0131 - Wordless and Art

Today is a good day for art and a bad day for writing. Something wells up in me on the last day of January that quenches writing. The only words I have for this day are job related in pursuit of that perennial project: finding work I really like and am good at. Here's a summary from one in a million self-assessment tests I have taken (this one from assessment.com in 2003).

• I naturally generate lots of new ideas and ways of doing things. 
• I like to be included in brainstorming sessions, or whenever new and different solutions must be found.
• I will automatically see the big picture first before seeing the details. I can be a big help with strategic planning, and identifying possibilities.
• I naturally see the links, relationships and patterns between different ideas. I see the “big picture.”
• I thrive on change, and know how to capitalize on it. It is important that I have enough change and variety.
• I have a creative imagination and am gifted at using words (verbally and/or in writing) to express new ideas, concepts or plots. I can be called on when a fresh, new way to communicate important information is needed.
• I am an “idea person” and can quickly understand the essence, potential and significance of the situation. I can be a major contributor when work deals with options, strategies and possibilities.

background for an iPhone decal (2010)

untitled-1 (2006) proof that I make garbage occasionally

pastello (basho) - 2001

untitled-1ii (2001)

startup screen* (1996)

* I didn't really make this one. I believe it may be a screen capture. But it's a real early file and I find it intriguing that I still have it. The duck is from a funny show and I can't now remember the name of the show. If you know, tell me. In the foreground image he's naked. Since he's a duck it's okay. On the ancient Macs you could create a start up screen to replace the factory-supplied Mac OS screen (you remember - the double face image in shades of pale blue). As a geek in a pre-press shop it was compulsory to make your own. This is one of many that I made. The others (I am happy to report) were actually my original work and may still be around here some place.

0130 - ... and Art

On this day I in 2002 I was composing a valentine for my love. Inside each window I put a reason why I loved him. Sort of like those advent calendars, except they have pictures. (Let's not go there. Oops! We did.) Before I had a chance to give it to him he told me he was leaving me. So, this is a low point in the project, discovering today is an anniversary of sorts.

Two pieces of clip art and an idea. (2002)

0129 - Words and Art

... he's definitely crazy and i'm thinking "this is the guy that was telling me i was all wrong and nothing mattered. a crazy guy." (2010)

Catch the Wave (1996)

This is the very first art I created using a computer. I made it in Photoshop. For years it was part of a permanent online exhibition at a German gallery. It may even still be there. The curator was a really cute guy. Perhaps I'll look up the link.

0128 - Words and Art

you are the spirit. you are the life. i am that spirit. i am that life. without me there is no thought or life or reason. we are life. we are reason. we are the spirit. what a responsibility. (1998)

Anger and Boredom (2004)

Random Sky 4 (2004)

0127 - Words and Art

He sits at at a desk cluttered with wrappers, layered with discs, books and pieces of electronic gear. Over looking it all is a computer terminal attached to (in the distance) a 3D scanner. He is around 40, dark, good-looking and a touch charismatic. He wears a sweater that's been around over a tee shirt. The sweater bunches up around his elbows and waist where it hangs down on one side over dark gray jeans. The chair is on the verge of collapse. He swivels around to look over his back while his shoulders and arms stay engaged with a conglomeration of parts. Beside this is a very artistically burned red candle in an ornate brass holder. The red wax drips cling to the brass in the best vampire horror tradition. He turns around and says quickly and warmly, "Run back and get me a couple of kitchen matches and the box." A scrambling noise lets us know that someone has moved out. He turns around and says, to himself, "That should make her happy."

Nathan, an electrical engineer, is part of the task force to create the virtual world where the electrical signatures of 1 million humans will be stored. While candles and matches are technically unnecessary in this world, Nathan has a fine eye and feel for what makes a human feel comfortable and safe. (2009, to be continued ...)

I Remember the Fifties (1-27-1998)

0126 - Words and Art

lessons: 1 look on both sides of the car. 2. have a duplicate set of all my keys made and put where i can get them. (2005)

in a way i'm fairly mercenary since the paid projects tend to get done sooner and easier than the ones that don't get paid for. there it is. and i guess that' how it works although the unpaid shit is a lot more fun. (2008)

Once again I have no art created exactly on this day, so, instead, here's a proposed winter holiday card image that I never used. Created in December 1998 in Bryce.

Trees (2)

0125 - Words and ...

Five out of the last, oh, ten years I have written something on January 25th. Meaning, I have done the Morning Pages. Tough decision today about what to post since it's all crap. Here are my choices.

