I worked on Brook Hollow Branch Library this morning. I’m still just putting down the first layer of paint but I think it’s coming along. I’ve got three paintings I’m working on right now, this one, the painting of my house, and the urban landscape I started yesterday. It feels good to have several paintings going at once, especially when they’re subjects I’m looking forward to painting.
I’ve got a DVD ready for pick-up at the library about color mixing. That is one of the ‘practice’ drills I’ve been wanting to incorporate into my day. I’ve been doing a lot of drawing in the afternoons but still haven’t started color mixing. I know it helps. I see a lot of artist on social media talk about it a lot and it certainly is something I could get better at.
I’ve been reading a book called The Natural Way to Draw. It’s got a lot of exercises but the author recommends getting a model. I have been looking at YouTube videos of parades thinking they would be a good alternative. I watched a march, maybe at Disney World or something, of storm troopers, which was kind of fun to draw. I also took some photos of myself sitting and slouching. I don’t mind drawing nude models in a drawing class but I’m not sure I’d want to hire one myself. Seems a little awkward.
I listened to a podcast this morning about status. It was a very humbling interview to listen to. Apparently, we are all status driven, and what we think will give us status differs. For some it’s money, for others it’s knowledge, education, fashion, coolness. I can see for me it’s knowledge and reading. When I was younger it would have been coolness and fashion. Although as a young adult I did the whole, it’s-so-ugly-it’s-cool thing, which, I guess, still accounts for trying to be cool.
With the Queen dying a lot of people are speaking up about their anger at royalty and colonialization. I don’t get it. Two hundred years ago, people were struggling with feudalism, where the nobility had all the power. So we created a system of self-government. But now we’re back where we started from, except instead of nobility, and or the governing body abusing their power, it’s the ultra wealthy.
I’m more concerned with the oligarchs, tech billionaires, and ‘titans of industry’ than I am of the royal family. All the Queen did for 70 years was try and be an ideal leader and role model. She made it a point to earn the respect of the people. Some of these billionaires are running human trafficking operations in their private jets and on their private islands. They embezzle billions through real estate and congratulate themselves by sleeping with girls and marrying models. But no one says anything because most people are enamoured with them. It’s gross.
It seems like everyone’s afraid of someone, afraid someone’s going to overpower them or control them. I think those fears stem more from a fear of not being in control of one’s life more than anything else. I certainly resent the way the ultra wealthy can, and do, influence the government. I’m against lobbying and super PACs, but I’m not afraid of the government. I’m afraid of people not respecting the government and doing all they can to undermine it. I’m afraid of coups and insurrections. But I truly believe that if we just let our government work the way it’s meant to it would work pretty well.