by awesomeness! this blog features some majorly neat-o stuff! my brain felt like it was going to explode by the time i got to the bottom of the first page...
http://www.crookedbrains.net/
Monday, August 31, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
three haikus...
I have a headache
My head is like a balloon
Filled with angry wasps
What’s up with this place?
Smog, fires, earthquakes- oh my
L.A. will kill me
I want to go walk
But it’s a billion degrees
I hate the desert.
My head is like a balloon
Filled with angry wasps
What’s up with this place?
Smog, fires, earthquakes- oh my
L.A. will kill me
I want to go walk
But it’s a billion degrees
I hate the desert.
Monday, August 24, 2009
a pointless story (sorry)
I was just browsing the web, feeling reinvigorated by a delicious and much-needed caffeine-saturated goodie (thank you, caffeine!) and hopeful of getting a few more things accomplished this afternoon. I decided to try finding some cool new bookbinding techniques, just trying to spark some ideas/inspire myself. So I searched for ‘creative bookbinding’. One of the search results looked kinda familiar- a post on the creative spirit blog. There’s a gallery in P-dam (back in NY- holla!*) called the creative spirit, which I am quite familiar with. So I clicked on the link. Imagine my surprise when it was actually the blog of a woman in the U.K….to whom I actually sold a journal a year and a half ago, and the post was a review of a book on binding techniques that I already own. Here's a picture- for proof! Three crazy random happenstances all at once! Ok, ok- it just took me by surprise. I probably don’t really need to post this, but hey- I’ve typed this much and I don’t plan on wasting what could be deemed a fairly-acceptable entry. Maybe like, a C+.In other news...it's pretty quiet around these parts (like you couldn't tell).
* Wow- I don’t think I’ve ever written, or spoken, that, uh, word. This must be a side-effect of the coffee…
an 8-year-old remembers the birth of her brother...
Ok, folks, here it is…my helpful comments appear in the [ ]
Kristin 10-20-92
My brother was born June 15th 1991. I had to stay at the Robrt’s house and they have two kid’s named Joe and Anna. Joe is 7 and Anna is 4. I had to sleep at the Robert’s [not sure why I spontaneously opted for the correct spelling of their name this one time] because I’m not allowed to sleep at home by myself. [Pretty good so far, eh? Makes sense, spelling is good, etc.] I code not wate to see my nuw baby brother. [D’oh!] He was 8 ponds and 4 ancis and my brother’s name was Michael and now he is 16 munths. Now let’s git back to when my brother was born. [Yes, ma’am!] I code not wate to see my brother when I sow my brother I wnetid to pik him up and [get ready…] sqwees him to bits. An hour past and the Robrt’s cam with presents Michael got a botul and pujas [pjs?] and I got a pers with a panda and a whale on it. [a panda and a whale? What kind of ridiculous animal pairing is that? I demand answers!] A little whyol after the Robrt’s left the Sormo’s came with presents Michael got a nuk [which is to say, pacifier*] and a swet sut and I got colering Book and a skech pade. The Sormos stad for a little whyol and woched t.V.
11-3-92
When the Stormos [this is actually the correct spelling] left My Dad drov me back to the Robrt’s house until four then I hade to go. Three Days later.[Alert! Classic sentence about to be read!:] My mom came home with a bondol of Joey [!!!!!!] but there was one problem my brother did’nt have a name we allrety hade a mitol name we thot and thot and then at the same time my mom and I shotid Michael and Michael it was. Mom sed it was Prfect a blond hare blue eys Michael.
* Some people call them nuks, some people call them pacifiers. At some point, my family began calling them- and I am not making this up- loodle-oos. I'm pretty sure that's what toddler-Michael called them, and like many other items that he renamed as he started talking, it quickly caught on with the rest of the family.
Kristin 10-20-92
My brother was born June 15th 1991. I had to stay at the Robrt’s house and they have two kid’s named Joe and Anna. Joe is 7 and Anna is 4. I had to sleep at the Robert’s [not sure why I spontaneously opted for the correct spelling of their name this one time] because I’m not allowed to sleep at home by myself. [Pretty good so far, eh? Makes sense, spelling is good, etc.] I code not wate to see my nuw baby brother. [D’oh!] He was 8 ponds and 4 ancis and my brother’s name was Michael and now he is 16 munths. Now let’s git back to when my brother was born. [Yes, ma’am!] I code not wate to see my brother when I sow my brother I wnetid to pik him up and [get ready…] sqwees him to bits. An hour past and the Robrt’s cam with presents Michael got a botul and pujas [pjs?] and I got a pers with a panda and a whale on it. [a panda and a whale? What kind of ridiculous animal pairing is that? I demand answers!] A little whyol after the Robrt’s left the Sormo’s came with presents Michael got a nuk [which is to say, pacifier*] and a swet sut and I got colering Book and a skech pade. The Sormos stad for a little whyol and woched t.V.
