
<figure>
![🌅 🌸](http://res.cloudinary.com/cpadilla/image/upload/v1720970404/chrisdpadilla/blog/art/cycvcjwrayjqovqq3f95.jpg)

<figcaption>_Blue Sky Thinking — [09/20/24](/sketches-2024-09-20)_</figcaption>
</figure>

I had a blast spending time [creating digital paintings](/blog/chris%20Learns%20Digital%20Painting) this year!

A couple of years ago, I was overcome with the desire to _really_ learn to draw. I made crude comics as a kid, but I was itching to really figure out how it's done. And so I did, and [I learned a lot about art and creativity from it](/lessonsfromdrawing2023)!

This year I turned my focus to the world of color and texture through digital painting. It was quite the leap! From single toned, line driven analog art making in a sketchbook — over to color and shape based painting through a digital medium.

Much of what I have to say this year is a revisiting of ideas I came across last year. Only this time the context has changed. A bit of a variation on a theme!

<figure>
![💡](http://res.cloudinary.com/cpadilla/image/upload/v1714759239/chrisdpadilla/blog/art/qdboj8odf90ttzskm261.jpg)
<figcaption>_Still Life — [5/4/24](/sketches-2024-05-04)_</figcaption>
</figure>

## Changing the Way You See the World

> I also love to listen to skaters talk about how they see the world. Skateboarding seems to reconfigure your molecules and changes the way you look and the kind of attention you pay to the world. (Exactly what we hope for when practicing any art.)
>
> — [Austin Kleon](https://austinkleon.com/2022/11/07/drawing-at-the-skate-park/)

Drawing with line art, especially in a stylized way, involves a great deal of abstraction and reduction. I spent time simplifying a form to only a few strokes and basic shapes. It changed how I saw the world. But more in a way of capturing shorthand. I was looking for the simplified essence.

Learning to see color through painting had the _exact opposite effect_! When I started studying color and light as well as doing direct-painting still lifes, it's as if I was starting to see for the first time.

A pot is just "orange" until you take a closer look at the texture, the lighting, the chips and smudges across its surface. There's a humbling amount of color in everyday life that gets simplified and overlooked.

Miranda and I went to a couple of art museums this year. Paintings are already captivating when you're not an artist. They're then astonishingly rich and awe inspiring once you know the attention to detail that goes into them!

The process of painting is great fun. Though, my favorite takeaway from picking up the craft is now how I see the world. You won't believe how something as simple as looking into someone's eyes will bring out a world of beauty hiding in plain sight!

<figure>

![Sweet little Lucy loving on this pretty sky](http://res.cloudinary.com/cpadilla/image/upload/v1709928009/chrisdpadilla/blog/art/xfucx6ersmigetuq4x7m.jpg)

<figcaption>_Pup at Twilight — [3/9/24](/sketches-2024-03-09)_</figcaption>

</figure>

## Balancing Projects with Play

After a few years, I've largely gotten better about balancing [play and study](https://drawabox.com/lesson/0/2). The boundary for me has become really clear since painting has been an entirely new medium requiring _lots_ of study, master copies, and reading up on how the brush engine works.

Even still — When I work on a digital painting project for myself, I'd call it play. But it's not entirely in that category. I realized something was missing.

It wasn't until I picked my physical sketchbook back up and started fooling around that things clicked into place. Unsurprisingly, having an analog, private, free space with no large end goal helped keep my spirit up when I returned to the digital canvas.

I've since deviated from needing a hard boundary, a la [the 50% rule](https://drawabox.com/lesson/0/2/50percent). These days my energy level is a good indicator of whether today is painting day or a fool around in the sketch book day.

If I were to package this up into advice: Be mindful of the project driven work, study, and time
spent fooling around.

Actually, that lines up nicely with Robertryan Cory's recommended routine for artists from [his CalArts lecture](https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.833375406677877): "Educational, Disciplinary, Experimental. Drawing should be divided into a sustainable work routine."

<figure>

![🌅 🌸](http://res.cloudinary.com/cpadilla/image/upload/v1720970165/chrisdpadilla/blog/art/xvfz2acl5xzisg1bceuq.jpg)

<figcaption>_An early swing at digital painting — [09/24/23](/sketches-2023-09-24)_</figcaption>

</figure>

## In Pursuit of Truth

In music, the major scale is derived from the harmonic series: a natural occurring phenomena that represents mathematical divisions of any given frequency. (For one of the best demonstrations of this, look no further than [the Bernstein Norton Lectures](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HjEAtJXssc&ab_channel=LeonardBernstein).)

It's a major reason why tonal music is universal. It's what makes music a pursuit of Truth. [In Harmonic Experience](/bookshelf#HarmonicExperience), W. A. Mathieu walks readers through singing exercises where you experience the balance of these sounds firsthand. It's an eye opening journey.

I'm not as well-read on light as I am acoustics, but I know this much: colors themselves are different wavelengths of light. Violet is a short wavelength, red a long one.

It's one thing to know that intellectually. And a wholly other thing to experience it.

At some point, after working at a still life, spending an hour closely trying to match the color of a dull pot, I stepped outside. It was a clear day, mid afternoon. A rich blue sky, I observed. High in saturation today.

