by Marty Coleman | Apr 10, 2011 | Sketchbook History Tour |
Well, here we are, 39 years worth of drawings later, at the end of the Sketchbook History Tour. I started posting this tour on July, 18th, 2010, almost 9 months ago. We have gone all the way from the crude drawings of an adolescent 17 year old to the crude drawings of a 56 year old. I hope you enjoyed the journey as much as I did!
She’s bummed because the tour is over
She’s Wondering What’s Next
Drawing © 2016 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
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by Marty Coleman | Apr 10, 2011 | Sketchbook History Tour |
The Sketchbook History Tour is almost to the present. Next week we will be at 2011 and shortly after that I will have a whole new Sunday project!
I like drawing the piano player at church. She is angular, still, colorful and contrasting. The first 2 are from my small sketchbook of 2009-2010. It is inside a soft leather/suede cover that has slots for colored pencils. It even has a pencil sharpener attached to it. The last 2 are from my larger sketchbook from 2008-2010. 
Drawing © 2016 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
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by Marty Coleman | Mar 30, 2011 | Sketchbook History Tour |
It’s 2009 in the Sketchbook History Tour. Only 2 more weeks and we will have traveled through time 39 years, from 1972 to 2011!
Here we have 2 from 2009, both of them made up out of my head, just for fun.
Wiggle Dog Howling at the Moon Cat
I like this drawing. It makes me happy.
Woman with Mask – line drawing only
I like this one too. It makes me wonder.
Drawings © 2016 – Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
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by Marty Coleman | Mar 30, 2011 | Sketchbook History Tour |
About 3 years ago, on March 2nd, 2008 I was hanging out at Barnes and Noble in Tulsa. I saw a woman reading intently. I liked her face structure and the way her hair poofed up so I drew her. Here is the drawing.
Aime at Barnes and Noble
After I finished I went over and showed the drawing to her and the gentleman sitting with her. She liked the drawing and we exchanged emails so I could scan it and send it to her. I asked if I could draw her again and also take some photos of her. She liked that idea so a few weeks later we met so she could model for me. Here is the drawing I did at that time.
Aime at Shades of Brown Coffee House
After I did the drawing we went a few blocks over to the walled garden at All Souls Unitarian Church where we did the photo shoot. Here are a few pics from the session.
Purple Aime at Shades of Brown
Golden Aime
Aime and the Cracked Pot
We had a great time during the shoot and she and her by then fiance loved the photos. A number of months later Aime called me and told me she was getting married. Since they were originally from Boston they would be getting married back east, but they needed some engagements photos taken in advance. Here are a few of those.
Aime at the Make Up Counter
Engagement Portrait
They have since had a child and have another on the way. Unfortunately they moved back to Boston so my chances of photographing them are much slimmer these days.
Anyway, I thought I would show you the evolution of how some of my drawings leads to friendships and great memories. Hope you enjoyed the journey.
Drawings and Photos © 2016 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
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by Marty Coleman | Mar 13, 2011 | Sketchbook History Tour |
The frog sang to the seeds so they would be not afraid of the dark of night.
…………………………………
The Milky Way was on her back with a moon in a crescent held in place by the pink strap of her blouse.
………………………………..
Drawings by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
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by Marty Coleman | Mar 7, 2011 | Sketchbook History Tour |
I had an online conversation with an old high school chum this week about church. In essence, he hates the church and thinks it’s evil. He sees church-goers as being of one mind, one thought, one idea, one personality, one belief. He wasn’t discriminating between congregations, theology, creeds, or purposes. It seemed to me to be one broad condemnation of all who go to church.
I actually agree with him in many theological and social areas. BUT, One of the reasons I love drawing people in church is that it really help me to pay attention. Not just to the sermon, which I do, but to the person I am drawing. I notice details, real small details that help me to see them as completely unique people, not just another person in the pew. I see they sit a certain way, that tells me they are worried or stressed about something. I see another who is showing way more leg and cleavage than one might expect in church. I see another who still has his coat on even though it’s hot in the sanctuary. I see a young boy touching his father but never his mother. I see a really, really old lady who has the brightest, funnest, most smile-inducing hat and shoes on you can imagine.
In other words, I see individuals.
The upper class woman with the bra strap showing and a tag as well listening to the simple sermon by the Methodist who looks like that character actor who later did infomercials whose voice is coming to her as a flying turtle translating it into what she wants to hear so she can live the life she wants as do we all.
The beautifully coiffed mother sitting very still while her down syndrome child fidgeted and touched everything around him including his father but he never touched her once and she has a tired strong face that speaks to her pain and vanity and dreams deferred and love she goes to church to find and tries and tries and tries and tries and tries and tries and tries and tries and tries and tries and tries and
Drawings and commentary © 2016 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
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by Marty Coleman | Feb 21, 2011 | Sketchbook History Tour |
Windy Woman, 2005
I like this drawing a lot, with the woman and quotes, they make sense together I think.
Painting Man, 2005
This is me as the famous Parisian artiste toiling away in my garret with just my beret to keep me company.
Tattooed Bust, 2005
I saw her in church, briefly, and I liked her boniness. I drew from memory as I listened and wrote these random words from the sermon on her chest
Pastor Preaching, 2005
Funny enough, this turned out not to be true. We were sure it was, but she looked at us really funny when we mentioned it to her.
Here are a few more I did that year.
