(when on the road) Keep It Simple, Stranger

(In response to this week's challenge)

Amidst the hurricane of mundane life, I took a several days break with the family and we all traveled to Berlin.
Been there several times on business, but this time was a first as a tourist.

We got a mini suite at Kempinski Bristol, an old-time hotel which feels almost like a time capsule to days bygone.

In our room. A wooden table, simple in shape and form, the hotel notepad - made of simple paper, and a simple black-ink pen which I like.

And me. Simply sitting and just letting the pen make its journey on the paper.

Oh, how I dream of a tent in the dessert.

Compass rose

Time is of essence these days, and together with it lives a desire to draw.
This calls for choices to be made, and compromises to be agreed upon.

Here is my response to this week's challenge, the Compass Rose

Potato casa

Dolls, as requested by this week's challenge, is not my usual cup of tea. So I decided to extend the term "doll" as much as I could, and after going through simpson figures (Lisa is definitely a "doll") and Toy story (Buzz lightyear = doll ???) I ended up with Mr. Potato head :)

I traced an image I found on the net, and added my touches.
During the process, I also scribbled on various other papers that are on my desk, so for this week's challenge I present to you "The potato casa"

New-ance

Busy busy times. Last couple of weeks have been hectic to say the least. Work and life, balance and imbalance. To my complete surprise I found myself leading a survival battle for a most unique school. Hope to have good news soon.

So I skipped last 2 challenges, and was about to skip this one as well, until something surprising happened.
I gave myself a birthday present - a set of 5 Copic markers with the basic colors. Arrived couple of days ago. Love them. They look right, and feel right, and produce the most amazing colors.

I read through this week's challenge description, and was hooked to the "let's make it new", which is a theme I love. And indeed the drawings here are "new". New paper (with grid printed on it), a new pen (the most regular of ball pens one can find) and new colors (the Copic mentioned above). The results are, well, new :)

In the first drawing I also got some help from my daughter (and her own collection of Copics). She added the blues and purples

Inky Doodle

This time I'm experimenting.

The pattern for this week's challenge is generic enough to allow all kinds of variations. So I started doodling with it, and suddenly spotted a "calligraphy marker" on my table.
Yes, I was surprised exactly as you are. Turns out my daughter got it as a present from one of her teachers who saw how much she likes to draw. And my daughter left it on my table.

Did you know that some of the most amazing inventions started by accident? Like the towel, or the 3M sticky notes ...

For some time now I wanted to experiment with varying line widths. So this was the perfect opportunity and the result is the first drawing (which I like a lot)

I was inside the flow, so I continued with a more "traditional" variation of this week's pattern, and a second drawing was created

And then my daughter came into the room, and saw the drawings and asked me if I can teach her to "draw like this. With ink". So I said yes, and we sat together and I showed her several patterns, which in turn ended up in the third drawing

Me happy.

Crystallization

I'm starting to see a pattern (pun intended?) in my responses to the weekly challenge.
It starts with learning. Usually, I'm not familiar with the patterns and tangles, so I read about it. I learn the basic technique, and draw it
I then go to exploration. The main quality here is opening, or widening. The word that best describes it is playfulness. I explore different angles, different possibilities. In this phase I can fill one page or a dozen pages. I can get stuck, I can get frustrated. I give up, and then retry. By now, I know that this is an invitation for the creativity to come out.
The final phase is choice.  Now that there are many options, one (or some) attract my attention. Is it always the last one I draw? I can't tell. Maybe. The quality here is of narrowing, of choosing.

This week's challenge was of course no different :)
A new pattern which required learning. Pages all over my desk with variations. Some look great, some not. Some completely unrelated to the challenge, but when inspiration comes I try to always give it a space to act.
I had some ideas, and did some attempts. The final drawing started with a variation (straight lines Betweed), and then the flow took over and things appeared by themselves. By now, I had a full bag of variations at my disposal, so it was easy to add to the drawing.

I like the end result, and am very frustrated with the scanning quality. It looks so much better in reality. Will try to do a better scan tomorrow.

And here are some drawings that were created along the way

In loving memory

This week challenge touches me deeply. My wife and I lost a member of my wife's family to breast cancer. It happened several years ago, and the loss is still present, even very present, in our lives.

It touches me so deep, that I couldn't draw anything specific for this challenge. Drawing is still not an open expression channel for me.
But I did have something I drew several days ago, and suddenly it seemed most appropriate. I just had to add the colors to it. A second drawing is also added, which was created around the same time.

I also attach a tune I composed right after the loss. I was simply playing my guitar and it came out by itself. It is called "Road Unknown"

Yuma flavours

A new pattern, a new journey.
Welcome Yuma by Akua, a very nice pattern for the weekly challenge.

