One year ago we welcomed Isaiah into the world. Crazy. Francesca and I have been parents for a year. What a wonderful year! Isaiah is walking, climbing, talking (a little), inquisitive, sensitive, overall a joy. Franny and I have grown together as partners, parents, friends. Sometimes stressful, always wonderful.
One year ago we didn’t know when he’d arrive. I remember wanting to know what our child would be like. Whether we were having a boy or girl. Now we know - I couldn’t have imagined it this wonderful. Isaiah is Isaiah, I can’t imagine another child that he would have been. Franny and I are truly rediscovering the world through his eyes.
I’ll leave you with another Isaiah quote - I find it fitting for a first birthday, because Isaiah’s arrival has helped me to slow down in life, to enjoy the here and now and stress less about the future.
Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die — Isaiah 22:13
I am finishing up a week in Orlando. My first, and quite possibly last time here. I had never been to Disney World, nor did I desire to go, not even back in elementary school when seemingly every other child had been. Turns out I didn’t really miss anything (aside from lots of country music and large Americans).
Winning isn’t about stickiness. Over the long term, the web services that win will be the best, winning by virtue of features and ability to please users. Businesses that try to win by trapping users like flies will lose to those that trust their customers to choose the best product, and trust themselves to provide the best product.
Example: disqus comment platform. I am using this on my Hidden Evidence blog, but not on this personal blog. Why? Because I am worried about data portability and the longevity of disqus. (See the first comment on this post testing the disqus system and voicing my concerns).
Why do most of us travel to work every day? Why do we work in large boxes removed from nature and family life? Why do we continue to propagate this system?
This all goes back to the Jefferson vs. Hamilton debate. Will humans be independent producers, masters of their own fate, creating an economy from many solid individual units? Or will we be grouped together into firms backed by capital, more efficiently producing in population centers and dependent upon banks and industrialists to provide for our jobs and life?
Problem - Phanfare is shutting down. This means my images are not loading all the time, as I used them for photo sharing and hosting. (Phanfare isn’t shutting down, they’re just changing business models, and their new model precludes image hosting & sharing).
Solution - moving to Flickr, slowly. So far have only updated my recent art posts, will have to work backwards through the other posts bit by bit. Upside: Flickr is cheaper ($25/year vs. $50/year for unlimited storage). Downside: Flickr sucks more (navigation / UI, slideshows, video support are all worse, less customizable). Integration sucks, but so did Phanfare’s.
Rant - why is there still no good solution? Why can’t I use an image management tool of my choice (Picasa, iPhoto, etc.) with the hosting / sharing service of my choice? Why don’t updates in the cloud automatically sync with my local instance? Why don’t iPhoto tags, filenames, and other metadata automatically percolate to Picasa Web? to Flickr? Why does Flickr not provide an iPhoto plugin? There are a lot of startups in this space, but they all miss the goal by a mile. I smell opportunity, I’m just sad that I’ve smelledthisopportunityfor years and it still hasn’t been filled.
I am rediscovering the world. Through Isaiah’s eyes. Do you remember the smell of grass, the feel of digging in dirt, the wiggle of an earthworm? Do you remember playing despite cold? When was the last time you were happily uncomfortable? Climbed in a tree? I am rediscovering the world through Isaiah’s eyes. What a joy.
I was raised Quaker. Quakers sit in silent worship, communing directly with God. We believe that if you listen God will speak, and help guide you in life. I love the philosopy, open-mindedness, and quiet of the Quakers. Moreso, I love the lack of priests - it’s just you and God. I attended Quaker Meeting until I was 18, but have only recently started re-attending with Franny (raised Catholic) and Isaiah.
I have never been “lead” by the Lord. Not quite true, but hear me out.
I’ve finished the Francesca and Isaiah piece. Check it out here, or peek at the thumbnail below. I’ve had pieces of this composition floating around in my head for a while - I knew I wanted to draw Franny, even the pose & meadow setting, but couldn’t make it all fit in my head. I finally sketched it out and realized that Isaiah was the missing piece. I’ve wanted to draw the Laundry dress too - that was tough but well worth it.
Art process - maybe it’s just me, but I love the drawing process as much as the finished work. I love reading artists websites where they share their creative process with others. (1) you can learn from each other, and (2) it’s just great to see how everyone ticks. Plus I find the art itself beautiful at every stage. Click through to see my art process from sketchbook to this image.
The art bug has bitten me recently. I don’t know why, but I’ve been on a huge comic kick - reading Scott Pilgrim comics and checking out Bryan Lee O’Malley’s art archive, reading other Flight comics artists, reading Questionable Content and feeling very jealous of all of these fellow artists who jumped from comic amateur to pro just by going for it.
So I’m drawing again - yay! Check out my first in progress piece in a while below. I have a number of other ideas, and will probably do another mini comic for the nieces and nephews sometime soon. This eats a lot of time though ;-). But my brain is more creative and happy. Click image for full size, and stay tuned for more artwork! Also, compare this version vs. the earlier - Franny’s shoulder was too high before, and Isaiah needed an outfit. But I lost something in Franny’s smile…
