Tonight I was working on the design of my next backpacking wood burner.

Today after posting a couple of pictures I sat down at my desk and got on with some (paid) work for a change. My efforts were put on hold while Ginger’s parents came visiting, and again for the afternoon school run. By dinner time I was finished for the day, apart from writing a fairly long e-mail discussing the work and setting up a call in the morning.

After a bit of surfing I thought it’d be nice to draw up my new design for a backpacking wood burner in Google SketchUp. Unfortunately the free version doesn’t allow you to intersect a curved surface with a hole (I’m not sure if the paid version does either). As the burner design is a set of cylinders riddled with holes this idea was going to be a bit of a non-starter. So I decided to hand draw a rough sketch to help me with the construction and think out the design. Today’s picture shows me completing my drawing.

It’s been a long time since I last drew something, I wrote a little bit about it back in February, when I pondered how much better my drawing might be if I’d just done a little every week. This morning I noticed Ginger’s portable painting easel and paint box by the bed, and that image must have stuck with me throughout the day. I draw technically, and it is a learned process; very much a process. Drawing is not something I can naturally do, the images don’t just flow from my fingers. I have great respect, jealousy even for those lucky people who do have this innate ability.

My Photography is the same. Technical, not emotional, produced by following a set of processes. Again I greatly admire people who can get emotion into their pictures. I’ve tried but I just don’t ‘get it’. I guess I have to accept my limitations, and make the best of what I can do. Anyhow, I think I’ll try and include a little drawing in my weekly activities, and see how it turns out.

Today’s other pictures

Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.