A nice, flowing pattern, which is elusive almost by nature. No strict "rules" of where to put the lines, and a flow that is created by the artist, and not as a direct "following of the pattern".

How do I know? because several attempts showed me the inherent (and sometimes hidden) tension between a pattern and an artist.
Anybody can follow strict rules and create a pattern. And some patterns will look just fine.
But for the "wow", for the flow, for the intricacies and complexities - for this you need an artist hand and an artist eye. Some of it can be gained by practice, and it seems that some is just gifted to us in different measures.

The weekly challenge for me is a fascinating place to experience this spectrum - between pattern and art. With so many degrees of freedom in the middle.

Here is my two creations for this week. The first is using YUMA in the traditional way, while the second is inspired bu YUMA to and something different is created.

 

One Love

My response for this week's challenge.
I created a new pattern for it, so this is actually a UMT + LGBT :)

String-ent Tile

Here is my response to this week's challenge.  Strings in drawing do not blend well with me. I much prefer a free-spirit doodling, and feels the string confines me. So I decided to take this challenge head on, and explore this out-of-my-confort-zone string thingy.

Went better than expected I must say, I still don't like the idea of a string, and immediately after I had to draw another two sketches with no borders. But I did discover it is possible for me.

So without further ado, here it is

The Hidden Village Leaf

My drawing journey is exactly that - a journey.

It started many years ago with frustrating attempts to draw, most which ended up in the garbage bin, "ended" might be too gentle a word. A more accurate description should include the endless frustration, and silent despair that accompanied the act. I wanted so badly to draw, and each attempt proved that I can't. And added a supporting vote to the little voice that added "and you never will".

Recent months show differently (with evidence that is captured in this blog). It's finally becoming a learning process, where I can see progress and can appreciate what is coming from under my pen and pencil. Not an easy journey it is, and it still has ups and downs...

So this week's challenge was to use a falling leaf (or leaves). Autumn here doesn't usually dress in warm colors, so I used a leaf I found on the net.
Started drawing, several lines - didn't go well at all. I gave it a second look, discarded it completely in my mind as a waste, and shoved it (frustrate-fully and despair-fully) under a pile of paper I had in the room.

And then I just sat in my chair.
I was amazed with the feeling that I experienced. It felt exactly like "the old times". Same frustration, same despair, even the same old voice that said "aha, I told you you can't draw. You are wasting your time".
But there was one difference. This time I was aware. I also knew I can draw, and an impressive collection of drawings held a solid proof of that.
So I listened. And acknowledged the old feeling. And just waited.

After couple minutes I pulled the paper from under pile. Fixed the lines that went astray, and continued my drawing journey.

Here it is, proudly presented to you, and to myself

A Winged Heart

A duo.
Two things that complement each other while maintaining their identity.
Interact, intertwine, celebrate their union.
Sometimes they conflict. Tension can create interest. Show hidden facets.
I'm talking about duo-tangle, of course ...

This week challenge is about a duo-tangle, so duo-tangle it is.
Two patterns. One which I like a lot, one which I like a little. Very little.

Here is what came from under the pen

An unexpected dance

Change is the essence of our world. It's a synonym to "nature". No matter how hard we try to look the other way, it will always find us.

At least it found me today.

I saw the new challenge, and was about to embark on my usual journey (no time in the mid-week days, then many attempts with a new pattern, get stuck, overcome it, etc.). But a piece of paper and a pencil suggested otherwise, and I started toying with the new pattern. Several attempts, all nice, playful, but no real progress.

Usual step in the process is to stop, leave it, and come back with new inspiration.
This is when the change struck. I took a new piece of paper and started drawing the pattern as simply as possible. No bells, no whistles. Just straight lines. Finished the first pattern. Looks nice. aha, how about a silhouette?  Sure thing. But not the usual one please. So there came a different set of lines, around the first pattern. So how about another one? and another pattern emerged, with different feel to it.
Then another look. Somehow it reminded me of a dancing couple. so I added an eye and a smile to each, and of course a chain of hearts. It now looked so much like a dance that I felt obliged to write "dance" at the bottom.

immediately it went to the scanner, and appeared on my screen. If you read my last post you may remember that I have some issues with the quality of my scanner, so I usually go ahead and try to fix some of it using a photo editing utility (brightness, sharpness, etc.). So I did the usual stuff, but overlooked one step in the process. I then pressed the mouse button and was simply amazed by the result. I accidentally inverted the colors of the background, creating something completely unexpected.

So today, I present to you an unexpected dance.
what a nice change :)

Stairways to everywhere

This week's challenge features the "X-did" pattern by Annette Carlo.
So first and foremost - respect !

