Author: -N-

Reflections and Projections

reflections-at-days-end

I’ve been looking over a lot of my photography from the past few years.  I’ve learned a lot.  Sometimes I wonder why I do it.  Digital and analog photography have become quite comfortable . . . and, admittedly, I’m bored with what I am doing.  Something needs to get shaken up a bit.

This past year I’ve totally enjoyed the 366 photography project by Fraggy.  She did a different subject every month, planned out ahead.  Following her, I know at times she has been stuck or frustrated, but as each month wore on, there was progress and creativity that developed.  Inspired, I will do the same for 2017.  I’m feeling a bit burnt out with what I have been doing, so I figure it could prove to be inspirational and creative.  Here is my list for 2017:

  1. January:  Corners
  2. February:  Bathrooms (I promise, nothing disgusting)
  3. March:  Lines
  4. April:  Plants
  5. May:  Down Low
  6. June:  Paper
  7. July:  Shiny or Reflective
  8. August:  Vacation (I should be traveling a bit)
  9. September:  Anatomy (nothing that is X-rated)
  10. October:  Nothingness
  11. November:  After Sunset
  12. December:  Tools

 

Diving In

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My New Year’s resolution – intention as one newspaper put it – is to return to art and creativity as a part of my daily life.  Ever since I was a kid, paint and paper and ink have been the big draw.  The biggest problem with me, though, is distractions.  Staying focused on one thing is not easy for me.  The result is what I would like to master is pushed aside as too hard or time-consuming, or by comparing myself to this or that person.  In particular, this applies to watercolors and drawing, but it also applies to so many other areas of my life.

My life style is my main crutch.  I blame it for everything.  My 10-hour work days leave time for little else.  A 30-minute lunch where all I do is stuff food in my face to make it to the next task is another excuse.  So my question to myself is what can I do to change my sense of frustration and of waiting for more time?  More time isn’t coming, that’s for sure.  Each second vanishes before it is even acknowledged.

Art requires thought, but it also requires just diving in and doing.  I tend to get stuck in thought or stuck in doing, but somehow neither alone gives much satisfaction or sense of accomplishment.  The two need to be tied together.  Learning and practicing, thinking and doing, analyzing and trying again – this is the process.

Thus, my resolution:  for the remainder of my holiday break, I will focus on watercolor and drawing.  Once I return to work, my favorite mechanical pencil and a small sketch book, along with my camera, will be with me.  One drawing at lunch.  One photo a day.  Evenings have no guarantee of time, but the long weekends do have that element.

Let’s see where this goes.

 

Perspective in Retrospect

I have no head for heights, and just watching this video has made me jump a number of times!  Despite that, I have always loved this picture because of the simple fact I could never even think of something as working up so high.  There is something so awesome about these men . . . and the photographers as well.

Home Improvement

somebodys-home

Home improvement . . . for me, a clean and tidy home is wonderful.  I like to see clear surfaces, free of dust.  Floors free of dog fur are also nice.  I don’t like lots of clutter.  My small shelf of framed photos makes me nuts – much as I love those people – I hate dusting them.  Nature abhors a vacuum, and I abhor a vacuum cleaner.  Housework is great, when it’s finished.  Not when doing it, but when it is done.  I really hate cleaning, but I hate a cluttered mind more.  And a messy house means a messy mind.

Okay, that said, I would say that 80% of the studio has been cleaned up.  Lots and lots has been thrown away.  My paints are accessible, as are my books.  Paper has been reorganized, from watercolor tablets to sketch books to lined and grid paper tablets.  Brushes are sorted out and been acquainted with again.  Like meeting an old friend, one you really, really like, and one you appreciate, too.  I spent about 8 hours doing it all, and finally ran out of space in the trash bins.  (Luckily our neighbors let us use theirs when we need to!)

This afternoon, I shall do some reading and some color studies or sketching.  I just hope that I will be able to continue this once I return to work as that will be the real challenge.