Originally published at file under "Miscellanea". You can comment here or there.
Maybe it's the influence of journalism school, but I find I actually can be quite creative and productive under a deadline. The local gallery is having a members' show in June, and I have the opportunity to include a maximum of five works. At the time I learned of the show, I had only completed my first canvas, a gift for a close friend's birthday:
Take off your coat and vest, 2008
mixed media on canvas, 8x10"
Over the course of the week, I've now added two more canvases to my hoard and hope to exhibit them:
Whether we dance or not, 2008
mixed media on canvas, 10x8"
Drift, 2008
mixed media on canvas, 10x8"
After I've dropped off the works, I plan a longer blog post about transitioning to canvases and documenting the experience of my first showing, but for now I just wanted to share them.
As always, comments and questions are welcome.
Where do you want to be in ten years?
Submitted by baby3194.
Inspired by AmyH, I'm not looking forward so much as backward:
- 1998 -- In the early part of this year, I was completing sophomore year of of college as a journalism major in Pennsylvania; in the fall, I got on a plane with my boyfriend of two years and headed for England, where we both had a year of study abroad and I was giving myself a shot at studying art history. My mother was married to her fourth husband, and I hadn't spoken to my father in years.
- 1988 -- My parents by this point had divorced. I lived with my mum in a large house on a few acres of land and a lake. My family raised and bred hunting dogs, and we also had a horse and a turtle. My father lived in a suburb of Chicago and had to learn to drive to come out and pick me up for our every-other-weekend visit.
- 1978 -- In a March chill, I was born on the South Side of Chicago to two people too young to know better and held together by religion and parental authority.
When you look at things this way, it's easier to see how futile looking into the future can be.
I don't know how to describe my religious beliefs at this juncture, but I know in my bones that expression is dead-on. In 1978, did my parents know their union was destined to end? In 1988, could I have ever imagined that in the next decade I would see Germany, Austria, Ireland, England, Wales, and France? How different would my choices have been in 1998 and forward if I had known my mother wouldn't live through the decade?
Of course, I look to the future and have hopes and dreams, but looking backwards reminds me to be adaptable and, most importantly, live in the moment I have now.
Note: The year links above go to images from a recent project I completed, which happens to be a reflection on the various addresses of my life and seemed appropriate.
Web site Copyblogger.com is hosting a twitter writing contest challenging people to tell a story in 140 characters. If you're a twitter user, you have until 5pm CST today to enter, otherwise, I'll just share my entry with you and recommend some of the better vignettes below:
If you also participate, feel free to leave a link to your entry in the comments below!
Some technical snafus have delayed the day-in-the-life pictures, but I plan to post mine after the holiday weekend. :)
1. Did someone in my neighborhood recently (in the last month?) do a post that was your day in photos? If so, please message me the link b/c I think I'm going batty.
2. On that note, said post--which I now cannot locate--inspired me to do the same and to drag my best friend in the action. In the next week, I'll be posting a montage of photos--one taken for every hour that I was awake yesterday. Now I just need to clean up the photos, make the montage, upload, etc. Plus, I'm allowing for time for said friend to do the same. If you're intrigued by the idea and want in, pick up your camera first thing tomorrow morning and also leave a shout in the comments below.
...when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. -- Anaïs Nin
The post-dinner dog walk has become a nightly ritual for my husband and I, and [this is good] on all fronts: we exercise a bit, the dog with four short legs exercises quite a bit more; we enjoy the Florida weather and the opportunity for us-time (I originally wrote "private, adult conversation," but that gave an illicit sound to the whole enterprise; I'm sure the parents out there know what I meant, however).
Last night, my husband found a tightly wrapped magnolia bud on the ground; it had dropped before it had the opportunity to blossom and was such an interesting shape and texture. I brought it home and some Southern impulse made me drop it into a bowl with a shallow pool of water.
This morning, I saw the flower had use this opportunity to the fullest and rewarded me with a magnolia-scented room.