This was first week of school, and Jr. is starting his fresh year in high school, so not a dull moment. Drawing took second priority, and rightly so. But alas, life goes on, and the drawing must go on

It was not an easy task to master X-did. It proved to be a wild mustang, running freely to unexpected directions, throwing me off its back time after time. At the end (and what I mean here is around 20 sketches of all kinds) I decided to keep it simple. I drew the main shape, and voila - we have take off.

A side note about scanning which can hopefully help someone out there. I have a reasonable scanner which is faithfully scanning for me all types of bills and papers. However (!), scanning drawings is not its forte. So after trying different settings and stuff, I switched to my SLR, and the results are much much better. NEed to find the right spot with the right light of course

Stripes

Here is my stripes for this week's challenge. Inspiration took it's time to come, and I had many ideas and possible directions. The nice thing is that in the end, I simply started drawing a ribbon (which is like a stripe I believe), and then another and another and the drawing emerged by itself.
I love it when it happens this way.

 And another drawing, with a short background: my daughter got a gift. A new drawing booklet with recycled paper for its pages. It feels great and looks great. So she comes to me and say "dadi, can you please draw something in the front page?". It was amazing to see the amount of hesitation (fear?) I experienced, but at the end I did it. So here is the flower I drew for my daughter :)

Water

This week's challenge is simply titled "water".
My immediate reaction was "but I've already done water last week...". Oh, well. Need to recreate water for this week as well.

So I decided to go with the "drop" shape and work inside it and around it. Here is what I've got

Droplets

It's the last half of summer now, and life is attempting to go back to normal.
The canons seized their fire, talks are now taking place.
I hope for peace, but I don't know if it is realistic. People tend to think there is either "war" or "peace". Modern days show us there are many grey tones in between.

Took some time to find the "zone" for this week's challenge, and I almost gave up. And then it was a matter of a simple decision "just do it".

So, here is my response to this week's challenge.
A new pattern, a new journey.

Interestingly enough, I recorded a tune a couple years ago with the same name. Here it is for your listening pleasure
DROPLETS

Halflings

Contrary to popular belief 

The opposite of love is not hatred 

It is fear

  

Hatred, ever so loud 

While fear is seldom allowed 

 

In our hearts

Where the diamond sun shines 

In our hearts

Here is my response to this week's challenge .
The interesting thing is that I started drawing it last week, before I even knew what the challenge was. I took an A4 paper, and filled it with circles around 1.5" in diameter.
My original intention was to fill them slowly, and as it turned out, it was a perfect fit for the challenge.

Tea for two - Onamato and Mumsy

I don't have much of an update on the "situation", so I'll stick to the artistic side of things.
Current challenge calls for a duo of two patterns, based on letters from my name. I chose Onamato and Mumsy, and tried to create a duo out of them. I wanted them to interact with eachother in the drawing. Here is what I've got

And with some color

And finally, something that came from under the pen, "one line at a time".

Another truffle is found

Assorted Truffles

The "Truffle" pattern, out of this week's challenge, played a couple of unexpected surprises on me.

The first surprise was that working with it turned into a four hour drawing meditation. I never saw it coming.

The second surprise was the almost complete lack inspiration (or ideas) of what to do with it. By now, this "painter's block" no longer halts me.

And then came a flash back.
I liked the "sine wave" in the original description of the pattern, and I started drawing sine waves with peppered with dots, and connecting the dots to a central "pivot" dot
 I worked with a pencil, and the result was a gentle mesh of lines. This is where the flashback came. It took me back to my high-school days, and to the technical drawing lessons (part of studying engineering basics). The notion of "helper lines", drawn with a pencil, and used to help draw the main object.
The pencil lines I drew suddenly turned into "helping lines", offering many options and directions within them.

This is how the below "Assorted Truffles" was created. I simply drew sine waves, or circles, or half circles, and followed the helping lines. I also chose to not erase them at the end. They have their own magic for me.

A four hour drawing meditation was a most welcome break between the breaking news and updates. The war keeps raging.

Wishing for peaceful days, a verse from the bible comes to mind (Book of judges, 3:30) "...And the land had rest fourscore years ..."

Practrice Zen, Drink Tea

... and always have a flexible angle-of-view.

The situation this week has not changed much.
A glimpse of hope suddenly appeared today, and vanished almost as quickly as it appeared.

In these times, practicing Zen and meditation is most challenging. Clear your mind, focus on here and now. Sit down and do nothing. But especially in times like this, Zen can become an anchor. Clearing the mind can bring peace, even with all the turmoil from outside.
To drink tea mindfully is to practice Zen, and I love tea. This is my beverage of choice, and the first thing I offer my guests (except when it's too hot, and then it's cold water). It was obvious that I will choose tea for this week's challenge.
The flexible angle-of-view is something I learned through photography, and I find it a great creative tool. When applied to real life, it can bring new options to situation that seem to be dead-ended. It can give new perspectives. It can defuse many charged situations. Between people for example.