As my gaze came downward, I saw the leaves on the tree. And while it's hard to explain in writing — a resonance occurred. I started seeing the green of the leaves as a continuation of the blue in the sky. Not in an intellectual way, but on something much more deep and personal.

In the same way that each tone of music contains a multitude of different sounds, I made the connection that light was working in that same way. Obvious to some, I'm sure, but a revelation to me.

There are plenty of reasons to paint. Maybe one of the most worthwhile, though, is that — just like studying sound — you spend time with another Truth in the world. This time, through color and light.

<figure>
![🌳🌳🌳](http://res.cloudinary.com/cpadilla/image/upload/v1720124693/chrisdpadilla/blog/art/qw2jmc3cc6emfi7r5ucr.jpg)

<figcaption>_Campion Trail – [07/06/24](/sketches-2024-07-06)_</figcaption>
</figure>


Lessons From a Year of Painting



I came across Maggie Appleton's tremendous post ["A Brief History & Ethos of the Digital Garden"](https://maggieappleton.com/garden-history)! 

I've heard of the publishing philosophy in passing and found the term itself to resonate. A counter to high-production, corporate leaning purposes for owning a domain name, a digital garden assumes work in progress, a broad spectrum of topics and interests, and an ever evolving space online where ideas and things of beauty can blossom. _Lovely!_

There are a few patterns that show up with folks that have taken on the spirit of digital gardening. One that caught my eye was "Topography over Timelines." 

> Gardens are organized around contextual relationships and associative links; the concepts and themes within each note determine how it's connected to others.
> 
> This runs counter to the time-based structure of traditional blogs: posts presented in reverse chronological order based on publication date.
> 
> Gardens don't consider publication dates the most important detail of a piece of writing. Dates might be included on posts, but they aren't the structural basis of how you navigate around the garden. Posts are connected to other by posts through related themes, topics, and shared context.
> 
> One of the best ways to do this is **through Bi-Directional Links** – links that make both the destination page and the source page visible to the reader. This makes it easy to move between related content.
> 
> Because garden notes are densely linked, a garden explorer can enter at any location and follow any trail they link through the content, rather than being dumped into a "most recent” feed.


_Love it!_ My favorite discoveries are with sites that link well. It's a blast hopping around, continuing the conversation from page to page. Wikis are the prime example of this. Tough, some bloggers like [Austin Kleon](https://austinkleon.com/) also do this particularly well.

So! Why only be bound by linking in one chronological direction? I took to the idea and whipped up a script to employ this myself!

## Developing Bi-Directional Linking

[This site uses markdown](/parsemd) for posts. So doing this job is largely about text parsing. Much of the logic, in fact, is similar to [how I parse my posts to display an art grid](/artgrid).


I'll start by writing the function to actually get the url value from my links. The regex is looking for the value with parenthesis in the typical markdown shorthand for links: `![alt text](link)`

```JavaScript
// api.js

export const getInternalLinksFromMarkdown = (md) => {
  const regex =
    /(?:__|[*#])|\[(.*?)\]\(\/(.*?)\)/g;
  return Array.from(md.matchAll(regex)).map((res) => {
    if (res && res.length > 1) {
      return res[2];
    }
  });
};

```

The value of index 2 of the array will give me the capture group I've targeted because that's [how it's done in Node](/noderegex)!

From here, I'll then pass in my posts and systematically generate an object that grabs both the targeted url as well as the current post url.

```JavaScript
// api.js

export function getAllPostRefs(
  fields = ['content', 'slug', 'title'],
  options = {}
) {
  const slugs = getPostSlugs();
  let posts = slugs
    .map((slug) => getPostBySlug(slug, fields))
    // Filter false values (.DS_STORE)
    .filter((post) => post)
    // sort posts by date in descending order
    .sort((post1, post2) => (post1.date > post2.date ? -1 : 1));

  const links = {}
  posts.forEach((post) => {
    const postLinks = getInternalLinksFromMarkdown(post.content);
    postLinks.forEach((src) => {
      if (src && !src.includes('/')) {
        if (!links[src]) {
          links[src] = [];
        }
        if (!links[src].find(entry => entry.slug === post.slug))
        links[src].push({
          slug: post.slug,
          title: post.title,
        })
      }
    });
  })

  return links;
}

```

A Set data structure would be ideal for keeping duplicates out of the list, but we'll be converting this to JSON, and I'd rather avoid the hassle of bringing in a library for the conversion.

Finally, I'll call this function and save the results to a JSON file for refference.

```JavaScript
biDirectionalLink.js

import { getAllPostRefs } from "./api"
const FileSystem = require("fs");

export const getRefs = () => {
	const links = getAllPostRefs();
	FileSystem.writeFile('_cache/backlinks.json', JSON.stringify(links), (error) => {
    if (error) throw error;
  });
}

```

Here's an snippet of what it generates:

```
{
	"30": [
		{
			"slug": "2022",
			"title": "2022"
		},
		{
			"slug": "iwataonpeople",
			"title": "Iwata on Creative People"
		},
		{
			"slug": "transcience",
			"title": "Transience"
		},
		{
			"slug": "web2000",
			"title": "A Love Letter to 2000s Websites"
		}
	],
	"2022": [
		{
			"slug": "testingandwriting",
			"title": "Testing Software for the Same Reason You Write Notes"
		}
	],
	
	...
}
```

Voilà! Now I have the data of pages that are referenced. I can now call this method anytime the site regenerates and use this as the source of truth for back-linking.

