The instructor for my watercolor class teaches a process that begins with the question “Why?” He says this is the most important step of the painting process. Several of his lectures focused on studying photos to determine the reason why you are creating a particular painting. The why could be the lonely feeling from a…
Author: Steve Ainslie
Let The Threads Pull It In
I was 50 years old when I was taught how to properly drive a screw into a piece of wood. At the time, I was working with my neighbor and his friend, who generously offered to help me rig out my trailer with solar panels, wiring, switches and gauges. Being the least skilled person on…
Code Red – We’ve Seen This Play Before
The North Carolina DHHS publishes the CDC’s Covid-19 risk levels by county each week. Each county is color coded for “risk of illness and strain on the health care system”. Green: Low Yellow – Medium Red – High Below is this week’s chart. My county has been Yellow or Red for as long as I…
Comfortably Numb
Rarely do I feel intense about anything. If asked how I’m doing, my typical reply is “Fantastic. My life is fantastic and I’m doing fantastic.“ That’s generally the case. But the real truth is more like, “I’m fine. Life is fine and I’m feeling fine.“ I’ve always been a fairly even keeled guy. Since my…
A Speck In The Ocean
When I used to fly back home to Ft. Lauderdale, the plane would take a southernly route over the ocean following the coast before turning West or East for landing at the airport. I studied the coastline, the ocean and the boats for many hours. Some boats appeared so tiny in the ocean that the…
Art School
For the past month, I’ve been taking a course on Udemy called “How To Plan Awesome Watercolor Artwork”. It’s been mind blowing. I am learning concepts for composition, value, color and style that I’ve never been exposed to before. The course is part lecture, part “learn by following examples” and part do it yourself. I…
Burnout
Albert Brooks was on the Sam Harris podcast recently to discuss his book “Strength to Strength”. He spoke about two different types of intelligence / strengths. He said that one type peaks for most people in their 30s-40s after which which there is an inevitable decline. I’m familiar with this phenomenon in terms of physical…
Lung Cancer
Sometime during the Covid pandemic, I learned that Kathy Griffin had lung cancer. Last week, I heard her on a podcast where she touched on her surgery and recovery briefly, before discussing politics and comedy. She said had half her lung removed – which I assume was a lobectomy like my wife had. She said…
Who Am I Kidding
Ive had quite a few moments of clarity this summer as I thought about my plans for the rest of my life. Some of these will impact my immediate future, some are midrange and others longterm. With this clarity I’ve been able to clear my head of “what ifs?”, fairy tales and fantasies about my…
Uncool Uncle
My sister and I are not close. We exchange text messages a few times a year and rarely speak on the phone. We haven’t seen each other in person for over 10 years. We like it that way. She has a son, my only nephew. I met him once when he was in diapers. A…