Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO250 “Autograph from Joc” Round Rock, 2017 baseball,
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Tonight Bay and I went to see the Oklahoma City Dodgers play the Round Rock Express at the Dell Diamond. It was a minor league baseball game, but there were some major-leaguers playing – most notably, Joc Pederson and Kyle Farmer for the Dodgers. They will soon be called back up to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers as they make their push towards the playoffs.
But in the meantime, it was cool to see these Dodgers up close. As you can see from the photos, Bay got Joc Pederson’s autograph (and Kyle Farmer’s as well) to add to his cap. Minor league games are pretty cool because they are a lot more relaxed and informal.
I splurged a bit and bought row 2 seats behind the plate, but since it’s minor league, they were only $14 each. A pretty good deal to be close enough to talk to the players!
Even though the Dodgers lost the game, it was great to see the larger-than-life ballplayers up close. And when you see them up close, they are just regular people. Kind of cool!
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5, 1/4 sec, ISO320 “Everyday” Cedar Park, 2017
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Tonight’s photo is of my Traveler’s Notebook. I bring this with me everyday in my bag to work, and I have my Pilot Kakuno and LAMY Safari attached. And recently I added my Uni Kuru Toga pencil to the kit.
In my notebook, I like to jot down things, like song names and random ideas. I also use Google Keep for notes, but it’s fun to write on paper even if it is not available “in the cloud”. I think it’s kind of cool that these little bits of information exist only in one place, and they can be lost forever. Eventually, all things come to an end, and so it will be with these notes. Isn’t it neat that they will exist only for short periods of time? It’s liberating to know that all things end, and not to get too tied up in trying to make things permanent.
It’s funny to me that I am trying to keep objects in my life that will last until I die, but then I don’t worry about things being lost? I don’t think it’s consistent but I am not going to think about it too much. Maybe it’s like the theory of relativity vs quantum mechanics. Who knows? Someday I might discover a unifying theory. 😆
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO800 “Takoyaki Dinner” Cedar Park, 2017
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Our younger son requested takoyaki for dinner, so we got out the electric takoyaki pan and cooked up a few batches. If you don’t know what takoyaki is, it’s a ball of batter, filled with octopus and other small ingredients (we also add cheese) and cooked into what looks like a donut hole. It’s then topped with a sweet sauce, Japanese mayo, green seaweed flakes, and dried bonito flakes. It’s a popular dish in Japan, and originated in Osaka. Since Mariko is from Osaka, I think she’s got natural talent in making Takoyaki! 😀
I received a nice little goodie in the mail today: a Kuru Toga mechanical pencil. The special thing about this pencil is that it has a mechanism which will rotate the lead slightly each time you lift the pencil from the paper, thus ensuring the lead is always sharp, or at least has a consistent angle. I tried it out for a little while, and it seems to work!
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO2000 “New Pencil” Cedar Park, 2017
My Amazon order actually came from Japan, so it took a couple weeks, but it was only around $4.50 US, with free shipping! I excitedly showed Mariko the pencil, but she was unimpressed… letting me know that Bay has had a Kuru Toga for a few years already. 🙄
Later this evening, I scanned in last night’s sketch and did my usual edit in Photoshop. Basically, I cut and paste the nose, mouth, and eyes, then adjust the position, size, and angle of each to what feels right to me. I can use that information on my next drawing so that I can get closer to my ideal sketch. And even though I have only started using this technique, I think it helps! For this latest sketch, I didn’t have to edit too much… just a pixel here and there, and resizing the eye on the left a little. The top image is the before, and the bottom is the edit. Can you see the difference?
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.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/75 sec, ISO6400 “Spaghetti Dinner” Cedar Park, 2017
こんばんは。How’s it going?
Today was a relaxing day, with a couple nice highlights. First was that my 16-year-old son and I made spaghetti sauce with meatballs and Italian sausage. It’s a recipe that I got from my Mom and everyone in the family enjoys it. But today, I had my son make the meatballs. He’ll be heading off to college in a couple years, so I think it’s good to get him familiar with the kitchen more!
The recipe is pretty simple but there is some room to add your own ingredients and make it to your own preference. For instance, I use less salt, but add some more spices to the mix. And I am sure that when Bay makes his own spaghetti (maybe for his own kids!) he’ll adjust the recipe to his own tastes.
As expected, the spaghetti sauce is yummy, and the meatballs were especially good! He did a great job mixing, forming, and browning the meatballs, only complaining about splattered oil 2 or 20 times. 😆
Earlier in the day, I watched the local High School marching band pass by our house as they marched through the neighborhood. My 13-year-old son is looking forward to joining the band when he goes to High School, but he still has one more year in Middle School. But he’s excited to see his friends who have become Freshmen marching in the band.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/750 sec, ISO200 “Marching Band” Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/80 sec, ISO3200 “Pork Donburi” Cedar Park 2017
Dinner, dishes, and drawing. That’s a typical evening for me lately. I am enjoying life!