To consume this in Next.js, I'm going to read the file in `getStaticProps` (or in an RSC if I were using the App Router)

```
// [slug].js

export async function getStaticProps({ params }) {
  if (post) {
    const file = await fs.readFile(process.cwd() + '/_cache/backlinks.json', 'utf8');
    const backlinks = JSON.parse(file);
    let pagesLinkingBackTo = null;

    if (backlinks[params.slug]) {
      pagesLinkingBackTo = backlinks[params.slug];
    }
```

And, following some prop drilling, I can now programmatically display these on matching pages:

```
// backLinkSection.js

import React from 'react';
import NextLink from './NextLink';

const BacklinksSection = ({pagesLinkingBackTo}) => {
	if (!pagesLinkingBackTo) return <></>
	return (
		<aside>
			<h4>
				Pages referencing this post:
				<ul>

				{pagesLinkingBackTo.map(link => (
					<li><NextLink href={link.slug}>{link.title}</NextLink> </li>
				))}
				</ul>
			</h4>
		</aside>
	);
};

export default BacklinksSection;
```

Assuming I haven't link to this page yet, you can see this in action at the bottom of my [Parsing Mardkown in Node](/parsemd) post. Now with handy links to click and explore related topics.

I'm excited to keep tending the garden! I've already seen themes emerge through the regular tags I use. Here's to a great harvest someday!

Generating Back Links For Optimal Digital Gardening

Jimmy Van Heusen – Polka Dots and Moonbeams


![🌱](http://res.cloudinary.com/cpadilla/image/upload/v1719764149/chrisdpadilla/blog/art/jaajckgqppxeu4rasrbc.jpg)

I revisited a passage from Sir Terry Pratchett's ["A Slip of the Keyboard."](https://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/books/a-slip-of-the-keyboard/) The essay "Magic Kingdoms" illustrates the English dedication to maintaining a garden in any environment. Pratchett uses this as an exemplification for how the garden is a portal to another world, and a widespread fascination with planting a garden is why fantasy is part of the fabric of the culture. 

> I remember a back garden I used to see from the train. It was a very small garden for a very small house, and it was sandwiched between the thundering railway line, a billboard, and a near-derelict factory.
> 
> I don't know what a Frenchman or an Italian would have made of it. A terrace, probably, with a few potted plants and some trellis to conceal the worst of postindustrial squalor. But this was an Englishman's garden, so he'd set out to grow, if not Jerusalem, then at least Jerusalem artichokes. There was a rockery, made of carefully placed concrete lumps (the concrete lump rockery is a great British contribution to horticulture, and I hope one is preserved in some outdoor museum somewhere) There was a pond; the fish probably had to get out to turn around. There were roses. There was a tiny greenhouse made of old window frames nailed together (another great British invention). Never was an area so thoroughly gardened, in fact, as that patch of cat infested soil. 
> 
> No attempt had been made to screen off the dark satanic mills, unless the runner beans counted. To the gardener, in the garden, they did not exist. They were in another world. 

For me there's another comfort in the scene. Even if we're not nurturing plants, we all have the means to cultivate our own creative gardens. A sketchbook, journal, blog, a song. And it doesn't matter how humble! A jar of soil and basil goes a long way for bringing life to a space. So it is with strumming strings and moving the pencil.



Pratchett on English Gardens


That equation feels right.

This comes from the legendary Disney animator and teacher Walt Stanchfield (A lead character animator for the Aristocats, to name one.) I've written before about how Walt Describes [the curious act of performing with no audience](/stanchfield). This equation come in context from [his handouts for gesture drawing](https://ia601302.us.archive.org/15/items/Gesture_Drawing_for_Animation/Gesture_Drawing_for_Animation.pdf):

(Here, Walt is talking about the benefits of staying healthy enough to have the energy to create, another juicy point)

> You must create. The injunction of life is to create or perish. Good physical and mental
> conditioning are necessary to do this. Remember this: the creative energy that created the
> Universe, created you and its creative power is in you now, motivating you, urging you on -
> always in the direction of creative expression. I have a formula: "Impression minus expression
> equals depression". This is especially applicable to artists. We have trained ourselves to be
> impressed (aware) of all the things around us, and in the natural course of our lives those
> impressions cry out to be expressed - on paper, on canvas, in music, in poetry, in an
> animated film. So shape up.

Ain't that the truth?

It's still worth the reminder. When you do professionally creative work (like animation or software!) you are still constantly taking in the world and are falling in love with all sorts of things - books, music, stories, and technologies.

The best way to express that love is through getting down to business and making something.


Impression Minus Expression Equals Depression


I don't always find the inspiration I'm looking for from the bios and stories of full time artists. Those select few who can spend most of their week in the studio. Winston Churchill, who was surprisingly an enthusiastic, self proclaimed hobby painter, can speak much more clearly to the situation of having to find time to be creative in the nooks and crannies of the day.

