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April 26, 2005
wovo wares
In the shower this morning, the idea to create products with the WOVO logo (or whatever that graphic should be called) lit upon me, so after work, I set up a little store at CafePress: http://www.cafepress.com/wovo.
No one is ever going to buy this stuff, but I personally find the tote bag irresistible. I think I'm going to become one of those ladies who goes to the grocery store and tells the cashier that I'm using my own bags, thanks. I will then stuff my groceries into five WOVO tote bags.
As for WOVO itself, our next song is in the works.
April 19, 2005
rest and the west
Whenever I start getting stressed out by work, I like to think about some upcoming event that has nothing to do with work. Now that the weather is nice, I think a lot about going to the beach. But I'm also starting to think about the "real" summer vacation, the one that will last more than a weekend. Andy and I think we're going to go to the Grand Canyon this year. We want to drive for part of it and see some western states. He thinks it'd be less expensive to fly to California and then rent a car and drive back home, but something seems illogical about that idea; we would be driving away from our vacation instead of toward it, and the destination would hold no climactic appeal. I can imagine myself getting cranky and wanting it just to be over, rather than feeling like the whole world is ahead of me. This kind of thinking is a perpetual issue, and I should probably fix it. But even if I do, driving west still seems like the right thing to do. I mean, historically, that's what people have done, and history knows best!
April 05, 2005
april showers... of color!
I have been painting since I was in high school. (Some time soon, I am going to post photos of all of the work I still have from those years.) All of that art, as well as everything I've done since, was made with acrylic paint. I decided early on that watercolors weren't for me; they didn't seem as intuitive as I wanted them to be, and—this is probably the real reason—I didn't want to take classes with the guy who taught watercolor painting. I found him gruff and unencouraging and a little bit snotty. I began to associate the look of watercolor art with his personality, and so I embarked on a reasonably rewarding path of acrylic adventures.
Not until a few months ago had I even considered attempting anything with watercolors. But I have been encountering inspirational watercolor pieces here and there, and Andy said recently that he thinks watercolors would "suit my aesthetic." I don't know quite what he means by it, but I'm eager to see if he's right.
So on Saturday, while in Staples on another errand, I picked up a very cheap set of watercolor paints. I wanted to play around with them before deciding to commit to taking it up. Here are my very first attempts at understanding how they work. These were done on a sketchpad, which doesn't handle the water very well.
I was surprised that the tree one came out so badly, but I wasn't upset. I felt completely unpressured to produce something of value and was reminded of why I paint in the first place: pleasure. Lately I have been thinking about art as something into which I might invest more of myself. Until recently, I haven't attempted to make "actual art" or express feelings through painting; instead, painting has served primarily as a way to relax from my "real," serious life. When something I enjoy becomes part of that real life for me, it suddenly becomes weighted with self-inflicted pressures and expectations, and I avoid, rather than turn, to it. Writing is, tragically, the same way. How can I have fun with something and take it seriously at the same time? I am trying to address this impediment, and it's slow going.
This was copied from a book I have. The woman is dancing with a man, but he's obviously disappeared! Though this is far from being something I'd consider good, it made me feel like, with more practice, I'll be able to enjoy watercolors, for real.
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