Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ category

Sad Evening for Arizona and U.S. – Caught in the Cross Hairs

January 9, 2011

 

Attempted Portrait of Gabrielle Giffords

 

I haven’t followed the lives and careers of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords or Federal Judge John Roll, much less that of the unnamed nine year old girl, all downed in the terrible shooting today in Tucson, Arizona.  I am sorry not to have paid more attention.

I haven’t yet been able to read much about Roll, but I find something extremely likeable in Giffords’ countenance; a friendliness, a lack of vanity, a straightforward intelligence.  (I think I may feel particularly drawn to her because she looks like she has the thin, overly-flat, hair that has dogged me my whole life.)

One can’t help but feel that the shooting was politically motivated;  the shooter (and possible accomplices) certainly may have lacked general emotional or mental stability, but the particular objects (liberal politicians) and means (guns) seem to be inspired by specific elements of political vitriol.   Giffords, in particular, had been metaphorically targeted by conservative groups for some time.  (She was, for example, one of those politicians depicted in the cross-hairs on conservative maps of districts to be won, propounded by those like Sarah Palin.)    Of course, none of those groups meant for this to happen;  I am genuinely sure that they are truly saddened.    Still terrible.

 

In Support of Mark Twain

January 7, 2011

The above drawing does not purport to be from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which is complex, human, and powerfully reflects its time and geography. How can the present be understood without clear views of the past?

Flight Downs and Ups

January 5, 2011

It’s never a good idea, when traveling, to forget a Swiss Army Knife in your backpack.

Oops!

Either you have to give up the knife, or stay off the plane.

It only works for some.

Pack-y-derm (Not)

January 5, 2011

Pack-y-Derm?

A short trip tomorrow.  Very early.  Involves packing.

I hate packing.  It feels like a test.  The strange thing is that I don’t mind doing without, moderate discomfort, making do, but I hate to forget things, not to have thought of things, to have failed in my mission (in other words.)

Oh well.

Sunday Night End of Vacation Poem

January 3, 2011

Feeling sorry for all those going back to work tomorrow, especially the teachers!   My mother was a teacher;  she found Sunday nights, even regular Sunday nights (much less vacation Sunday nights) especially hard.   A poem:

Sunday Night Before Work Week

My mom mopped the basement stairs Sunday nights,
moaning that the lazy was at his best
when the sun went to the West.

We hid.
Even though we knew that
we should volunteer–not so much as helpers
but as fodder, like stiff British regulars
marched before the French–she had to get up a good head
of steam, she said, in order to get anything done—
still we slid into our beds like
coins (dull nickels) in search of a slot, feigned sleep,
knowing well that we
were sorry specimens.

The stairwell, narrow but tall.
clouded over with the lost weekend,
the day to come crowding my mother’s forehead
as she bent to her task.
From my room, I could hear the intermittent
rumble of her rhyme.  She
seemed to identify with the lazy, but I was sure
that she felt, secretly, the best,
at least among us.

Getting A Solid Foot In Real/Virtual 2011

January 2, 2011

I'm trying to be decisive, but its just not working.

Part of the problem may be that the foot's not on the ground, at least not on real ground,

but hanging out in space somewhere, iPhone space.

Stuck (stubbed) in an App.

“Brushes” Hybrids – Compensatory Unskill Levels – the Art of the iPhone

December 31, 2010

Here are a couple of the “paintings”I tried so unsucessfully to post over the last few days–more examples of iPhone “art”.

What is particularly interesting to an unskilled artist (i.e. me) is the way that one can use the technology of the iPhone and the “Brushes” painting app to compensate for various gaps in training, talent and circumstances.  Of course, becoming adept at the technology is itself a skill, but again, the application and equipment allow one latitude for circumvention.

One answer is a kind of “hybrid” art, which takes advantage of what you can do ( i.e. draw on paper or take a photograph) without pushing you too hard into what you can’t (i.e. make complicated figures on a 3.5 inch screen, or take out a full watercolor set in a crowded train car.)

My favorite hybrid method is to make a pencil drawing on paper, photograph it with the iPhone, transfer it to the “Brushes” app, and then embellish/paint in.

Here’s one I did on a train, from initial drawing to “final” Brushes version:

Bare Drawing

One (of a few) Brushes Versions

Another idea is to take an actual photograph, transfer it to the “brushes” app, and draw a little figure inside it.  (Yes, I know this is not such a new idea, but it felt revolutionary to me.)

Here was my first elephant in real landscape, an iPhone photograph of ice.

Elephant on Ice

This is kind of a fun technique as you can transfer the “brushes” drawing onto different surfaces, or, for example, different ice:

Elephant on Different Ice

The possibilities are endless.  (Now, if I could just draw something other than elephants….)

Going With The Icy Flow

December 31, 2010

Snowy and Not Very High Tech Cocoon

Back from a Northern outback, that is, a place that was very cold and had no true reliable internet access.

I am not really such an physically un-present person that I need, at all times, the cocoon of the virtual world.

But I am someone who does like to accomplish (sort of) what I start.   So once I tried posting  (and my apologies again for all the confusion), I tried for a while, even though catching enough “net” for transmission was like trying to carry a fistful of rain, to capture running water in a sieve.

But… but… but… when I finally went with the icy flow, gave in to the snowy non-electronic cocoon of the Northern here and now, all was just fine.

More than fine.

Terrific.

PS – I only tangentially participated in the construction of the above yet-unfinished igloo, i.e. I occasionally knocked some piece off when trying to help.

PPS – I did hand up a fair amount of snow to the more architecturally talented.

Another day without a true Internet connection , even with –especially with–the iPhone.

December 29, 2010

Another day without a true Internet connection , even with –especially with–the iPhone.

It is a frustrating device. The things it does well it does very well–things like making paintings and finding restaurants and identifying constellations. But the things that it does not do well are fortunately many of the tasks for which one gets a mobile phone/email device, i.e. a reliable connection to the electronic world from the middle of a nonelectronic. (Believe it or not, Steve, there are people who live, or at least travel, out of range of a wireless modem.)

Another problem–sending things before you are ready? All roads (or fingertips) seem to lead to send even when the phone is out of service. (Then, at some mysterious point–whoosh–send happens.)

Oh well, painting with your phone is pretty great and did you know that you can even paint on photographs? Taken on your phone!

The Apology That Came In From The Cold

December 29, 2010

Sorry for all the duplicate posts yesterday.

I am in a house in the mountains without Internet or phone service and an intermittent cell connection. Some speculate that the cell tower is encrusted with ice but frankly the service is poor here even in summer (when those same speculators conjecture that all the leaves interfere with the signal.)

At any rate, last night I tried all my blogging wiles to post a painting. These included reposting it at various pixel levels and marching up and down the nearest snowy hill with a headlamp strapped just below my hat.

(The cold has broken the car key in the ignition so driving to a place with better connectivity was not a true option even if I’d been willing to take a chance on icy roads.)

Unfortunately, I do not understand this gadget enough to know how to cancel all or some of the messages once they started their glacial (in all senses of the word) but non-pictorial way through the stratosphere. (The smart phone was just too smart for me.)

Argh!