![And a surprisingly sensitive painter, at that!!](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpadilla/image/upload/t_optimize/chrisdpadilla/blog/imgs/churchillpainting_Large_u62tt7.jpg)

I've been rattling in my mind all the different reasons I like drawing/piano/guitar/writing music/blogging, and why someone else might like to do them too.

To Churchill, it was no contest comparing painting to more typical leisure activities:

> Even at the advanced age of Forty! It would be a sad pity to shuffle or scramble along through one's playtime with golf and bridge, pottering, loitering, shifting from one heel to the other, wondering what on earth to do – as perhaps is the fate of some unhappy beings – when all the while, if you only knew, there is close at hand a wonderful new world of thought and craft, a sunlit garden gleaming with light and colour of which you have the key in your waistcoat pocket. Inexpensive independence, a mobile and perennial pleasure apparatus, new mental food and exercise, the old harmonies and symmetries in an entirely different language, an added interest to every common scene, an occupation for every idle hour, an unceasing voyage of entrancing discovery – these are high prizes.

A particularly sobering passage acknowledges that, as a hobbyist, you won't reach the same great heights of technique as the life-long, full time painters. It's a problem I find myself wrestling with frequently, but Churchill brings it up so matter-of-factly and without much concern:

> But if, on the contrary, you are inclined – late in life though it be – to reconnoitre a foreign sphere of limitless extent, then be persuaded that the first quality that is needed is Audacity. There really is no time for the deliberate approach. Two years of drawing-lessons, three years of copying woodcuts, five years of plaster casts – these are for the young. They have enough time to bear. And this thorough grounding is for those who, hearing the call in the morning of their days, are able to make painting their paramount lifelong vocation. The truth and beauty of line and form which by the slightest touch or twist of the brush a real artist imparts to every feature of his design must be founded on long, hard, persevering apprenticeship and a practice so habitual that it has become instinctive. We must not be too ambitious. We cannot aspire to masterpieces. We may content ourselves with a joy ride in a paintbox. And for this Audacity is the only ticket.

![These trees ❤️](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpadilla/image/upload/t_optimize/chrisdpadilla/blog/imgs/winston-churchill-art-collection-pr-0518-1600x800_cufqio.jpg)

It's still worth the pursuit all the same. The rewards for that Audacity are many:

> I have written in this way to show how varied are the delights which may be gained by those who enter hopefully and thoughtfully upon the pathway of painting; how enriched they will be in their daily vision, how fortified in their independence, how happy in their leisure. Whether you feel that your soul is pleased by the conceptions or contemplation of harmonies, or that your mind is stimulated by the aspect of magnificent problems, or whether you are content to find fun in trying to observe and depict the jolly things you see, the vistas of possibility are limited only by the shortness of life. Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.

So beautifully said. It all rings true for me:

- Playing with shapes and sound, their interaction with one another, is fun unto itself
- Creation is largely puzzle solving. Even playing piano is a finger puzzle
- There's no better way to express love for the world than to try to recapture it as you see it
- Progress, itself, is a joy! Learning an instrument more intimately or refining a line stroke, they all lead to small victories
- There are infinite paths to explore. None right or wrong, only guided by your curiosity and interest

And why wait? The time to plant a garden is now:

> Try it, then, before it is too late and before you mock at me. Try it while there is time to overcome the preliminary difficulties. Learn enough of the language in your prime to open this new literature to your age. Plant a garden in which you can sit when digging days are done. It may be only a small garden, but you will see it grow. Year by year it will bloom and ripen. Year by year it will be better cultivated. The weeds will be cast out. The fruit-trees will be pruned and trained. The flowers will bloom in more beautiful combinations. There will be sunshine there even in the winter-time, and cool shade, and the play of shadow on the pathway in the shining days of June.

While the earlier, the better for overcoming the initial hurdle of learning the vocabulary, it's never too late. Thankfully, the barrier to entry is not technique or years of experience. Just Audacity!

![☁️](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpadilla/image/upload/t_optimize/chrisdpadilla/blog/imgs/f752c85e-2fd1-4597-918d-190e3c628fd5_570_jvy9d9.jpg)


Winston Churchill on Painting as a Pastime


From "The Black Swan" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Via [Anne-Laure Le Cunff](https://nesslabs.com/antilibrary):

> "The goal of an antilibrary is not to collect books you have read so you can proudly display them on your shelf; instead, it is to curate a highly personal collection of resources around themes you are curious about. Instead of a celebration of everything you know, an antilibrary is an ode to everything you want to explore."

I discovered the idea of an antilibrary this month from artist Jake Parker's [excellent blog](https://www.mrjakeparker.com/blog/2023/3/1/) and [newsletter](https://www.mrjakeparker.com/newsletter). That feels more true than ever before for me. I have a pile of books I haven't made it to yet this year that won't be on my list (the true antilibrary!) And those that made it into my hands and onto this list very closely track what I've been working on, learning, and dreaming about this year.

I'm historically a pragmatic reader – spending hunks of time on self help.[ My 2022 reading year](/books2022) is a good representation of that.

This year, instead of saying I'll cut my reading all together, I spent time making reading just for fun again! Lots of comics fulfilled that, a few music books helped me play at the instrument, and some of my non fiction reading helped me look at my work and day to day more playfully.

