Saturday, August 1, 2009

I am hopeful

"It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today." - President Barack Obama


I was watching an episode of the Ellen Degeneres Show on YouTube last night and she was talking with Jennifer Aniston, her guest that day, and Jennifer Aniston said something that struck me as being a very different mindset from the past 8 years. She mentioned that with our new leader, there is shift in what we want and said, "Maybe we want good news! it's sort of like `Oh! the country had a really bad boyfriend for awhile' and then all of a sudden, its like, `Oh! She finally met a nice one!'" Ellen agreed and challenged the news to cut back on the bad news and focus on the positive wonderful things that happen! I am ALL for that!

I was so inspired by that that I picked up my color pencils and drew this freehand ... I just let the pencil do its thing starting with the highlights. Ok, it may not look like President Obama so much but my heart was in the right place. :)

10 comments:

Kathleen Rietz said...

Very nice, Joan. I definitely recognized him right away.

This country needs a strong leader to get us out of the crisis we are in, not a "nice boyfriend". I hope President Obama can and will do that.

Anonymous said...

Actually, as soon as I saw that picture I thought, "Wow, that is a really drawing of the President!" Nice work. ;)

Anonymous said...

-sorry I meant to type "a really good drawing", my finger slipped!

Joan Y said...

Thanks Kate and Anon! I have this irrational fear of drawing people because they are so much more difficult than plants so this was a huge step for me. I guess it just takes practice. Thanks for your support and your comments!

Al said...

I'll have to agree with you--sometimes when people I know ask me to draw a certain person-a friend or something, I am really nervous drawing them because I'm afraid of "messing up" or if it doesn't end up looking quite like the person, I'm really embarrassed!

Great job on the "Presidential Potrait!" :) Keep it up!!! As soon as my page loaded I knew it was him.

Joan Y said...

Thanks Al, you made me feel a lot better. I really need to get past my fear and even if the drawing doesn't look like them, the practice is a good thing! Perhaps we can both support each other!!! Keep it up and I will do the same. :)

FRANKYE said...

The drawing/painting is great! I think it is expressive and conveys the power and concern that our president has for the country. I especially appreciate your sentiments. It seems that the news allows so much negative and destructive input these days. Let your pencil and hand keep roaming and doing its thing!

Joan Y said...

Thanks Frankye, I think there are a lot of us out there that would like a more positive perspective on the world. :)

tink said...

Great drawing Joan!

steve said...

I love it Joan - it's far better than the one I attempted, haha! Obama's got some mountains to move and there's a lot of reason to be pessimistic. People have to remain optimistic however, and continue to do their part - that's the key.