"How silently, how silently... "

"How silently, how silently,
the wondrous gift is given;
so God imparts to human hearts
the blessings of his heaven.
No ear may hear his coming,
but in this world of sin,
where meek souls will receive him, still
the dear Christ enters in. "

Phillips Brooks (1835–1893)

Merry Christmas!

Kiki, the trainee witch

My daughter as Kiki, the teenage witch trainee.

pumpkin

Three large, quick sketches as I try out new tools:

A newly acquired Duke 551 fude nib fountain pen, which creates some amazingly expressive, broad lines;
Daniel Smith Walnut Ink, which I've had sitting on my shelf for the last 4 or 5 years, finally put to use;
and a cheap 11x17 size sketchbook bought at Homesense, which really lets me be much freer and looser... the broader lines really benefit from this kind of space. Surprisingly, the paper handled the ink washes quite well.

matsutake 松茸

A series of sketches of some of the wild matsutake mushrooms, generously given to us by a friend we visited last week -- a delicacy for us.

I sketched these with some fairly new pens I am still getting acquainted with, and they all have their unique personalities... 

The Pilot Custom 74 I bought in Japan earlier this year has been my reliable workhorse after ditching the Noodler Ahabs I had been using for the past few years. It doesn't give me quite the fine lines that the Ahabs did, but it's been way more dependable and I am really appreciating its fluid line qualities.

The Jinhao X750 has become a go to handwriting utensil -- a much more rigid, broader, and unvaried line which has its own merits, especially when paired with a lighter ink that can show some shade. It doesn't quite fit my drawing style, but as with all drawing instruments, it's the pen that conditions the sketcher, not the other way around, so perhaps worth experimenting with on larger sheets of paper, especially as it seems to write on the wetter side (at least the one I am using).

The Jinhao pen is quite inexpensive; I bought four of them. I've modified one of them to take a Zebra G, which is a typical, flexy dip pen nib. This means some extra thin linework combined with an array of line thicknesses, but it's often not as consistent as one would like, and the scratchiness is not the most pleasant on the upstroke. If the ink flow were more consistent, it might become my go-to pen for certain subject matter. There's something surreal when combined with a red ink.

The novelty item for me here is the Duke 209 fude nib pen. It allows for a brush-like thickness in addition to a more typical fountain pen line thickness, and I am loving the spontaneous effect. I don't think I am anywhere near mastering its possibilities, but find myself using this pen more and more...

1: Pilot Custom 74 Soft-Fine nib fountain pen, Noodlers Polar Black ink 

2: Pilot Custom 74 Soft-Fine nib fountain pen, Noodlers Polar Black ink 

3: Jinhao X750 medium nib fountain pen, Noodlers Polar Brown ink 

4: Duke 209 fude nib fountain pen, Noodlers Polar Black ink 

5: Jinhao X750 fountain pen modified with a Zebra G nib, Noodlers Fox ink 

6: Jinhao X750 fountain pen modified with a Zebra G nib, Noodlers Fox ink

Every Day in May 2019

A few months old now...

The few sketches I did manage to eke out this year for the Facebook group "Every Day in May": 

Day 1. Some fruit: a bowl of grapes

Day 2. An insect you would be missing: some origami beetles

Day 3. Some agricultural machine: a pair of garden shears

4. Star Wars Day: a decorative kabuto, Vadar's inspiration

6. Your daily work/office: a view of the office

a service in the park

A quick sketch from the annual joint worship service at a local park... a little chilly but at least no rain today.

a Good Friday reflection

This Good Friday meditation, read at a service, was inspired by some railroad stakes we picked up while on holidays last summer near Canora, Ontario. These stakes are the closest objects I can think of to the implements that must have been used to crucify criminals in Jesus' time. May it be an encouragement today.

 

A Good Friday Reflection

How utterly different… How absolutely different… like the day and the night…

The nail, 

crudely fashioned, rusty, jagged, unyielding yet twisted… 

not so much piercing as crushing to get the job done

a mechanical industrial implement, hard, cold, rough, painful, heavy… crude

Human flesh, 

The hands of Jesus, fearfully and wonderfully made… 

delicate and soft, precious, moist

Hands that give life, touch hearts, feel pain, create, heal, bless… 

Instruments of God

How utterly different… How absolutely different…

The one on His right, 
the other one on His left…

The one that provoked, demanding of Jesus, 
 “Save yourself and us, if you are indeed the Messiah!”