## Favorites

<img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/cpadilla/image/upload/v1703708187/chrisdpadilla/blog/images/bghzxmoijk0vpc0eaniv.jpg" className="article-book-image">

**_Form & Essence_**

I took an arts admin class with Matt back at UT. Matt is such an amazing embodiment of the servant leader, and this book feels like I'm getting to take the best bits of his class all over again. I liked it so much, I said these words about it on Goodreads:

"Matthew Hinsley, with a musician's sensitivity, brings the magic of balancing both the tangible and the spiritual off of the artist's canvas and into our daily lives. Form & Essence is an antidote to the day-to-day focus on what's quantifiable. Without asking the reader to forego the material, Hinsley warmly invites the reader to look beyond at all at the things that truly matter — relationships, storytelling, and building a life around character. This book feels like a wonderful blending of Stephen Covey and Julia Cameron — fitting for the subject of the book. But Matt's own generosity and personality shine through clear as day. And his is a personality worth being with in its own right. Even if you only spend a bit of time with a few chapters, I can guarantee that you will see the world differently: with more lightness, with an eye for deepening your connections, and a gravitation towards the seemingly small things that truly matter in life.”

<img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/cpadilla/image/upload/v1703708207/chrisdpadilla/blog/images/bthrukikmjvtc3el9bit.jpg" className="article-book-image">

**_Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes by Rob Wilkins_**

A humorous, authentic, and a heartfelt account by Rob Wilkins. I'm glad to have discovered that the author behind Discworld was just as colorful and down to earth as his stories. Further proof of how prolific and brilliant a writer Terry was. Rob's account of Terry's decline towards the end of his life was absolutely heart-wrenching. Though, as the book concludes, "Of all the dead authors in the world, Terry is the most alive." I had the pleasure of writing a few words after reading on [inspiration](/pratchettandinspiration) and [libraries](/pratchettandlibraries).

<img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/cpadilla/image/upload/v1703708170/chrisdpadilla/blog/images/dbgmtjij349vdtpzw6rg.jpg" className="article-book-image">

**_Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art_**

"The creative process is a spiritual path. This adventure is about us, about the deep self, the composer in all of us, about originality, meaning not that which is all new, but that which is fully and originally ourselves." A multi-faceted look at the act of making in the moment. Turned my impression of improvisation on its head by acknowledge that even the act of design and iteration is just as improvisatory as riffing off the cuff!

<img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/cpadilla/image/upload/v1703708086/chrisdpadilla/blog/images/hlr5jtbpwsurg5bwi5a6.jpg" className="article-book-image">

**_Fellowship of the Ring_**

My first read through!! I bopped between physical and audiobook. Rob Ingles is phenomenal, but the scene painting is so lush, I ended up wanting to sit down and take it all in with the book in hand. Warm characters, a fantastically grand adventure, and a world so fully realized, I'm not at all surprised to see how this remains a timeless classic. Rob Ingles reading and [singing](/robingles) the audiobook version is _the_ way to experience this.

<img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/cpadilla/image/upload/v1703708126/chrisdpadilla/blog/images/pohrsvrktakplnngwwoc.jpg" className="article-book-image">

**_Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse "Trapped On Treasure Island" by Floyd Gottfredson_**

Stunning adventure comics! I devoured the second volume early this year. I can't believe these were printed in the newspaper. The detail in the sets, the grand nature of the story — these strips culminate in a rich novel! Floyd Gottfredson was a major inspiration for Carl Barks, and it's easy to see why. Included are really nice essays giving historical context to these stories as well.

<img src="http://res.cloudinary.com/cpadilla/image/upload/v1703708153/chrisdpadilla/blog/images/lcxcuv7866ycgpdy6bos.jpg" className="article-book-image">

**_Painting As a Pastime_**

Thoughts on hobby making and painting from an enthusiastic hobbyist! Wonderful insight on the importance of keeping many creative pots boiling. It's also a beautiful love letter to the medium of color and light through painting. Very inspiring, the book motivated to [keep planting my garden](/churchillpainting).

## Music Books

**_Faber Elementary Methods_**. Just a superb elementary music method, I don't even care if it's written for 10 year olds! Engaging, perfectly paced, highly musical — I never feel overwhelmed and never feel bored. Each piece written by N Faber is such a treat. Combing all the supplementary books allows for a deep dive into each new topic. If you've never picked up an instrument and want to, my vote is piano and that you give these books a whirl.

**_Hal Leonard Classical Guitar_**. As someone who's played campfire guitar for the last few years, this book was really challenging. The pacing is very accelerated, with each piece taking a few leaps. The music is beautiful, but I wouldn't recommend this as a primary course of study.

**_Christopher Parkening Classical Guitar Method_**. This, on the other hand, is excellent! Similar to Faber, pieces build on one another and there's ample time to reinforce finger coordination in the left and right hand with several pieces. And for being so simple, plenty of the early pieces are so pretty. I'm not familiar with Parkening's playing yet, but his personal notes and the page spread photos are a nice touch to bring a personality to the journey.

**_Dan Haerle Jazz Voicings_**. The secret to jazz piano is using the puzzle pieces of conventional chord progressions and plugging them in. Dan Harle's book has the puzzle pieces. Knowing them makes playing standards WAY more fluid and fun!

