I know. I'm letting too much time go in between blog entries these days.

There are times when I either have time to live my life, or I have time to talk about it, but not both. Especially when you consider that I absolutely require 2-4 hours a day in which I'm doing essentially nothing, for emotional and mental stability.

And because I'm slothful and lazy.

For instance, last night I lost an argument with the R.C. about driving the 1/2 block to get my prescription refills (I was going to swing by on the way home) and she shamed me into walking and we wound up at Whole Foods. So I bough sushi for today's lunch.

That wasn't the world's slickest segue, was it? But I think it does illustrate a certain laziness.

Also, we were rewatching Pride and Prejudice Monday and Tuesday evening, and that takes up a lot of my brain.

There are many blog entries I haven't written this week.

I didn't write about the firemen in the parking lot, the screamer in the night, or the Great Power Outage of 10/10.

I also have not (yet) blogged about Strings, Wicked, or the Rialto Café.

I have not blogged my latest MYSA-AS thoughts, my disappointment with the fall television premiere, or anything boring about my drawing classes.

The other morning, I had brilliant thoughts on writing, including a few lines I was going to throw out for some casual passer-by to scoop up and write amazing stories around.

I have not recently had (or taken) the time to read my buddies LJs, which makes me a bad friend.

Pause.

I felt so badly about that that I went and read people's blogs. Much is happening in other folks' lives.

My big yen at the moment is to go rent videos. The R.C. will be out tomorrow evening so I may stop off at Hollywood on the way home and pick up a thing or two.

It's an improvement over my normal urge to go shopping, but it does occur to me that if I buy something new, then I have something for my money. With renting, you have to give it back.

Would I like to watch a-n-i-m-e-, do you think? I'm not at all sure I would. I suspect that at the moment what I mostly want to do is not be at work, thus the idea of wandering around a video store that I don't visit often appeals to me. Also, if I find some movie that I want to see and haven't seen yet, that's two hours I won't spend obsessing over my impending joblessness.

A more sensible, more rational person would spend that two hours polishing their resume and job-hunting on-line. I'm well aware of this.

MYSA-AS Update:

I have tried a number of new things, none of which I remember being particularly entranced with. I continue to marvel over the drawing in the ones I already own and am beginning to p0nder the considerable stylistic differences between Eastern and Western artists.

Tonight, of course, is Class Night. I did not complete my class assignments. Color me so embarrassed.

At the moment I'm seriously planning to sign up for this class again. Teacher has promised new techniques and new assignments and I think I need the structure of a class to keep me moving on this project.

On my own, I was experimenting with pen drawing earlier this week. It's very interesting. And very different. I managed, by dint of much concentration (i.e., I frowned and drank a lot of coffee), to produce a recognizable Log. Not any special Log, just a Log laying on the ground. And a very scanty representation of a stand of trees. Oh! And some candles. I almost forgot my candles.

This, you understand, is how I spent most of my day off on Monday. Trying to learn how to handle texture and shadow with nothing but a piece of white paper and a black pen.

For my birthday, I think I'm going to ask the R.C. for a book I've been looking at that will explain to me what I don't know about pen techniques, and that offers a few exercises. And, if I can find a basic enough book, something that will help me with Line. Line is the foundation of drawing. At the moment, I understand that Line exists, as a concept, but I've no idea what, precisely, the experts are referring to when they refer to Line. As it happens, my Bargain Drawing Book purchase that focuses on producing MYSA-AS drawings was very useful on Line and on Human Proportions. (At least, as far as it went, which wasn't far. Much of the book was devoted to creating and drawing a variety of half-humanoid or half-mechanoid monsters and characters, which isn't something that's of use or interest to me.) It has, in fact, occurred to me that the purchase of another such book might offer some valuable lessons on Line. I'm sure there are more available and if I look at them carefully before buying, I'm sure I can find one that focuses more on...well, you know, reality. I would rather have a Proper Drawing Book on Line, but I haven't yet been able to find one. If I have to go to the "how to draw g-r-a-p-h-i-c c-o-m-i-c-s" books to learn what I need to learn, so be it.

Sadly, with so much "Art", the only way to really learn is through practice. You have to sit down and try drawing things.

Including trying to copy The Masters, a task that never fails to depress me.

What I've discovered about Art is that 90% of "talent" is actually just knowing the tips and techniques for using different media, and enough practice to be on firm ground using them.

The other 10%, of course, is what separates the Artiste from the Dabbler. It's a way of looking at things, of interpreting them, that's not quite the way everyone else sees them. Since I don't aspire to that, I have every confidence that, should my interest in this topic last a few more months, I'll become reasonably proficient at transferring ink (or graphite) to paper in a style representational enough to enable the viewer to identify the subject matter.

There really had to be a simpler way to say that. Sometimes I wonder if my brain, anticipating a day when I'll be suffering from senility, is in a big hurry to use all of the words I know, before I don't know them any more.

If I keep practicing, I'm fairly certain I'll be producing recognizable sketches of real-life items in a few months.

The key, of course, is to keep practicing. I am, as you all know, prone to fads and moods. I fall in love with something and spend all my energy on it, then abruptly get bored of it (writing, politiblogging, etc.) and move on to something new.

But I'm reassured that my attempts to learn to draw are proving the central theory of my life is, in fact, quite true.

If you want to learn something, buy a book.