I'M A RUNNER ... OH, AND I HAVE LUPUS!

THE GOOD NEWS: After taking the winter off I got out there and ran a little today. IN OTHER NEWS: I just found out I have LUPUS. What in the world is lupus?

HERE’S THE STORY: Went to a dermatologist thinking I had skin cancer (I've already had one bout with it a few years ago.) He tells me I don’t have skin cancer. I have discoid lupus (basically means I'm allergic to daylight). OK, I can deal with living A VAMPIRE’S LIFE. I can make that work.

Then they wanted to take a blood sample just to rule out systemic lupus (the bad lupus ...) He told me if I'm a runner there's no way I could have systemic lupus because YOU DON'T RUN with lupus. So they draw blood. I wait a week or so then they call.

NURSE: “We got your blood test back and the doctor wants you to see a rheumatologist …”

ME: “Did they find something in my blood work?”

NURSE: “Yes, it showed positive for ANA. (ANA? I had to look it up: It stands for antinuclear antibodies … I know, it sounds cool, right? Like I’m turning into a superhero or something … but it isn’t and I’m not.) “The rheumatologists’ office will be calling you in the next two weeks.”

ME: oh, OK. Thank …thank you. (I was kind of in shock. I have never even heard of lupus before a couple weeks ago and the derm doc kept telling me I didn’t have “THE BAD KIND.” But I guess now I do.

I still haven’t looked it up too much to see exactly what it is. I’m kind of a hypochondriac so if I read the symptoms I’ll probably start imagining I have them.

I don't know yet how much of an impact this will have on my day-to-day life since I love the sun and love being outdoors. Only time will tell.

ANYHOW … the good news is … I RAN TODAY! I’M A RUNNER!!!!

The good news is I finally have a legitimate excuss to wear full-brim hats, which I've always wanted to do.

#lupus #runningwithlupus #wtfislupus

#ONEWEEK100HANDS ............ WHAT?

I've always have had trouble sketching hands, especially sketching them quickly for urban sketching.

Even coming up with a "mitten" shape that could resemble a hand loosely is hard for me.

So I decided to take a cue from #oneweek100people challenge and maybe start my own #oneweek100hands challenge, or more likely just combine it with the 100 people challenge and include hands in each sketch. Either way, that would be 20 hands a day for 5 days.

Wow, this sketch took me about an hour to do and I was just sketching from photos.  I can't imagine sketching 20 hands a day from real life but I figure if I can accomplish it hands may start to be a little easier to sketch.

So pass the word if you also have trouble sketching hands. #oneweek100hands.

Take care and see you out there.

URBAN SKETCHING AND REPORTAGE

I've been doing a lot more sketching of subjects I could easily take a photo of. 
I’m practicing so maybe I can start sketching to illustrate some of the stories at work. I'm trying to get a portfolio of reportage sketches together to show the editors and see if it's something they might be interested in.

We’ll see how it goes. i still have a lot of work to do to get there first though.

Here’s a quick sketch of an apple stand I did last fall.

I also need to work on speed. You need to be able to sketch pretty fast to keep up with live events.

TOOLS USED TO SKETCH THIS:
iPad Pro 12.9 inch, Apple Pencil and the app Procreate. Thanks for stopping by. Please comment below if you have any questions or comments.

ONE TALL TREE

While walking during my lunch break last week I came across this tree that must have been close to 100 feet tall. It just seemed to stand out among the other trees and towering over its nearest neighbors so I just had to sketch it.

I thought it would be fun to draw this with a light and loose touch and try to capture the airiness of the branches.

for this sketch I used an iPad Pro 12.9 inch and Apple Pencil using the Procreate app.

Thanks for stopping by.

VW VAN ROAD TRIP SKETCH

Here's a sketch from one of my day dreams ... Taking a road trip in an older VW van and driving through some of the canyon lands of Utah.

I have a timelapse video on YOuTube that shows how I sketched this if you'r like to watch. You can find it here: VW VAN ROAD TRIP

TOOLS I USED TO SKETCH THIS

For this sketch I usedan iPad Pro 12.9 inch and an Apple Pencil. Because we live in such a small space I find that having just a tablet and one pencil is a lot easier than using numerous sketchbooks, pens and pencils and a variety of watercolors, although I still have all of that and do use them occasionally.

Take care and please subscribe to my YouTube channel. It’s free. thanks for stopping by.