Some Recent Work

An exercise for Jane Davies' 100 Drawings class unexpectedly turned into finished work.  These are titled Construction Zone and were done in the last couple days.   9" x 12", acrylic and collage.

The basic assignment was to make a busy piece, and then quiet it down.  That's evidently a good way for me to work.  Still loving high bright clear colors (in the midst of a long cold winter!)

Philosophy of Life, Calvin and Hobbes Style

Going through old files, I found my cache of cartoons which had many nice surprises.  None better than these, however, in which Calvin and Hobbes sum up their philosophies and largely agree on the big picture:

On edit:  I have removed my scans of the original newspaper clippings, as I believe they violate copyright and I'd hate as a new blogger to do that!

Summarizing (which is way not as good as the original):

#1 Calvin lists all the ways that nature is indifferent to humans and how that is insulting to humans, while Hobbes ignores him.  Calvin notes that this is perhaps why "some people don't like cats."

#2  Calvin lists all the things that have happened to him that day including being covered with bug bites, hot, sweaty etc.  Hobbes says that the day may be considered seized.  Calvin (from the bathtub) says that "Tomorrow, we'll seize the day and throttle it!"

#3  Calvin notes that superheros never go after subtle, realistic bad guys.  Hobbes says that they could go to Council meetings and write letters to the editor.  Calvin:  "Hmmm....I think I see the problem."
Hobbes:  "Quick! To the Bat-Fax!"

So so good!  Calvin and Hobbes SO missed!!!!!

A Finished Project

I recently retired from 12 years of public service as a local elected official.  One of the first things I wanted to get done was to organize all the things I had brought home and saved over the years:  press clippings, press releases, cards, documents, some pictures.  (My usual practice would have been to throw them in several unorganized piles to save for "later.").  And I did it!  Of course, the original plan was for a month of work, and it actually took 5 but its done!

Two overstuffed volumes--if I do find more pictures, its going to morph into three!  Looseleaf format, including both 12 x 12, 8.5 x 11 and a bunch of sizes in between.  Happy and sad, funny and tragic, a nice collection.  And I am ready to put that chapter behind me and move on!

If You Want to Write

In the process of going through my collage/artist books, I found a little book with a very favorite quote.  It is from Brenda Ueland's If You Want to Write:

"And why should you do all these things?  Why should we all use our creative power and write or paint or play music, or whatever it tells us to do?

"Because there is nothing that makes people so generous, joyful, lively, bold and compassionate, so indifferent to fighting and the accumulation of objects and money.  Because the best way to know the Truth or Beauty is to try to express it.  And what is the purpose of existence Here or Yonder but to discover truth and beauty and express it, i.e. share it with others?"

As beautiful as the day she wrote it 1938 and a manifesto for our time as well.  Art Saves Lives.  Everyone Make Art.

Book note:  a small puzzle book, which I identified as a Flutter Book pattern from Shereen LaPlantz, 3" x 4.5".  Multiple copies--maybe 10. 

Venturing Out of the Basement

One of my intentions for 2015 is to bring my art work out of the basement, and I took another big step in that direction yesterday.  My former neighbor and friend  Annette Russo invited me to speak to her 3D design class at Millkin about my artist books. 

 

That was super fun:  since I had just taken all my books out and piled them on the floor (as part of the kitchen reno project which apparently involves moving everything I own), I was able to make a selection which included both small editions and one of a kind collage books (which I think of as my main work in book arts). 

I have a number of Annette's ceramic pieces, and especially love her hilarious animal series.  A very  Wabi-sabi aesthetic!

Annette also invited me to be show some of the books I brought at a show in May!!!  Pretty great start to the year, and a whole new door opening up. 

Learning How to Learn

I have just finished a wonderful MOOC (on the Coursera platform) titled Learning How to Learn.  I wish I had known this decades earlier!  The course brings together current research on the biology of learning and brain function with practical actionable suggestions on how to improve acquisition of new knowledge.  Awesome! 

As a final project, we were asked to express what we learned in our own words in a way that we could explain it to others.  I am a lifelong couch potato who has recently (last couple of years) gotten serious about exercise and been working with a personal trainer.  She has taught me a lot, and I thought that other people's understanding of good exercise habits would be a way to express what I had learned in LHTL.  Here is my final project:

Physical Training	Studying
Set good daily habits	Set good daily habits
Move everyday	Practice Every Day
Break it down:  workout is series of tasks	Break it down:  study is series of tasks
Build it up:  when can do a weight, increase it	Build it up: when you have a concept, try a harder concept
Get stronger by repeating, repeating, repeating	Solidify learning by repeating, repeating, repeating
Space your practice:  muscles need time to recover	Space your practice:  chunks need time to form
Watch your form by review in mirror	Watch your form by frequent self testing
Sleep is part of your workout:  vital to recovery	Sleep is part of your studying: vital to making chunks permanent
Variety:  vary intensity and activity to work different muscles and prevent burn out	Variety:  vary concepts studied to prevent burnout and enable connections between different ideas
Add more challenging levels	Add more challenging levels
BREATHE	BREATHE
Learn by Doing	Learn by Doing problems, review, active recall
Make it your own:  customize your workout	Make it your own:  own examples, analogies
Progress not in a straight line	Progress not in a straight line
Focus on process/practice not result	Focus on process/practice not result
Celebrate each workout	Celebrate each study session—reward is part of the Pomadoro technique
Refresh, relax and renew	Refresh, relax and renew

The course is over but Coursera is planning to bring it back as On Demand.  This is a link to the archives:  https://www.coursera.org/course/learning

The best way to find all MOOC's is at Class Central:  https://www.class-central.com/

The Letters Project: So the Answer was here all along?

I continue to make progress with the Letters Project, and am finding it amazing and liberating rather than discouraging!  This is a big surprise. 

One of the first things I found was this card, and photo:

This was taken in our dorm room, 353 Austin Hall Ohio Wesleyan University, sometime in the fall of 1971-spring of 1972 by my roommate Carolyn. 

Everything about the picture is precious--this may be the only one, brings back so many memories.  How I would always fall asleep studying, that bedspread and the yellow walls, bell bottoms!, granny glasses!, and the poster.  Ansel Adams picture, quote by Thoreau   "In Wildness is the Preservation of the World."  (Plus of course my haircut done with manicure scissors.......)  This was such a happy time, I loved college and I loved my roommates Carolyn and Laurie.

Carolyn is gone now, died way too soon over a decade ago.  There are a small stack of letters from her, and I look forward to going through them and keeping them safe.  I'd love to talk to her now--a good lesson in not taking people for granted. 

But it is the note that is even more of a surprise.  Of course, if I had followed her directions the next decades would have been very different.  But I could not.  I doubt that it even registered--when I opened the card it felt like seeing it for the first time.  My pain and self loathing were so intense that I could not hear what a friend was offering.  I have a strong feeling that this will be a consistent theme about the letters project throughout:  that many hands were offering to help and that my pain prevented me from taking those hands. That my pain was preventing me from seeing the person offering the hand --really seeing their love and friendship.   I do look pretty happy in this picture though!

Everything I have read about decluttering is that things stuffed away continue to weight you down.  Just because they are in a box does not mean that they are not influencing your life.  It feels SO GOOD to be on this project:  I know that not all connections can be restored (nor would I want them to be) but I can reclaim big chunks of my past, appreciate them, honor them and move into the future.  I know that a big part of the discovery process is just how bad a friend I have been, but perhaps I can make (some) amends and lighten the load.    Feels very good!