Titles thwart me. Deal with it.

Peas are coming up in the garden, and at last the blankets have been tucked away in the garage. I hauled home a giant green galzinized pot today, and this year, by the gods, we WILL have tomatoes.

In other news, I feel the need for a new journal theme. And to update various sites. Let's see what I can do in that regard in an hour, hm?

This is actually relevant to my work, as I need to warm up the bran and writing muscles.
Like UrsulaV, before I ever took an art class, I wanted to be a writer. Always, forever, I was writing stories in my head, on spare bits of paper, for every shool assignment that could potentially be answered through narrative.I wrote even more than I doodled - and I doodled in the margins of everything. I didn't have a dedicated book for writing, and I didn't have a dedicated sketchbook either. I had to justify how much paper I used both to myself and my parents, so I wrote on the backs of everything. I belive this contributed significantly to the perpetual mess in my desks and lockers, because assignments got scrambled int he need for paper to write on. I somehow managed to get enough turned in on time to keep my grades up, and still read voraciously enough to be notorious.
Along the way though, so often, I was given comments like:
"You could be a great writer, if only you'd finish something"
"But what does it mean?"
"Why are you writing about demons and death? People will think you have a horrible life at home! You can't turn that in!"
"But why are you writing about war? Why can't you write something you know?"
"It's very good, but do you have to write about magic?"
"If you ever finish this, maybe you could send it to be published."
"Why don't you write an article for the newspaper? There are more jobs for journalists than novelists you know."
"Why are you writing that? What is that supposed to mean? Don't you know there are starving children in Africa? Your life is not that bad - why are you writing these horrible things?"

Le sigh.
Of course I eventually stopped writing. Or, rather, it tapered off to the point that I wrote (write!) only what was (is!) burning me so badly I couldn't think of anything else.

I know that these are typical experiences - and this is what makes me sad - that hundreds of thousands of children and more who are now grown have been through much the same thing.
It isn't only the demon of Is It Good Enough but also the demon of What Will People Think.

It is true that any creation is to some extent autobiographical, as it comes from somewhere in the author, but it is the nature of poecy to take that fragmentary impuse and ask the great questions "What if?" and "What next?" It is from this impulse, when nurtured in abundance which springs our greatest stories and poems - and indeed - art.

Art has always been to some extent telling a story for me. It's a different kind of story, and I have trouble explaining it in words to anyone at all. Like the impulse to write, I recive a flash, a vision of some fragmentary thing, and should I get it wrestled down onto paper or canvas, I stand before it and wonder What Happens Next. I wonder why this thing looks like that, or why they're here, or what color would look good there and why.

A painting that's sitting in mystudio, halfway to finished, bears witness to this even now. I see in my head still the flash of the fragment: a 17th century hazy landscape, brushed into submission, viewed through a break in a dim copse, providing that soft, ambient light so typical of historical portraits of great political and military figures. I see in this copse a cyborg, fitted out with brass and exposed gears, a bulging monacle and a fantastic pistol. He wears a golden mask and a tricorn hat, and he is vaguely holding a flag of the sort that a mounted outrider would carry, and it falls in tight columnar folds to the ground.

I don't know what he's up to, whether he's a defender or an invader, or something entirely rogue and dangerous. Somehow I get the impression he's Up To No Good, either way. The great thing about painting though - is I don't have to answer "why" unless I want to.
I can move onto the next flash, and the next, and maybe at the end I still have a collection of fragments, but the fragments themselves are finished, and that gives me a certain satisfaction.

And you know what? If someone else gets a story from a painting of mine, it won't be denigrated as fan-fic, it will be regarded as inspired, if the inspiration is recognized at all.
I think this is a grand thing, and for this reason I use Creative Commons designation whenever I remember to. I'd like to know what you wrote - not to demand tribute, but because I too want to know "What Happens Next?"

My Library at LibraryThing

ed: why is the widget not working??

Yesterday's theme was technology.
Technically that started the evening before when we finally did something about the phones and went out to acquire new ones, which subsequently must be programmed and explored.
Personally, I now carry a Samsung Gravity 2. Love it, slide-out keyboard and all. Finally figured out that I can just keep writing, and the phone will divvy the thing up into multiple text messages. How cool is that? It means I have to pay more attention to character count for twitter though.

