BRUSH PENS? THAT WAS FAST!

It's raining again--sigh. Do You want me to stay home and put up some other things on the blog, Lord?

Last year was the time I began experimenting with these brush pens, and I had to post some drawings with them, Altho' before brush pens, I'd been spending quite a bit of time drawing endless detail with colored pencil, I found I could work pretty quickly with these, and they gave me much brighter color than the pencils. Here are some of them:

Turtle bubbles, two carp...Basking mallard & reflections on pond surface...After dentist visit, promised romp at the park

Crow surveys field...Teal fly lands on red leaf atop black boulder

I asked Kinya yesterday to order some brush pen replacements online for me. I thot it would be at least a few days, but I guess the company branch just happened to be making deliveries, because the doorbell rang, and they were just delivered!

The only thing I know faster than that is when God answers before I call.

This feller seemed to want to know what I was doing, so. I let him see--I was sketching a red dragonfly!

It's the Same Fountain, A Different Angle

I mentioned the "Gesture Drawings" and the fountain in the May 28 post.

I looked back on gesture drawings done at that fountain. I'd seen a mallard on the dark, damp side of the boulder, looking for bugs, I think, and quickly sketched it then with watercolor brush pen.

I decided to touch it up a little with color pencil to post it today--it looks like I won't be going to the park; it's forecasted to rain all day.

To carp, mallards, turtles, or toads, who are swimming in water anyway, it shouldn't make that much difference, but...

The same day I did the gesture drawing of the mallard at the fountain, I also did a quick sketch of Barry, a great blue heron who came down to the lily pads of Deeper Pond on the other side of the park, so I decided to post that too, adding some color pencil to that as well. 

SEE?

Sept. last year, I did this thing called "Gesture Drawing", where you try to capture the animals' personalities more than try to draw them accurately. Well, with animals like cats and dogs, maybe you can see personality more readily, I felt, but it takes a lot more help from God to understand fish, birds, and insects.

I always did a little warm-up with something inanimate before trying to draw animals. One of those warm-ups wasn't exactly alive, but it moved--and altho' it was just a warm-up scribble in monotone, the longer I looked at it, the more I liked it. No, that's not a whale, but the fountain at Duck Pond.

In Oct., I decided to try my hand at realistic portraiture, and no one would get upset at me for making an unflattering picture if I drew MYSELF, right? I figure that's why a lot of artists do a lot of self-portraits. There's a guarantee there will always be someone to pose, plus the model will never get angry at you!

(I know ONE Person Who NEVER gets angry with me no matter what I do! )

Anyway, I tried drawing myself. But I tell you, I should stick to doing gesture drawing warm-ups and testing new markers...

THAT WAS A MISQUOTE!

April 9, 2023. The sound of heavy impact in the stairwell behind him made Takuya freeze. He turned to see his father's form lying in a massive pool of blood oozing from the back of his head and found himself thinking: "This could be it for Dad."

But after many prayers, ambulance ride, emergency workers' diligent expertise, and 7 stitches later, it seemed Takuya's father was already beginning to be cautioned from doing too much all at once.

Okay; that picture's not really the kind of "stitches" in the story. But I didn't know how to draw it, okay? This is a picture of me working on a pair of my own pair of slacks, not a medical worker patching up anybody's skin.

After all, it had been that morning, he preached for the Japanese department, and because of years of pastoring in Chicago, he had bilingual ability, so he was supposed to preach to the English department the following week. Taku helped lead singing there so was showing his dad the room when he had that nasty fall.

April 16, 2023. "But God might be a liar," a little demon voice whispered into Takuya's ear. Doesn't it say in the Bible 'I will give my angels charge over you, They will bear you up in their hands, to keep you lest you dash your foot against a stone...."

"Stop right there." Takuya said, shaking his head, as if he were whipping germs out of his hair; "I hear you. But that's a misquote the devil tried on Jesus in the wilderness."

"Misquote?"

"Yeah. It should be 'to keep you in all your ways', but you left out those words. God didn't promise we wouldn't fall and hit our foot on a stone, but that even when we did--in ALL our ways--He'd protect us in it.

So God doesn't say we'll never lose our jobs, but He'll make sure even if we do, we'll be able to take care of our families in it.

