Here’s some other stuff I’ve been up to lately, in part to test new pens and water-soluble graphite.

Though I’ve felt uninspired lately and have eschewed all my ongoing projects, I’ve kept up my social sketching habits and recently participated in the 26th World Wide SketchCrawl Day. I joined the intrepid bunch at the EcoTrust building in NW Portland. Obviously once the attractive dog appeared, I got distracted from architecture!

I had to leave early, so continued doodling at a party in Albany, Oregon. This dog’s name is Ruby.

From Sackett:

“Through the open door into the parlor I could see furniture made of some dark wood, and shelves with books. While they talked, I got up and went in there, taking the lamp along. I squatted on my heels to look at the books, fair hungering for them. I taken one down and turned the leaves real slow, careful not to dirty them, and tested the weight of the book in my hand. A book as heavy as one of these, I figured, must make a lot of sense.”

I’m a brand new Louis L’Amour reader, but am loving his style.

I haven’t been interested in any of my self-assigned creative projects lately. Each morning I bang my head against them – why can’t I get this done? I want to be serious about art, and by serious I mean just get myself to the drawing table no matter what. But lately I get there and find *none* of my projects are engaging. I get nowhere with them.

The problem is, I’m psyching myself out. In deciding to be serious about art, I’m turning it into work, but also continuing to pressure myself to do it in *all* my free time. It should be fun, but I’ve made it a burden, and sapped all the joy out of it.

I came up with this way of looking at my current situation, as compared to the ideal balance that brings both productivity and joy:

Later, Mike and I came up with this view, based on Mike’s idea of “serious play”:

In conclusion, I’m letting go of my projects. It’s hard to do, because of that sense of pressing mortality – what if I lose all momentum, and suddenly am 80 years old and didn’t do anything? I must continue to *make*.

It’s just, for the next few months, I’m going to take the burden out of it, and do it because it’s fun and I want to draw.

Crazy, right?

This is based on the already revised recipe in the comments thread of this page. It’s not far from the sauce served at Whole Bowl in Portland. I used it last night over brown rice, garbanzos, salsa, avocado, pan-fried veg, and cilantro – fantastic! Wish I had ascorbic acid on hand as was suggested for a pleasing “tang” but it was good without.

Nutritional yeast is so magically delicious.

1/2 c oil
1/2 c nuts – cashew or almond, or tahini
2/3 c cooked garbanzo beans, soy beans, silken tofu, or combination
4 garlic cloves
1/2 c water
1/2 c lemon juice
1/3 c nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/8 tsp ascorbic acid/Vitamin C crystals (optional)

Combine oil, nuts, beans, and garlic in food processor and blend. Add remaining ingredients and puree until smooth.