I Shouldn't Say...

...that I'm trying hard to believe, because it's not hard to believe. I know in my heart that of course it is better. No regret.

Clinging to the Train, Thinking of Jumping

Collecting bits of motivation for making a leap of faith. Came across this one today. Thought I'd share for any other aspiring creatives out there.

Going Solo. from Studio Botes on Vimeo.

My Little Rorschach Test

I felt the need to do something creative today, so I decided to paint. As is often the problem, however, I didn't have anything in mind that I particularly wanted to paint. So I returned to an old trick I learned when I was making a lot of ATCs back in '07. (Btw, an ATC is an "Artist Trading Card" - a 2.5" by 3.5" card that can be made from or with any material. The only restrictions are the size and the stipulation that cards can never be sold - only traded or given to other artists or people.) This particular technique involves painting a whole sheet of watercolor paper - abstractly. Then, once the sheet has dried, cutting ATC size chunks out of it and trying to see what you can see in them. I like to think of it as a mini Rorschach test. It's a very freeing technique, because your painting doesn't have to go in any particular direction, and it truly leaves the 'art' up to interpretation after the fact. Anyway, thought I'd share a few of the cards I came up with. Not every card yields a usable result, but tonight I think I got a solid three out of it. Here they are:

Woman Sunbathing:


House on Fire:


We Can Only Meet In Other Worlds:


Also, for fun, here's what the sheet looks like as I cut the ATC sized pieces out:


Anyway, it was a fun way to spend an hour or two today. Also did a bit of gardening, some cooking, some laundry - mundane life stuff. It was just the kind of slow, contemplative weekend I needed.

Wow, it's been forever.

I can't believe how long it has been since I've updated this thing. And how infrequently before then. I can remember when blogging was a multiple-times-per-day activity in college. Back when my computer was always on AND connected to the internet with no concern about the cable or electricity bills, and before I had a job that kept me out of the house for 12 hours a day.

Anyway, some things have come up lately that I have wanted to share with anyone who might still check this thing periodically so I figured I should update.

Number one: my ipod is totally sentient. And it totally gets mood swings. It usually takes me 8 (+/-2) songs to get to work. Sometimes the pod is all sweet and compliant and gives me a perfect mix exactly when I want it. And sometimes not. This week, it has complied pretty well. Here's a sampling of some of the drive-to-work mixes it has delivered:

Monday
1.) I Touch Myself - Divinyls
2.) Just - Radiohead
3.) Whipping Post - Allman Bros
4.) End of the World as We Know It - R.E.M.
5.) Here Goes Something - Nada Surf
6.) You Look So Fine - Garbage
7.) Amber - 311
8.) This is Love - PJ Harvey

Tuesday
1.) Toxic - Britney
2.) Under Your Spell - BTVS Soundtrack
3.) If I Ever Lose My Faith in You - Sting
4.) Paranoid Android - Radiohead
5.) Mixed Bizness - Beck
6.) Great Indoors - John Mayer
7.) Politik - Coldplay
8.) 1979 - Smashing Pumpkins

Wednesday
1.) F**k the Pain Away - Peaches
2.) Mississippi - Sheryl Crow
3.) Me & U - Cassie
4.) New Genious (Brother) - Gorillaz
5.) You Turn the Screws - Cake
6.) Garden - Pearl Jam
7.) Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne
8.) Life Your Life - TI

Thursday
1.) See You - Foo Fighters
2.) More and More - Offer Nissim
3.) Rock the House - Gorillaz
4.) 6 Underground - Sneaker Pimps (Paul Oakenfold remix)
5.) Electioneering - Radiohead
6.) In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel
7.) Break on Through - The Doors

As you can see, when my Ipod is being compliant it is also being conciliatory - towards my extremely eclectic and random music tastes. Judging by these mixes.

