Last Christmas (2020) my wife gave me a nice sketchbook. I was excited by it. I could imagine it filled with all kinds of interesting sketches, some watercolor ideas, and generally filled with cool art.

Here I am in late September 2021, and well, the sketchbook’s pages have remained free of pencil marks, watercolors, or ideas from yours truly.

Admittedly this year I have not cranked out as many new pieces of art as in the past few years. One reason would be that I have been busier writing software in my personal time. (I will share more about that in another post in the future.) I don’t think my days have had any less inspiration to draw, or paint. I have sat down and sketched, drawn, painted some this year, but just not with the frequency of the past.

Now with that said, I focus back on the sketchbook. In itself it is a thing of beauty to my eyes. It sits with empty pages awaiting a human touch. I have passed it over when going to get some paper to work on. There is a reason…

I have seen the sketchbooks of great artists both in museum displays, and online. They had one common theme from my perspective. They were beautifully illustrated; ideas were wonderfully captured with such details that were necessary to convey the artistic flair that the owner was known for in his, or her, time.

I know myself. Quite often when I sit down to work on a piece, the piece goes through a really ugly phase. I have learned to keep pressing on toward the end of the work. Almost always the piece comes out much better than I could have anticipated. It is getting through the rough period of the ugly stage that is hard for me.

As I think about the empty sketchbook, it is still empty because I wish to leave within it ONLY beautiful pieces. The idea of leaving quite a mess within it to some level, well, it is not a pleasant thought.

Isn’t that the essence of the age we live in? When you see folks' online presence they look perfect. The perfect family, the perfect lives, the perfect jobs, the perfect little world. Let’s face it! That world doesn’t exist. If it does for someone, they would probably be .000001 percent of the population.

Go live your life today. Stop worrying about if it looks great to the outside viewer, or not! You answer largely to God in heaven. He is the only One that matters!

I am gonna go ‘mess up’ some pages of that sketchbook 😀.

–Wayne