Author Archives: johndiestler

A friend used this word recently and I realized that I haven’t poked at the concept. I have used the word, and I believe I have been intimate, but I haven’t really defined the edges. The secret ingredient to any … Continue reading →

We live by the numbers. We magically are able to drive when we get a certain age, we can imbibe alcohol at another age, and we can vote in our elections. There is no proof that we are truly qualified … Continue reading →

I’ve been watching a few too many YouTube videos. I’ve been struck by how often a narrative is used to justify behaviors. It’s also as if their has been a secret script passed around. Everyone has read the script, and … Continue reading →

I am not an expert here, but these are my thoughts. Almost every believer in God would agree that being in the center of God’s will is what they desire. This simple concept has played out in scripture and secular … Continue reading →

Blogs are often filled with common and uncommon rants. Perhaps how we end up in the wrong lanes at the toll booth. Or maybe the wrong line at the market. We got behind the gentleman with 19 items in the … Continue reading →

It’s New Year’s Eve, a time for reflection, and a time for plans. Let us first address whether this whole deal is simply a human construct. Certainly the ball dropping in NYC is a man made thing. Even the calendar … Continue reading →

A couple more of my favorites, that deserve some tribute work. I learn so much about the piece when I struggle to recreate it. Of course, this is where practice can help create less hideous pieces. It’s tempting to stay … Continue reading →

I suppose this might be my first tribute piece done digitally. I love Durer’s work. He is widely known as the Master Engraver. Generally, he cut copper plates with a burin, then printed a limited edition, then destroyed the plate … Continue reading →

Hmm, practice makes perfect? Gosh, if only that were true. Practice all you want but if there is markedly no improvement then perfection is still a long way off. Besides, my goal isn’t perfection. Ha! Not even possible! It should … Continue reading →

I’ve been busy with techniques. I love the sketching, and have become a big fan of the solid graphite pencils. They are a little messy but a lot better than charcoal. There is a big problem though. The chemicals in … Continue reading →

Tell him your plans. i’ve been thinking about planning, which is our attempt to make sense of the world, and possibly change the future. In the most common usage, planning is really quite easy. We plan to get up in … Continue reading →

I found an amusing book that deals with some of the oddities of the English language. Here is a sample… 1. Every cloud has a——— lining. 2. ——- tape 3. He looks at the world through ——— colored glasses. 4. … Continue reading →

‘‘Twas the night before Christmas…”. Well, actually this is the morning after Christmas, but I was thinking about the poem. For many homes around the world it is a family tradition to read the poem to their children on Christmas … Continue reading →

Fifty years Ago this week I was Santa Claus at our local Macy’s. I did not volunteer. I was happy to find seasonal work on the college job board. I was hired to sell womens shoes. It was a lot … Continue reading →

I just watched a YouTube video, and I find myself again cursing the net, and adoring it at the same time. This video made the bold headline statement of “35,000 Different Bacteria Species Living in Your Gut!”. This is disturbing … Continue reading →

I’ve been pondering the word “help”. At first it seemed so simple, then it got way too complicated. Helping is assisting. The perfect image definition is a man pushing a car to the gas station. You see this, you jump … Continue reading →

Spontaneity, besides being difficult to spell, might be defined as action without a plan or purpose. That’s a rough concept. It includes an image of a room of mouse traps and ping pong balls. Or if I was a Beatles … Continue reading →

77 years ago a foreign nation dropped bombs and strafed our

These are not by Klimt, they are just an impression of Klimt. Gustav would get the humor. This next one is about 80% done.

What do you know, and when did you know it? This was the major question during the Watergate investigation. The question was asked of President Richard Nixon. If he didn’t know anything about the Watergate conspiracy until much later, then … Continue reading →

I’m calling these done. When I start contemplating using a two haired brush, something is wrong. Better to go free and easy.

I am back to slinging paint. I still don’t know what I’m doing, but that has never stopped me before, so why should this be different? It’s true that I had a burst of painting the week before surgery, but … Continue reading →

Particles react to being watched. If no one is looking they go one way, if someone is watching they go in an entirely different way. The observer effect is sometimes explained by Schrödinger’s cat: a cat, a flask of poison, … Continue reading →

I willingly took part in “risky behavior”. Well, that might be a little strong. I took a path that was “risky”, but I did nothing to change it. In the first few minutes I thought, “I’m an independent guy, I … Continue reading →

Sitting in front of the fireplace, reading a few pages, and checking the internet. Apparently the air quality index says that unhealthy air starts at about 60-70. At 3:50 pm it was 350. I have been known to prep for … Continue reading →

I had heard that the best writers did their best work in coffee houses, in hip neighborhoods of New York, or Paris. It was 1966, I was not in Paris, nor was I in New York. This might have been … Continue reading →

X’s and O’s I used to have very cool racing slicks on my front tires. They were custom tires made for trikes, and I liked them very much. I was sad to see the threads in the center of the … Continue reading →

I’m back on the trail. The weather is good, I’m coasting downhill at at a 3% slope. Life couldn’t be better, except that I have questions. I have random questions, like… is it proper for a veteran to hand salute … Continue reading →

I’ve written about leaves before. There is much to be learned from taking the time to watch leaves. They spend their lives reacting to something unseen, yet powerful. People revisit ideas and concepts in blogs when they have discovered something … Continue reading →

Dank, dark, something unknown moving over there, a fellow prisoner or just vermin? We don’t think much about dungeons today. We have trivialized it in video and board games, but it once was a very real place. Of course most … Continue reading →

Today I feel joy. Joy is within me, it is oozing from my fingertips, it is dripping from my beard… I am full up and overloaded. Six weeks ago I had two feet of poly tubing in my chest, my … Continue reading →

I’m revisiting a subject that I wrote about a few months ago. The Google Search term is “longest living organisms”. I’m not sure why I find this so interesting. Part of it stems from the remarkable possibility that there may … Continue reading →

I find that I’m listening more. People assume that I’m retired so they often ask what did I do? More than likely I tell them that I professed. It is easier to generalize instead of picking one aspect of my … Continue reading →

I’ve arranged to participate in a sleep study. This is not for research on sleep, but a scientific analysis of my particular sleep patterns. Apparently I snore, and have apnea. It is the nature of the affliction that I do … Continue reading →

Recently, a long time friend experienced a loss of a life partner. Right away the grieving process kicks in, the endless thoughts of what was said, what was unsaid. In this case it wasn’t death, it was much more complicated. … Continue reading →

I think it worthwhile to review the “big questions” in life periodically. Partly because time moves on, and wisdom may drop from an apple tree. Mostly though, it’s good to check on the “big questions” right after a significant moment … Continue reading →

We are often driven by fear. We are taught that fear determines flight instead of fight. I think I still fear the fight. In the course of a lifetime some fears are consistent and ever present. At the same time, … Continue reading →

I’ve thrown paint at six canvases. I am really happy with about three. I could throw more paint and maybe get more happier! Or, it could be mud. I’m still happy! For now I’m done. I don’t think I will … Continue reading →

I’ve got ten canvases, eight with some paint, maybe two that are completed. All in all, not bad output for the week! Of course, it could take a month to finish. I am so over my head that I can’t … Continue reading →

Is anything final? Well, final for now! I got hypnotize laying in all those strokes. Too many, surely paintings aren’t the composite addition of tedious strokes? Don’t they just pop out after awhile? I’ve been digital too long, there must … Continue reading →