Another weird thing about the Ipod - sometimes I feel like it's trying to show me something. Case in point, the other day after Electioneering had already come on once, it tried to play it again later. About 10 seconds in when I realized, "Hey, I've already heard this today," I decided to hit skip. And the next song started - and sounded exactly the same. I thought, "Wtf, Ipod are you sick?" and then noticed it wasn't Radiohead that was playing, but rather, a Lily Allen song. Of course now I can no longer remember which one - but it was a revelation inspired by the "shuffle songs" feature on my personified Ipod.

So that was one thing.

Next. Electric Mountain Rotten Apple Gang. This music = sweet. Accordion girl's socks = FTW.



That is that.

This art I was directed to by Boing Boing has me convinced that I'm not actually creative at all, just a good duplicator, because I could NEVER think of this. And it is awesome. In case you are wondering - those are CRAYONS. That picture is of a picture created with crayons. Check out the artist's website here. His name is Christian Faur.





Thus far I have resisted the urge to buy nintendo virtual console (VC) points and go crazy downloading games I played on my cousin's SNES. However, the recent arrival of Commodore 64 games on the VC has me singing a different tune. The first (and only) game playing mechanism my parents ever supplied/allowed was the computer. And the three or four 5 inch floppy disks we had with games on them were my first exposure to gameplay. "Dr. J vs Larry Bird," "Summer Olympic Games," and "Pitfall" all hold a great sense of game-related nostalgia for me. So I'm highly tempted to take the plunge and start downloading. Although like many things in life it is a balance between what we want and what we can afford. And if I am ever going to get the Nikon D80 I've been dreaming of for so long, the VC may have to wait. Even with commodore 64 games. But for anyone else out there who experienced these simple but fun games as a child, I encourage you to go check em out on the virtual console.

This story, about an airline in England that accepts a DIY photo id to board a plane gave me no small amount of fear and disbelief when I read it.

If you have a chance, check out this video countering the Ken Starr lawsuit against gay married couples in California.

Whew! That was a lot to get out. But I think that's it for now. I'll try to stop by a little more frequently, but who knows!!

Busy Busy Busy

I probably won't be doing updates to this blog for a bit, as I am super busy with a new project. I am participating in a craftster swap, called the "Little Visitor Swap." The basic gist of it is that you trade stuffed animals with someone for 2 months, take their stuffed animal to see a bunch of neat places where you live and take pictures and stuff, and then at the end of the visit send them home with some souvenirs and a scrapbook of their adventure. I am also, however, keeping a blog for my LV. So run on over here and check it out!

Gallery of FOs

So in craftster, there's a shorthand for finished objects you've crafted - FOs. So I have in the spirit of showing of my crafty prowess (haha) created a quick little website with some albums of FOs. So far I've only got stenciled shirts and earrings up there, but eventually I hope it will be a full gallery of all my crafts. I'll probably even put a special section up for the craft fair in October. So anyway, here it is now, in its incompleteness.

new craft project

i entered a swap last week called "OTT 14." for those of you not in my immediate family or on craftster, a swap is something organized by my favorite web forum, craftster.org, where people who make stuff swap crafted goods with one another that are organized around a theme, in this case OTT. ott stands for one tiny thing. craftsters use one skill that they're really good at to make one TINY (4x4" or less) item to send to their partner. since lately, i've been getting really into (and decent at) jewelry and beading, i decided to use that as my skill. plus the partner i was assigned had a beaded bracelet on her wist. (wist, also for those who don't know is a site that allows you to capture thumbnails of any picture on the web and add it to a wishlist, with both crafted and manufactured items as well as books, people, and whatever else appears on your ultimate wishlist - found at wists.com). so i made her the beaded bracelet you see below. it was my first of this style, and i'm pretty pleased with how it came out. i brought it to work today, and two of my coworkers said they'd pay between $15-20 for it. if i get accepted to the craft fair again this year i might have to make some. they'd bring a much tidier profit than my plastic rings of yore.

closed:


open:


on my wrist (please ignore how hairy it is!):


what do you think?