**_Hal Leonard Jazz Piano Method by Mark Davis_**. Last year I enjoyed getting started with Mark Levine's Jazz Piano Book. Still being an early pianist, I needed something that was more my speed. Mark Davis' book fits the bill! Found early success reading lead sheets and improvising at the keyboard — an absolutely wild experience for a simple sax player like myself!

## Art & Comics

**_Hayao Miyazaki by Jessica Niebel_**. Beautiful. Absolutely stunning selection of prints, stills, and write ups. An absolute must for any fan of these films.

**_Cartoon Animation with Preston Blair_**. I'll admit I haven't _worked_ through the whole book just yet, but it's been a wonderful resource to help guide my practice. This won't necessarily teach you how to animate so much as give you a curriculum of what to work through with a few tips. For example, Blair touches on the importance of being able to use contraction in character development, breezes through topics on perspective, highlights what makes a character "cute" vs "screwball." All in all, a fantastic resource that's more of a road map rather than a step-by-step guide. Such is the way with most art books, I suppose!

**_Donald Duck The Old Castle Secret By Carl Barks_**. I [wrote about Carl Barks earlier](/carlbarkslocale) and this is my first intro to his cartoons. Hugely expressive, phenomenal storytelling, and plenty of genuine chuckles!

**_Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson_**. WOW!! For a modern newspaper strip, these were so dynamic!! Compared to something like Garfield, it's so much fun to see how animated and expressive these strips were. The forward captures the spirit well: These strips are such a fantastic representation of what it felt to be a child, fluidly twisting between a colorful imagination and the world as is.

**_Cucumber Quest by Gigi D.G._** . I missed this when it [was in it's hey-day](https://cucumber.gigidigi.com/)! The art here is stunningly gorgeous, the color design and beautiful locales keep me from turning the page and reading the dang story! The attitude of the series is very 2000s internet culture, so the new adventure has a strong sense of familiarity.

**_Are You Listening? by Tillie Walden_**. I've picked this one up a few times this year. I adore Walden's colors. Like Calvin and Hobbes, it seems like there's a back and forth between traveling in a dream and on the open road in the real world. Except the line is much thinner and much more lush.

**_Sonic the Hedgehog 30th Anniversary Celebration published by IDW_**. I came for [the McElroy](https://www.themcelroy.family/) feature, but stayed for the incredible art. (And, of course, I grew up on the games, so y'know.) Just [look at some of these pages](https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/KokyEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0) and try to tell me that these aren't _excellently_ paneled, posed, and colored. An absolute treat.

**_Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama_**. I forgot how plain old silly the original series was! Z may be action packed, but this was all gags. The best part of reading these is getting to take in Toriyama's inventive and [detailed vehicle design](https://www.zimmerit.moe/akira-toriyama-mechanical-designs/).

**_Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa_**. I tried getting into the anime a couple of years ago, but I think the manga is the way for me. Really exciting artwork, Al and Ed look so stylish on every page!

## Non Fiction

**_One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success by Marci Alboher_**. I needed this book to tell me I'm not crazy! A great collection of interviews and case studies from people who's work isn't easily bound to one job. Great read for anyone tinkering to find fully meaningful work across multiple interests.

**_Make Your Art No Matter What: Moving Beyond Creative Hurdles by Beth Pickens_**. Austin Kleon and Beth Pickens had [a great talk recorded online](https://austinkleon.substack.com/p/art-advice-with-beth-pickens) about making creative work, and it lead me to her book. Favorite take away: Creative people are those who need their practice so they can wholly show up in all other areas of their lives.

**_How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams_**. I reread this earlier this year and still think about some of the essays. General life advise mixed with Adams' life story, including his navigation through bouts of focal dystonia. Entertaining and insightful!

**_The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown_**. I regularly return to these guideposts, though this time around, it was important for me to really spend some time with the opening discussion around shame. Even after years of Brown's work being in the cultural conversation, this little volume still opens up new insight on authentic living on re-reading.

## Also

**_The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho_**. A last-minute read over the holiday break! Miranda and I both wanted to read this together, and we've loved it! A beautiful journey that illustrates how much richer the world is when we pursue our own personal inspirations and callings, grand or simple. I read this in high school, having practically no life experience to draw on for all of the metaphors. Surprising to me: reading it now, the terrain covered in the book is largely familiar.

---

_Update: All books here have been added to [my bookshelf](/bookshelf), a dedicated page for all books read._


My Reading Year, 2023

Goose Creek


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_[~☀️🏝️🐧~](https://youtu.be/LmSZ1Qx61H8?si=d4tk8M2R9N1UbAEb)_.

[Thanks to Let's Talk About Math Rock](https://www.youtube.com/@LetsTalkAboutMathRock) for the tabs and curated licks.


Gulfer – Heat Wave


![Figure Drawing With Cloth](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpadilla/image/upload/v1763845127/chrisdpadilla/blog/images/ltjzpenyrgmty1ey648q.png)

It's been a [couple of years](/sketches-2023-06-23) since sharing a peek inside a completed sketchbook.

This one was very targeted in a couple of ways on my part:

1. Get back to pencil-and-paper after a deep dive into fully digital
2. Lean into figure drawing

I spent a great deal of time with Mike Mattesi's Drawing Force book and [web course](https://www.drawingforce.com/). I have more to do and learn, but several things started to click during these past few months of focused study!

