Saying yes...

Schoolhouse Rock: 21st Century Version

 

 

h/t EL

 

Photography challenge for thundra...

1) Something biomorphically and geometrically pleasing.

2) Something autobiographical.

3) Something hopeful.

4) Something WEIRD!

5) Something enigmatic.

6) Something under-appreciated.

7) Something nostalgic.

8) Something swirly, curly, lurly-lurly...

9) Something gagtastically artistic.

10) Something humorous.

11) Something delicious (not food).

12) Something softer than it looks (no kit-TENS).

13) Something with amazing balance yet asymmetrical.

14) Something revealing (no moobs).

15) Something discreet.

16) Something unexpected.

17) Something where the feeling when you took the photo jumps off the page and makes us feel like we experienced it as well.

That's all! :)

Busy week... nonexistent blogging...

The internet makes the world even smaller... and explaining... even more awkward

It's another busy week and I'm not in the mood for blogging (it seems so 1992), but this draft was burning a hole in my post cache:

The other night, in my evening painting class, I had a moment of my real life meeting up with my internet life, which in many areas, has also become my real life...

A semi-retired gentleman who is taking my class mentioned that he had attended a boring lecture the other day. I happened to know that a certain blogger was in the area giving a talk, although I doubted it was boring... still, I had to ask.

Me: "So, was it about blah, blah, blah??"

Him: "No... it was about feral cat colonies, but I did have a colleague who attended the talk you mentioned. How did you know about it??"

Me: "A friend of mine was giving one of the talks."

Him: "Really?? Does he know so and so??"

Me: "I'm not sure, I'll text him."

Me: "Yes, he does. He had dinner with him."

Him: "Wow! Now how do you know this person again?"

Me: "He's a friend."

Him: "I know... you said that, but how do you know him? Where did you meet?"

This is the point I dread in almost any conversation I have where I KNOW someone in REAL LIFE, but then have to explain that I met them online... and somehow, it takes a turn for creepy.

I told the gentleman in my class that this person and I belonged to the same creative blogging group... a group that was set up so people could share writing, art, thoughts, etc, in an area outside of work. I didn't tell him that meeting most of these people was totally random. I made it sound like there was some rhyme or reason to it...

It seemed to appease him. Or he sensed that maybe it was better not to ask anymore. Sensing he sensed this, I told him that my ENTIRE family(including dogs) had socialized with this person and some of his kids. That seemed to make it better.

I then thought of times when I've had to explain something else that's been going on in my life... a project I've been working on with someone... someone I never thought I'd have any interaction with, but am so thankful I do. The few times it has come up in conversation, and this person's name comes up, I get the inevitable question... "How did you meet this person?? What brought you together??"

I then get to decide of I tell the truth, that I met this person as a cupcake, or do I tell them, we met through friends... :) Personally, I like the first answer.

What is this??

 I've always wanted to do this. When I look at this thing, I've always felt it needed eyes. :)

15 Minutes

No, this isn't a resolution... just a slight shift in behavior from something I noticed I was doing... something that no doubt was adding up to hours of wasted time.

I caught myself last month, waiting to take a lamblet to her music lesson. I had approx. 15 minutes before I had to leave. I sat there, feeling antsy, randomly clicking around the internet, just wishing the 15 minutes had passed so I could leave. Had it been 30 minutes, I would have felt like I had time to do something, but 15? It felt like no man's land. Too early too leave, not long enough to really do anything, but I thought of all of those 15 minutes added up. I thought of the hours, the days, all comprised of 15 minutes I wished away. I had to find something, and something that would be easy to start and stop.

I pulled out an unused notebook. I'm always buying them... this size, that color. I've loved clean, lined notebooks since the 4th grade. They held promise. I even prefer sketching in notebooks. There's less pressure. So I grabbed the notebook... doodled "15 Minutes" on the cover, and wrote whatever came to mind until it was time to leave. I pull it out anytime I find myself waiting for an appt, waiting until I have to pick someone up, waiting for whatever reason we wait, but feel like there's not enough time to do anything, and I write, I draw, I doodle, I embellish previous entries. Nothing may come of this, but something may... something may develop, and I'll have it, captured on the page, instead of lost with my other wonderful thoughts that light up my mind so brightly only to be lost in the haze of the day's activities.

