Monday, February 28, 2011

Things You Leave Behind



I made this photogram using my two favorite necklaces, I wear them as often as I can. We are often told that a good measure of a person's character is who they choose to surround themselves with, but what about the things they constantly carry? Why are, "what's in my bag?" posts so popular on the internet? Could you tell who I am by the jewelry I wear daily? By that black sweater I insist on bringing everywhere? The hair pins I've forgotten on your dresser?

No one ever plans on disappearing, but we all move on here & there & we always leave some kind of trace. I wonder how the things we leave behind speak for us after we're gone.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Swimming on Lace



When I made that last photogram, an afternoon meeting had been canceled & I decided to take advantage of the sun! I made this one with a shirt of mine & my school of fish pin. These are so fun to make! Cyanotype paper is a bit expensive in my opinion, but I do think it's worth the price because just about everything you do on it looks beautiful. I love the contrast of the deep blue & white!

There's another one I made that I'm quite fond of, but I will post it later as I would like to yammer about it for a bit.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Slightly Less Than a Pound of Yarn





A while back I got a really gross cold that left me tired & delusional much of the time for about a week or so. Anyway, once I started feeling a bit better, my hands were itching to move & I kind of just started spider webbing out. I didn't intend to make anything really, I just wanted to crochet so I made a large motif & was happy that some parts kind of looked like pretzels.

I didn't know what to do with it though, I figured I could make a bunch of them & do another afghan & maybe I will. But first I decided to use it to make a photogram.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

On Feeling Like an Ugly Bird

I like to mess around with the way I look from time to time, playing around with hair color, cuts, makeup, and clothes. It is fun & it kind of reminds me that looks are so temporary & kind of insignificant in the long run.

But sometimes, I fudge up when I'm making these changes & I know a lot of girls have had these moments too. You accidentally color your hair something awful (been there), cut it too short (been there!!!), or you have days where your clothes just seem to fit horribly, etc.

I decided to write this post because I am finally starting to give in to the fact that my vision is not quite what it once was & am wearing glasses a lot more often.  I love glasses on just about everyone else in the universe, but I hate them on me so I'd been feeling like a bit of an ugly bird myself.

These things happen, but here are some things you can do when you are feeling like a bit of an ugly bird, they work for me!

1. Seriously, it could be a lot worse. Okay, so you've cut all your hair off & regret it. Or you thought that hair dye was going to look different. At least your hair hasn't fallen out! Has your hair fallen out? Now you can save up to buy wigs & you can wear a different hair style/color/length every day! You don't like your clothes? Well, I hate to sound like your mother, but at least you have clothes to hate! You can learn to sew & adjust them, or save up to replace them with things you like better. My issue with glasses is so minor really. When I was a much smaller version of myself, I had to have an eye surgery as I was born cross eyed (yes, my baby pictures are hilarious!). I am more focused on being glad that my eyes don't do that anymore & also that without my glasses, everything is in soft focus, but my vision could be so much worse so stop complaining, self!

2. There's more to you than your ____. Now is the time to focus on your other wonderful traits, inner & outer! If your hair is less than appealing, throw it in a hat or in a bun & focus on your outfit or your makeup if it'll boost your confidence a bit. If your body is stressing you out, focus on your favorite facial feature, or just anything else! More importantly, focus on things that do not revolve around your appearance in the slightest! I am filling up my attention with my friends, my crafts, my education, & my volunteering stuff, I have no time to fret about how odd I look in glasses!

3. Don't hide away. Now is not the time to hibernate until whatever physical flaw you think you have goes away! No way! Go out! Be with your friends! If you don't have many friends, take yourself out. I recommend museum dates if you are going out solo. No pressure to rush through things when you'd rather linger & no obligation to stick around the art that just doesn't catch your interest. Know that regardless of what you look like, you are still you & are still fully capable of doing everything you did before.

4. Dance it out. Seriously. This applies to even having a simple bad day. You know those kind of dance moves you pull when you know no one will ever see them? Do those. I like to keep a running playlist called, "Move.", that is filled with songs that inspire me to do just that. Genre, style, whatever does not matter, as long as it's something that gets you moving. I am actually taking a dance class now that lets me do these idiotic things in a slightly more public venue & it's so fun! If you are not feeling up to that, take your playlist with you while you're out. Listen in your headphones & daydream of the moves you would be pulling if you were actually in the comfort of your own home.

5. Just get over it. Ultimately, this is what we all have to do. Until your hair has rested enough to color over, or has grown out, or you've bought a new wardrobe, whatever, this is what you have to live with. As far as wearing glasses goes, they will probably become more and more of a permanent fixture on my face unless I decide to get contacts. At the moment, I can get by without them. I don't see that great & I can't read, but I'm not blind. I tend to not wear them when I think they might get damaged (like in dance class). But, with my newest prescription, the world is clearer than it has ever been in my memory, & why would I want I want to pass that up? Come on glasses, let's be friends!

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

One Pound of Yarn!


Every time I see these huge one pound balls of yarn in the craft store, I always stop & look at them & wonder how often people get them & what they make.

I also get really hung up on numbers at the end of things (years, semesters, etc.) which I think a lot of people do. Online, I see people posting lists of all the movies they saw or all the books they read that year. I love looking at these things, but I don't think I would ever keep track of things like that myself. So instead I just have several questions. What on earth did I do? How many tubes of paint did I run through, how many silly doodles were created on a whim & then forgotten? How many pages of my notebooks did I fill?

So I bought one pound of yarn. I will work away at this monster until I have the answer to one question at least.

What would you make with a pound of yarn?

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Something Else






I honestly feel I've gotten quite boring when it comes to playing instruments & I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that I'm not learning anything new anymore and also that I'm not giving the same amount of time to it as I used to in the past.

In my late teens and the first few years of college, I ate, slept, & breathed guitar. I used to get guitar lessons & I practiced several times a day. I also didn't have as many responsibilities as I do now so I actually had more time, & more importantly, more time to hang out at home making terrible noise until it kind of started sounding like music. Putting music on the back burner has made me a little sad. I don't care to play for other people too much since I'm much too shy for that. But music is one of the first creative things I ever learned & I don't want to lose my passion/drive for it. I think maybe if I spend some time just playing around, not worrying about what's what or if it'll come out to anything decent, I'll start feeling more inspired again. It's just a matter of finding the time!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Bull!



A lot of the time when I get quiet, people ask what I'm thinking about & generally I just say, "Oh, nothing". But typically it isn't nothing & a more accurate response is, "Oh, something that I worry you will think is too strange".

Daydreaming about little pink bulls running around in the grass is exactly one of those kinds of things

Monday, February 7, 2011

Framed



So I finally got a frame to replace the one that broke on me! Looks much better this way.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Robert Motherwell

I have been really into Robert Motherwell these days. I try to visit this painting (the one in the very center, in the other room) as often as I can. His work compels me & I can't articulate why.

Who are some of your favorite artists?