Hand Forged Vessels

Tuesday, August 26, 2003

Why high protein diets don't work for me Thought I'd ease into this Paleo diet by going without any grains or high glycemic veggies for a few meals. Breakfast was ok. But after lunch, on my way to see a computer coaching client, I realized I felt awful. I'd been lightheaded for an hour or so, for one thing. And I just didn't feel good. The lowfat ground beef patties I'd had for lunch felt like unresponsive lumps in my stomatch. Suddenly I started to remember why I'd vowed never to do any diet anything like this again. Kidneys! Kidneys! Kidneys! Kidney disease runs in my family, and I had an acute, life threatening episode when I was six. It makes no sense at all to eat high protein when it's rough on the kidneys. And for some reason, I just don't feel good on diets that are all meat and "light" veggies. My body just seems to do better when I have a little rice, oats, bread, potato, or something else along those lines. There are plenty of meals I can eat which leave me feeling energized and light. So why not go by that? All these things started flooding back. I remembered how my nails got pitifully weak when I ate too much protein doing Body for Life. Had to cut way back. Now my nails are strong. Why mess with them? On the way home from my client sesson, I bought a loaf of whole wheat bread with a great sense of relief. I felt very happy all the way home. Saved from my own folly! I'm glad I found out this early. Two meals isn't too long at all. (My client gave me some crackers and I started to feel better right away.) I know these diets work for some people. I just need to remember that they don't work for me. Viva la difference. 7:48:46 PM    comment []

Saturday, August 23, 2003

OK, settled it Did a quick priorities check with my favorite online prioritizer. This is the order that emerged: Score  Item -----  ------------------   6    20 bowls formed   5    having a blast in the studio   4    website done & publicized   3    drawing cartoons regularly   2    paintings on ebay regularly   1    high energy exercise & diet program   0    kitchen really nice for cooking So much for cleaning out a freezer tomorrow. Watching videos is even lower priority than making the kitchen really nice for cooking, though. So who knows? 10:17:07 PM    comment []

Body for Life again? Thursday I went clothes shopping. Two pairs of shorts isn't quite enough. Looking at myself in the dressing room mirror, I discovered that I'd decided to do Body for Life again. That's odd. I'm sure I decided NOT to do Body for Life again. How did this happen? While at Wal-Mart that day, I bought the Body for Life journal, figuring that if I paid over $18 for it and started it, I'd definitely finish the 12-week program. I bought one of the grills I always had my eye on, when doing Body for Life before. Fast grilled chicken tenders? Coming right up. After I got home, I started to have second thoughts. The first time I did the Body for Life challenge, I did increase my energy level tremendously. I felt euphoric a lot of the time. In the evenings I could hardly keep still. I wanted to move. And I achieved my goal of drawing 12 cartoons a week by the end of the challenge. But I didn't achieve my goal of finishing the six bowls I had going at the time. Now that I write this, I see that this doesn't necessarily mean that I'd have finished them if I HADN'T done Body for Life. But I'd have had more time for them. My main reservation about Body for Life isn't that it doesn't work or that it's too hard. It's that it takes attention and dedication that I need to apply to my two top priorities right now: making bowls, and making the website for the bowls. Can I do Body for Life without its sort of taking over? I don't know. It means eating approximately every two hours, eating just the right things, planning the exercise sessions. Inevitably then I'll be tempted to spend hours researching, trying to find out how to tweak diet and exercise to achieve the results I want. While still at Wal-Mart I saw a book, The Paleo Diet, that looks exactly like the Paleolithic diet my creativity coach recommended to me. I looked at it quite a bit at the store and bought it. I can sort of talk myself into believing that it might be true. Some of the data seems a little far fetched. And today's medical news brought the information that farmed salmon has high levels of PCBs. I eat a fair amount of canned salmon. Is canned salmon from farmed salmon? How would I know? So do I want to eat even more food this high on the food chain? Or do I want to eat the whole grains and legumes that The Paleo Diet says are causing all our chronic diseases and obesity? I don't sound very convinced either way. Of one thing I'm pretty sure, though. Worrying and obsessing about what's healthy to eat, is very unhealthy. It's better to eat junk food with truly happy thoughts (and preferably full attention) than to get into a negative groove of worrisome thoughts about food and risks and health problems. My two top priorities for the rest of this year - 20 bowls and website - seem like plenty to do. If I do Body for Life I'll have to clean off the kitchen counters and clean out the pantry. Do some serious grocery shopping. Good grief, I might even have to clean out a freezer. Part of the attraction to doing it is the added structure. You can't really do Body for Life without a schedule. I'd have to get up earlier. I might as well get the exercise session over first thing in the morning. Maybe the extra daytime and the extra energy would actually help me achieve my top priority goals. Tomorrow's Sunday. I'll either decide to start Body for Life Monday, and get ready - or I'll decide to wait a week to see if I really want to. A little voice in my head says "don't wait! you'll chicken out! do it! do it!" Another voice says "get going with bowlmaking for a week, then decide." I see why Eckhart Tolle laughs about the mind taking over. 10:00:21 PM    comment []