Woman Left Too Soon, 2005
The Frog, 2005
Crescent Moon, 2005
The Beer Drinker, 2005
Drawings by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily
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by Marty Coleman | Jan 30, 2011 | Sketchbook History Tour |
Here is the flippy haired girl from 2002. Let’s make up what she was thinking, ok? Vote for your favorite.
- I hate church.
- I love church.
- I hope Mr. soandso isn’t there, he’s creepy.
- I need a LOT of coffee today.
- I don’t think my deodorant is working.
- Why is that guy staring at me?
- If my heel breaks like last time I am going to scream!
- What is the point of it all?
- I can’t remember anything before college.
- I wish people could see the real me.
You can vote for one of those or you can make up a new thought and submit it. You can enter as many times as you like. For official rules see the flippy haired girl, wherever you find her. Just ask her ‘what are the official rules?’ and she will tell you. She might tell you to bug off, but she will tell you something.
Drawing by me
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by Marty Coleman | Jan 23, 2011 | Road Trip, Sketchbook History Tour |
In 2001 I took an air & road trip to pick up a car for my daughter, Connie, who was about to turn 16. My father had a car he couldn’t use because my sister, whom he lived with, wouldn’t allow him to take her kids around in the car, too unsafe since it was a convertible.
The sketchbook was actually just a little teeny weeny journal, about 2 1/2 x 4 inches big. It only has the drawings and story from the trip, nothing else.
These are some of the drawings and writings from that little teeny weeny journal.
You fly, or rather I fly, to places and meet nobody. I could meet someone but didn’t recently. My unwife met people, young good looking men. She has their e-mail addresses and one was at Thanksgiving instead of me last year. I met a woman coming back from Boise once. I got her email address, but only wrote her once.
Now the sun is skimming the tops of cottage cheese clouds, deep cool blue and warm pale yellow on top. I love the sky. That’s why I like Oklahoma.
A dusky purple blue with a spread of sun edge is what I see now. Burning orange red as it goes behind a thin stretch of cloud. I probably shouldn’t look at it. The woman next to me has a little gift back on the seat between us. Tan & green plaid with a lace tie around the handles.
I was wrong about not meeting people on airplanes. I just met two. One, a business man, Bob, with five daughters he raised, the other a porn star, Samantha. She autographed a picture for me that I did not ask for but accepted when given. She only does quality work she says. She showed me some other pictures. She changes hair color a lot.
I drew her while she listened to Bob talk about his webcasting teleconferencing technology. She wants me to email her the drawing. I said okay. The guy in the seat behind her was really trying to see her through the crack in the seat.
My nephews went off to school with the neighbor who complained to my sister when she introduced me to her because she had no makeup on. We are going to see her again tonight at the baseball game so I told her I would see how she cleaned up then.
She wasn’t wearing a wedding ring but I was told she is married. Oh well, married people don’t look for rings like us single folk do.
Drawing and writing © 2016 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
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by Marty Coleman | Jan 16, 2011 | Christianity - 2011-2013, Sketchbook History Tour |
Two women with headscarves at Barnes and Noble, 2000
Religion, Other and Otherwise
In 2000 I had an argument via letter with Pastor Tom Harrison of Asbury United Methodist Church, in Tulsa, OK. I had been thinking and reading about other religions, and realized that one of the big shortcomings of the church was that they were trying to talk to (and yes, convert) people they didn’t understand or know.
The church was then promoting something they called ‘friendship evangelism’ which meant getting to know the person, befriending them, before attempting to explain what you believe and how or why they might want to consider it themselves. We talked about this in our small group and I put forth the question, what if your neighbor you are trying to befriend is a Buddhist, or a Muslim? Do you get to know what they believe, and understand it, find it’s value, it’s reasons as well as find out what sort of sports their kids like and what sort of novels they read?
There was some discussion about that, some saying yes, some saying no. It was obvious to me that it was important to treat any friend’s religion with respect, not dismissing it by thinking it’s so unimportant that you don’t have to know the basics of it.
Beyond that we were now living in a very interconnected world. Often, in business, some of the congregation were having to travel all over the world, or have to negotiate and do business from home with people of very different cultures and beliefs.
I suggested to my small group leadership that I would like to do a series on other religions. They said maybe I could do a one day presentation, that would probably suffice. I declined the offer since I knew I couldn’t do any of the religions justice in the 10 minutes or so I could dedicate to them in a 1 hour stretch.
I sent a letter to Pastor Harrison with the idea that maybe he could do a series on other religions from the pulpit. Not in detail, but just in general overview, to help people see that the leader of their church was open and willing to understand other groups, religions, cultures, etc. I thought it was needed because I had heard a lot of very ignorant and judgmental opinions put forth in the discussions I had had. I thought he needed to take the lead and guide others to be educated and open, not ignorant and reactionary.
He responded angrily saying it was not his place to talk about other religions, that enough of our culture was talking about them, that he was there to talk about our own religion. That for him to bring up other religions in that way would be tantamount to giving them all equal weight. He told me he worried about my soul and where I might go if I continued to think the way I was thinking.
To say I was stunned was an understatement. While I can certainly understand a Pastor politely declining a sermon series idea for all sort of reasons, I did expect him to be considerate and thoughtful about the idea. Instead he was angry, defensive and abused his power by putting out a spiritual threat.
Due to this and a few other reasons, I decided to leave Asbury and go to another church. Not many months later September 11th happened. The idea of understanding what others believe and why all of a sudden didn’t seem like such a bad idea.
Drawing and story © 2016 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com
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