10 apARTment buildings

by | Feb 15, 2024 | Art, Digital Work | 1 comment

These images weren’t first created with apartment buildings in mind. It was after they were done that I started to see personalities and interactions, conflict and companionship, connections and structure and found the tie-in to close living. Click any image to see the slide show.

Typically when I am creating a design on my ipad I start with a line or a shape and let it tell me what the next line or shape should be. I eventually discern a pattern and will build on it until I am happy. It sounds funny but I know I am done with a piece, on paper, canvas or screen, when I feel happy. By that I mean it feels like it is what it is supposed to be. There is no time frame for this, it can take minutes or it can take  years. My digital work doesn’t usually take very long but I do have drawings and paintings from the ’80s and ’90s that I have taken out of a drawer and started to work on again, finally finishing them 30 to 40 years later.

There is no time limit on creativity.

© 2024 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com All rights reserved

 

The Napkin’ is 16 Years Old Today

by | Feb 5, 2024 | Series | 0 comments

 

‘The Napkin’ is 16 Years Old Today

16 years ago today I posted the first napkin to my new blog ‘The Napkin Dad Daily’. In December of 2023, A few months ago, I posted a newly drawn napkin.

And 25 Years AGO…

The first one I ever drew was in 1998. That makes 25 years of drawing on napkins and being the Napkin Dad. Not a bad streak if you ask me.

Self-deception

I guess that’s why they call it ‘wishful thinking’, right?

How do your wishes and desires influence what you think is real?

drawing © 2024 Marty Coleman | napkindad.com

“Nothing is easier than self-deception. For what each person wishes, that he also believes to be true.”
Demosthenes

The Sad Women

by | Jan 3, 2024 | Sketchbook History Tour | 0 comments

The Sad Women

“I can promise you that women working together – linked, informed and educated – can bring peace and prosperity to this forsaken planet.” – Isabel Allende

When I think about the Middle East recently I keep thinking about how powerless so many women must feel as they watch their world being destroyed. They have their differing opinions and beliefs but I believe their pain makes them much more alike than their religion and background make them different. Because of that I am confident of the same thing Allende is. I don’t know the solution to all these issues. But I believe the women of the region are more likely to find the answers than the men are. I can think of no better place and time than here and now to have women in charge instead of men.

a drawing of 2 women side by side. The left side women is dressed in a blue short sleeve shirt and light blue jeans. Her midriff is showing. She has on a star of David necklace. She has long brown hair. and a very sad expression on her face. The right side woman has a hijab head and full length abaya. She is also in dark and light blue. Her expression is also very sad. Behind both of them is fire, rubble and a river of blood below their feet.

The Sad Women, pen and ink on paper, 2024

 

The Influencer Mermaid

by | Dec 29, 2023 | Mermaids | 1 comment

The Influencer Mermaid

This is the first napkin I have drawn in at least 2 years, since the live streaming app Periscope closed down. I am not sure why I started it, probably just because the napkin was handy and I felt like doodling a bit. It turned into a new addition to a long running series I have of mermaids. There are links to the rest below the drawing.

An influencer mermaid with orange hair and a green fin talking about how she travels the ocean to give her viewers great bargains.

© 2023 Marty Coleman / napkindad.com

Here are the other mermaids

  1. The Virgin Mermaid
  2. The Night of Mermaids 
  3. The Modest Mermaid
  4. The Arctic Mermaid
  5. The Lake Mermaid
  6. The River Mermaid
  7. The Fearful Mermaid
  8. The Influencer Mermaid

Amplified People

by | Nov 27, 2023 | I Draw in Church, Sketchbook History Tour | 0 comments

Amplified People

As many of you know, I draw in church. When I lived in Tulsa the person I drew at church most often was the pianist. We sat in just the right location to get a good view of her so she was a ready subject. When we moved to Texas and found a church the orchestra was behind a low wall so I didn’t have a good view of them. However, I did have a good view of the singers who led the worship. Next thing you know I was drawing a lot of people with microphones. Most of the time I would actually not draw them while they were standing up in front. I would look at them while they sang, memorize certain things about how they stood, held the microphone, what they wore, etc. Then while the sermon was being preached I would start the drawing with that person in mind. I didn’t worry about being accurate, it was just a place to start on the page.

 

Drawing of a woman singing into a microphone. She has on a dark pink dress and a dark gray sweater vest. Her hair dark red, wavy and above her shoulders. She has blush and red lips. Her eyeshadow is green. She is in a simple landscape of green and brown with the sun in the blue sky. There is an empty talk bubble coming from her mouth.

‘The Mottled Woman’, ink on paper, 2022

Sometimes I think of something the person is saying or thinking, other times I don’t.

 

Drawing of a woman with a microphone singing on a church stage. She has red hair, a pale brown blouse and blue pants. There is a talk bubble on the left filled with rectangles in rainbow colors. There is a thought bubble on the right filled with rectangles of light and dark gray.

‘The Colors and the Grays’, ink on paper, 2023

 

Drawing of a woman holding a microphone singing in front of church with the choir in the background. There is a talk bubble on the left side that has a picture of an apple in it and a thought bubble on the left side that has a picture of an orange in it.

Singing Apples, Thinking Oranges

 

At the Edge

The one thing that occurs to me again and again, especially in Christian circles, is how different what we say is from what we think.

 

‘The Sea Angel’, ink on paper, 2022

Some people are able to rise above. Not many, but some.

 

Drawing of a blonde woman singing into a microphone on an outdoor stage. She is wearing a gray hat, green blouse and light blue pants.

‘Cathie Hill Singing’, ink on paper, 2023

My sister-in-law singing at her outdoor church in Colorado.

 

‘Eve with Singing Snake’, ink on paper, 2022

What if the snake had listened to Eve instead of the other way around?

 

‘The Singer and the Pain’, ink on paper, 2022

The thing is, people say things often because they believe it convinces others of who they are. But if you are around someone long enough their actions say who they are not their words and no one is fooled.

 

‘Interview with a Meteorite’, ink on paper, 2023

The drawing attention to disasters all around the world, the big crazy ones, is often a tool by which we hide our own disasters from ourselves and others.

 

‘Halo of Guilt’, ink on paper, 2023

Being a saint is as much a curse as it is a blessing. You know you did barely anything to deserve the accolade and yet you can’t escape it.  BTW, I do not know this from first hand experience.

 

‘The Show’, ink on paper, 2023

The voice speaks but it is the hand that proves who you are.

 

‘The Hallucination’, ink on paper, 2023

Sometimes it doesn’t have to make any sense.

 

‘Interviewing Emptiness’, ink on paper, 2023

Not everyone has something of value to say.

 

‘On the Scene’, ink on paper, 2022

There is always a camera.

 

‘Many Las’, ink on paper, 2022

So many ways to sing something so simple.