MIA... sort of MIA... well, elsewhere.

Still no new art, and I'm fine with that right now. Between the heat, being insanely busy - and more than a little stressed - at work, the general fact that it's summer - plus yay, new camera! - it's not like I have heaps of downtime that need filling right now. I'm reasonably certain that after my company relocates (next month! but thankfully only 10 miles), and the heat backs off a bit, I'll be armed with a pencil again. I've even got pictures of a couple new skulls I want to try, so I'm not worried.

It does mean posting here will be a bit slim. If at all.

But, feel free to drop by re: wolf for a more normalish, non-art blog. I'm contemplating merging this blog into it, once Blogger sorts out a current size limit for such things. For now, Bone & Shadow will remain here, but you'll find me more often over there.

Checking in

Sorry for the lack of posting, folks. I got hit with a nasty cold, got over it (I thought!) for three days, then it came back last weekend with a vengeance. By mid-week, it was pneumonia, but by then I was already on good medication. I'm getting better, but still have a ways to go. An indicator of how sick I have been, I've had no energy - or even much desire - to draw. :(

For you...

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Chocolate Heart from BlueLips

Art Puns

I plucked the following from Miss Cellania this morning:

Today in the Stock Market...

Paper was stationary.
Pencils lost a few points.

Anyone know any other good art-related puns?

Artists on Facebook - something to consider

I was made aware of the following portion of Facebook's Terms of Service, written up by Anna Goodson on Little Chimp Society, via Templesmith and also on the Drawn! blog. (Phew!) It's something to think about, especially if you are uploading your original artwork onto Facebook:

When you post User Content to the Site, you authorize and direct us to make such copies thereof as we deem necessary in order to facilitate the posting and storage of the User Content on the Site. By posting User Content to any part of the Site, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to the Company an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, publicly perform, publicly display, reformat, translate, excerpt (in whole or in part) and distribute such User Content for any purpose, commercial, advertising, or otherwise, on or in connection with the Site or the promotion thereof, to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such User Content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing. You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content. Facebook does not assert any ownership over your User Content; rather, as between us and you, subject to the rights granted to us in these Terms, you retain full ownership of all of your User Content and any intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights associated with your User Content."
So that said, basically anything that is posted on Facebook can be used or sold by them to anyone. Yes, you do retain full ownership but you automatically grant the usage over to them.

Happy Halloween!

A box of inspiration, multiplied

In the Fall of 2005, I was surfing one evening and came across a web page (that I can no longer seem to find) that talked about creating a box for inspiration. The page used, as an illustration, Joseph Cornell's "L'Egypte de Mlle Cleo de Merode cours elementaire d'histoire naturelle." (left)

Oh, I was inspired alright. It inspired me to create art in boxes. And while my "style" (I guess you could call it a style...) was vastly different from Cornell's, his work still fascinates me.

"[Cornell's] lyrical, often surprising combinations of materials and ideas are usually associated with surrealism, a European art movement that emphasized dreams and poetic dislocation in the 1920s and 1930s. Surrealism, however, was just one of many resources that Cornell called upon as an artist driven by innate curiosity and creativity rather than by theories and formal art training."

Today, I actually got to see "L'Egypte" - along with 179 other pieces, countless photographs, film collage, storyboards, letters, and more - even his first collage. My wife and I traveled the unbearable distance (ok, so it was under 2 miles) to the Peabody Essex Museum for Joseph Cornell: Navigating the Imagination. PEM is a wonderful art museum anyway, with large collections of maritime and Asian art. But walking through 4 galleries of Cornell's works was an unparalleled treat.

I recently read Utopia Parkway: The Life And Work Of Joseph Cornell. I had to take it in small doses: Cornell's life was not a generally happy existence, and he was... odd. But it was all still fresh in my memory, and today I got to see so many of the pieces that I'd read about and knew the story behind.

If you should get the chance, see this show!

From two to three.

I've never posted a work-in-progress; heck, I generally freak out if someone gets more than a passing glance at an unfinished piece. But I wanted to share this for some reason.

This is what I love about drawing. When I can start to see the line-drawing change - when the shadows and highlights are in the right places; when their relationship to one another begins to add depth and dimension to the flat paper; when it starts to stand out away from the page; when the eye is fooled on some level - that's the magic of it for me. It may not be done, it may not be ready yet. But it's taking shape.

If you create - and doesn't everyone, in some way, shape or form? - what is your "magic moment"? At what point in your process do you smile and nod to yourself in pleasure? At what point does some part of you think "Yeah! This is why I do it!"

Black (grey) sheep of the family

I noticed that, of the myriad "Content Channels" listed on the Wet Canvas! home page, "pencil" is not included, nor is "graphite". You actually have to dig into "Drawing & Sketching". Yes, pencil is a medium used in "drawing and sketching," but acrylic, oil and watercolour are media used in "painting," yet they each have their own separate "content channel".