Anything besides watching DVDs? Yes, website. Mostly I seem to be obsessed with making my website. A lot of this is fascinating. And it's high priority. If I have 20 new bowls done at the end of the year but don't have a website, I'm going to be in trouble. Yet - I don't like feeling obsessed by something, even a high priority something. How to break the spell? Just stop. Uh-huh. I keep saying that....then I wake up and go "do a little bit on the website" while I drink my coffee. I do stop by 6pm for supper. 9:47:58 PM    comment []

DVD Review: Head of State - 4 stars Enjoyed this thoroughly. It's a comedy with serious liberal overtones. We watched it tonight and I'm still smiling. Recommend it highly. 4 stars. 9:17:46 PM    comment []

DVD Review: Agent Cody Banks 3 stars Agent Cody Banks is a suspense comedy with lots of wild special effects and characters that are pretty much caricatures. As my partner said, "this is mostly for teenagers, isn't it?" I knew that. If you're in the mood, it's fun. I'll give it 3 stars. 9:15:56 PM    comment []

Monday, August 18, 2003

DVD Review: Gaudi Afternoon 3 stars We watched Gaudi Afternoon last night. I wanted a day to consider before writing a review. This film is set in Barcelona, which adds to its interest. Closed captioning is absent, which made it harder for my partner to follow. My overall evaluation is that the film is interesting. It's different. There are quite a few surprises, most of which will offend anyone who's homophobic. It's not a Hollywood copycat film. So what's my reservation? Maybe the film is a bit cynical. It's not up to my Cinderella standards? It's more than that. I'm not sorry I saw it, but I wouldn't choose it for sheer exuberant entertainment - nor for expanding my understanding of life. So I'll give it a 3 star rank.   9:52:01 PM    comment []

playing with tiny icon sized photo thumbnails Today I did a lot of work on my new website. When I started to make thumbnail size images in Paint Shop Pro, I ran into a new problem. Some paintings I'd scanned into PSP, then rotated, seemed to have PSP confused. PSP thought the width was the height, and vice versa. So resizing was a mess. I decided to try it in PhotoShop Elements, which came with my Epson scanner. Elements got the width and height correct. Plus, the Save for the Web feature is really nice to use. The previews and choices are just right. Some of my experiments were with tiny icon sized thumbnails to use on ebay, as an icon for Wet Canvas posts, etc. Also, I've noticed on some other art websites that a row of tiny thumbnails at the bottom of a page can be enough to give the viewer enough of an idea of pieces. Of course each one is a link to a larger view. I'm talking about TINY, here. Here's a sample, cropped from a new acrylic painting on canvas: Even a tiny one like this seems big enough to give you an idea of whether or not you'd like to see a larger view. And each one is about a kb in size, a 1 second download or less, with a slow connection. 9:44:13 PM    comment []

