“If he was sitting in his car on the railroad tracks and the train was racing toward him, he would be in no hurry to move,” the Parkinson’s specialist said about me during our interview. Lisa was in the room and he was explaining my problem to her (although, given our almost eleven years together,Continue reading “1. The Future is a Freight Train”
Tag Archives: drawing
Contents
Part I: Groundwork 1. The Future Is a Freight Train 2. A Story Continued 3. So Why a Road Trip? 4. Rich in History 5. A Blockade Along the Way 6. From Where to Where? 7. Control 8. The Odd One Out 9. A Latchkey Encounter 10. The Facts Are Few 11. Terra Incognita 12.Continue reading “Contents”
Authenticity
December 17, 2025, will live in personal infamy. Lisa had dropped me off at the vascular surgery clinic before one o’clock that afternoon. Now, I had undergone the same procedure before we met, almost fifteen years ago. My left leg, exclusively ropy with varicose veins, had increasingly been a problem throughout our relationship. It began,Continue reading “Authenticity”
Sierra City
A Portfolio’s Worth
Their immaturity: that’s why I had overruled including the case’s contents earlier. Starting in high school, the stash of old drawings had dates reaching into my college years. A few printouts of other pieces were tucked among the aging pages. With the obvious student exercises omitted, what examples remained were still largely goofier than IContinue reading “A Portfolio’s Worth”
Buncom, Oregon
Chinese miners first settled Buncom in 1851 when gold was discovered in Sterling Creek. The outpost (now a ghost town) is located twenty miles southwest of Medford along a very scenic, very twisty road. We often hike the nearby Sterling Mine Ditch Trail. Built (with hand tools!) in 1877 to carry water from the LittleContinue reading “Buncom, Oregon”
Model Behavior
I’ll continue drawing Lisa as long as she lets me. It takes a while but, since I’m happy to study the subject, it’s easy to persevere. I spent four hours on the latest, too long for her to hold a pose. I had to rely on a photograph. When she saw the result, she wasContinue reading “Model Behavior”
Potential
As the words encroached on the images, I found a passage that described the latter: “My work is good, it has potential”. Given how badly I had doubted myself, it may be the closest that I ever came to praising what I had done. In the rest of the paragraph, I displayed my usual ambivalence:Continue reading “Potential”
Making Amends
Last week, I had the best luck with drawing that I’ve had in a long time. I considered the awkward sketches a breakthrough. Lisa was supportive (luckily for me since she was the unwitting model). I used a photo of her that I keep on my desk as the source material. Her one complaint wasContinue reading “Making Amends”
A Few More for the Gallery
Some were newly photographed. Other shots were older. I chose seven as sufficiently mature to include. With their addition, I have forty pieces (or their digital equivalence, anyway). The ones under glass have a camera and tripod reflection. It wasn’t a big enough issue to warrant taking any frames apart. A theme has emerged. IContinue reading “A Few More for the Gallery”