You can do so much in ten minutes’ time. Ten minutes, once gone, are gone for good. Divide your life into 10-minute units and sacrifice as few of them as possible in meaningless activity.
~ Ingvar Kamprad
I seem to have been discussing time quite a bit over the last few weeks. Our view of time changes as we have experienced more of it. We realize that time is not a fixed quantity – it speeds up and slows down, depending on our mindset and the activities we’re participating in. Ten minutes can last an eternity, and ten years (or ten days) can speed by in a flash.
- This week’s artist – Don Colley – is someone whose work I’ve been following for about a decade (and can’t believe I haven’t yet shared!) I love getting glimpses of his life (he shares more written details with most of the images) and seeing how he uses his materials (thumbprints for texture). As someone who probably spent too much time sketching classmates when I should have been taking notes, I appreciate seeing the drawings of people around him. I definitely picked up some tips from his videos. Be sure to check out his website for even more!
- The Art Supply House’s first Customer Appreciation Day of 2021 is this Saturday! Be sure to have your bag ready! (If you’re trying to avoid groups, Saturday might not be the best day to come in.)
- This Saturday is also McDonald’s Winter Triathlon at the Durango Nordic Center.
- If that’s too much of a crowd for you, maybe Monday evening’s Rocky Mountain UkeFest via Zoom will help you relax into the week.
- There’s a lot of thought that goes into emoji design.
- It was pretty chilly this morning (my thermometer read -2) so this article by Golden paints about painting in cold weather was perfectly timed.
- If you struggle when drawing from imagination, here’s a great conversation where different artists give advice.
- And here’s a specific example – from Niagara Falls to Waterfall City.
- Apparently, this is what it’s like to read if you have dyslexia. (Whew!)
- Just for giggles – here’s Prince as birds.
- Tomorrow would have been Jackson Pollock’s 109th birthday!
- Sometimes the wild animals interrupt the photography process.
- That’s a lot of steps in just a few minutes!
- I’ve been focused on brushes the last few weeks and just for a bit of variety, I thought this week we should switch over to brush accessories. We have a few different types of brush holders on-hand. So if you’ve stocked up (or plan to expand your collection), one of these will help to protect your investment.
We seem to have only so much time available to us in this life. It’s easy to let it slip by, busy and distracted with tasks at hand. Being present in the current moment stretches out the time that we experience. Personally, the easiest way for me to be actively present is to draw/paint/capture the world around me in drawings. The act of physically drawing forces me to slow down and to really look at the people and places around me. I always feel better after taking a few minutes to sketch – calmer, more centered, and generally in a better mood. Maybe the sketch turns out to be nothing more than a few scribbled lines, but they always transport me back to that time and location. They help me to be a better version of myself. Find your creative act that helps you be the best version of yourself – that’s the person that the world needs. The world needs your art!
Cheers!
Matthew & the Art Supply House crew
P.P.S. – Thanks for reading! If you like this newsletter, please forward it to a friend. If you’d like to receive a weekly newsletter in your email, you can subscribe below.