Unresolved right now I'm feeling annoyed at finding myself enacting little arguments in my mind. It's as tiresome as listening to other people argue on and on. So I decided to explore. I did some free writing, letting my hands answer. What’s unresolved for me right now, about how to live life?  How to balance process and going with the flow and present moment, with wanting a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.  How to live an art life, from the inside, full out – and also earn a living – or whether or not “earning a living” really applies.   How much to go with my natural energy flow and impulses, how much to plan and structure and schedule. Why don’t I have more friends? Is this something I need to do something about?  Focus on just bowls? Then add cartoons, collages, paintings later? Or get all of them going asap?  Are the bowls really my main focus or do I want a more even balance? Responses: Writing this list, it seemed to me that some answers might come by discovery. For example, I might discover my focus as I make my website, rather than having to know it beforehand. It’s the opposite method from that usually recommended, but it could work. For many years I've found that by reorganizing my bookshelves without any plan, I could discover my true focus for that period of time.   Also, it could be interesting to do a sort of “trial run” with angle answers to see what I’d decide if I had to decide right now – trusting my hands again. I don't remember whether or not I've mentioned this before. It's a little like hand kinesiology or using a pendulum, but when I have paper and pen handy, I like it. I discovered it when I was exploring how different specific angles (30 degrees, 32 degrees, etc.) corresponded with specific thoughts I entertained. I'd think a specific thought, then let my hand draw whatever angle it wanted to draw.   I learned a lot that's applicable to my artmaking. As a side benefit, I discovered that a positive thought led my hand to make an angle going up from the horizontal midline. A negative thought led my hand to make a downward angle. So this gave me a quick decision making tool that even shows me how much the thought is positive or negative.   9:13:13 AM    comment []

Sunday, August 17, 2003

Life checking exercises The two exercises I do most regularly as a kind of check on my life, both depend on free-writing. That is, I write the topic or question and then let my hands answer. I let the pen write whatever it writes, or let the hands on the keyboard type whatever they type. The first one is "Unlimited Resources." The starting phrase is "If I had unlimited resources - all the money and assistance I ask for - what would I do?" The second exercise is "Six Months to Live." The starting phrase is "If I had six months to live, what would I do?" I did the Unlimited Resources one yesterday. I had a long list of things I'd hire people to do for me, all having to do with improving the spaces where I live and work - cleaning, repairing, building. When I got to what I wanted to do myself, I got right down to three daily things: drawing practice, exercise, and making bowls. The most interesting thing about this list is that I'm not doing two of them: drawing practice, or exercise. I did the Six Months to Live exercise this morning. That produced a slightly different set of priorities: make my website so people can see my bowls, and make my bowls full out. Putting the two together, I came up with two tiers of priorities: Top priorities: making my website so people can see my bowls, and making my bowls full out. Second level priorities: exercise, and painting/drawing/composition to enhance bowlmaking. I like the way these four priorities synergize. They all help each other. Certainly they all help bowlmaking. And I like knowing that these are the priorities without regard to finances. I'd do all these things whether they give me an income or not. That's an important test for me.   10:11:15 AM    comment []

Saturday, August 16, 2003

DVD Review: What a Girl Wants 4 stars Yet another Cinderalla type story. We watched The Princess Diaries recently as a library rental, and watched Maid in Manhattan twice. Am I trying to tell myself something? This story was especially poignant for me because the coming-of-age girl wishes so much for her father. But most of us have a "missing" story of one kind of another. "If only...." Complete with wicked almost-stepmother and almost-stepsister, the story has some characters who are caricatured a bit. The main characters are quite real, however. The story is good. I'd say this is as good as Maid in Manhattan. It's happy entertainment that leaves you lighter than when you began. 10:20:47 PM    comment []

DVD Review: The Wrong Guy 4 Stars When we read the DVD cover description of The Wrong Guy, we were skeptical. The film sounded too slapstick for our taste. As it turns out, the movie is indeed slapstick. But it didn't matter. I was laughing most of the time watching this comedy. It was great to laugh so much in one evening. I wondered afterward if the movie plays on the tendency to paranoia that many of us have. "They think I'm guilty. They're out to punish me!" Be that as it may, it was great to see it and find it hilarious. I'll give this four stars just because it made me laugh so much. 10:14:01 PM    comment []

