Recapping from the past couple of days, for those of you who are just starting to read my blog: My wife and I suddenly had to move out of our shared home of 6 years; we are living with other family about a 10 minute drive from where we used to live.  Although we are welcome to stay as long as we want, we want to find our own place.

Things are VERY stressful.

The idea for yesterday’s watercolor sketch came to me as I was lying in bed looking out the window.  Normally, the oblique angle of the window, framed by the curtains or the myriad of wires emanating from the telephone pole in the back yard would not have held significance. But in my current frame of mind, the off-centeredness of the scene struck a chord.

Today’s experiment:

I only had time for a preliminary sketch today, but the photo I selected is congruent with my sense of being off balance.  I took the photograph below during a trip to England. I don’t remember where I was, but the building on the left attracted my attention because it was leaning quite a bit. I remember thinking, “Wow, buildings are a lot older in London than in the US, it’s no wonder they lean.” (I don’t think this is a famous landmark, but if anyone recognizes it, I’d appreciate knowing where it is.)

Tilted House Somewhere in London
10″x8″ Photograph Silver Print, Fiber Paper

Here is my sketch:

Tilted House in London – Sketch

I will try completing it tomorrow (without painting each brick, as I did once before).

Emotional vision – my point

“To the man with a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail.” In other words, a person uses the tools at his disposal to solve whatever problem comes his or her way, even if it is the wrong tool. Conversely, to the person who is discombobulated, disoriented, off-kilter, or off-balance, the whole world appears that way. In my case, everything appears to be tilted. (I took the above photo years ago, which might indicate an odd predilection for slanty things… but I did gravitate toward that old photo during this distressing time.)

An interesting thought concerning the brain just occurred to me: The man with the hammer sees a problem clearly and uses the motor cortex of the brain to fix it with his hammer; The man with an emotional problem views the world with his sensory cortex that is influenced by his emotional state, which thereby affects his perceptions.

Everyone says that emotional issues (based on acute events) resolve with time.  I hope things straighten up soon.