![Figure Drawing Bending](https://res.cloudinary.com/cpadilla/image/upload/v1763844999/chrisdpadilla/blog/images/nilk0zeqvretieezwzep.png)

I pass on the course and books to you with high recommendation. When I first took a stab at the books and the course, I was convinced it was too advanced to be a beginners course. But now I recognize something in the approach that I had done as a teacher myself: planting the seeds for appeal and gesture early (in the case of music: tone and phrasing). It could be saved for later, after the fundamentals are thoroughly set. But why wait? Let compound interest work it's magic.

The style of the Force method is very fluid and alive. It takes wrangling, but it's much more engaging than the more measurement-based approach of pure observational drawing. Like getting at the heart of a piece of music rather than reading notes on the page alone.

Though, I probably spent more time being sure I was seeing the model and staying true to their form. Quite the tricky balance: pushing gesture while capturing essence. I suppose it's not a matter of either/or.

![Figure Drawing Falling](http://res.cloudinary.com/cpadilla/image/upload/v1763845015/chrisdpadilla/blog/images/p44aiusj2w5l5jmolwz7.png)

Something that's hard to express through the images alone — it was supremely fun to do! The immediacy, the focus on the energy around expressing the gesture of a pose, and the embodied experience of carving out those rhythms from the figure.

There's simply something to having a sketch on paper sitting on a desk as well. Unmistakably there, holdable in your hands, textured from the material and etchings of the pencil. Am I too romantic about it?

My favorite benefit from spending ample time in a cheap stack of newsprint is how disposable and unprecious it is. Bad drawing? Next page. No Ctrl-Z or glowing screen that urges for polish and perfection. I do love doing digital work. And still, it's nice to take a breather and really let loose on the page.

![Figure Drawing Ground Pose](http://res.cloudinary.com/cpadilla/image/upload/v1763846522/chrisdpadilla/blog/images/nfhep9palqohkwsawglq.png)

I still catch myself being surprised that the real skill of art is [being able to see](/lessonsfrompainting2024). The answer is in plain sight. The muscle that develops is the patience to see more and the pattern matching to capture ideas more quickly.

Onward, to deeper seeing!

![Figure Drawing Thinking 🤔](http://res.cloudinary.com/cpadilla/image/upload/v1763845028/chrisdpadilla/blog/images/vejr9fz1qgwqgpbukand.png)


Figuring Out Figure Drawing


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A huge milestone in [developing proprioception](/learningproprioception)! One of a handful of pieces performed with eyes off the hands and on the sheet music. You can hear me "sounding-out" the next few syllables when a sizable leap is involved. But! All around not too shabby. Progress!


Clementi – Sonatina, Op. 36 No. 1 Mvmt. III


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Diving back into the Faber books to get practice on [proprioception](/learningproprioception)!


Faber – Jazz Reflections


Koichi Sugiyama, 1989, [giving advice to aspiring game composers](https://shmuplations.com/success1989/):

> Even today, there are still people out there who think that, as long as you have a computer and can use a sequencer, anyone can make game music. And there are a lot of aspiring game music creators with that mentality, too.

And yes, granted, this was to composers of music, and granted, this was 1989...

_**But!**_ I'm here to demonstrate how even the humble Pedestrian Call Button Makers can hold themselves to higher standards in sound design!

Take a listen to this, dear reader:

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_**UGH!**_ This is a half step moving down. It makes me think of the Straus piece made famous by 2001: A Space Odyssey. (See 0:27 below).

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It's alarming, it's a sharp interval. The direction down and the interval add up to a very unpleasant sound. I nearly jumped on the street!!

Now, consider this:

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A perfect fourth, ladies and gentlemen. Present in the harmonic series, a symbol of openness, firm, grounded — yet, not entirely resolved. This comfortably leaves you in anticipation for what's next while assuring you that you are, indeed, being taken care of.

Call button designers, take note. One pitch can make all the difference.

---

Of course, we'd all like to have the luxury of voice in our call buttons. The button in the video below even has an exciting springiness when pressed!

But, alas, not all of the tax dollars can go to such indulgences. So be mindful of your intervals!

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The Sound Design of Pedestrian Call Buttons


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![A Summer's Day, Abbott Fuller Graves (American, 1859–1936)](http://res.cloudinary.com/cpadilla/image/upload/v1762381947/chrisdpadilla/blog/images/xu8rq6mnrigcdtjjozhz.png)
<figcaption>[A Summer's Day](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abbott_Fuller_Graves_-_A_Summer%E2%80%99s_Day.jpg), Abbott Fuller Graves</figcaption>
</figure>

For the past year and a half, I've been working on and off on improving an underdeveloped skill on piano. Proprioception is a ten-dollar word for playing without looking at your hands. Broken down, it's the feeling of knowing where your hands are in relationship to the keyboard and knowing the distance you need to move for the next note or chord shape.

If you read only one bit of this as a fellow pianist, take this advice: Start developing it early. It's something that was not emphasized enough when I was taking lessons and class piano, and I certainly wish it were!

