Saved!

Today the Undershaw Preservation Fund announced that the home of Arthur Conan Doyle has been saved from demolition and despoiling by privateers. It will be renovated in the character of the home that Arthur Conan Doyle first envisioned to become a school for children.

Well done, I say!

Digital Collage

 

 

I love that I can take a bunch of stuff off the computer and edit it with picmonkey. As I am playing with these settings I am thinking about how to achieve the same kinds of looks with the inks and paints that I have on hand.

 

And then getting a little depressed that I am moving soon and do not exactly have that all hashed out yet. It's a daunting thing to think about even with a helping network in place. But it is motivation to be proactive instead of waiting around for the right answers to fall into place. 

die Libelle

And we're back to the digital arts:
using the free images from the British Library archives recently released to the public.

Strength in Solitude

As I am embarking on a new personal journey, the question of solitude has come up. Again. In many ways introverts are completely comfortable with the concept of seclusion, especially in the creative arts. However.... and you thought there was a but coming, however; introverts don't always want to be alone. Ideally we would like to be with an extrovert that can be our world representative. I think. Maybe it isn't fair to speak for all introverts. I speak for myself and say it is nice to be able to share the quiet and be connected to someone.

It's hard to find people to do that with though. So many people in the World freak out over the concept of spending time alone that we seem weird. There is almost always something wrong with people who need a lot of time alone. I have a friend who just made bread from the mold of a grape found on a walk.... it's yeasty good bread raising mold. But those things take time to cultivate and work out to perfection. Those things don't need an audience in the experimental phase. But they do need an audience for the reveal and the applause. Accolades are just as important to introverts but we feel like we have to work harder. And that takes some time alone to be the genius.

Reflecting on that, I found words from the Impressionist Paul Gauguin. And this is the result:

Die Entfernung

 

 

So artists got a great Christmas present a little bit early from the British Library & Microsoft. 1 MILLION gifts of copyright free/public domain images. I found this great graph and fell in love with it. Keep in mind Math and I are still not very cordial with one another. If Math had junk I would punch it.... several times daily. I love logic just not the tedium associated with its actual moving parts.

 

This particular graph is for finding the middle point (mittelpunkt)of a particular thing (Karten). Die Entfernung is the measurement. Instantly put me in mind of one of my many favorite Matthias Reim songs, Wie Man Liebt.

 

He describes how we are free to our youth until school starts and then are heads are crammed full of many things we will probably not need (Physik, Chemie & Algebra, assorted historic points and how to measure the distance between stars) and are never taught the things that we need to know, the ONE thing we need to know... how to love.

 

We teach kids how to make war, how to build empires with technology and economics but not how to love each other. Or, as I am a champion, to make art and music and nourish the soul in addition to the coffers.

 

I loved to learn things because it kept my mind busy.

 

But oh how I would have a heart as full as my head.



Monument to Sucess

I've talked about Michelle Ward for forever because I love her stuff. I especially love what the graphic design world has been calling "Maximalism". I noticed it but didn't really connect with the trend until Michelle blogged about it. That was back in 2006 and I am just now getting around to being brave enough to try it. Of course this style goes hand in hand with the cool things that she is doing with stencils & spray paint.

As I am not set up for elaborate processes, I have chosen to play with the picmonkey and explore what I can do with the concept. No physical space required. No wasted material in failed attempts.

Tonight's issue:

The background was generated using picmonkey layers and editing the crap out of them. The engraved drawing is from the British Library collection I mentioned yesterday. And the rest was a lot of frustrated picking and deleting.

I'm not normally found of mixing cool and warm colors, which is what holds me back a little. But this red and blue/green combo is starting to grow on me.