Blossoming

The names are still coming in for the apple painting give-away, though when I reached 50 names I went ahead and selected a name from the hat, as was indicated and stated in the last paragraph of this blog entry. So if ANOTHER 50 people sign up, I'll give another small painting away. Everyone who has already signed up will still be on the list. There will be 100 names from which to choose. Sound fair?

Since several people have asked, the winner of the apple painting this go around was a friend here in Houston named Joanne Priest. Congratulations, Joanne! In her own words,

"Oh man!! I AM SO EXCITED!!! This is amazing. I don't have any art work besides my own in my house, and to have a Sarah Hazel painting is beyond awesome for me! I am completely in love with your work. Thank you SO much! I can't believe it!"

Also, last Friday, there was a chance (for me) that there would be time to paint. I did paint...on Friday and Saturday, which is unusual because most times it's VERY easy to get distracted with everyone at home. The best part about painting last Saturday was that I could hear Reese downstairs practicing his guitar in preparation for playing at church the next day, and I could hear Hilary practicing the piano for fun. It was magical, peaceful, and caused a deep fullness of contentment in my soul.
These camellias are what I painted on Friday, and a bit more on Sunday, though by Sunday most of the blossoms had fallen off the stems. Fruit, vegetables, and flowers fade so quickly after they've been picked. I often think of Cezanne when painting still lifes. He would leave his still lifes staged for so long while working on his paintings that the fruit would often rot before he was finished with the work. Though the exact quote in my Cezanne books regarding this is yet to be found this Wednesday, it is true -- I've read it somewhere (in a book.)

Small apologies for the untrue nature of the actual color of this painting. It's hard to get the lighting just right as an amateur photographer. To my recollection, this is the third year that I've painted camellias from the garden. They generally bloom in December or January. There might be one more opportunity to collect enough blooms to work on another camellia painting before the blossoms all disappear for another year. We'll see.

This painting is 9" x 12", oil on linen.

There's A Chance

While watching the weather report and nursing my bowl of coffee (cappuccino latte) this morning, it somehow registered, even though I was in an only partially awake stupor, that in Houston today there was a chance of rain. The camellias have just begun to bloom, and the quince bush in the back yard is blooming for only the third year ever. So, thinking that today would be a good day to paint a still life before the rain destroyed our yard's yearly blossoms, I groggily stumbled outside to select flowers for the bouquet.

For the regular reader of this blog, one might remember that the upstairs studio is great for light, but there is no effective place to set up a proper still life. So, even though there were already cut flowers for painting, I spent the majority of the day rearranging the studio. Now that there's a small drop leaf table to the left of the easel, it will be much easier to set up a still life in the studio and more effectively control the light source. And, I still have room to walk backwards away from the easel without tripping over things behind me. Looks like a win/ win!

Speaking of win/win, it's almost time for the painting give-away. There's still a chance YOU could win, so put your name in the hat.

Tomorrow, there's another chance of rain, and a 90% chance that I will paint a still life.

Yest-day

The weather yest-day was so pretty
the sun, blue sky, wind caused a giddy
reaction so great
that we couldn't wait,
and so rode our bikes through the city.

The biking began just around three
from our house to a middle sized tree
that happened to be
for all there to see
in the middle of labyrinth three.

The labyrinth, our favorite so far,
quite willing, we'll keep looking for more
and so to repeat
another quest neat,
an amazed hunt for labyrinth four.

(I realize that I haven't yet told
a story that has been put on hold,
the labyrinth first
our minds unrehearsed
a tall tale might could some day unfold.)

Labyrinth

How many people reading this knew that there is more than one labyrinth in Houston? This one was at Covenant Church on Caroline in Midtown, an easy bike ride from our house.

Please, dear readers, remember to contact me about entering the apple painting give-away. Don't be shy. It would be great if a few more folks would enter before the campaign starts in earnest on facebook.

Wonderful Happy Sidewalk

It's Tuesday and I'm Still Sore.

In the process of our neighbor getting a new driveway, an opportunity was created.

The workers totally demolished our footpath that runs between the houses from front to back as they ripped up their old driveway and poured concrete for the new one....which means that because the neighbors are kind and considerate, they didn't leave the mess for us alone to fix. The neighbor brought in some sand, and while he was shoveling sand from one end of the space to the other, I, very happily was placing bricks and flagstone to match the swirly pattern of the patio in the backyard. Before, it was a boring plain old wobbly sidewalk. Now, it's a fanciful wonderful happy sidewalk.