Wednesday, August 13, 2003

Review of "Blue Diner" 1 star Gave up on watching the video "Blue Diner" about halfway through. It felt too much like work - a strain. From the cover description it seemed as if by the end of the movie there would be some dramatic resolution of all the problems and tension. But getting there just wasn't any fun, and barely interesting. Too bad. The acting was good, the characters interesting. I just couldn't enjoy it. So I'm giving it just one star. 9:45:34 PM    comment []

Tuesday, August 12, 2003

The Life of David Gale - Review 5 stars We watched The Life of David Gale on DVD tonight, then watched the short documentary on why this film was set in Texas. I love a film in which there are important surprises from moment to moment till the very end - yet everything fits perfectly. For sure, this is a 5 star film for me. (So what will I do when I watch that unforgettable, completely life changing, beautiful, once in a lifetime film? Give it a six star rating, of course. I'm just a person, not a review business.) I don't think you need to know much about the story or actors or director to decide to watch this. (The film website will tell you all that if you need to know.)It's not a comedy. But it's a thriller with real significance. So the next time you're in the mood for suspense and excitement, this is a good choice. 10:59:23 PM    comment []

Monday, August 11, 2003

Review of "Fools Rush In' Video 3 stars This is an older video we borrowed from the library, starring Salma Hayek and Matthew Perry. I was attracted to it because of Salma Hayek. She became famous in her recent role as Frida Kaholo in the film Frida (a ***** film for sure.) I've seen her in two of her other films as well: In the Time of the Butterflies, and Living It Up. I've enjoyed her very much in all these. It probably adds to my enjoyment that she often reminds me of my middle granddaughter, Stephanie Witham-Juarez. They both show that flash of spirit in both humor and anger. It's eye opening and attractive. Fools Rush In is a romantic comedy about a Mexican-American woman and a corporate type gringo guy. Mix in the Mexican family and the WASP family and you've got a good story. It's acted well. I have to say that there's nothing unforgettable about it. It's not Moonstruck. But it's ten times better than a lot of the videos available. I'd give it three stars. *** Note: Since reviews are new to me, I reserve the right to come back and edit my ratings after some more experience with the star system. 2:05:02 PM    comment []

Sunday, August 10, 2003

Starting on website Today I put some quality time, prime time, into making my "real" website for my bowl sculptures. The afternoon before, I'd done some experiments and had gotten discouraged. No layout template seemed to meet all my requirements. I'd collected dozens of artist sites as examples and sources of ideas. Any time I looked at a site that had an idea I thought might be useful later, I saved it as a favorite. So today I looked through them and made organized notes in a Word document. Gradually I could see my options widening as I saw new solutions. At the same time, I could see that some sites didn't meet some important criterion for me. I could feel my judgment improving as I looked at more and more sites. Making my notes as I went along really helped. I'd tried hand writing notes earlier, but didn't keep it up. Moving back and forth between a website and Word, copying and pasting at times, entering site links to the Word doc, was easy and fast. Perhaps later I'll edit the Word doc a bit and post it here or on the "real" site so others can use it too. I'm designing some more sites for other people at this time, too, so my work today will have multiple payoffs. I've learned a lot. I have confidence that I can do this. Whatever has held me back from making my site seems to have dwindled away. I'm on a roll. 11:04:06 PM    comment []

Friday, August 08, 2003

Learning to scan I'm on my second scanner, sixth year of computer use (or obsession) and am just now really learning to scan. Recently I was surprised at how quick and easy it was to print color checking charts that look just like the colors I see on my monitor. (I use an Epson C82 printer and a Gateway FPD1810 LCD flat panel monitor.) Piece of cake! Not so with scanning images in so that the colors I see on the monitor looks like the original image. My second scanner is the relatively new Epson Perfection 3200 Photo. I've really been putting off using it because it intimidates me. It was expensive, for me, so I think partly I'm just afraid to find out I wasted my money. My computer coaching clients often mention that they're afraid they'll do something that hurts their computers. I felt the same way when I bought my first digital camera, again a fairly big expense, about $700 for a Nikon 900s, probably back in 1998. I was practically afraid to touch it. Now I feel almost that way about the new scanner. Now I've gotten my feet wet though. I got up my nerve, scanned in my eight new paintings. I'd made them 8x10 on purpose so they'd fit on the scanner glass. I know you can scan larger paintings by doing it in sections and then putting the pieces back together, but right now I need it to be simple. Adjusting the scan images was challenging. Finally I realized I needed to learn about histograms and curves and color channels. Yes, I've been intending to do this - for a long time. Yes, I have books. But...I guess I didn't want to bother. Now I've started to learn. The scantips site walked me through starting to use the scanner tools, once I finally located them. There was a scroll bar I missed. (My computer coaching clients have now all broken into gales of laughter.) Learning to scan paintings and photos well is going to be a big help. It's like a gate opening. Who knows, maybe I'll get off the dime and make my "real" art website. 10:05:01 PM    comment []