11-3-92
When the Stormos [this is actually the correct spelling] left My Dad drov me back to the Robrt’s house until four then I hade to go. Three Days later.[Alert! Classic sentence about to be read!:] My mom came home with a bondol of Joey [!!!!!!] but there was one problem my brother did’nt have a name we allrety hade a mitol name we thot and thot and then at the same time my mom and I shotid Michael and Michael it was. Mom sed it was Prfect a blond hare blue eys Michael.
- - - - -
THE END!!!!!!! If you feel like you need to take a nap after reading this, I completely understand. *whew!* I’m worn out!* Some people call them nuks, some people call them pacifiers. At some point, my family began calling them- and I am not making this up- loodle-oos. I'm pretty sure that's what toddler-Michael called them, and like many other items that he renamed as he started talking, it quickly caught on with the rest of the family.
Friday, August 21, 2009
ah, memories!
my mom sent me a box of stuff recently, included in which are several brilliant works of prose and poetry that i composed as a first-grader. here is one delectable morsel of pure, raw creative talent:
"Clouds"
Clouds, Clouds, the wonderful thing, they make me laugh,
they make me sing, but when the clouds all go away,
I have to sit and wait all day.
By:
Kristin
this is exactly how it looks - i think it was a combination typing exercise/writing exercise, printed on acidic printer paper. anyhoo, i do like clouds, but i'm not sure if i can say truthfully that they've ever inspired song, much less laughter...and i never sat still as a child, and definitely not for clouds, so basically it seems that this poem is full of lies. i've repented, though, don't worry.
i also wrote a pretty epic piece about the birth of my brother- my amazingly creative spelling makes for unintended hilarity. i think it's also in a box of stuff. stay tuned!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
oh bloggins...
poor, neglected bloggins. let's see about an update, shall we? in list format, of course, for maximal laziness.
1) i have been drawing mostly, lately (as opposed to bookmaking). this is bad news for my etsy shop, since i don't think etsy is necessarily the best place to try to sell drawings, but i'll give it a go anyway, probably. a pseudo-goal of mine is to contact a few local galleries within the next year to see about having a show (!). in the meantime, even if i'm not trying to sell anything, i can always work on building my portfolio.
2) speaking of which. at scripps we were taught that the message of a piece of artwork was just as important as the image/photograph/sculpture/etc. itself. it is not a school that teaches you how to draw still-lifes really, really well (though there was some of that, too)- they care more about educating artist-wannabes how to talk about something important or ask interesting questions in their work. that was an awesome experience for me. but in day to day drawing, especially when i want to work on something bigger and more in-depth than i have in a long time, i often find myself paralyzed by not having anything "great" to say. more importantly, if there is something i'd like to "explore" (as we call it), a major challenge is to "translate" the concept into the kind of style that i like to draw in. for instance- i've been working on an ongoing series of drawings illustrating the attributes of love given in 1 corinthians 13- i have two done so far...but how does one illustrate "love is kind"? i really don't want anything to do with one smiling person handing a loaf of bread to another person who looks sad and poor. (there- kindness! DONE.) so one problem is that i'm probably not thinking hard enough, but....
3) i have also recently decided that art for art's sake is ok, too, thanks to a short thing i read about james mcneill whistler's "peacock room". it's pretty! he's all about art for art's sake and the pursuit of beauty- he didn't feel the need to inject moral messages into his work (though there is a story behind the painting of the two peacocks- whistler's patron decided not to pay him the full amount for this commission, so the peacock on the right is him, being pompous and puffed up, while whistler is the peacock on the left...so i've read). so anyway, this inspired me, and i've just been drawing things with the intent to create something pleasing to look at, with a focus on depth, unity and balance. AND little doodlies.