## Why It Matters

Sight-reading and proprioception are intertwined. They are technically different skills, though. Sight-reading is decoding what is on the page and playing it without prior rehearsal. Proprioception is not sight reading, but it makes sight-reading much easier.

Why does sight-reading matter? Maybe it doesn't to every player. But to me, sight-reading and playing more technical pieces are intertwined. The more you can play without much effort, the better off you are at being able to focus on the new challenge in a denser piece.

Additionally, improvisation requires the level of intimacy with an instrument where phrases are second-nature. Proprioception plays into it.

Lastly — It's just fun! It feels like flying, being able to play without switching your gaze between looking at your hands and the page. Playing the piano is simply more enjoyable this way.

## Developing Proprioception

If you're already familiar with playing as I was, there's an unavoidable feeling of really downshifting. New neural pathways were being synthesized. It felt like playing a new instrument once I started taking my eyes off the keys. A rite of passage, a good exercise of the mind, and a hit to the ego, but worth the effort!

All that said, much of the material I worked through started _very_ simple. That's for the best, since an entirely new skill is being learned here to great effect.

[Super Sight Reading Secrets](https://www.richmanmusicschool.com/products/super-sight-reading-secrets) by Howard Richman came highly recommended. I dove in here first and would say that this is the "Start Here" for working on proprioception skills. Richman divides exercises between "Keyboard Orientation" (proprioception) and note-recognition skills.

The approach is very gradual and highly tactile. Some teachers would recommend focusing primarily on learning intervals, but Richman takes the long view and encourages you to gain a sense of where each 2/3 note cluster of the ebony keys is located from 0. If presented middle C on the page, the exercises encourage you to find it. Then, removing hands from the keys, doing the same with A2, F5, and so on. Very tedious, progress is slow, but this has been one of the most beneficial exercises in my learning.

There are many more great exercises, thoughtfully ordered. My one note would be that you probably don't need to wait until completing the book before you move on to reading simple music. There are a whole slew of skills that need to stack to read even elementary-grade music, and it's better to start that in tandem with these exercises.

Speaking of, a great companion is Hannah Smith's [Progressive Sight Reading Exercises for Piano](https://www.amazon.com/Progressive-Sight-Reading-Exercises-Technique/dp/0793552621). This is a book of five-finger pattern 2-3 line pieces. Nice to work through since you're not worried about making leaps across the piano, instead getting a familiarity with feeling different scalar shapes under the fingers. Since there are regular key shifts, this book encourages interval recognition, first in a contained window of five fingers, which then works up to larger leaps after graduating from the book. In actuality, exact-note placement and interval measuring are two lenses that are used in tandem when reading, so it's beneficial to have both developed.

Most recently, and with great jubilation, I've been returning to earlier elementary piano methods. It's time to leave the realm of pure exercise and start applying this to music more regularly. My method series of choice has been the [Faber Piano Adventure series](https://pianoadventures.com/), jumping back in at book 3A. Though any method will do, such as the Alfred method.

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![Doorway and Garden, Abbott Fuller Graves](http://res.cloudinary.com/cpadilla/image/upload/v1762621631/chrisdpadilla/blog/images/ymidubcowi9ycehunx43.png)
<figcaption>[Doorway and Garden](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Abbott_Fuller_Graves_-_Doorway_and_Garden.jpg#:~:text=Licensing,of%20art%20are%20public%20domain%22.), Abbott Fuller Graves</figcaption>
</figure>

## Progress

I started this in March of 2024, so it's been about a year and a half of gradually working on this in small bursts. Of course, the keyboard orientation exercises took the longest. It's not been until this month that I've felt comfortable enough to work with the elementary method books.

Eventually, though, there _was_ a tipping point. One day, it went from being impossible to — well, possible! Much like a child learning a language, I'm still having to "sound out" (meaning, play _really_ slowly) certain sections, but I can stumble my way into finding where my hands need to go.

When I was first learning piano, playing two hands separately felt like an impossible task. Until it wasn't. After some point, the skill wasn't perfected per se, but I knew that in most pieces I could climb that wall. I'm excited to be reaching a similar point with proprioception and, as a result, sight-reading!

Am I done? Nope! But I _do_ feel that the skill can now develop more naturally as I continue to play. I've broken free from the stratosphere, and it will now be easier to cruise and let the eyes on my finger mature organically. Winston Churchill in Painting as a Pastime encourages "[planting] a garden in which you can sit when digging days are done." Digging days are just about done!

So I'll keep going — enjoying that feeling of soaring whenever my parasail catches a day of good wind!

---

**Post Script**: A few bits of [very practical advice from Yeargdribble](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0PHUG6CfOk), particularly for anyone picking up Piano as a secondary instrument. Namely:

- Don't follow the "just keep going!" approach of sight reading. No need to practice with a metronome early on; you'll learn more from slowly, but successfully playing the correct notes.
- When sight-reading, avoid looking at your hands when you've read ahead a few bars. This is robbing you of the chance to develop proprioception for when you'll need it with denser music.
- Treat it like [learning a language](https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/japanese-sentence-study/). Tackle pieces that you are 80% familiar with the patterns, or as he puts it, that you can play at half speed. Then, don't worry about perfecting every piece. Better to read more pieces quickly than to develop rote muscle memory for the particular piece you are learning.


Hey, I'm Chris!

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