To be honest, it looks like a fairly sizable forum for the greyscale crowd. But it feels like - once again - that pencil work just isn't "glamorous" enough, isn't taken seriously as a medium.

Oh well. I don't need exterior validation of my choice of medium - I plan to remain a "pencil jockey".

Rhetorical, I'm sure.

Why do you do it? Why do you do what you do? I don't mean things like going to work, washing laundry, or eating. I mean the things you do that aren't necessities. Why do you create? Why do you paint, draw, photograph, write, or journal? Is it a hobby? Is it a passion? Or is it just a job? Or because it makes you seem more interesting to others? Or because everyone else is doing it?

While I'm asking, why do you choose the tools you use? Do you only use that brand of paint because of someone's review or because you love the colour range? Do you use that camera because it's what "all" the other photographers use or because you are happy with it's ability to capture what you see? Did you buy that journal or sketchbook because of the brand or because the paper welcomes your medium of choice? Do you use the word-processing software with all the bells and whistles, or one that does just what you need?

And since I've already asked way too many questions, is your use of those tools unique to you in any way? Do you craft your characters like every other novelist? Do you draw the same things that others are drawing? Do you stand next to other photographers to take a picture from the same angle?

I'm all for people creating, whether they have "talent" or not, but shouldn't motivation be a factor? And shouldn't the choice of tools play a role? Do you use what everyone else uses, or what works for you? Do you create what you see and imagine, or only what others produce? Is there any of you in what you do? And does it give something back to you?

I'm almost back!

Hotter than, well, yeah, there today. Due to be hotter tomorrow, which means reserving energy as much as possible. Being outside today was like trying to breathe through a blanket soaked in hot water.

No new art (unless you count the pathetic little bits I managed mid-Blogathon) but hopefully more soon. I did make my own sketch pad last night, ring-binding a stack of (roughly 4x6") Bristol board, with heavy covers. I love working on smooth finish Bristol in pencil, ink, and even watercolour. (Spot colour, mind you, not washes.) No one makes a smaller, spiral-bound pad/book/chunk of Bristol, so K helped me come up with a great alternative.

Speaking of the Blogathon, it was a lot of fun! Much thanks to everyone who stopped by and kept me going. Sometimes in the next couple weeks, i will be archiving the Blogathon posts off-site, so read back if you want to see the silliness. I'm considering a separate blog next year for the 'Thon.

Just one weird occurrence today (which is saying a lot, because I was at work today!) I had been contemplating joining a certain art-related Yahoo group for awhile now, and today I signed up. In return, I got:

Your request to join the i'mnotgonnasaywhich group was not approved. The moderator of each Yahoo! group chooses whether to restrict membership in the group. Moderators who choose to restrict membership also choose whom to admit.

That's it. No explanation, just "Hi. No."

Was my "Reason for wanting to join" not impassioned enough? Was my talent insufficient? Was my art "wrong"? Was the decision-maker someone who does not like me? Was it because of some other group I belong to now, or did in the past? Don't know, don't get to know. I don't even know why I let it bug me. I'm not going to wither away simply because I don't get to play with the nearly 2000 "cool kids" in this group; it's the "not knowing" that gets to me.

Ah, well, that's what I get for trying to go along with the crowd. I really should know better by now: I don't fit in groups.

Gulp. Or, "I believe I have been tagged."

That wild artistic genius, "Sparky," over at CrackSkullBob has accidentally included me with a bunch of real artists in a wee challenge: the Self Portrait Marathon. Yup, it appeared in my inbox this morning. The idea, in short, is to do a (minimum of) one self-portrait a week, this month. I'd have shrieked had I not been up before K.

I've been pondering it all day, in between putting out fires, getting utterly slammed, and dealing with the client who doesn't understand the word "NO!"

Now, I know I can say "NO!" and "Sparky" would not care one whit. But for some insane reason... I want to give it a try. So... I might. Maybe. If I dare.

You have been warned.

The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.

(Title by Blaise Pascal)
*******
Rubella - commonly known as German measles or 3-day measles - is an infection that primarily affects the skin and lymph nodes. It is caused by the rubella virus, which is usually transmitted by secretions from the nose or throat. It can also pass through a pregnant woman's bloodstream to infect her unborn child. As this is a generally mild disease in children, the primary medical danger of rubella is the infection of pregnant women, which may cause congenital rubella syndrome in developing babies.

Before a vaccine against rubella became available in 1969, rubella epidemics occurred every 6 to 9 years. Children ages 5 to 9 were primarily affected, and many cases of congenital rubella occurred as well. Now, due to immunization of younger children and teens, there are fewer cases of congenital rubella.