Yesterday we spent most of the day rebuilding/programming the shuttlebox.
We are at the moment a four-computer household: my new art/business computer in the studio, my lovely but bulky G5 and attendant large peripherals (wacom, epson, monitor...) is my venue at the mkoment. The old shuttlebox has been relegated to a backup and gaming machine, the dragonbox lives on the Ivar now and partners with the television and bose speakers for movies and gaming (and pandora!). The fourth machine is an ancient compaq laptop with Puppy Linux, which we've been prepping to be a show machine, for accepting cards and potentially print-on-demand when paired with the Epson.
The shuttlebox is now loaded with Ubuntu, and Wine. Still working on getting Guild Wars running on it - it's installed, and let me tell you, Ubuntu is far more sensible about networking than XP. It's downright easy. It's just a matter of getting the video card driver to cooperate. It's been problematic in the past.

Today we continue to struggle with the issue of Staying Warm and Thwarting Kitties. Such helpful little beasts. >.<

Also, I need to email some aggies, update devart and etsy if possible, and finish the Darkly Woven outline. Must resist urge to fill in details.

Also, contemplating Worst Gift Ever for the staples contest. Hey, netbooks are cool! I'd much rather trade in the 10 pound compaq for one of those little sexies - especially if I can remove the Windows in favor of Puppy or Ubuntu.

I've noticed over time that if things are labeled as art supplies, rather than craft supplies, they're more expensive. So also art OR craft, versus hardware. Apparently this is also true of packaging materials. Where you buy it and who the customer is percieved to be is highly influential in the pricing scheme.

People - It's THE SAME STUFF. Why do you believe the label/venue makes it any different?
It's still piss from the same horse, yo.

And guess what, merchants - understand that the Internet is changing your consumer's level of awareness about these things. Your slieght of hand may have worked great in the dark ages, but the days of passive consumption are waning in favor of passionate, informed users.

As a side note, I am told I would be doing better in my whole art-for-a-living thing if I took advantage of this factor while it still exists. This is probably true, but I believe doing that would be Wrong. I really try not to be Evil unless it's really, really worth it you know.

If my friend sends me an email about the right-wing conservative view on chicken feathers and the faith of a turnip, I don't send back a nasty reply; I just delete it. I don't respond...like I used to.
http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=uswi&c=holidays&id=13053

The problem is, now that it's been mentioned, there's now a website for it. Like fetishes, hairball religiosity flourishes in the percieved anonymity of the internet.

"If you use an artificial tree and happen to be replacing it this year (or maybe know a friend or family member who is) , don't toss out the old one just yet. The branches can be wired together to form a wreath or in longer lengths for garlands or a spray for over doorways. Hot glue or wire on pinecones, berry sprigs, small apples, nuts and berries for holiday trimmings that look like they came right from the florist!" http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usky&c=holidays&id=13399

I heard from a co-worker that the carbon footprint of an artificial tree is something like 20 years of buying 6ft Douglas Firs. I looked it up just now, and found an article weighing pros and cons: http://www.naturalhomemagazine.com/leafy-greens/eco-friendly-christmas-trees-live-or-artificial.aspx but it doesn't mention any hard numbers. Numbers or no though, re-making an existing thing is always a good thing!

Slightly random: this is a great idea: http://tsabo6.deviantart.com/gallery/#F-o-C- An excellent way to increase skill. I don't think he'd take too much offense if I borrow the idea. Hm. 5x7 at 300dpi, set myself a timer for 30 min? I wonder if it'll look like anything yet. I'm still so new at digital...

...


Oh wow. I just hit the dashboard button, and realized this post has been sitting in widgets all day. I've been painting, and a bit distractable. If you couldn't tell.

http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usmi&c=words&id=13591

edit: the above link becomes http://tinyurl.com/ydn3xy9, but unfortunately, you can't just right click the address bar, you have to right click on a link on a page. That's a bit dumb there, eh programmers? Extra steps and all.

Yes, yes, I know. Studio day and I'm on the computer. So sue me - I'm still caffinating. Also, I spent an unproductive hour trying to make some Sculpey workable. Does anyone know if mineral oil works as a conditioner for the stuff? It's crumbling all over the place.

Why is that I am always setting myself unreasonably ambitious goals? Not only do I want all these prints matted, bagged, wrapped, but I want nice business cards and a holder and refined copy to send with them, and I want to finish mondrian's yarn, print it on nice watercolor paper, and embellish it and dd gold leaf and matt it and send it with the rest.
Oh, and I want to finish the holiday cards, print them, address and personalize, and send them out.

I need to be three people, really, all at once. Why does my brain do this to me? Does yours? How do you survive?