"The Work"

Sebastian and Me on our family vacation in Hansville, WA.

    It is a little unusual to title a blog post "The Work" while first referencing a family summer vacation. The photo above is a mid morning snapshot of my middle son Sebastian and I spending time together drawing, reflecting, and being slightly districted by various devices and screens.  We are enjoying the moment and inspiration is at hand.  The shells are gathered from the beach that is within a staircase ravine from the back yard, and the pens that run the middle of the table are simply hoping to dance briefly in a vertical motion.  This moment falls within my plans before we had left, time set aside for what this picture presents.  

    When I mention "The Work" it refers to how the artist life never stops.  There isn't a day in which it is turned off, or pushed aside, or made to be less important.  Sure, doing the dishes, driving the kids to school, waiting at the doctors office, or watching a mindless TV show do not constitute as artist activities.  That does not mean the artist mind is not engaged.  All the activities just mentioned hold within them a life of their own and can be brought into the pages of a sketchbook.   Just like this:

dirty dishes

 

Charcoal drawing of my oldest doing the dishes

My Middle son as he's riding in the car (drawn later from picture!)

    "The work" follows closely what Rainer Maria Rilke wrote in his book Letters to a Young Poet:

If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself that you are not poet (artist) enough to forth its riches; for the Creator, there is no poverty.