The work all happened last Saturday, and pitifully, my muscles still ache from all the lifting and standing and bending and squatting and sitting. Ouch.

Please remember to sign up for the apple painting give-away!

Apples Two Oranges

It is worth mentioning again that I paint without wearing glasses. Being nearsighted, it's just easier to make sense of what I'm doing (within an arm's length glance) without corrective lenses. When wearing glasses, for me, everything up close is fuzzy. Because I can't see far away things with precision without glasses, the subjects that I paint are, by and large, out of focus. (And no, I don't wear or want bifocals.)

But in spite of a lack of (actual, not metaphorical) vision, when painting while using round tipped brushes, I have much more control over the paint, and consequently, the painting appears more in focus than it really is...at least the way I see it.



Apples Two Oranges is a 9" x 12" oil on linen canvas. Not only were round brushes used, but I also added a linseed oil turpentine mixture to the paint to encourage the paint to flow more easily from the brush to the canvas surface. Using round tipped brushes gives this painting a slightly different look than the other apple paintings.

So, if one so chooses, the similarities of brush stroke and technique of the apple paintings created using flat brushes and no extra linseed oil are akin to comparing apples to apples. And this painting using round brushes with added linseed oil would, ever so subtly, be like comparing apples to oranges! (Get it, apples, TWO oranges?)

Free! (Really)

Yesterday, I published some specific rules for an apple painting give-away. What I did NOT realize was that I was asking readers to create a google blog account in order to be eligible for the painting give-away. Yesterday's rules are much too cumbersome and complicated to follow. If one chooses or wants to enter the painting give-away, then please send an e-mail with the subject line apple turnover to info at Sarah Hazel dot com or leave a comment indicating such on this blog.

When 50 people communicate that they want to enter, then a name will be randomly selected from that list to win an apple painting. When (and if) 100 different human beings on God's green earth contact me, then a second painting will be given away for FREE. Y'all spread the word.

Again, please accept my apologies for my seemingly infinite cyberspace ignorance.

Apple Turnover

The apple (painting) turnover rate has continued throughout the week. These apple paintings have served to help:
1.) work out the kinks after a prolonged absence from painting,
2.) serve to retrain the old brain to "see" the subject,
3.) remember and rehearse brush technique and color mixing, AND
4.) build confidence for a portrait commission that was put on hold during the holidays.

These two paintings were painted with a limited palette. To explain: one apple was reddish, and two apples were green. Red and green are complimentary colors. Complimentary colors are often mixed to make a neutral shade, in this instance, to be used in the outline, shadows, and background. So because I had decided to only used the complimentary colors in these two paintings, the look is different from the previous few apple paintings.



The paintings are both on the small side, 4" x 6" oil on cotton canvas. Also, so far in this series I've used flat brushes. Tomorrow's blog entry will highlight an apple painting done with round brushes.



Lastly, all along I've been planning on giving away one of the apple paintings to a follower of this blog. When 50 people commit by clicking the "follow" button in the top left blue bar just above the Finding My Glasses title, a name will be randomly selected from that list. When this blog collects 100 followers, we'll have another painting give-away! For facebook readers, when one reads the whole entry, at the top of the facebook comments is a little bar that says, Comment · Like · View Original Post. Click on View Original Post and it directs to, well, the original post. From there, just "follow" the above directions. If anyone chooses to follow anonymously (to the world,) but still wants to be eligible for the painting give-away, then please send an e-mail with the subject line apple turnover to info at Sarah Hazel dot com. Only people who follow at Sarah Hazel dot blog spot dot com will be eligible for the give-away.

An Apple a Day

Because it had been so long between painting sessions, I thought that perhaps it would be a good idea to work out the kinks by painting apples. They aren't as easy to paint as one might think. It's been incredibly challenging, surprisingly.

This is an 8" x 10" oil on linen painted in the upstairs studio.


An art friend of mine suggested painting these small pieces. It's totally different to make such a tiny canvas interesting (vs., of course, a larger canvas.) There's not as much surface area with which to work, obviously. Therefore, there's generally not enough room to put everything on the canvas that I normally (on a larger canvas) would put there.