The other one that simply asked, 
“Jesus, remember me when you come into Your kingdom.”

How utterly different… how absolutely different…

The soldiers, 
greedy and oblivious, 
casting lots to divide up the clothes of a Saviour, dying on their behalf. 

The Son of God, 
gracious, compassionate, even unto death, 
ensuring the future well-being of his exhausted mother Mary, 
who gave her life for such a divine task.  

How utterly different… how absolutely different…

The fallen world, 
filled with ceaseless violence, selfish pride,
impoverished, needy, shackled, alienated… 

The Kingdom of God, 
where there is only light, only worship, only truth, only the glory of God, 
present today and tomorrow wherever God reigns supreme

Without blemish

holy

holy

holy

How utterly different… how absolutely different…

The mob pulsates deliriously, 
shouting, screaming, 
“Take him away! Take him away!” 
Pilate cowers, haggles, postures … 

The crowd escalates in its intense anger, frenzied protestation, and violent determination, 
“Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” 

The silence of Jesus, the Son of God…   

The silence of God, the Father…

How utterly different… How absolutely different…

Yet, despite this…  no, through this…    

the will of God, his divine plan for all of humanity advances, 

unwavering, with resolve and with truth,
steadily and silently.

For God, at that one moment, allowed the hard, crude nail to pierce His hands, crush his feet. When those nails wedged themselves into bone and flesh, It was as if our fallen world had crushed the realm of God; 
the world, momentarily, was turned upside down. 
Two realms, so fundamentally distant, so incompatible, collided, became entwined, one piercing the other, abandoning the other… 

The father’s loving gaze, the father’s being-with-the-Son… suspended. 

The darkness pierced our Saviour’s soul, condemnation flooded his soul,  He was alone in the world, abandoned, distant from the Kingdom of Heaven…  forsaken, fatherless, Godless… 

absolute death. 

We glimpse the enormity of the step God took, 
the risk he took, 
to invite us back into a conversation with Him, 
to welcome us back into the eternal dance with Him. 

That’s what it took. 

As we remember the death of Jesus, we remember the enormity of the event. 

Worlds that were utterly different, absolutely different, like the day and the night… collided; 

God’s presence, momentarily suspended…  so that a new world, an utterly new world could be reigned in… “resurrected in”… into our lives and into our hearts. 

And we remember…  how utterly changed we are, like the day and the night… 

For though it was my rusted, twisted, jagged heart that pierced his hands and crushed his soul, we are now transformed to be a light in this world, now forgiven, now set free… 

Not only do our hearts ask humbly, 
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom…”, 
but our hearts now know that we are given even more than we have asked,

for He promises us that we are with Him for eternity 
in His Kingdom, 
in His glory… 

because the nails pierced His hands and His feet. 

How utterly different… how absolutely different…

Thanks be to God, 

Amen

and another three views from an office...

This series continues...




































And for kicks, the arena sketch from February, side by side with the one from March. I'll need to fill in the missing piece next week...

the arena

The downtown arena, two and a half years after opening, whose effect is still evident throughout the downtown by all the offshoot construction that is still happening around it...

three more views from an office

Three more wintry views from an office floor, with a few more to come. As with the last three, I've kept the horizon line at the same place on the sketchbook just for kicks, in case I end up with the entire 360 degree view. 

a baby

A rather spontaneous sketch of our friends' soon-to-be-three-month-old baby, drawn at a restaurant. This brings back memories of years past, when my own kids were this small. Sketching babies, especially from an awkward angle (I had him on my lap) poses some interesting challenges, as their facial proportions are cartoonishly out of whack...

three views from an office

The beginning of a collection of views from the office... colour to follow.

more from Break Forth One 2019

...more notes from sessions at the Break Forth One conference.

Break Forth One 2019

Some notes from sessions at Break Forth One 2019... a now annual sketch posting.