Tag: ArtChangesLives

It Wasn’t Always “Glory Days”

Abstract pen-and-ink drawing by Bill Hendricks featuring intricate blue and black geometric patterns, flowing organic shapes, circles, and decorative borders.
Intricate Blue and Black-10092026 Hendricks©2026

I was walking today, thinking about how things have happened in my life. So much wasn’t planned. Things came along, I stepped into them, and before I knew it, I was doing it for better or worse.

Looking back, I’m amazed at how things worked out. But they weren’t always glory days. I didn’t always know where I was going or whether things would work out.

I kept doing it while making course corrections along the way. Now I’m spending more time thinking about what comes next, but I’m already doing what I want to do.

I’ve been noticing something similar in my drawings. Working with pen and ink makes me slow down. Every line matters. I have to look at what’s happening, think about what I’m doing, and decide where the next line goes.

It challenges me.

Maybe that’s why being present came to mind today. Whether I’m drawing or walking, there’s something about paying attention to what’s happening around me. I guess that is called presence.

Bill Hendricks

Confidence and Trust

I have confidence in sunshine,
I have confidence in rain.
I have confidence that spring will come again!
Besides which, you see, I have confidence in me!

— “I Have Confidence,” The Sound of Music
Rodgers & Hammerstein

When I was teaching, my students used to get a kick out of the fact that every once in a while I would break into song.

One of my favorites was I Have Confidence from The Sound of Music.

I’ve been thinking about that song lately. I’ve also been thinking about confidence, trust, and résumés.

A résumé can list what I’ve done. It can remind me of exhibitions, teaching, projects, and accomplishments. But confidence doesn’t come from a list of what I’ve already done.

It comes from trusting what I can do next.

I’ve been working on a new series of small drawings and paintings, and I’m pleased to say that some of them will be going to New York in December for Collective Z’s Small Works show.

I’m excited to be showing with Collective Z again. It’s a wonderful small gallery, and I’ve really enjoyed working with Alex Z. Wang.

Will every piece I make be the best piece I’ve ever made? Probably not.

That’s not really the point.

Whatever comes out of that process, it will be the best of me.

Bill Hendricks

 

Three small abstract pen-and-ink drawings with geometric lines, symbols, and machine-like forms arranged on an artist’s worktable.
Three works in progress from the Small Works series, 2026. Pen and ink on paper.

Collective Z is a contemporary gallery and project space on Broome Street in New York, dedicated to artists working in states of transition, tension, and becoming.

— Collective Z

Directions

Directions, pen-and-ink drawing by Bill Hendricks in a decorative found frame
Directions, c. 2023 — pen and ink in found frame, Bill Hendricks

I did this drawing some time ago, probably in 2023.

I found the frame a few years ago and always knew I wanted to use it. I was lucky enough to have the image that was meant for it: Directions.

I think this piece talks about both time and distance. Arrow up, arrow to the right—either works.

It’s a fun little piece, and I’m ready to part with it.

Directions, c. 2023
Pen and ink
Drawing: 3½ × 2¼ inches
Framed: 4½ × 3¾ inches
$350 framed

Available through the ArtChangesLives shop →

Walking Reflection — November 4

A digital collage blending red, gold, and pink autumn leaves with soft branches and floral forms. The composition feels like a playful romp with color, echoing the joy and energy of fall.
Autumn Layers — digital collage inspired by the color and rhythm of autumn.

Autumn Colors

This fall, on my walks, I’ve been amazed by the color — soaking it in, just appreciating the ability to gaze upon such beauty.

As beautiful as the colors of spring and summer are — spring with its bright yellow-greens and lupines in pinks and violets, and summer with its deeper greens and the bright yellows of marigolds or the reds of geraniums and pinks of coneflowers — not to mention the purples and blues of delphiniums — I love them too.

But autumn colors speak to me differently. There’s an excitement, a passion in them that touches my soul.

I often collect leaves and set them in my studio to inspire me — to try and equal the wonderful harmony of fall colors. This year, I decided to play as the Creator once did, and create an image — a playful collage of color, built from photographs taken along the way.

Bill Hendricks

Started with a Walk and a Photograph

Related: Minnesota DNR Fall Color Finder — a live map of color across the state and information about the 2025 season.

For the last couple of days…

I have been working on the course I am teaching at Minneapolis College of Art and Design–Postcards and Beyond, the portfolio portion of this site and my résumé. It feels like I am ready to move into this ArtChangesLives. Working on my résumé trying to put my life on a page is very similar to drawing a line. In a sense, it is very much like trying to get from point x to y as directly as possible. Well, when I lived it, it certainly wasn’t clear at all. A résumé isn’t designed to show the lines that never worked out–the disappointments, the multitude of choices, the dawdling to the delightful distractions and amusements along the way and the calls to stop. We are called to knit events into tidy little packages. Sad, I say that because it is the challenges and the untidiness that really informs a life and created mine.

Intersecting lines of construction cranes against the sky during construction of U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
It Started with a Line and a Walk
Photo by Bill Hendricks, c. 2022

A line is a dot that went for a walk.

Paul Klee