Yes, something may come of it, or nothing may, but at least I'm no longer wishing it away.

Dream Art Studio: Update Edition

I recently described my dream studio

... but I'm always tweaking, always rehabbing. I realized, my dream studio would need this app:

I would like to be able to push a button and all of the things I'll never need again, will never use, will never think of, will just be GONE! No sorting, no wondering, no pulling out some ancient box of whatevers and thinking, "WILL I EVER NEED THESE WHATEVERS EVER AGAIN!?!?"

If I ask my mind that, my mind will suddenly go to the millions of ways I might need these things, all of the ways I could use them. Best to keep it JUST IN CASE!

However, I'm finding that I have shelves full of "Just in Case"... when I really need to use those shelves for "What I'm Doing Now!" I would allow myself a shelf for the near future and a shelf for just in case, but my shelf is turning into a closet of "Just in Case".

I want to not have to even look at things I'll never use again because if I look, I might wonder... And it would also have to be things the lamblets would never use, because they're creative sorts and love to have access to a random smattering of things. Even if I don't want something, I might keep it for them.

Of course, my dream studio would also have that, "Exactly What You Need Right Now" closet... which would hold what I needed, whether I knew it or not. It would hold whatever anyone needed. Whoever opened the door would see only what they needed.

I would also like my dream studio to have the "This is exactly what you need to eat right now" fridge... which when I opened it, would have the perfect meal, ready to go... full of whatever nutrients my bod was lacking at that time... and not full of things that would give me hives, go directly to my butt, phlegm-up my sinuses, etc, etc. (My stomach just typed this one. It's lunchtime, and I'm hungry).

I am once again trying to clear out my office/studio space so it's not full of ghosts of abandoned projects from the past or monsters from the imagined future. I need it to be a place of focus, of clarity, of ease. I think I'm going to invent a drawing table/easel/line of sketchbooks that have blinders on them so you can't see anything but what you're working on... No, even better,  you can't think of anything, but what you're working on.

I have three areas I need to be able to devote my space and thoughts to (not necessarily in order of importance):

1) Class-planning

2) Finishing work I've promised

3) Getting 3 specific projects to their next level of development.

I need to get distractions out of my way. I need to make space for what's going on now. That eject button for things I never need to think about again would sure come in handy.

Using paint for painting class is so 1992...

Yes, I'm breaking my own rule about not talking about my classes, but I felt this one needed to be shared... especially since some of you have been privy to other experiences.  Aside from the fact that I only found out this class was going to run yesterday morning, and class was to start last night, that would be the least of my problems.

I arrived about 20 minutes early, figuring that since this was the first class,  no one would be waiting outside, 45-60 minutes early, like other classes I've (cough) heard about... I had brought in some of my own work, brought in my supplies, dug through old class exercise canvases that have long since been abandoned, trying to figure out my best plan of attack for a 3 hour class.

Mr. Enthusiasm (age 72) showed up first... but I noticed he had no supplies. He said he thought the first class would just be an orientation lecture. I said with only 6 weeks in this session, we're going to start painting tonight!! If he lived close enough, he should really go home and get his stuff.

During our brief bit of smalltalk, I found out that Mr. Enthusiasm was more or less self-taught, having had an insatiable hunger for art history books. He had worked in the steel mills which is where he learned welding, and after that, he ventured into sculpture.  He no longer has a torch, so he said he uses whatever other materials he finds that he can repurpose. I get that.

I also heard, "WELDING!!" I have wanted to learn to weld for the past 20 years, but never seem to have gotten the chance. I asked if he would please bring back some of his work, when he went home to get his supplies... and off he went.

Student #2 shows up!! Ms. Youth!! Also supply-less... Really?? No supplies?? She said she gathered that supplies would be included. HA! HAHA!! No, I told her, they're not... you should have been given a list. I said she could use some of mine for this evening... We talked a bit about her experience and what brought her here. She's a graphic designer and spends most of her day doing banners and envelope design. She really wanted something more creative again. She said she also was known for asking questions and hoped that was alright! HA! QUESTIONS?!!! Someone who wanted to ask questions and not know everything right from the start!!! I said I LOVED questions and would do my best to answer all... Yes! Let loose with the questions... ask them in 20 different ways. Pry what you need from my atrophying brain!!!