This is a 6" x 6" oil on cotton canvas.



These are my fourth and fifth apple paintings within the week.

Ice Fishes

This morning the cherubs are frozen
(the fish in the pond are a dozen)
a layer of ice
appeared overnight
and leaves in the trees have stopped rustlin'.



The dozen or so swimming fishes
were recently telling their wishes
"Please feed us at eight,
it's fine if you're late,
the new food we're fed is delicious..."

"This morning we're feeling quite slowish,"
reported the rather big goldfish.
"The weather is cold,"
the other fish told,
"Our fins through the ice have a glow-ish."

Them Apples

It's been good for my psyche to paint this week.

Before moving all painting supplies back upstairs to the art studio, I took the opportunity to paint an (other) apple still life in the more controlled lighting environment of the dining room one more time. But now that I've painted downstairs twice this week, it made me realize that the studio upstairs needs a little re-arranging. How this will be accomplished is beyond comprehension at this point, but something needs to change.

The way it's set up now is so that the easel faces a corner. It's great for painting from a reference photo, but completely useless when painting from life. What interest would there be in a painting of the corner of the studio? Besides, there's no room to set up a still life in that corner. One of the original reasons for setting up the easel where it is now is so that there is plenty of space to walk backwards (as I tend to walk back and forth quite a bit when painting.) Also, since I'm not left handed, the glass desk top palette needs to be at my right, so wherever the easel goes, the desk needs to go to it's right.

Ideally, there will be a viable solution to this conundrum, but in the meantime, I'm going to set up another apple still life in an inconvenient-for-painting spot in the bright sunlit studio.

How do you like them apples? (This newest one is an 11" x 14" oil on linen.)

Avec Plaisir

Even though I thoroughly enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, it's great to be back in the swing of things with regard to painting. The last time I painted was just shy of two months ago. TWO MONTHS AGO! So, it was with great pleasure and a little trepidation that I finally found a chunk of time to paint yesterday. Here I am working on the same still life as the two students worked on the previous day. (Speaking of chunky and in my vanity, please allow me to point out that I am wearing at least three layers of clothing.)



Hopefully, on this bitter cold Houston winter day, I'll set up a different still life in the dining room and work in the pleasantness of our warm, albeit drafty, old house.

Here are the two products of yesterday's work. The painting on the left is 6" x 6" oil on cotton canvas. The painting on the right is an 9" x 12" oil on linen canvas.

Bring Your Own Canvas

Today I hosted my first ever art class!

The lesson covered the very basics of color mixing, shading and shadows, color plains, and an admonition to work from darks to lights, especially when using oil paints. I then gave a very simple demonstration on a technique to use when beginning an oil painting. (My demo is the partially done apple on the right with the orange background.)

The still life is set up in the corner of the dining room. The two "students" pictured are hard at work. Both students had never used oils before, so instead of them making a huge monetary investment to join the "class," I let them both use my supplies, but bring their own canvas. The clean-up afterwards has been an effort, but both students were really pleased with their completed paintings. I couldn't have been more delighted that they were so satisfied with their work.

In my naive ignorance, I thought that there would be time and leisure for me to paint alongside the students. However, instructing the students used the entirety of my personal brain capacity and every last little ounce of time. Not that there's anything wrong with that....

Anyone else interested in some personalized art instruction?

Fair Maiden Voyage

After all the Christmas hoo-ha, hopefully, painting will start again tomorrow.

In the meantime, just to inform the readers of this blog, there is a new member in our family. The vision of beauty in the photo is a YELLOW 1973 Schwinn Breeze 3 speed. Remember that Reese and I went to Workshop Houston to fine tune our old bikes last summer? Well, Reese is now a regular volunteer. Workshop Houston has a program called Earn-a-Bike. The way the program works is that one first tears down an old junker bike that is not worth restoring. The second step is to fix a flat. Third, the participant has to re-cycle a wheel. And fourth, the volunteer/participant re-furbishes a bike for charity. And lastly, one can re-furbish a bike for oneself.

Reese has been volunteering just because he likes being there and learning about bikes. One day, according to Reese, a lady pulled up in front of the bike workshop with a whole truckload of bikes to donate. As Reese and Matt were unloading the bikes, one particular bike caught Reese's eye. It was grimy, covered in filth and rust, but Reese knew that this was the bike for me. So, instead of working towards a bike for himself, the Amazing Reese worked the Earn-a-Bike program as a gift to me.

