Thoughts on Art / Alternate Title: I Don't Know What I'm Doing and That's OK

I really don't know what I'm doing. That's art. I've never had any supreme confidence in my art abilities. I only know it's been a constant state of pleasure (and sometimes frustration) since I was able to hold a pencil upright. I'm taking an online class with Carla Sonheim to get some structure to my artwork and so far simply drawing or painting (or sanding or basically making a mess) every day has been an education in seeing objects with clarity and focus. I hope brain synapses are occurring!

Perhaps art is the ultimate god-like move: creating something from nothing. And like the star-nosed mole, it doesn't always have to be pretty or even make a lot of sense.

Some strange combinations of materials produced these images.

This little bear lives on my desk - drawn with my non-dominant (left) hand

Capybara drawn with left hand - try drawing with your "wrong" hand - it's fun and isn't supposed to look "right"

Minimalist frogs

Minimalist dodo - I love dodos - who doesn't?

A newt with jazz hands that I drew from memory with my eyes closed

An anteater drawn with eyes closed - a real day-brightener

A puffin birthday card - screw you, Hallmark

Drawn blind while looking at Velvet Underground photos (blind contour) - really captures a time and place, don't you think?

A flightless and wingless moa, extinct around 1600 - wish moas were still around

This is Claude the alligator from the SF Academy of Science

This is based on a drawing Jackson made of his bike at age 5

This is my first house in San Francisco - it's supposed to be childlike, and yeah, it is

This is another Moa - it's goofy because...art

Who doesn't respect a fish on stilts? Edward Lear drew this Fizzgiggious Fish more than a century ago

These are beginning exercises to get the class drawing without a lot of technical anxiety or perfectionism (good thing). Like when you're a kid with a box of crayons and some scrap paper. That mindset is a good starting place for all artistic play, which will hopefully lead to more thought-out ideas and a substantial body of work. Why is that important? Maybe it isn't important, but what are we supposed to do—watch reality TV until we drop dead? Probably art is a better use of our time and resources. I suspect.