• ... in the sun of the bathroom i see the dryness of my cheek which has never been so dry. ever. it's beginning to line from dryness ... (2003)
• being able to make friends and be a friend is the best skill you can teach a person. (2005)
• my head is empty. that's all there is there is there is. and the desktop is lime green with yellow highlights. (2006)
• maybe we are all each other's angels. (2009)
• it's gray but lovely out there. looking forward to watching the day go by. (2010)

No art, but there is strange music from 2009. I was going to post it but it's 5 MB and although that's small by today's standards, it's still a big file. Maybe next time.

And here's a scratch board I made in high school. Homage to the Rolling Stones – perhaps.

Blow Away Danelion (1968?)

0124 - Words and Art

and the heater is humming or vibrating or something behind me. the little one that never seems to stop. every now and then their thermostats go and i have to turn them off for a few minutes and then their alright again. this small one is worse. it's the cheapest one. you know thermostats aren't that expensive. everyone wants to cut and clip everywhere to make a little more money. that's a bad motivator. good service and pride in quality work is a better motivator. where would be all be that's my point sort of where we are i think. (2009)

No art created on the day is readily available and I'm not going to shuffle through my offline work this late in the day. Below is a photo I took earlier in the month of a generic January drawing, most probably from the 1990's.

I refuse to accept my destiny (1990's, January)

There were two long, detailed dreams I wrote down on this day in 2009. I will not bore us both with them. I'm surprised by how many dreams I record in January. I tend to think of it as a dull month. Apparently not.

0123 - Words and Art

... my generation and we have other issues now an[d] worse has happened. greater innocence has been lost--like ours. that 's the theme of this generation: loss of innnocence: Vietnam, kennedy, drugs, martin luther, our own acquisitiveness, kids. so there it is. mission acquisition. (2003)

this is not right not good and not the way it was supposed to be. the w[a]y it was supposed to be i was to marry a nice rich man who would care for me and have his children and they would be wonderful children who would grow up to have wildly successful careers and be filthy rich and take their grandma around to lots of interesting places and have scintilating conversaions and know many foreign languages. and after they were grown and gone my wealthy husband and i would travle around and have a wonderful relaxing life on the beach.* (2008)

Name Tag (1999)

*Hah!

0122 - Words and Art

Profile image for blog profile and other places. (2006)

there here weher where there everywhere nowhere it is nowhere it is no here and there and wear and hear hair (2008)

Tunic Guy experiment (2008)

One thing I have discovered is that my mood seems to follow the seasons. I mean, can I say this after a mere 22 days? Still, it looks that way. Generally around this time I feel very much alone. Why after the holidays and not during? And why now, weeks after and not days after? Perhaps all the family activity is distracting.

0121 - Words and Art

to pull the ichat the ribbons the dregs the highway to pull to reach to run the rails the rails the rails that aren't rails the highways or paths or ways of the energy of time and space the length of the morrison and what's that the fuck of the energy and god dammit and there and there's a still small voice drowned out by energy and direction and flow and although i long to jump into the raging river i stay by the still quiet streams and rest and think and enjoy just having my toes in the water insted of full on swimming whatever that is and why is that and that is and there is no flow and i am just pulled and pushed and then the eddies carry me along to the edge of whatever and i am again at the creek the silent nay burbling creek with it's precious stones and quiet bugs and random footsteps and silly aquinas moments and the dread of something something to take me away ...

those things that i do, art, write, blog, poetry, movies etc. are all ways to touch the real world. the world where the paths are true, the steel true and the blades straight. where it really happens. i wish to live there. to stop wishing and just go with the flow to follow the path. what is required? no one knows. (2008)

Random Sky 2 (2004)

As I look ahead and glance behind this 365 Make Something weighs in as a onerous task. Can I really dredge up the past for 365 days? I've done it for 21 days (with a bit of cheating - back dating posts - although, as I've been told, on page 3 the book says "there are no rules.") and that feels like 60. So. We'll see.

0120 - Words and Art

natural anchor
rock roughly smooth
friendly giant half merged
held willingly by earth.
a round solid daddy - veiled
transparent curtains flow down your face
silver cooling water
pools around your feet
i stand apart yet joined
by this thin stream of awe
(2008)

dream of me reading a big book that was titled "Be My Guide." (2005)

twirling scarves (2010 - Second Life scripted sculpture)

There might be a captured animation of the "Twirling Scarves." If I find it, I'll post it.