The pork donburi with shishito peppers and eggs was delicious, and then while doing the dishes, I enjoyed the pretty clouds as they floated by. 🌥
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/600 sec, ISO200 “View from the Sink” Cedar Park, 2017
Tonight’s drawing is actually a copy of a previous drawing, which I scanned, printed, and then applied ink with a brush. It was difficult to control (the brush was too long and soft) but fun to try something new. I think I prefer the line portraits right now.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/70 sec, ISO3200 “Inkling” Cedar Park, 2017
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.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO2500 “Round” Cedar Park, 2017
こんばんは。How’s it going?
The other day I was searching for a palette knife for my son, and I checked an old wicker storage chest that I’ve had for as long as I can remember. I keep a lot of old things in there, including some art supplies. I didn’t find the palette knife in there, but I did get lost for a half hour looking through the contents of the chest.
I have used this chest to keep a bunch of personal “memorabilia” safe for so many years. It holds my high school diploma, achievement awards, old photos, maps, plane and train tickets, old baseball and concert tickets, and letters.
The letters were what interested me most, specifically letters from a pen pal that I had in high school. For maybe a year, I exchanged letters with another high school student who lived in Paris. It was so much fun to receive letters from Sophie! I remember every day wondering if I’d get a nice surprise in the mailbox. And I would dream of someday traveling to Paris to meet my pen pal.
I eventually did travel to Paris, but by that time, I was no longer in contact with my pen pal. I wonder what kind of life she is living now… I think I’d rather not know, but be happy keeping it a mystery.
Anyways, tonight’s photo is of a drawing I worked on. I tried to shorten the face but I think it may be too round? I actually like the shape, though. I also tried to blacken the hair using pencil, and I thought that it wouldn’t come out looking nice, but I’d give it a go anyways just to know for sure. やっぱり。。。I don’t think I’ll do that again. But I am glad I found out.
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.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.5, 1/125 sec, ISO5000 “Three Amigos” Cedar Park, 2017
こんばんは。How’s it going?
I’ve settled into a nice evening routine, which I am enjoying quite a bit. It’s funny, but the things I used to think of as “chores” are now part of a routine that I don’t give too much thought to, and they don’t really cause any stress.
Each night I will clean the cat litter box, which only takes a minute, but I would visualize how awful a job it is and fill my mind with negative thoughts like, “why am I the one who has to do this?”. 🐱 But these days, I just do it and my mind is thinking about things other than the cat poop. Does that make sense? It’s like I am on auto-pilot and since I don’t think about the chore that I am doing, it doesn’t affect my frame of mind negatively. My body might be scooping poop, but my mind is enjoying talking with my family, thinking about drawing, or listening to the baseball game that’s on the tv in the living room.
Another task that I do almost every night is washing the dishes. This is less of an “auto-pilot activity”, but I look at it as an opportunity to chat with the family in a relaxed environment (just after dinner, everyone is usually in a good mood). Or, if everyone has left the kitchen area, I can catch up on some podcasts. So, it’s a productive time of my day.
The same goes for brushing my teeth in the evening. I admit I used to often skip the nighttime brushing 😇. But for the past couple years this important task also has become an “auto-pilot activity” and I will listen to a podcast while I do it.
So those are my “tasks” that I do every evening. I also have a few other routines that are on the fun side, but I’ll save that for another blog post.
Tonight’s photo at the top of this post is of my three watches that I like to wear. My Seiko SKX007 (on the right) is what I wear every day, my Timex weekender is a watch I sometimes wear to bed. It’s so light and the band is so soft that I don’t even realize I am wearing it. But I find the audible ticking noise to be relaxing and helps me sleep. The watch in the center is my Seiko 5 SNK809, which I don’t wear as often, but once in a while, I will throw it on. What’s nice about the automatic watches like the Seikos I own is that they don’t use batteries. Just a few shakes to get them going and then they will power up by just regular body movement. I love that!
Lastly, the photo below is my latest practice sketch. I tried drawing it without referencing the proportions video that I needed to watch for the previous sketch. I guess it turned out OK, but I’m still not very happy with it. It’s a little “off”. Still, it’s good to practice.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO2500 “Practice Sketch” Cedar Park, 2017
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 Tuesday!
おやすみ
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I use a Fujifilm X-series camera for most of the photos on this site and my Instagram. Why not pick one up for yourself?