This is what I saw when I walked down the stairs on Christmas morning.



I came downstairs because I had heard Erin and Hilary opening their stockings, and didn't want to miss the Christmas fun. Reese's bathrobe just happened to the nearby, so I grabbed it and on it went. The bike was such an unexpected and delightful surprise that I rode it through the house...from living to dining room and back....several times.



Then I hurried to get dressed and took it outside for a spin. It's the best bike ever.



Oh, and by the way, in case the reader has forgotten, yellow is my favorite color.

Zuzu's Petals

If I ever owned an antique-shabby-chic-art-coffee-book-wine-bar-live-music-café type store, the name of it would be Zuzu's Petals.

"Remember no man is a failure who has friends."

Thanks, reader friends. It's a wonderful life, thanks, largely in part, to all of you.

Happy Christmas!

A Week's Worth

A gorilla sitting on the throne. A laughing daughter. And the pet in the bathtub. So many unanswered questions.


Here is the Amazing Reese and the fellas enjoying some tasty cigars from "nowhere." Reese's younger brother sent the cigars to Reese for safekeeping. Then, quite unexpectedly, his brother passed away, so in honor of his brother's generous gift, Reese wanted to share, too. It was a very cold night, and as smooth and good as the cigars were, the guys were all glad to finish them and retire to the warmth of the living room.


Aw, look at the poor fallen angel. Don't worry, Reese fixed her. This angel was a gift (years ago) from my mother-in-law who bought it from Aunt Cathy's gift and antique shop in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It's probably the best gift my mother-in-law ever gave me.

However, the most incredible part of the photo is the fact that the Christmas tree is already up. It is usually much later in the season before that task gets tackled, much less completed.


Turns out that I made an abundance of limoncello. There wasn't a large enough container in this house to mix it all. (And yes, I remembered to double the simple syrup.) This photo shows the work in process.


The first pour...


The first toast -- yum! It's absolutely delicious.


Perhaps it would have been a good idea to find matching containers for the limoncello. Does it really matter? We used what was on hand and then some. The last bit went into Mason jars...fitting, considering that limoncello is one giant leap (small step?) above making ones own moonshine.


Can't wait to see what's in store for next week....

Make Limoncello!

My love affair with limoncello began on my 40th birthday, when a dear friend shared some of the traditional Italian lemon liqueur as a gift. In the spirit of home-made Christmas gifts, this photo depicts the beginning of my first attempt at making the delectable digestif.

After extensive Google research, the recipe I've decided to use is this:

1 bottle 750 ml Everclear (190 proof)

12 lemons

4 1/4 cups of water

3 1/2 cups of sugar

Carefully zest lemons. Place the peels in a container and add Everclear. Let sit for seven days shaking container occasionally.

On the eighth day, make a simple syrup with the water and sugar. Let cool to room temperature. Strain out zest, and then filter the lemon infused alcohol through coffee filters to remove impurities.

Mix in the cooled simple syrup and transfer to a bottle.

When I poured the Everclear into the Mason jar with the lemon peel, some of the alcohol accidentally spilled. And yes, due to the extremely high alcohol content, it took the some of the finish off the table -- strong stuff. Within a few minutes of steeping, the grain alcohol was already becoming infused with the lemon taste! (Attention, Sarah: This is a personal reminder that the recipe is doubled. Please, remember to double the simple syrup when completing the project.)

The lemons in this batch of limoncello were generously donated by two neighbors with abundant lemon crops in their respective yards. Many thanks to our good friends, the Wagners and Cooners. Some of the finished product will be coming your way. :)

When life gives you lemons, make limoncello!

It's Snow, Man!

People almost anywhere north of Houston must think we are ridiculous for going gaga over a little snow. I can count on one hand the number of times it has snowed in Houston in the 25 years that I've lived here....OK, maybe 6 times...but I think it's just five times total.

It snowed the week Hilary was born, 20 years ago this month.

There was an ice storm once, the weekend of the marathon in January one year...but no snow. Joy was five or six at the time, and she's 18 now.

There were slight snow flurries one afternoon when our daughters were in elementary school.

It snowed on or around Christmas day a few years ago when we went to see Mimi and Papa for Christmas....so we missed that one.

