I'm getting really into the piece I'm working on for Dave. It's exciting, so it's going to be hard when I have to give it away, but as soon as it's done I can start on a new one. I plan on doing a series of the same type of drawing. I posted some shots below showing that it's basically lines up and down and across the page. I start with an even layer and then accentuate the places where the ink built up more or where overlapping lines created darker regions and bring them out. Then I start to look at the composition of the piece and construct it from there. I have some variations that I'd like to try out, with some hard edged shapes along with the gentle blending that I normally do. I have several ideas to try out as far as the "forms" go that are in my other drawings. I've got enough sketches to keep me busy for quite awhile. It will be harder to work this summer, but I've gotten into a good rhythm and I think about new pieces or what I want to do next at work so that I'm psyched up to do it when I get home. I think a lot about how nice it would be to make a living doing this and be able to just create things all the time. That's what keeps me working hard, the dream that I could do this all day every day.

I found my brother's old guitar downstairs, and I've been nursing it back to health. It suffered several cracks in the top, which I clamped and repaired with small slivers of wood on the inside to strengthen the top in those areas. It shouldn't affect the playing at all, but I was afraid of them getting worse. He disobeyed the cardinal rule of storing guitars for long periods of time and neglected to loosen the strings before putting it away. It's a shame, because it's a really nice acoustic. Tomorrow I'll fully tighten the new strings and we'll see how it sounds.