drawing a blank

6:00am / a new day

dreams arrive in fragments first.

rock with life reaching for light.

it’s the tiny rituals that hold a whole life together.

today feels good.

d. smail © 2009–2026 Our Last Sunset

Fine red dust from the Lea County wind corridor lingers in the evening air, catching the low sun as it settles along the horizon. Backlit in silhouette, wind turbines rise quietly above the grasses, suspended in a haze of light and distance in southeastern New Mexico.

note to self…

i am only here now.

Just sitting here, Saturday morning, editing some photos with the television tuned to a ’70s music channel for some mindless background… and this song came on.

I was editing a Persimmon Cobbler shot when this memory hit.

I was 13, maybe 14. Dad was driving us home from a junior high basketball game that he helped coach. It was dark and the oncoming headlights were blinding. The kind of night where you had to flash your brights to remind other drivers to dim theirs.

From the car’s 8-track player, Queen was blaring: “We Are the Champions.”

“Don’t you like this song? Sing along,” he said, hitting the track number to start it from the beginning.

I humored him and mumbled along. He hit the button again, starting it over. “Sing it, like you mean it,” he said, performing an exaggerated version of how I should sound.

I knew the drill. If I didn’t shift my energy/attitude to match his, the car might stop.

🎶 “We are the champions… no time for losers… ’cause we are the champions…”

I still hate the song.

07/08/2025 - 2:44 am / Houston, Texas

my favorite ritual.

I need help from the “Outsider Art Collectors”!

In 2001, I purchased these pieces from an Outsider Artist / 40”X32” / thick oil stick marks on heavy weight watercolor paper.

I can’t figure out his name to save my life. Nothing written on the back. Lost all my paperwork and information during a flood (HTX).

The signature seems to read “Delory or Debry” ? (I’ve attached those photos as well.) After searching & searching, I cannot find a thing.

Also want to mention he may have lived in the Pacific Northwest…but not one bit certain.

Thank you in advance for any tips or hints! 🙏🏼😊

The obstacle IS the path.

(the obstacle isn’t something standing in our way. It’s ’the way’ itself.)

ink & paper ©️ d.smail

feeling homesick.

Tularosa, NM

sketch-y

coffee time

Today is the most important day.

Timmy & Frankie Studio semi-still life.