Heat Wave

keepin' it cool, man, keepin' it cool...

I love being a Nana.
(I'm just sayin'...)

Happy First Day of Spring, y'all!
:-)

Be Square, Man

I got the bright idea a while back to create a photo wall over the little table in the kitchen where we spend most of our time.  My thought was that I have TONS of photos, and I could change out the photos as the seasons changed, or whenever I felt like it for the fun of it.  Great idea, right?

SO -- I got a bunch of photo frames.  I got frames with mats that accommodate an 8" square format piece.  I recruited my dad (who is a perfectionist and so is THE PERSON I knew would be sure that the frames were hanging exactly right) and we hung six of them on my wall -- three across and two high.  Okay.  He hung them and I just handed him things.  Still.

That was in early December.

This is March.  SOON it will be mid-March.  And the pictures in my frames are still the same black and white photo that was in them at the store.  Yes.  You heard me right.

At first, it was just that Christmas got in the way.  Then it was trying to make the time to find a set of six photos that I could crop down to the right size -- plus I needed a new printer so I could print them out myself -- plus THAT was not working well so I needed some new photo editing software -- plus ...

You get the picture.  (pun)

So now I'm going through my photos and finding out that my favorite photos quit being my favorite photos as soon as they are cropped down into a square format.  Logical, but the logic switch in my brain must have toggled off at some point in, oh, November.  So I've been playing with photos that AREN'T my favorites to see if the square crop helps them.  In some cases it does.

Now, because these frames (with the black and white photos of identical sailboat rigging or something equally confusing) are INSISTING that I fill them PLEASE before 2013 rolls around, I'm trying my best to figure out what makes for good composition in a square format.  I'm thinking there are some different rules than with a rectangular format -- there must be.  It looks like we can break the rule that says not to put your subject in the very center, for one.  I suspect that we may find much higher or lower "horizon" lines work in square format, too.  Anyone out there have any ideas/rules/thoughts, etc on square format?

For now, I'm going to just play it cool and work at being square.

What?

KnitWit

The weather here is cold and icky.  My drawing plans have been (only very temporarily) interrupted while I finish a little project -- a shawl and hat for a friend who is going to need a little support on Monday.

Do YOU have a little bit of spare time this weekend?   Why don't you join me and create something special.

Make a hat from headhuggers.org for someone who really needs it.

See you in a day or two!

Oh 2012!

It's been a while.
Things have changed -- some people have grown.  Some people have learned to walk and talk and run and chase things.

I tend to think certain people have grown cuter and cuter.

But that's just my opinion.  (Even if I am right.)

I think about this blog every now and then.   Not often enough and usually just to feel guilty that I haven't posted.  

The truth is, time has just rolled on, along with lots and lots of obligations, and I've let the time I allow for creativity/art dwindle away.  Things -- and by that I mean actual THINGS -- have piled up around my art area, and at the end of the day, when I'm most tired of WORKING and most need to be playing, I can't use my art space without WORKING even more to clean it up.

I need to spend a day (or two or seven) to clean up and sell off / give away / throw away a lot of these things that are hampering my creativity rather than feeding it.  I've started doing just that, but it feels like it is going to be a major project.

HOWEVER -- in the meanwhile -- Diahn and the New Year's Resolution Fairy have come to my rescue to help pull me out of my rut and put me back on the path.  

Yes, I'm starting back -- simply and the way I started back some years ago -- by drawing a little something every day.  Just a LITTLE something.  

We have committed to drawing on a theme every month -- and this month's theme is Coffee.  My first couple of drawings have been, um, well, terrible.  I will warm up and get better.  I'll post the first few in a group in a few days.   I'll stick with it -- I promise.

And maybe we'll both grow a little this year.