I wish us all peaceful days

Canons and wheels

Where I come from, there is a saying that goes something like "When the war canons roar, the muses go silent". It's a rough translation, and the "muses" are the Greek muses, responsible for things like inspiration, art, poetry etc.

Well, in the past week, the canons have been roaring constantly. Missiles are flying, sirens are wailing. Explosions are heard from time to time.
War is raging.
A different kind of war, with civilians at the front line, and with terror as a weapon.

It's hard for me to keep hatred at bay when I run with my kid to the shelter, and she is crying of fear. Noble thoughts are hard to hear, when the canons roar.

It was hard, even very hard to pay attention to this week's challenge , And it came to a decision to just do it (like the old Zen saying, not the Nike pale plagiat). To choose sanity even when it's not the obvious choice.

So here it is, my response to the challenge

Wishing us all peaceful days

*** some more thoughts after reading the beautiful comments below

It is now my turn to be speechless.
I am speechless in front of the kind, honest, heart-warming words I received from each and every one of you.
We don't know each other. We never met or talked. I've joined the "weekly challenge" community only couple months ago.
And still, your words gave me strength and hope. they came from the heart, and landed in my heart.
I never thought that my drawing journey will support me like this, in such a difficult time.

Thank you for your wishes, prayers and hugs. For your caring. For your support.

two strings - double the trouble

The notion of "drawing with a string" is a difficult one for me. The technique is simple - just draw a line within a tile, and use it as a kind of an inner border.
Technically, I don't have any issue with that. It's just that I don't seem to be able to get inspired (or even get going) with the string in front of my face.

Strange, I know.

This week challenge is to use not one, but two strings. Two !

Several days later, I was close to giving up.
Nothing was coming out, no inspiration, no flow, no "one line at a time". Nothing.
So today I took an A4 paper, and the most regular of pencils (not even mechanical), and drew 6 boxes free-hand. And then simply filled them.

The end result surprised me greatly. Indeed, it's completely sketchy, not accurate, not "clean", and many other "not" ... But - the creativity barrier was gone. Inspiration flew all over the place, and it became one of the most fun exercises for me.

So this is my submission for this week's challenge, and it is submitted with a big smile :)
Creativity can come in many shapes and forms, and the bigger the barrier the bigger the exploration, If I just don't give up.

Re-visit, Re-invent, Re-try

Here is my drawing for this week's "Redux, Remix, Revisit" challenge.
I chose a pattern that I'm very comfortable with, and "remixed" it in two ways.
The first was the depth of the basic shape, which creates a completely different "feel" to it.
The second was the use of colored pencils - a first for me.

I like the end result a lot. The richness of the colored pencil surprised me - I was under the impression they produce dull and "dry" effect. I found that I can produce a very interesting matte feel, blend colors and create shading. A very pleasant surprise, and a n interesting inspiration for drawings to come :)

An Ancient duo - Diva challenge #172

This one was hard... Two patterns that are outside my comfort, and that I tried several time in the past to befriend, but to no avail.

This time I didn't give up. I really wanted to merge the two in a natural way, and went ahead to explore it. In the process, several gems appeared. But the "magic duo" took its time until it happened.

I like the end result as a step in the exploration.

 And after two days, and after looking at almost all the other submissions, new inspiration came :)
My usual habit is to read the challenge, and then go to the "drawing board" and start the exploration. Only after I feel I have something, and I show it to the world, I look at the other works.

If you look closely, you can trace back the inspiration I got from many of the other drawings.
I just love when it happens.

One Leg

Here is a doodle. Started like all doodle from a point, and then grew unexpectedly :)

A Hand - Diva challenge #170

I skipped last week's challenge due to some travel. Good to be back, and hopefully will manage to complete the previous one as well.

As for this week's challenge, the specific pattern proved not easy to get... Tried several directions until something came up

 As part of the experimentation, more things emerged. For example this one - and if you look closely, you will be able to see the pattern hiding in various places here as well ...

Crown

The "Rain" pattern and I had to play some hide-and-seek before we finally met for the Diva challenge #168.
For me,  a great example to the creative flow, and the roadblocks that appear in it. I find that my wish here is flexibility and movement. Always maintain the flow.
I notice that this is very different from my previous drawing attempts, where an unsuccessful drawing would always end up in leaving drawing altogether...

Crown

And here are some things that I sketched along the way.

And couple more, with added colors (Copic Ciao markers)