Timespan for finishing iron cut by five weeks Good news today from General Finishes. As I'm about to start varnishing iron bowl parts with their EF Polyacrylic, it occurred to me that it had been quite a long time since they told me to wait six weeks before waxing it. Maybe this had changed? I called. It turns out that the six week curing period is only necessary if I use a wax with toluene or xylene or some other very strong solvent that tends to attack acrylics. Since I use their own Satin Wax, I only have to wait five days. That's a huge difference in waiting and storage time. This will ease my space problems a lot. So now the total painting timespan is down to about six weeks. This is very motivating. Theoretically I could get an idea for a paper and iron bowl sculpture, forge the iron and mold the paper, and have the whole sculpture ready to show in about eight weeks total. Somehow this makes the whole project easier to imagine. It feels more doable. 1:55:51 PM    comment []

Thursday, August 07, 2003

Making it simple This morning I looked around my cluttered, dirty cabin and remembered a time when my spaces were clean and uncluttered. My life was simple. So I asked myself: What's the simplest life that would satisfy me? I expected a pretty long list that would include hiking, campfires, trips, etc. This is what I got: Make bowls Make studies, spinoffs, paintings, collages Draw cartoons Sell all the above in the simplest, most direct and honest way. Save energy by being totally transparent. Save energy by being totally present - letting things flow through me. That was it. I could feel the stopping point. Simple. Decided to ask the Kid the same question. Kid, what's the simplest life that would satisfy YOU? laughing - jokes, cartoons playing - in the studio and everywhere else too running for fun playing with balls or badminton birds I'd really like to have a dog. I don't have to have one now but I do want one. I like to just look at stuff - flowers, trees, dogs, birds - all kinds of stuff. Well, except for the dog, still simple. (To other people a dog may seem simple too. For me, with my current household and finances, I see a lot of obstacles.) Naturally I asked the Critic/Censor the same question. Critic/Censor, what's the simplest life that would satisfy YOU? total honesty - about what you want, feel, do. That's it? That's it. OK. There are a lot of things NOT on any of these lists. Do I have the courage to let those go? What pops to mind is yes, for a year. So why not let everything go except these essentials, for this coming year? Well, I could go for a year and a half. Let's say the rest of 2003 and all of 2004. Then I'll reconsider. What does this mean in practice? Well, for one thing, if I'm asked for a decision about something NOT on the lists I can say "It doesn't matter to me; you decide." If I ask MYSELF for a decision about something not on the lists I can flip a coin or do a quick hand kinesiology yes/no. It means that jokes and cartoons are more important than I give them credit for. I could be clipping cartoons and drawing cartoons in the evenings instead of reading novels. I could be watching comedies instead of dramas and suspense videos. If I get too serious in the studio - not playful - I might as well give it up. The Kid is going to go on strike and nothing will work. Yes, making bowls is sacred work. It's also play - divine play, yes, but play. It means, when it comes to selling artwork, asking myself "what's the simplest, most direct and honest way to do this?" No hype - just putting it out there. I like this. I can feel myself breathing deeper. Always a good sign. 11:01:13 AM    comment []