It snowed one year ago for an hour or two on December 10th.

And today....that's it. It's been snowing since we woke up this morning. So, we're pretty excited, to say the least.

The snowman is courtesy of Hilary. Thanks, sweetie.

Broken

The broken cherub fountain legs
in need of true repair,
and as the JB Weld is used,
replacement starts with care.

But broken legs and broken dreams
of broken people see
that band-aids, rods, and JB Weld
can only ever be...

A fix for body visible...
what happens to the heart?
For heart and soul get broken, too,
how does that healing start?

When arrows pierce a wounded heart
and worded barbs cut deep --
who holds a man accountable,
who is his brother's keep?

And when more slander spreads around,
the lies disguised as truth,
who will defend the downtrod man,
or widow in her youth?

For sometimes life and death collide
and disappointment churns,
beside still waters souls restore
at least, that's what I learned

In youth. My shepherd is the Lord
who guides in righteousness
and though I walk through shadows deep
I dwell in His goodness.

In close, the statue legs are fixed;
they won't fall off again,
though outwardly there is a scar --
the cherub feels no pain.

Year Four -- Check

Achy knees -- check
Sore thighs -- check
Hurting hiney -- check
Lower back pain -- check
Tender shoulder muscles -- check
Painful fingertips -- check
Complete satisfaction of a job well done -- check

For the fourth year in a row, yesterday, I participated as an artist in a street painting festival, Via Colori, to raise money for the Center for Hearing and Speech. It was an exhausting day of art WORK, and will include, as an added bonus, a few days of sore muscle recovery....all for a good cause.

Some new friends dropped by the festival, little suspecting that they would be recruited to help fill in some background color. (Thanks Julie and Mike!) Notice the reflective stripe of the street running through the painting under the ukulele, and a small portion of the grid pattern is still visible.

The Amazing Reese helps before the event by editing a photo of a painting and super-imposing a 10" x 10" grid pattern over it, which we then take to Kinko's and laminate. When we get to the street, we mark off a 10 foot by 10 foot square (also known as 100 square feet) and use the gridded painting as a guide for the day's work. That's how it's possible to get proportions mostly correct on such a large scale.

A couple of young neighborhood friends came to help. These young girls were very good at following directions and helped fill in the background for the table top, and some of the draped blue sheet. A passing comment was made, and randomly enough, these two 7 year olds (and I) were discussing, of all things, fame. One of the girls said, "What do you want? Do you want to be famous?" How would YOU, gentle reader, answer that question? My reply is marked by an asterisk at the end of this entry.

By mid-afternoon, the nagging thought occurred that I was literally starving from hunger. What better way to enjoy the festival atmosphere and replenish sapping strength than to devour a turkey leg? Mmmmm.

My blog buddy Joyce and her sweet family came to visit, too. Young David was quietly studying every aspect of the technique of the process of applying a pastel chalk drawing to the canvas of an asphalt street. Maybe his future includes street painting. Notice also, that I'm getting filthier as the day progresses.

And here is the finished product. By this time, Reese and I were among the last participants to leave the festival. Technically, it should be called Still Life With Ukulele -- 4.

Here's a link to an article that has already been written and very graciously mentions me alongside other Houston artists.

It was great to see the article's slide show, too -- working so hard all day I missed the opportunity to fully enjoy my fellow artists' work. And by the way, that's me in image #8 of the slide show!

If new readers would like to see past Via Colori participation, click on Nov 2006, Nov 2007, and Nov 2008 in the right hand column of this blog.

On a more personal note, the Friday before Via Colori was my 46th birthday. Imagine my surprise when I opened a gift at the restaurant only to find an enormously huge goldfish inside a plastic bag filled with water. Want to help think of a name besides Gigantor for the fish?

*Thoughtfully and carefully, the reply seemed to come from deep within, " I want to do good and be kind." Young Mary (name changed to protect the innocent) seemed satisfied with the response.

Sheer Delight

45 miles north of Comstock, Texas is this spot on the Devil's River. Some dear friends invited us out to their ranch one summer shortly after Reese's little brother had died. He died after jumping off a rope swing into the Guadalupe River.

When my mother in law saw the original photo I used for this painting, she had a very strong (negative) reaction. She was extremely upset that we allowed Anna to play on a rope swing when her son had just died jumping off a similar swing on a similar river.

