Friday, October 19, 2007

Illustration Friday - Grow


What would I do if I wasn't afraid?

"Failure seldom stops you; what stops you
is the fear of failure."

-- Jack Lemmon, (1925-2001), Actor

p.s. Tomorrow is my birthday, so leave me some
of YOUR wisdom about growing. :-)

68 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday! I just had my birthday (a big one!) and have had a mini epiphany. Getting older one year at a time gives you a little more permission every year to be a little more of yourself...that you need to dig to find. But, its all there. And, for you...there is a wealth! So, have a big slice of cake and plan the next year of Willie being even more Willie than last year! We all look forward to it.

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  2. happy birthday! i looooove what Q said....will try to remember it myself. here's my bit:

    'pay attention to your inner voice. don't override that voice-it's who you really are'
    -glenn close

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  3. Happy Birthday Willie!!

    Stay young at heart ... always :D

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  4. Growing's fine - just don't get any older!

    Love the mark-making of this piece.

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  5. Happy Birthday for tomorrow!

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  6. HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILLIE! Growing's fun especially if we do what we enjoy the most. Keep drawing!

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  7. Nice quote and feel with the pic...and Happy B-day...unless this is all a scam to get cards and cash at various times of the year...

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  8. growing broad is easy. dun do it... losing it is not!

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  9. Anonymous11:12 AM

    Ah.. for you, in honor of your birthday, I have randomly opened and pointed to a word in the dictionary, oracle-style.

    It is....

    scamp\'skamp\n [obs. scamp to roam about idly](1808) 1: RASCAL, ROUGE 2: an impish or playful young person - scampish\'skampish\adj

    the dictionary never lies

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  10. Happy birthday!
    In my experience growing older is the synonym for being braver every day.

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  11. This is great! I love the inclusion of the heart, as that is where real growth begins; when we sit with our own heart bringing compassion to our soul.

    Become a friend of your fears and see what happens...

    Happy Birthday!!

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  12. Hi Willlie, Happy Birthday. This illo will set the standard for this week. It's really good. As for wisdom I have little. I did read the book Think Like DiVinci, and his advice is to learn something new everyday, be curious about the world around you. I think as children we do that, but as adults we lose it. Have a great day tomorrow especially.

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  13. Anonymous1:06 PM

    My birthday note to you, and response to your illustration is this:

    When I rise up
    let me rise up joyful
    like a bird

    When I fall
    let me fall without regret
    like a leaf

    --Wendell Berry

    Have a great day!

    Lisa

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  14. so cool! I love this and your style!

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  15. Happy Birthday Willie! I think you are already in touch with the child within so I know you are getting better with age!!! Love your illo :P

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  16. Happy Birthday!

    No great advice, here, except to listen to your heart and to keep trying to become more 'you.'

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  17. Anonymous2:22 PM

    what helps us grow is what we experience moment to moment, rather than year to year.

    it's all those little choices we make - a smile for the grocery clerk, saying hello to the busdriver, even though he never bothers to acknowledge you, pretending we didn't see the old lady from next door wave at us cuz we didn't feel like talking today...

    if i was going to give advice, it would be to never stop believing in magic, and to make as much mischief as you can without going to jail.

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  18. Anonymous2:39 PM

    the.fundamental.thing.of.life.is.time......
    etc.etc.
    happy birthday!
    smart as usual and tnx for stopping by.

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  19. happy birthday, i like your little sayings in your entries.

    stay young at heart, kids help wonders with that.

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  20. Happy Birthday! Thanks for stopping by my blog. Growing? My advice is to NEVER stop.

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  21. "By the time I had worried about all the things that I haven't done in my life I would be dead."

    If that makes sence

    Happy Birthday

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  22. You'll be fine, just remember, when you get up out of bed in the morning, to do so very slowly and carefully.

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  23. Anonymous4:53 PM

    Happy b-day!

    Growing up means letting go of the dearest megalomaniacal dreams of our childhood. Growing up means knowing they can’t be fulfilled. Growing up means gaining the wisdom and skills to get what we want within the limitations imposed by reality—a reality which consists of diminished powers, restricted freedoms and, with the people we love, imperfect connections. -

    [quote by Judith Viorst
    U.S. novelist and poet. Necessary Losses, ch. 11 (1986)].

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  24. happy birthday! Remember to make your self laugh---

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  25. Happy birthday Willy! Great words and illustration.

    I haven't any wisdom about growing... You know, I'm still a small child ;) But I wish you the best, a big cake and lots of fun!

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  26. Ooh Happy Birthday! What an important question you pose. I'm not sure what I would do, but I know I would feel a lot more confident in my life.

    As for something wise, keep dreaming.
    "The castle-building habit, the day-dreaming habit--how it grows! what a luxury it becomes; how we fly to its enchantments at every idle moment, how we revel in them, steep our souls in them, intoxicate ourselves with their beguiling fantasies--oh, yes, and how soon and how easily our dream-life and our material life become so intermingled and so fused together that we can't quite tell which is which, anymore."
    -Mark Twain

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  27. stop looking at the clock - use a calendar only as a marking place for things you absolutely need to do - develop a new sense of time (which is limitless, btw) and space and 'getting older' will no longer have any meaning. just existing.

    :-) happy happy

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  28. It's great Willie!Man, you have a distinct "signature"- it's you!

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  29. Happy Birthday Willie. Embrace your fears and see what happens; you may be moved by what you find that has been waiting for you all along.

