked men "flying" all about. I brought it home and my wife loved them so I made some more. I actually created an oil painting that hangs in our kitchen of these little buggers. Someday I'll post a picture of that here.
It's funny how you find yourself just "messing around" and suddenly something turns out pretty special. I think that that is how some of the greatest inventions were probably thought up. Edison was sitting by a candle and thought, "Hey, if I could switch this on and off how cool would that be?". Mr Sham-Wow was wiping down his bass boat and thought, "Hey, if I had a towel that could soak up 50 gallons of water, how cool would that be?" You get the point.
I often wonder how many great ideas never went anywhere because people thought it wasn't really an idea.
As a matter of fact, I often wonder. Some would call this ADD, and if I was 7 years old I'm sure I'd be on Adderall or Ritalin or something. In the old days we were called daydreamers. The kids who couldn't really focus on what we were supposed to do because we were wrapped up in a world of what might be cool to do. I have trouble getting out of that world sometimes, but enough daydreaming let's get on to a real topic.
Like healthcare. No, wait, let's go back to dreamland, the people are nicer.
As you might have already gleaned from some of my earlier posts, I love to doodle. I find myself in a meeting and suddenly my hand begins to race around the page scratching out weird images and hash marks. I find that it actually helps me concentrate on what people are saying. Probably because the drawing is second nature and the focus that it brings allow my ears to open up and hear what people are saying.
I wish more people could do this, not doodle, but listen and actually hear what others are saying. There are times when I've been in a meeting and when I, or someone else speaks you see the rest of the room look up, but you know they're not really listening. They have that look on their face that my dog gets when I whistle. They kind of tilt their head and smile and you know that they're thinking,"I have to get my back waxed" or some other such nonsense.
I know I have trouble hearing people. I've been trying to work on this, but my progress, I'll admit, is slow. It takes a lot of practice to really hear what others are saying. Then to actually give a crap adds a whole other dimension, but you have to start somewhere.
Which brings me to tonight's point (okay, there's no real point, the title of this blog is "Bits and pieces of a fractured mind" so play along) I'm working on a pro bono project. It's a recipe book for a fine charity that helps dogs and cats find new homes. I would normally try to trade my time for creative control of a project, but this time I just caved early and said I'll do whatever, just send me your files.
Today, I laughed out loud when one of the recipes came across my computer and is for, get this, 9 gallons of Whipped Cream Horseradish Sauce! It actually says, "432 portions". This, I suppose, is so a layman can do the math and reduce it for a dinner party. But just in case you're having 432 of your best friends over for dinner you'll know what to serve with the prime rib.
As I typed this recipe I decided that my job really is no longer about trying to create good work. My job is about getting work done. There are times when you just have to realize that most people don't want good work, they just want to be done, so you might as well go along and not get your knickers all bunched up. Just enjoy the laughter and go on with your life.
Now, if you'll excuse me I've got to track down 6 and half pounds of horseradish root and 432 dinner guests.
Cheers!
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