Digital Drawing and Overcoming Barriers

"Late-night Office" Cedar Park, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2, 1/100 sec, ISO320
“Late-night Office” Cedar Park, 2019

こんばんは。How’s it going? I continue to enjoy sketching on the iPad, and the convenience and speed it provides. What is really nice is that I can work through mistakes a lot faster than with pencil and eraser. It lets me try new things without fear of wasting paper or actually needing to buy new stationery or art materials. Also, because there is no cleanup involved, I am more likely to start something completely new. If I simply want to push paint around, I can do that instantly. It’s not physical paint, of course, but I end up scanning the real-world watercolors and pencil sketches to share in the digital world anyway. I suppose drawing digitally, and on the iPad in particular, streamlines the process, and breaks down barriers that were standing in the way of creativity.

Digital drawing for me also goes hand-in-hand with decluttering. I feel like I can reduce the number of pens and paints I keep around. My sketchbooks have been “silent” lately, although I still use notebooks for daily journaling using my favorite fountain pens. But I don’t mind not using the sketchbooks because I don’t really like seeing them laying on the desk. It kind of made me feel guilty of not using them. So I put them away, and the desk is even more clutter-free, even though there’s still lots more that can go. It’s nice to know that I can have all my new artwork contained in the iPad and the cloud. Maybe it’s just a phase, but I am finding joy in NOT creating physical drawings.

Anyway, here’s the latest drawing. I keep getting closer to my own style, or at least I find myself gravitating to this style. A couple of things that are on my list are more body poses, and also male portraits. And the digital medium will help me in those efforts for sure!

I hope you had a good day!

またね~

Decluttering Alma Mater Items

"Old Pullover" Cedar Park, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/25 sec, ISO6400
“Old Pullover” Cedar Park, 2019

While going through some of my old clothes, I came across two items from my alma maters, Torrance High School and UC Irvine. The one from high school was my old cross-country jersey. It was cool to look at it again before putting it in the trash. Its last bit of usefulness was to remind me of the good times I had running in high school. Honestly, I didn’t really enjoy cross-country. Haha. But it happened, and it gave me experiences and I learned about myself.

The other item I found is a pull-over from college. I really like the classic design and color, but it’s uncomfortable and not soft anymore. Actually, I don’t think it was ever very soft. Anyway, I was going to throw it away but then Bay decided he wanted it. I guess he’s into “college mode” or something. I’d eventually like to get a more comfortable replacement for the pull-over because I am sort of proud of graduating from UCI. It’s not really high on my list, though. 😄

Who knew decluttering could be so fun?

Farewell to the Old Heater

"Broken Heater" Cedar Park, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/75 sec, ISO6400
“Broken Heater” Cedar Park, 2019

The other day the space heater that I use in the home office finally died. One of the switches was faulty and didn’t always turn the heater on. Well, the last time, the switch started smoking so I decided that it had finally had enough. But this heater which we bought when we lived in Japan had served us for 22 winters. Actually, our memories are a little foggy on the true origin of that heater… Mariko might have had it before we met so it could have been older than 22 years.

Anyway, I’m a little sad to see it go, but I told it thank you and goodbye. We had a good run!

"Dog Heater" Cedar Park, 2016
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.5, 1/10 sec, ISO3200
“Dog Heater” Cedar Park, 2016

Tidying Up Papers and Clothes

"Papers" Cedar Park, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.5, 1/125 sec, ISO3200
“Papers” Cedar Park, 2019

Today I cleaned up a bunch at home (I’ve been reinvigorated in my decluttering!), first with some paperwork that I had way too much of. Today I focused on financial statements of IRAs and 401ks from back before the dawn of time. Basically, I am keeping the most recent statement, and shredding the rest. I have never looked at them in all these years. Which is probably good for retirement accounts, right? Just let them do their thing.

The other week I cleaned out other documents like medical records (I’ll hold onto the last 2 year’s worth), automotive records (why do I still have oil change receipts for my 1999 Sentra which we sold ten years ago?), and documents pertaining to our old house which we sold in 2005.

With most of the papers disposed of, I now have so much space in our office cabinets. It’s awesome!

Next, I tackled my closet and my clothes, which I had pared down quite a bit already, but there were three drawers full of brand new socks, old gloves, and ski hats. It’s crazy how many pairs of new wool socks I had! All those went in the Goodwill bag, as well as a bunch of t-shirts. I was able to discard enough so that I could get rid of one plastic drawer.

There were a bunch of other adjustments I made in the closet that involved throwing out and reorganizing what was left, but now the closet is tidy and airy. It’s such a welcome difference.

I hope you had a nice day!

またね

Things That Spark Joy in Me

"Things That Spark Joy" Cedar Park, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X-T10, 18mm, f/2.8, 1/60 sec, ISO400
“Things That Spark Joy” Cedar Park, 2019

こんばんは。How’s it going?

It seems that everyone is talking about Marie Kondo lately because of her show on Netflix. I’ve seen a couple episodes and read her book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, which I enjoyed, and like a lot of other people, I’ve been re-examining the things that I buy and keep. I’ve put together a list of items that not only “spark joy”, but also are things that I use often and if I lost the item, I’d buy it again.

Instead of listing them here, I created a page so I can update as needed. If you have a few minutes free, why don’t you check out my list? (And if you buy anything via the links, I’ll get a small kick-back from Amazon 🤗)

またね~