But that rope swing and being surrounded by loving friends turned out to be a very positive healing experience for us. The rope swing wasn't evil. What happened to Reese's little brother was nothing more than a horrible tragic accident. Besides, what better way to honor "Uncle Brian's" memory than enjoying the same activity he did with his final breath?

Consequently, one of the things I love so much about this painting is the look of sheer delight on Anna's face; sheer delight and fun returning after an unexpected time of grief.

Little People

Some of our friends came over last night. Joyce and I originally met via the Internet, which, I guess, is becoming more common this day and age. To my delight, because we live rather close to one another, we actually get to visit in person sometimes. The whole family arrived just in time to see the mural on the back of the house before the sun went down. We fed the fish in the pond for a few minutes, then the mosquitoes got hungry so in we went.

Parents and children alike enjoyed playing with the little people. A few pieces have broken or gone missing over the years, but the little people toys are always a hit, and an easy way to show hospitality to the little people who play with them....it's a win win.

Maybe next time we can go to the playground, too. :)

Ode to Hats

This is a story of a life --
a simple one at that,
and yet sometimes I complicate
by wearing lots of hats.

One hat for when I clean the house
another when I cook,
a hat to wear in outside fair,
and one for reading books,

A hat to wear when paying bills,
a hat to be a friend,
a hat when I was Sarah Mills
a hat for who I've been,

The hat as wife of big man Reese,
the hat of daughter, too,
the hat of nurture -- motherhood,
a hat for playing blues,

A hat for mind, a hat for soul,
a hat for healthy eats,
a hat to wear when digging holes
to plant a garden neat.

It's hard to keep on all these hats
for ev'ry little thing,
to write, to paint and live a life
in glory to the King.

Because I want to be my best
in everything I do,
but more than not my life's a mess...
I haven't got a clue.

So, here's the deal, I like to paint,
I'm thinking this is good,
if I could wear an artist's hat
forever, then I would.

But that's not all that life's about...
we all wear many hats,
but just today I want to paint
God, grant me time for that.

Summer Street Warehouse

To match the sky all clear and blue
and mix the colors till they're true
I squeeze the paint from tiny tubes
and on my palette goes the hue.

Earnestly beginning mixing
palette knife the color fixing
soon a building comes in focus
it's fun work, not hocus pocus.

The city is so bright and fair
a simple warehouse clean and bare
shows off in quiet elegance
it's beauty for the ages hence.

A shadow here, a highlight there,
a vision that I want to share
and so one sees what I have done
the work has now become the fun.

I took artistic license, sure...
The colors? not exactly pure,
but as a whole the painting works
just call it an artistic perk.

Off Again

Last Friday, I submitted an art proposal, and even though it's not conclusive whether (or not) I've gotten the job, the project is so exciting (to me) that I've started working on it anyway. Part of the project includes scoping out locations in Houston where I ride my bike to use as inspiration for artwork. And even though I've ridden the ole cruiser past one particular location, in the interest of time yesterday, I drove the suburban there for an informal traffic study, and to take some reference photos. Traffic in the area is robust, full of large service vehicles. A polite bystander, named Louis, who was sitting in an area I had previously thought might make a good vantage point for painting, offered the suggestion that on Sundays, the traffic is almost non-existent. It would be nice to not die from being hit by a truck while painting on the side of the road. I thanked him for the tip.

Louis and I also discussed the book he was reading whereupon he said he would leave the book for me there when he had finished reading it if I wanted to read it next. Is that common street etiquette? Do I bring a book for him, too, and leave it on that street corner in Houston, with his name on it?

After leaving the conversation with Louis, I drove toward home really excited to start work in the studio, and silently congratulated myself for good time management. Approximately two miles from home, the suburban stuttered, sputtered, and let out a deep sigh before passing out. It was out of gas. All that brilliant time management was for naught. (Ha!) After walking home, glad to be wearing comfortable shoes (Chuck Taylor Converse All Star Low Tops Slip-Ons,) I tried to work in the studio but the inspirational momentum was gone.

So, it ended up being one of those days where I paint, wipe it off, paint again, wipe it off again, and then clean my brushes in stoic frustration, if that makes sense. Even though I have nothing to show yesterday's efforts, perhaps it's better to work and see no visible results than not work at all.