Getting Ready for Inktober 2020

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/11, 3 sec, ISO320
 “Murillo Reference” Cedar Park, 2020

I’m getting psyched for the upcoming Inktober! Just like last year, I’ll be doing daily drawings on my iPad but not following the official Inktober prompts. And of course, these won’t be ink drawings.

I’ve been really lax about my digital drawing, so this will be good for me. I know I learned a lot last year and am looking forward to what this year will bring as far as new techniques and preferences.

Today’s photo is of a drawing I started. I am basically getting a line drawing ready to use as a basis for different kinds of styles.

The original painting is The Virgin of the Annunciation by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo which I viewed at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Unfortunately, one of Murillo’s other paintings was in the news recently because of a botched restoration attempt. 😔

Oh well, nothing is permanent…

またね～

Cycling Snapshot

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5, 1/55 sec, ISO3200
 “Shelter from the Rain” Cedar Park, 2020

I looked at my phone before I went out on my evening bicycle ride and it said “Rain in 56 minutes” so I figured I was safe. However, just a mile into it I started feeling sprinkles so I headed home. By the time I reached the house, it was coming down. It actually felt pretty good, but maybe my phone and camera didn’t enjoy it quite as much. 😅

Backyard Bird-Watching

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X-T10, 135mm, f/1, 1/180 sec, ISO400
 “Black-Crested Titmouse” Cedar Park, 2020

Today I made a bird feeder to attempt to attract some Orioles. It’s basically an 1-foot long piece of scrap wood, held vertically, with a dowel-sized rod stuck through it to make a perch. I drilled two long screws through the board so that orange pieces can be skewered onto it. I don’t know if we’ll see some Orioles, but I’m optimistic!

In the meantime, we have our Black-Crested Titmice and Carolina Chickadees to enjoy. I shot a bit of video today using an old 135 mm Minolta lens attached to the Fujifilm X-T10. I hope you like the video!

またね〜

Evening at Lakewood Park with Lani

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/5, 1/100 sec, ISO1000
 “Dog Park” Leander, 2020

Lakewood Park recently opened in the city of Leander and we decided to check it out in the evening. It’s really nice! There’s a lot to do there, including fishing, kayaking, a skate park, a splash pad, walking trails, and a dog park with three enclosed areas.

We took Lani there and she really enjoyed the walk and the dog park. She doesn’t see a lot of other dogs (our fault), but she did great! There was only one close encounter with two other dogs, who were sniffing her, but Lani just had a nervous growl and we led her away (she was still on-leash).

There weren’t a lot of people there, so when one of the dog enclosures was empty, we let Lani roam free off her leash. She was kind of tired at that point so she just explored slowly, and she was so good… every time I told her to come, she came straight to me. 😀

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/5, 1/500 sec, ISO200
 “Sunset at the Park” Leander, 2020

Besides having fun with Lani, Koa and I threw the baseball for 20 minutes or so while Mariko and Lani strolled around the park. We chatted with a fisherman who was packing up, and he said it was rare to see people throwing a baseball at the park, but as a former high school baseball player, he was happy to see us playing.

All-in-all, it was a good, socially-distanced evening!

“I Don’t See Color”

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I was reading a thread in a forum, and one of the commenters said “I don’t see color”, with the intention of conveying that race shouldn’t matter. Honestly, I thought this was an admirable sentiment, but soon learned how problematic this phrase is. I spent some time reading about the reasons why, and I now consider myself a bit more educated than I was a little while ago. I’m linking the articles below:

After 51-years of life, I’m still figuring out what it means to be mixed/multiple-ethnicity. It’s complicated, but fascinating, and surprisingly challenging to find information or groups that discuss mixed-Asian ethnicity (Asian-Asian, not Asian-Caucasian, Asian-Black, etc.).

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On a side note, the original commenter’s reaction to the links to the articles was defensive and hostile, instantly devolving into name-calling and personal attacks. Which reminds me of the saying, “when you resort to ad hominem attacks, you’ve already lost”, as in the entertaining feud between James Altucher and Jerry Seinfeld.