Congenital rubella syndrome (the possible result of a baby being infected before birth) is usually much more severe. The birth defects can include blindness, deafness, heart defects, behavior disorders, mental retardation, bone disease, liver disease, etc. The infection frequently causes miscarriage and stillbirth. The risk of congenital rubella syndrome is highest (up to 90 percent) when infection occurs in the first 11 weeks of pregnancy. This is the period of greatest risk, when most babies of infected mothers will have birth defects if they survive. By the fourth month, the risk of congenital rubella syndrome when a mother is infected drops to about 5 percent.

Sometime in the late summer of 1965, an 8 year old boy contracted rubella and unwittingly passed it to his mother, who was - you guessed it! - pregnant. The following spring, she gave birth to to a 10lb. 6oz baby whose size gave him the strength to survive delivery - which included a defective heart stopping 3 times before it was over. Early childhood included several more, equally close calls.

He wasn't supposed to survive, but no one told him that.

40 years later, I think I've done pretty damn well.

***
40 years ago today, the number one song in the States was "(You're My) Soul And Inspiration" by The Righteous Brothers. My soul and inspiration is right here with me, and despite her having had a generally craptastic day, she's gorgeous and wonderful.

Art theft.

Over the past day+, I've been witness to the aftermath of theft. An acquaintance, a very talented artist and poet, found yesterday (last night?) that someone had taken several pieces of her writing and posted them on her (the thief's) MySpace, LiveJournal, and website - presenting them as her own. Salt was added to the wound upon learning that this person has also not only posted images of her (the real artist's) artwork as her own, she has even had the stones to hotlink the images right from her (the real artist's) website. Yep, she even stole the bandwidth.

Those of us on the sidelines are left wondering:

1. Are the photos she (the thief) claims to have taken really hers?


2. Just who's poetry did she submit to the contests she's won or her college applications?

Sadly, from my friend confronting the thief, it has become plain that this person is a child, is immature (No, they are not mutually exclusive.), and is quite possibly mentally ill. The administrators of MySpace and LiveJournal have been contacted, and according to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act should remove any posted materials the thief doesn't.

But damage has been done. My friend's very personal work was - for however long - usurped, stolen. It makes me really sad to see the pain this caused. And it makes me even sadder that, as a result of this, someone with a talent for creating beauty is questioning whether she should even put it "out there."

Apparently watermarking images is now "frowned upon" by the internet art world. (Probably by people who've never been ripped off before.) So I suggested some other ways to protect her work, and I really hope she sticks around.

Y'know, I've had someone blatantly attempt to copy my assemblages, and that just ticked me off. I cannot imagine how it would feel to have my work presented by some stranger as their own.

EDITED TO ADD: With permission, the artist in question is Lauren Simone, and you can see her work at silent languages

Flickr?

So today I actually read the Flickr Guidelines, and on the whole I'd say they are pretty good. Mostly common sense stuff, and the usual Flick! humour, like "Don't: Be creepy. Don't be that guy. You know that guy." But here's the part that really caught my eye:

And yes, Flickr is for photos. With some exceptions, it's OK to post other images, but if the majority of your photostream contains content other than photographs (like illustrations, screenshots, diagrams, etc.) it's very likely that your account will be marked Not in Public Site Areas (NIPSA). NIPSA means your photos won't show up in photo searches, but they will still be visible in your pages, your groups and contacts.

Um, okay. Gee, thanks. Why "very likely"? Do the same rules not apply to everyone? And why does this smell a wee bit elitist to me, like "We're here for photographers only, but we can't come right out and say it."

Then there's this:

Don't: Upload photos that include frontal nudity, genitalia or anything else that your bathing suit should cover in public areas of Flickr. If you do we'll make your photostream private and remind you of this Guideline. If you don't heed our warning and continue to make similar content public, we'll terminate your account without warning.

Ok, so my wife paints these beautiful fairies that happen to be nude. Is she up for a double-whammy here?

I dunno, I'm still sick this week so maybe I'm cranky, but the whole thing just chafes me. And I'm putting feelers out for a photo-hosting replacement.

Inspiration needs to be a requirement

In her LiveJournal, artist Jane Wynn had a thought-provoking post on the subject of wanting needing to grow as an artist, which really resonated with me. Especially the line about seeing the same things done over and over.

So much of what I see out there now looks just like everything else. I love Victorian-themed work, for instance, but does everything have to look like it just tumbled off great-grandmother's dressing table, festooned with lace and all in the same shade of dusty rose? Is that the only way to imply "age" anymore? Piffle. And what about the stuff on great-grandpa's workbench? I say, skip the attic, I want to see what's lurking in the basement!

I believe that every human is capable of creation; for those who are simultaneously inclined to create, I offer this challenge: make your art. Make it yours. Make it one-of-a-kind, rare, entirely you. See the same objects, papers, embellishments, inks, and everything else that we all see - but see it through your eyes, not those of some designer somewhere. There is only one of each of us - there is no need for what we create to be any less unique.