There was a missionary who really prayed about it, but for the sake of His testimony, had to walk on hot coals. Of course, his feet were badly burned. God doesn't always promise there won't be burning. But the burns healed so quickly and perfectly, everyone around was amazed. 

And that man's willingness to be burned for his Master plus a Living God Who would so mightily care for His loyal servant resulted in masses of converts--even those who actually persecuted him at first believed....

Dad, what are you doing up? You felt like getting next month's message ready? Mom, get him back in bed!" (She comes rushing in, And talking, the two leave the room.)

The field flowers, insects, birds--all heard from their ancestors what happened during that Encounter in the Desert, and were almost screaming today, "Wilderness Temptation again! Misquote! Misquote!" That's okay, fellers; Taku knows.

PREPOSTEROUS!

"Us? Dangerous? Preposterous!" That's what Natalie the wasp seemed to say as she came out and circled above the bush, posing for me. I'd just told her the area had been taped off for some time with a sign to stay out while it was being cleared of dangerous hornets.

"Yeah. Sorry about that." I crouched down to get a closer look so I could make a better sketch. In my 7 years' coming to the park, these stingers had never given me cause for the slightest concern.

I heard hornets have attacked humans when stimulated by scents of body fluids or floral aroma. But they're acting only on instinct then.

------------------------------------------

How insane would it be if anyone were to try to explain to a WASP that operates according to instinct what HUMAN emotion, psychology, education, philosophy, politics, economy, justice is? Just about as ridiculous as if the insect were to try to understand! 

Yet...there are HUMANS, limited created beings, who honestly think--apart from reading the Bible--just by trying hard, they can understand GOD, their Unlimited Creator, Who functions on a completely different level!

And they conjure up all sorts of statements, ACCORDING TO THEIR LIMITED REASON, about what this God must be like.

------------------------------------------

"ME? Like That? Preposterous!"

What do you call this? It's NOT "Sour Grapes"!

 "ARRRGGGHHH!!!"

Most artists you talk to will tell you there are days no matter what they do, their hands just don't move right. It feels like the more you try to correct something, the worse your drawing gets!

There was a day like that I was sketching at the park, and it seemed a carp in the pond looked up at me saying I needed to put away my things and get in an hour's swim everyday--it always made her feel better--then I think she flicked her whiskers.

I was too upset to appreciate the humor behind what she said; packed away my stuff; decided WHO WANTED TO DRAW ANYWAY?! I COULDN'T DO ANYTHING TODAY!

As I got near home, I noticed a vine in a neighbor's yard, & thought it wouldn't hurt to sketch the grapes there. I couldn't draw anything else today anyway. So I wasn't too careful, just put down blobs of color, criss-crossed lines here and there...hey, that's not too bad, I said to myself, and went home with at least one drawing I didn't have to call a complete fiasco.

Don't you ever have days like that?

And aren't you glad God never gives up on us, stays with us no matter how bad it is until things do get better?

You're Too Far Away

"Hey June," they seemed to caw as they whizzed by, "you say we're your favorite birds, but you're sketching the spot-billed mallards, the greenheads, the kawasemi, the egret, the great blue heron...You were kidding us, huh?"

"Wait a minute. I still think your black iridescence is beautiful. But you guys always stay so far away, it's hard to sketch you. And even when crows do come up close, you don't stay still..."

"But what about the time you saw us squabbling for that breakfast worm? It was on the nextdoor rooftop, and just an instant, but it stayed in your mind, and you did a full picture with that."

"And there was the time you were doing this thing called 'Gesture Drawing' that required you to draw things quickly, even animals in motion, I think. I was perched atop a pole when you started sketching real quick once and said it wasn't going to be a detailed drawing, you just wanted to show the feel of the picture. Actually, I really like it."

"Remember the mallard ducklings? I remember when they were really little, the mother mallard and even you were really defensive about my coming too close to where they were. But now that they're as big as the others, it's okay for us to be friends. June, you saw me one day hopping close to the water and staring at the mallard across the creek. But it's not like we're best friends, just across-the-water pals. And you saw that and decided first to take a photo of it, then go home and draw a picture from that photo. I've seen it."

"Those pictures June, what's wrong with them? Do we have to pose for you up close for a long time to have something to call a really nice picture?

I guess not.

But that's what we do with God. We decide how He's going to work, and if things don't happen just that way, we think it hasn't happened, even if there's really nothing wrong with other things He's done.