4) so i wasn't reading about whistler because i am a disciplined individual who takes particular interest in educating herself in her post-college days. no. i am teaching an american art history class once a week starting in september (and, as a side note, i am TERRIFIED). this blurb on whistler is one of many blurbs on many artists and artistic styles prevalent in the US since before the US existed as such, all the way up to the present. and then i will teach this material to a handful or so of high schoolers (in a co-op for home-schooled kids run by our church). also, i'll be teaching a beginning drawing class in the fall (eeeeek!) and a bookbinding class in the spring (wheee!!!).
5) in other news- i have been making excellent use of the pasadena public library system's digital audiobook collection, which allows you to download audiobooks onto your home computer for a period of 7 or 14 days, after which the files mysteriously delete themselves (by magic, naturally). i love this- it's so convenient, and the selection is so much better than what they have in actual cd-format at the library branches. the importance of being earnest, and, the three musketeers are two books i would highly recommend.
6) so. my dear readers, you have inspired me to get thinking creatively (ugh) about how to translate what i want to say into new and exciting and doodly ways of saying it. i mean, after all, it was only out of feelings of guilt toward you that i even began this blogpost. but i must also thank coffee, milk, and trader joe's midnight moo chocolate syrup, for waking up my brain, because otherwise i wouldn't have had the energy to feel guilty. :)
toodles and promises to update more often,
-k.o.
1) i have been drawing mostly, lately (as opposed to bookmaking). this is bad news for my etsy shop, since i don't think etsy is necessarily the best place to try to sell drawings, but i'll give it a go anyway, probably. a pseudo-goal of mine is to contact a few local galleries within the next year to see about having a show (!). in the meantime, even if i'm not trying to sell anything, i can always work on building my portfolio.
2) speaking of which. at scripps we were taught that the message of a piece of artwork was just as important as the image/photograph/sculpture/etc. itself. it is not a school that teaches you how to draw still-lifes really, really well (though there was some of that, too)- they care more about educating artist-wannabes how to talk about something important or ask interesting questions in their work. that was an awesome experience for me. but in day to day drawing, especially when i want to work on something bigger and more in-depth than i have in a long time, i often find myself paralyzed by not having anything "great" to say. more importantly, if there is something i'd like to "explore" (as we call it), a major challenge is to "translate" the concept into the kind of style that i like to draw in. for instance- i've been working on an ongoing series of drawings illustrating the attributes of love given in 1 corinthians 13- i have two done so far...but how does one illustrate "love is kind"? i really don't want anything to do with one smiling person handing a loaf of bread to another person who looks sad and poor. (there- kindness! DONE.) so one problem is that i'm probably not thinking hard enough, but....
3) i have also recently decided that art for art's sake is ok, too, thanks to a short thing i read about james mcneill whistler's "peacock room". it's pretty! he's all about art for art's sake and the pursuit of beauty- he didn't feel the need to inject moral messages into his work (though there is a story behind the painting of the two peacocks- whistler's patron decided not to pay him the full amount for this commission, so the peacock on the right is him, being pompous and puffed up, while whistler is the peacock on the left...so i've read). so anyway, this inspired me, and i've just been drawing things with the intent to create something pleasing to look at, with a focus on depth, unity and balance. AND little doodlies.
4) so i wasn't reading about whistler because i am a disciplined individual who takes particular interest in educating herself in her post-college days. no. i am teaching an american art history class once a week starting in september (and, as a side note, i am TERRIFIED). this blurb on whistler is one of many blurbs on many artists and artistic styles prevalent in the US since before the US existed as such, all the way up to the present. and then i will teach this material to a handful or so of high schoolers (in a co-op for home-schooled kids run by our church). also, i'll be teaching a beginning drawing class in the fall (eeeeek!) and a bookbinding class in the spring (wheee!!!).
5) in other news- i have been making excellent use of the pasadena public library system's digital audiobook collection, which allows you to download audiobooks onto your home computer for a period of 7 or 14 days, after which the files mysteriously delete themselves (by magic, naturally). i love this- it's so convenient, and the selection is so much better than what they have in actual cd-format at the library branches. the importance of being earnest, and, the three musketeers are two books i would highly recommend.
6) so. my dear readers, you have inspired me to get thinking creatively (ugh) about how to translate what i want to say into new and exciting and doodly ways of saying it. i mean, after all, it was only out of feelings of guilt toward you that i even began this blogpost. but i must also thank coffee, milk, and trader joe's midnight moo chocolate syrup, for waking up my brain, because otherwise i wouldn't have had the energy to feel guilty. :)
toodles and promises to update more often,
-k.o.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)