Wednesday, August 06, 2003

Manipulating myself I suspected that an emotional dark cloud was keeping me from feeling enthusiastic about anything yesterday. So this morning I worked for a while with the Loving What Is method of inquiring into my thoughts. Pretty soon I came to my belief that I dislike the way some family members manipulate other family members into doing what they want. I felt a lot of indignation and anger about it. The last step in the four question process is called "turnarounds." One of my turnarounds was "I dislike the way I manipulate myself into doing what I want." At once I realized the truth of this. For two days or more I'd been trying to manipulate myself into starting new bowls, when my excitement was really for  collage. Somehow this determination to make myself do this (to "keep on schedule") just departed. On the way up the path to the cabin for a snack, I thought about what I valued most - what success is for me. Isn't it to make whatever art I really want to make, and then sell it? So I can make more art? That's what's most important to me, not the specific kind of art I make. After that, bowl ideas came to me effortlessly. Quickly I sketched out an idea I liked, saw some variations. The technical problems that seemed so daunting yesterday were solved. I got right into it. Collage too? You bet. Loving what is? Good idea. 4:03:41 PM    comment []

Tuesday, August 05, 2003

Free drawing, analog drawing The topic of drawing and doodling came up in a mailing list to which I subscribe. The mailing list is on the boundary between art and science. I found it when I was looking online for more information about Semir Zeki and his work. It's called Diatrope Art/Science Discussion. Here's what I wrote in answer to someone else, about my own experiences with spontaneous drawing and doodling: After reading Joanna Field's book On Not Being Able to Paint, I took up "free drawing" in earnest. I use a soft pencil, Ebony or 6B, on paper with a bit of tooth, but cheap so I can make as many quick drawings as I want. For each drawing, I just let my hand go - so that I'm watching the marks my hand makes with the pencil, but not controlling them. A series of 6 to 10 at one time often shows a progression through some "chaos and clutter" to more unity and harmony. Sometimes I do this larger scale, with cheap India ink and a sumi brush on big pieces of news print.   When I broke my elbow last year, I started free drawing with my nondominant hand. I was amazed to find that the drawings usually showed more grace and harmony (without any effort) than those I had made with my dominant hand. Now I often do some with one hand, some with the other, and some drawings alternating hands, one stroke with one hand, next stroke with the other.   Betty Edwards, in her book Drawing on the Artist Within, describes "analog" drawings. Here instead of starting with "nothing" and watching the hand draw, you have a concept or feeling in mind. But you still just let your hand go and see what happens. I've found that an analog drawing usually clears up any misery or clouded feeling left over from a nightmare. In other words, when I make an analog drawing of the nightmare, the feeling releases and flows away. With analogs that I have in mind for a sculpture, I like to do the big drawings with the sumi brush. It's easy to go from these drawings to ironwork.   Doodling I assoicate with talking on the phone. Occasionally doodles have turned into cartoon drawings. But only rarely do they inspire any sculpture. (Maybe because I associate relating to people with cartoons, and associate sculpture with walking in the woods, or getting inspiration from trees.)   11:48:13 PM    comment []

Yeow! Two days grumpy, off balance. Basically, I've come to the point where I need to start three or four new bowls, and don't know where to start. Too much thinking? Too much need to know? Or not enough? I spent a lot of time today thinking about it. I'll be spending three or four months with these new creatures. So I guess a day or two - or three - isn't too long. On the other hand, this isn't marriage. It's only three or four months, not fulltime by any means, just regular attention and work. Right now my plan is to the studio tomorrow morning and cut some pieces of copper mesh, see if my idea of bolting those to the ring bases I drilled and painted will work at all. At least I'll know. Maybe my mind has been rushing ahead of my hands? Today I just didn't feel sparked by anything. My enthusiasm was gone. I feel better tonight. Talked with my partner (ok - griped, whined, and moaned) and then took a walk at my favorite evening walking road. On the walk I "saw things" right away. That is, various leaves, plant forms, etc. leapt out at me and said "hey look! Photograph me! Use me! Look at me!" I love it when I "see things" on a walk. I came home very refreshed. 11:21:17 PM    comment []