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  30. Anonymous10:05 PM

    Happy Birthday, Willie! Advice. Hmmm. Go for it. You are an expression of the Infinite and you can't go wrong.

    I think we become more and more ourselves if we are courageous and not throwing rocks.

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  31. Have a effing great birthday-

    I think you are one of the most authentic people I know and I love that about you.

    I think you must constantly ask yourself that question, and you seem to take action on it- Since I've known you, which is not all that long- you've gone out on a few high limbs and done some impressive stuff...

    Anyway, that's all I got, MotherEffer!

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  32. May all your lines be laugh lines!
    Kim

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  33. Happy b day. It's only a number,outlook is all.

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  34. Happy birthday to youuuu!!! Today is mt mother and law birthday too!
    I love the illo..always surprising :)
    lovely

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  35. Look! Willie's here! and it's his BIRTHDAY!!!!! happy happy happy! it's always SOOOO nice to turn 21 again! ")

    this is a really wonderful piece. it made me smile, the colors, that quirky heart and what it says. and, it's the first one here. i'm gonna hazard a guess and say you do these on a blackberry - "WHAT? IT'S 9am on FRIDAY? I'D BETTER POST P.D.Q!"

    lightning speed, yellow skin, googly eyes...a rapier wit. what more growth do you need? "))) happy, bday, willie!

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  36. Wow, we share a birthday! I turned 40. What I've learned is to NEVER be so "serious" as to forget to laugh, especially at yourself. And never stop drawing!

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  37. Happy birthday! Be foolish!

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  38. Happy Birthday!!!! Just be you and don't care what people think!!!

    I love your new illo, very cool concept! Probably my fave so far! Keep em coming!!

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  39. Tis Saturday, which means: Happy Birthday, Willie.

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  40. happy birthday willie. words of wisdom, when i get some i'll pass em on.

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  41. Happy birthday Willie!
    My wisdom about growing:
    Live this day as if it was your last! Enjoy this moment. Do everything you dream of! Have fun. Love. LIVE!

    Very nice drawing!

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  42. Nice illustration. Happy Birthday. I dont remember it exactly -- but the quote I like goes something like -- Perfection is the enemy of the good.

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  43. happy birthday wishes to you!

    may you be relaxed and unstressed. that's the best birthday gift you can give yourself. that and maybe a killer cup of coffee.

    i have little wisdom proper, but my only tidbit of thought is to have as many picnics as possible. sitting outside or in the grass keeps one very grounded.

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  44. tomorrow is your birthday? But I am reading this today which is the tomorrow I think you referenced which would mean that TODAY is your birthday!

    HAPPIEST of Birthdays brotha'!

    ®

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  45. Happy birthday! I love this illustration...terrific idea!

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  46. Anonymous2:28 AM

    Happy (21st?!) Birthday for Saturday!!! :)

    My advice: don't eat the birthday cake candles.

    love,
    Kat.

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  47. Happy birthday! Don't spit on the cake when blowing out the candles. The rest of us want a slice!

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  48. Happy B-day weekend Willie!!

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  49. oh no- i missed it!!!
    dude- i hope you were spolied rotten by anyone and everyone!
    as for growing- i have told my son he's welcome to tell people i'm 10 years older than i am because then i look fablous for a 43 year old!!!

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  50. ¡Genial! loved the idea.

    Happy, happy birthday....hope you enjoyed a lot!!

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  51. Willie, you say so much with so little. I truly believe this.

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  52. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOMORROW!!!! Thanks fro stopping by my blog too! The drawing is me yes.. Except I do not really wear bear ears ;)

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  53. Happy birthday a day late! My birthday advice is-- grit your teeth and dive on in.
    The beginnings are always the hardest, but that's brief.
    Hope you have a good year!

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  54. Happy belated birthday!

    My only thought about growing is the longer you are around the more you get to see and learn new things. Here's to new things.

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  55. Happy belated birthday Raaamone! Don't let fear stand in the way of your dreams, especially if you have a walking frame to hit people out of your way ;)

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  56. I always enjoy your artwork and hope you enjoyed your birthday.

    Be like your ears and nose and keep on growing until the day you die!
    As for me, I figure I'm not going to get any prettier so I might as well just make pretty things. :)

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  57. Happy Birthday!!! Hope it was a good one. I like your art a lot! And it's a great quote!

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  58. Feliz cumpleaños!!!
    thank you for visit my blog.

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  59. Belated happy birthday sir! awesome job as always -

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  60. hope it was a great bday!! wisdom on getting older,,,hmmmm i couldn't possibly know anything about that! HA!

    teri

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  61. look at my newest illustration. I made it inspired by "La dientona", a legend from Venezuela (My country)
    ;)

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  62. I like you job, too.
    bad bad my english...
    ):
    Thank you!!!!
    Vuelve siempre!!!

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  63. Happy Belated Birthday! I hope you had a wonderful one.

    Look both ways before crossing the street. :)

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  64. Anonymous10:58 AM

    cool!
    I'm 31 and have been an old man
    since I turned 27:)

    so I can't help you.

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  65. good stuff... merry birthday

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  66. I love the freedom of this piece. I think it expresses the message really well. :)

    I found a quote: "Don't go through life, grow through life."

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  67. I really like this drawing. it's different and pretty simple. i like the use of a little bit of color that you added. The pencil its kind of random though.

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  68. Keep doing what you're doing. You got 67 comments so far...you must be doing something right.

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Thanks for stopping by! :-)

Willie