Enter student #3... Mrs. I'm Retired, (age, early 60's). Guess what?? She had no supplies... I called the main facility, hoping they could fax a list, but apparently none was on file, and I could not access mine at home. I started reeling them off, and was 6 items into a list before they asked if I could email them in the morning. :)

Mr. Enthusiasm returned with some awesome sculptures, we talked about them and his inspiration. We talked about methods, we talked about where this class would be going, and since it was only 3, hopefully everyone would get plenty of time and would be allowed to follow the path they needed.

I couldn't help but notice that Mrs. I'm Retired seemed a bit sheepish when we were discussing some of the aspects we'd be delving into. I asked her what she was thinking, what was up?? She said she had ABSOLUTELY NO EXPERIENCE... and that that was why she was here, because the course book said, "No experience necessary, just a desire to learn." I said she was right! We'd jump in wherever she was! She still looked really nervous. I prodded some more. And then she teared up a little bit and said, "I haven't done anything since high school." I told her I'd had a lot of people like that. High school desires got shelved for real life and decades later, they finally took those desires off the shelf! No problem! She then said, "No, you don't understand... my high school teacher said I had absolutely no talent and should never do art again... but I can't stop thinking about it and when I saw this course offered, I thought, this is my last chance... but I'm worried, what if I really can't do it??"

I was flabbergasted and said the first exercise would be hunting down the old art teacher so we could smack him/her upside the head. I said the mere fact that this has been calling her for DECADES was all I needed to hear, and that she did not need experience, but just had to be open. I told her she would start seeing things in new ways, and she'd never stop. Her response? I'm always trying to look at things with an open mind... always trying to find new ways of thinking. I guess I'm in the right place.

Yes, yes she is.

I just wish I could bottle some of her openness, some of the entire groups' enthusiasm, and share it with another group I know.

So, I have a new class with 3 people... who have no supplies. :) But they're 3 people who have the supplies I didn't really think of... they are OPEN!! They're not defensive! They're excited. They just want to explore. I can work with that.

Smudgy Fingah Suprise!!!

This beauty showed up on my doorstep this afternoon... a much better behaved Mr. Handsome, as the real Mr. Handsome would have hightailed it after the rabbit that's been lurking in our yard, and surrounding areas...

Many, many thanks to ZRM. I lahve dahg surprises!! Well, not the ones Skirmy Little Dog occasionally leaves at 3am...

Color Pron

We are still on the receiving end of Holiday Fruit around here... Last evening, a large basket of fruit arrived from someone Grizzled works with. This person always sends it after the holidays, which is nice, since our fruit stash is usually waning. It wasn't this year... and now we had more...

Since it said "Perishable! Open Immediately!" I tried to find places to put it, our fruit bowl was already filled, and there was no room in the fridge. I pulled out my lovely stack of cheapo, but lovely colored, Michael Graves mixing bowls. It only took me a second before I knew what I had to do... all of that bright fruit, all of those colorful bowls. I tried to hide my activity in dinner prep, but heard EL, who is hip to my ways, beckon from the other room...

EL- Mom??? Are you sorting the fruit by color??

Me- ... maybe...

EL- Are you sorting it into complementary colored bowls??

Me- ... maybe...

EL- (muffled reaction)

Me- BUT LOOK AT IT!! When do we ever have this much fruit?? In all of these colors?? OK, we could use a better purple, but come on! Look at how nice those lime green bananas look in that pink bowl! I wish I had painting class this week! I'd take it all in and make them paint IT ALL!!!

And then I went back to making dinner, but left the fruitscape on the counter, forgetting it until Grizzled came home.

G- Did you sort the fruit by color??

Me- YES! I DID!!! I COULDN'T HELP IT! LOOK. AT. IT!!!

G- I was just going to say, you missed the lighter blue bowl... those not-fully ripe tangerines would look really good in it...

He was right.