New category: DVDs & Videos to Rent As you can see, I've added a new category to this journal: DVDs and videos to rent. My partner and I watch a lot of these, so we see some great ones and some bad. I've rented some that we watch for just a few minutes. When we are really repelled, completely confused, or horribly bored, we've learned to give up early. Once years ago I rented a video called "Chasing Amy." I think the wrapper description said it was a hilarious comedy. It's about cartoon artists so it should, possibly, be funny. But for us, it wasn't funny, just weird and confusing. Finally after about ten minutes we gave up on it. Then a year or so later, I brought home a video that was described as a hilarious comedy. We settled down for a fun evening. Hmm. It turned out to be "Chasing Amy," the same video I'd rented before. We held out for about twenty minutes, then gave up. Since then I've been more careful. I mention this partly in case you loved the movie, "Chasing Amy." This could be a valuable clue in evaluating my DVD and video reviews. Sometimes it's useful to know that if so-and-so loved a movie, I'll probably dislike it - and vice versa. 9:05:47 AM    comment []

Review of "Phone Booth" Last night my partner and I watched the last scenes of this movie again, just to absorb all the details. This is unusual for us. I found "Phone Booth" fascinating, moving, and amazing. The writer was really good. The whole movie takes place in one city block, except for a lead-in that encompasses, oh, maybe three blocks! It's testimony to the excellent writing and acting, that the movie commands rapt attention to this one small space. I had expected a suspense thriller with some sort of psycho threatening some innocent people. You could find this in "Phone Booth" but it's too simplistic and silly a description. The movie is much more than that, and much better. It's thought provoking, for one thing. Who knows, maybe it's life changing. I can report on my level of honesty as time goes on - unless, that is, I'm lying.... 8:58:58 AM    comment []

Monday, August 04, 2003

Transition point: what to start now? It's time to start new bowl sculptures - a new group of three or four. I finished the eight small paintings, even the varnishing. The iron I painted is resting for a few days till it's time to start varnishing those. I'm excited about collage. Maybe do collage on these next bowls? I have some iron pieces started. Look at those, see where they want to go? I have some pipe ring bases drilled and painted up to the point where I could mold paper right onto them - with or without copper mesh. So where to start? So many ideas, lots of sparks...which sparks are brightest? Hottest? 11:33:34 PM    comment []

Added search tool Now that I've been making entries in this journal for several months, it's time to make finding entries easier. So I just added a search tool from Atomz. It's in the right-hand panel. I'd appreciate feedback on how well it works. You've probably noticed an email link at the bottom of the right hand panel. That's the quickest way to get a message to me. I do check for comments here, but not as often as I check email. Thanks for reading this. It's a lot of fun to be making this journal available. I appreciate every reader. 11:15:24 PM    comment []

Saturday, August 02, 2003

Painting on Iron I think I'm stretching out painting the iron on these two pieces. Yesterday it dawned on me that it's because I love painting with acrylics and don't want it to be over. The next stage, after letting the acrylics dry, is clearcoating with varnish. That's not nearly as much fun. So it seems as if I haven't really absorbed the fact that I can paint with acrylics any time I want to. I have canvases to paint. I have archival boards to paint. I have watercolor paper. And I have paper I can play on, to use later for collage. It's a little tricky to make space to paint two-dimensional work while painting sculpture. There must be a way, however. The main thing is to believe it's really ok to do it. The paint looks wonderful on the iron. I'm amazed at how beautiful the iron is becoming. It was ok as just plain iron. But now it's becoming more than ok. And the colors I'm using are a result of lots of experimentation with the paint on paper as well as on iron test pieces. So there's a synergy here. The painting on paper - the play with color - helps the sculptures. Do the sculptures help the paintings on paper and canvas? Yes. The sculptures are a kind of anchoring, a centering, a grounding. Iron keeps me practical enough to live on earth. 9:07:36 AM    comment []

Added subscription service I've added a subscription service to this journal/weblog. If you fill in your email address in the subscription box to the right, under the calendar, then every time I add an entry, you'll receive it as an email. If you like to read this journal but keep forgetting to check the site, this will be a convenience. It will also enable you to subscribe to any other weblog. You'll receive the updates in email form. This is a service provided by Bloglet. I really appreciate it. 9:01:07 AM    comment []