0119 - Words and Art

i had a dream about the end of the world and the only safe place was rio. (2010)

dissolving (1996)

In My Cave (2009 - 1 yr Old AV in SL)

0118 - Words and Art

medieval man, questing man on a horse. a horse draped with the traps and coverings of a man on a saddle slowly moving across the landscape. the heavy, brocaded saddle blanket showing his wealth and vanity and personal preference for green. his head is bowed under a wide brimmed hat that drips with cold rain. he is happy. he looks always ahead at what is to come, knowing he will soon be home. And after that another adventure, another task, another commission. he is quite content with his life. under his merchant demeanor is a master swordsman and knife thrower. he is very comfortable with almost any blade. he passes through the village, barely noticed, his passing is normal and often. it is early evening. as he passes the light begins to glint sporadically off of his various appurtenances. he nods to some passersby. they return his greeting. a couple of children - hair blowing and rough, checks reddened and dry - pass by in a hurry to achieve the home fire. the man stops at an inn. as he ties up his horse he nods again to well appointed gentleman and his wife. (2001)

Emotional and Rational (2000)

website background (2001)

My man, Kaeel, a stock figure from Daz (2009)

Current Fads
Listening. It's Not For Me to Say - Johnny Mathis and Ray Bradbury Radio Dramas Collection; dog's barking in the distance
Watching. Remington Steele (Season 3)
Activity. looking for work
Gadget. iPhone 3 GS
News Sources. Google News, BBC News (online), random newspapers left lying about in cafes
Reading. Transforming the Mind - His Holiness the Dalai Lama; The Real Thing - Henry James; The Case Has Altered - Martha Grimes
Writing. nothing - it's a bad world!

0117 -Words and Art

Unlock Books! (2008)

On this day in 2004 I also worked on a short story based on a dream. Here's the beginning.

Lanexa Kel Doth - The Wander

At the end of a dry, dusty afternoon between the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, my mother and I wandered out of the desert and into a press of people flowing slowly through the gates of a walled village. Our food was gone, our water nearly depleted. We were nearing the end of my obligatory 18 month spirit wander. We were looking forward to seeing our family again.

It looked like the usual gathering for a monthly market. We slowly followed the crowd through the gates, thinking of water and cool baths. We said nothing nor did we approach anyone. We slowly and carefully joined the crowd, testing the atmosphere, blending into the masses.

We followed the flow of the crowd—stumbling, gazing and jostled . An old woman approached us. She was firm and energetic but reserved. Her eyes were clear and open. Her hair and clothing covered with a large white cloth—well woven but not coarse. She was impeccably clean. She obviously did no labor. Clearly, this was a holy woman.

“You are strangers here.” She said. Almost a question, but not quite. Her hands fluttered halfway out as if questioning an embrace.

“Yes. We are new here.” My mother responded, levelly with no inflection. Kind approaches in the past had turned to hostility.

“My village is preparing for a festival. I must tell you that the village is sealed off during the festival. The gates have been locked behind you. No one is allowed in or out.”

Shock registered on my face.

“However, we are obliged to make strangers comfortable,” she continued, the beginning of a smile on her face and an apology in her eyes.

Pretty Pattern (2008) tee shirt art

While the 17th is a good day for writing, it's not such a good day for art. At least as far as quantity is concerned.

0116 - Words and Art

i don't like network stuff. it's too wierd and I have no idea what it means or how is listening. it's like the telephone when you used to dial the operator and you could never be sure that she wasn't listening in. (2006)

Jacks and a Ribbon of Silence (1998)

0115 - Words and Art

i should check out the thrift stores but usually they are as expensive as an after christmas sale so what's the point? ... the breakfast is one [sic] the stove melting spinach and getting a slight tan on its bottom which really imrproves[sic] the flavor. (2008)

living on or near a beach, say within a mile of the beachfront with public access making a living on my own terms and in my own time using my own schedule low maintenance small domicile. (2009)

Trick Dog triptych (1998)

2003

Early days in Second Life with a default avatar (Gaia Rising, 2008)

0114 - Words and Art

looked over my critique briefly. they always say you have great potential just do a little work. well, it's nice to have potential. wish I did more than that. (2010)

The Chibbadee (2003)

2003 was my year for Jimmy Durante fascination. I tried to track down a song I remember from his TV show called "You Gotta Have Heart" and never did find a recording of him singing that song. However, I found two CDs of recordings of his other stuff. And I learned a lot about his life and work. He lived up to the saying on that plate I got from Mom: Das sind die Starken im Lande, die unter Tränen lachen, ihr eigenes leid verbergen und and're fröhlich machen. That plate hung on the kitchen wall during my high school years. It now hangs in my kitchen.

