Point Made

 Of course, there are all of those cliche indications that fall is upon us. The leaves falling. The NFL now is in its seventh week. They tell me that the NBA schedule has started. I'd add that hockey and soccer are in progress, but they are the games that never stop. But pleasantly, the significant indicator hasn't shown its ugly face yet. We've unseasonably warm weather almost through October. And while it's still the case, two events happened last week that have to be considered benchmarks. First, mainly because the overnight temperatures were getting cooler, I pulled my window fan out to close the window. The following day I woke to a smell that made me think I had left something on the stove with the heat on. It turned out to be the radiators that were cooking the dust off of themselves. The building's heating system was on. For late October, it is still comfortable. Even with the nighttime temps along the Shore of the Inland Sea reaching down into the forties, ...

It was a bit overwhelming last week. I had five columns to write for Urban Milwaukee and my commitment to Two Many Wives' screenplay. All writing and no play make Jeff a confused old man.  The columns for Urban Milwaukee are all previews of Plays opening up in Milwaukee regional theater this fall. Not only were companies touting their opening shot at live in-person theater but announcing their season selections. I don't care if you're looking for edgy drama or a frothy musical; Milwaukee has some great stuff coming.  I addition to writing, I took my pencil in hand and resumed my sketch-a-day habit. Primarily gleaning my subjects from posting on Instagram.  This leads me to another subject. That is the daily emergence of myself into the evil empire of social media. It got me thinking about my use of Facebook, Google, Instagram & WhatsApp.  I know my comments will sound like the people who blame the opiate-addicted instead of the big Pharma and their marketing for ...

 First, let me share a sketch I did, using as a model, a painting by Bill Haas, a Milwaukee-born internationally known artist. I swiped it from his Instagram posting. This young lady has a bit of attitude that I liked. The image also challenged me to practice drawing hands. If there are areas of portrait drawing, I need to work on drawing ears, noses, and hands. My hunch is she is a handful to raise. (Pun intended.)   Here's a short video that might make your day a better one. Via My classmate and friend Dave Nitz The next step is working from another image I harvested from Instagram. If this pose looks familiar, it's because it evokes the same kind of mystery as The Dancing Girl, which I wrote about a couple of weeks ago.  If you don't admit you are curious about her and hoping she'll turn around, you aren't looking hard enough. This is from a photo collection the features children around the world. The copy beneath this image told me that she is an Asian girl.  My...