Tag: life

Saturday Sketching

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"Leia" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/60 sec, ISO6400
 “Leia” Cedar Park, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Today I broke out the sketchbook and created a couple drawings. The first was some simple eyes and faces to get warmed up. I’m also thinking about what elements of the face are essential to depict for my drawing style, and what I can leave out. I’m still looking for my own drawing style – something I can be happy with which I can create better visual stories with. It’s kind of fun to explore on paper.

Next, I worked on a larger drawing with which I spent a bit more time. I guess from start to finish, it took about an hour and a half. I erased and redid a bunch and looked at several reference drawings to fix things, most notably the profile and cheek. As you can see from the photo at the bottom of this post, the shape of the face was a lot different.

"Evening Sketch" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/100 sec, ISO2500
 “Evening Sketch” Cedar Park, 2018

When I got the drawing how I liked it, I took the photo then brought it into Photoshop and was going to add color to it, but after I did the hair, my Wacom started freaking out and scrolling instead of drawing, so I just quit. But, I like how it looks, so I will call it done.

To see all the sketches I’ve been working on, you can check out the Flickr album “My Sketching Journey”, or my Instagram account barron.sketches which I created just for posting sketches, watercolors, and stationery items.

I hope you had a nice Saturday!

おやすみ

"Version 1" Cedar Park, 2018
“Version 1” Cedar Park, 2018

Thursday Friday

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"Manekineko" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO400
 “Manekineko” Cedar Park, 2018

It’s the start of the long weekend for us! I know not everyone has “Good Friday” off, but the kids’ school district recognizes it as a holiday, and my company does as well. So, Thursday has become Friday. 😄

I’m going to stay up late and watch the last 3 episodes of Anone あのね, which I think is fantastic! The best Japanese dorama I’ve seen in a long time. I recommend it if you have access to Japanese テレビ, such as TV Japan, or other means. 😉

I hope you had a nice Thursday!

またね～

Taco Tuesday

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"Tacos" Austin, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/200 sec, ISO200
 “Tacos” Austin, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Yes, “Taco Tuesday” is really a thing… although it’s not like a holiday or super-special occasion. Here in Austin where tacos (especially breakfast tacos) are very popular, many of us “celebrate” Taco Tuesdays. I say that only semi-seriously because since we eat tacos so often, and since Tuesday comes once a week, it’s more like we’ll recognize the special day when we realize we are eating a taco and it is Tuesday. But it’s fun to say anyway… the phrase rolls off the tongue nicely, doesn’t it?

I’m lucky in that we have a taco trailer come by our office every week and the tacos are tasty and not too expensive. For non-breakfast tacos, I like to get corn tortillas, and here they serve each taco with two corn tortillas. I like it like this. And since I got two tacos, the quartet of tortillas makes it a filling and satisfying lunch. To me, the perfect taco consists of a simply seasoned protein, diced onion, cilantro, and a hot sauce or pico de gallo. Not too many flavors, but super tasty. 🌮

I hope you had a nice Tuesday!

またね～

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This post was prompted by The Daily Post from WordPress.

Art Store Trip

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"Artist Coffee" Austin, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO1250
 “Artist Coffee” Austin, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going?

It seems like Bay and I visit Jerry’s Artarama a lot these days! It’s really fun to check out all the art supplies… it reminds me of when I was Bay’s age and painted a lot. Cool to look at all the things that I used to buy, like canvas stretcher bars, gesso, palette knives, etc. And I love that Bay is into his art! So I don’t mind buying him the supplies he needs.

I ended up getting him a good-sized canvas and a couple new brushes, while I picked up a 6×12″ watercolor book. I want to paint some simple seascape horizons. I’ll take some photos of the work!

Today’s photo is of some cool coffee beans they were selling. I totally should have bought a bag, since we are just about out of beans at home. 😞

I hope you had a nice day!

またね～

Contest, Critique, and Misc

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"Critique" Austin, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/105 sec, ISO6400
 “Critique” Austin, 2018

Today Koa’s percussion ensemble participated in a contest and critique. It was very interesting to hear the comments from percussionists at the top of the field. One of the judges is a professor at Florida State University, another is the Principal Timpanist for the Austin Symphony, and the other is a well-respected band director. I think that hearing the perspectives from these experts made a great impression on the kids.

In other news, I took care of some business around the house, including raking, fertilizing the lawn, tidying up our planters, and replacing a license plate bulb on Mariko’s car. Digitally, I decluttered and organized my desktop computer files, and made a fresh backup. And then I almost finished a book I am reading and did my daily exercises. It was a long, but fun, day!

Student Recognition

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"Student Recognition" Leander, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X-T10, 18mm, f/2.8, 1/60 sec, ISO320
 “Student Recognition” Leander, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Today’s photo is from an event at the school district’s board meeting. The occasion was to recognize the students of three different extra-curricular activity clubs for outstanding achievement, and Bay was one of the kids recognized! He’s in a club called Youth & Government which is really interesting, and honestly, something I didn’t think Bay would be interested in, but he actually took this on all by himself and has excelled. I am so proud!

I hope you had a great day!

またね～

Automatic Time Adjustment

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"Timex and Seiko" Cedar Park, 2018
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/6.4, 1/40 sec, ISO6400
 “Timex and Seiko” Cedar Park, 2018

こんばんは。How’s it going?

The other day we had to change our clocks to Daylight Savings Time here in Texas. These days, some of our clocks update automatically, while others require manual adjustment. But I think it’s kind of fun to change the clocks! Especially my watches. 😝

But one clock was always a hassle to update, and that’s my car’s clock. For one thing, I’d only notice it was wrong when I started driving, and I couldn’t adjust it because it was unsafe to do so. The clock was my car stereo which (even after 14 years) was a puzzle to figure out. Then when I arrived at my destination, I’d forget to change it, so the next time I’d get in my car and drive, the cycle would repeat itself.

My new Subaru Crosstrek has a clock on the dash, and it has simple + and – buttons, but you have to go thru the minutes, instead of just adjusting an hour at a time. So, I rolled my eyes again. However, I was pleasantly surprised to notice that the clock automatically adjusted to the correct time! I guess it picked up the time from my phone’s Bluetooth connection or Android Auto. How cool! I thought that the dash clock was just a totally separate unit, but I guess not. Yay!

That reminds me of my Sony A77 camera with its built-in GPS which would automatically adjust the time and date. Such a great feature.

Anyways, today’s photo is of two of my watches: the Seiko SKX007 and the Timex Weekender. After taking the photo, I decided to take a little video to illustrate the different hand movements of the two watches. The Seiko uses an automatic movement, which is smoother, while the TImes uses a quartz movement, which is more accurate, but not quite as elegant as it clicks away.

Ok, that’s enough time nerdery for today! (By the way, did you enjoy the “time nerd” joke in The Big Sick? Fun movie!

I hope you had a nice day!

またね～