0113 - Words and Art

Tall Tales (2007)

1-13-98b (1998)

1-13-98c (1998)

0112 - Words and Art

Roses (2003)

A Marriage Vow
You are the eye of my eye,
the soul of my soul,
the heart of my heart.
I cannot break this bond.
It isn't ours to break.
It is the life of our life.
It cannot break when we die.
Always were we joined—before we began.
Our coming together now is a recognition of that life.
This will live when we no longer live.
When we see each other again in new lives, the bond will still be there.
For I knew you before and will know you ever.
(2003)

i don't know why i 'm here. does anyone? and does that matter? i could be here for anything. anything at all. (2008)

cold storm (working title) 2004

0111 - Words and Art

having dreams. dream of end of world. starts as trip to somewhere special with lots of friends. (2005)

i can only spend so much time analyzing desktop images and why some are good and others suck and why that's not true for everyone. ... and there i've said it or written it and no poems come out because when i notice i stop and then i think how the hell and then i realize i have stopped it like finding leaks and that's not a good thing. and yet i think about publishing this even if only 20 others read it. (2006)

Busy Melon (2008)

Suspenders (1996)

While Busy Melon is a sort of traditional abstract expressionist piece, Suspenders is one of the first true digital pieces I did. I created the texture (the art covering the spheres) in Photoshop and then imported it into Bryce. The spheres are like planets or balls tossed into the air.

Turns out that January 11th is a good day for me. In addition to two works of art, I also made one of my first movie animations. I created this using Director in 1995. The music, Synapse Misfire by Mobius Operandi, was snatched from the web. My apologies.

0110 - Words and Art

i can do things that bring peace and understanding but happiness is a wild and scary thing. (2005)

untitled - January 10, 2005

0109 - Art and Words

i'm looking forward to building in sl. i'm going to make a shrine with candles and bushes and trees and flowers. i wonder if i can get a bird in there. or birds. that would be nice. how does one make and animate a bird? that would be fabulous. also a cat would be nice. (2008)

Elaine Mumfuzz at the Blue Moon Tavern on Gaia Rising

Untitled 2 (2003)

0108 - Words and Art

foist next day in the stop of well the heavens are not here and i am not you and this is not not and not and just be and think well of me and nonsense of nonsense ... the morning is so red and the evening is so red. so much for that sailor's tale. of which there is nothing left but the ship. (2008)

he's a little oppressive with his courtesies. and like a tiger ready to pounce. i never did find out how to remedy too much tiger. (2003)

in the VCU Alumni Drawing Studio, Jan. 8, 1994

0107 - Words and Art

the white t shirts hanging up on the mirror gave me a vision of weddings. (2005)

i just don't get this life and i never have. well, life i get. it's the others that freak me out. the weird illogical way they run their lives and the strange fear they have of things that are beyond them or that are different. perhaps it has something to do with the stay away from strangers thing. i don't know. (2008)

i have no cohort. really. i can collect friends but they do not constitute a society or a cohort. they are drawn from all sorts of social strata. it's intriguing. (2010)

2006 - Celebrating my grandson's first birthday.

0106 - Words and No Art

is is done yet? is it time? i don't know. i haven't really paid attention to what time it is. i may have been here 10 minutes i may have been here five minutes. any;way. i was here and i guess hta't s all that mater.s

- 2008

A poem written on January 6th (or at least published on that day). For your convenience reproduced here:

to stop wishing
I want to rush out and meet the day head on like a train wreck in a movie
- with passion and assurance
- controlled and beautiful
- - the long, long way down with all the twists and turns
- - following, following the lead, the lead, the lead and surpassing it, guiding it, immersed

to be grayer than the gray days
bluer than the blue days
whiter than the white days

to soar beyond the birds
hike my dress up
let my hair down

and to stop wishing

=============

No art. In fact, January 6th is notable for the lack of things I write or make. I generally skip most of the first part of January. The above snippet is from my Morning Pages of 2008. 

I have now opened this up to just about anything I may have written or created on the day in question. Ergo, pawing through old notebooks and finding a box of staples but no stapler. Also found the Rolling Stone tribute magazine to George Harrison on his death and the official The Mask Collector's Magazine. If you'd like to have either of them, let me know.

0105 - Art and Words

the board is green and the magic has flown.
there's just me and this keyboard and ten fingers.
that's it. that's it. that's it. nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing.
- 2006

01/05/2000

0104 - Art and Words

I'm attempting to make something every day for 365 days. What I'll be making is a composition of words and art from my "dailies" archive. Many years ago I read The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. Ever since then I write or make art or both for my morning pages. I started with three little pages per day (small pages were easier to fill up), then graduated to big pages and then moved to the computer where I type or create for 10-20 minutes every morning. Sometimes I do this religiously every day, and sometimes (like now) I skip it for weeks at a time. In the hope that I will return to this energizing practice, I am starting a Make Something 365 project. Perhaps other good stuff (besides blog posts) will come from it.

Again, the rules: pull one text fragment and one art work or photo created on the day (i.e. today January 4) from my archive of "dailies" and post them here.

dreamed that Randy died (010410)

Sunrise, January 4, 2009