cobaltika

altered photos, tissue, paints, stamps, paper shreds, transferred imagery, beads.

best displayed dangling from a small rusty nail.

poet making a stirfry on a saturday

winter has finally come and i don’t mind at all. except for wishing to go wandering with miss jemima and being thwarted by sleet. i don’t mind the cold. but i don’t want her bombarded by icy pellets. maybe today i can sneak out. although it does not look promising. i played with her inside a little, trying to learn some numbers. but mostly worked on cobaltika all day. i want my artSite nice again. instead of severely outdated and static. the images are easy to put together. but the artwork itself is not because scanning is so boring, so i tend to present the same things. bah. now i am trying to show new things as they happen (before i throw them in the trash. ha ha.) we’ll see how it goes. also working on new small things at the artTable. altered photos, with beads and sequins, like little icons. i might like them.

we went to the Merc on friday after work so don’t have to go out in the car to buy food. yay. i hate to drive in ice. but i am restless today. housebound. getting in trouble. bidding on vintage cameras for cheap. i want to blame it on traci and her link to those awesome Brownie Hawkeye photos, but i was already “watching” some things. oh bad me! the Valiant and the Olympus XA2 have made me like film again…

so it is a good inside weekend. we have watched movies. we have food and books and i have all of the artToys i need and MONDAY is a holiday! betsy has made it to Ireland and margaret seems happy to be in her new apartment. for a few minutes i won’t worry about anyone or anything…just be content.

in this year’s visual journal i have “permission” to work as i please. or not at all. the only rule is that i Use Stuff Up. this spread uses altered photo/transparency experiments, old paints and assorted shreds. frankly i am finding it rather ugly so far. thank god most of the old paint was too dried up to use. awful dark colors!

on the way to work : lumix fz7 on a lo-lite morning

the same day i whine a bit about same old route, no time, why carry camera, etc. i find this quote:

“One should really use the camera as though tomorrow you’d be stricken blind. To live a visual life is an enormous undertaking, practically unattainable. ” ~Dorothea Lange

and i started reading Blindness (José Saramago) in the night.

ok. ok. so i left earlier yesterday and carried my camera and walked a different route. it was dim and gray and i had a chance to observe Miss Jemima’s reputation for noisy images. pretty bad! i had some very clear shots where the light was just right, but as both coming and going to the office were in dim light … noise! i will probably try changing some settings, since i am interested in learning The Numbers lately. i also wondered if it might be the UV filter, which i decided to keep on, since i’m not very careful with my camera? but that shouldn’t change the image, right? oh well. luckily i love photoshop.

anyway. it was good. i like walking with her.

where have i been? i don’t know either. since monday i have felt numb and disoriented, as if i have been away on a long vacation and have not yet re-settled. pretty blah, almost depressed, sleeping dark and heavy. dreams. exhaustion. plodding to the office, etc. i guess the holiday is over. my big girl is gone. my small one will not come now. time to settle into the peaceful and dull months of january and february. i don’t really mind. in fact, i’m glad to do it. i just haven’t adapted yet, i guess. it would help if there were some snow or wild weather perhaps? instead of this sameness. in the last week i have seen forsythias beginning to bloom (in a NORTH facing alley yet) and a small ring-necked snake. this is WRONG. i want to wear my purple snowboots dammit.

i have been reading and piddling with some artwork. a little wandering with the new camera, but not enough yet. i should carry it with me everyday now. it is so light and the strap rides so comfortably crossed over. yet it is still darkish when i leave and the same route every day. always rushed, no time to dawdle. and coming home. i just want to GET there NOW. but i realize that is just an excuse. i’m really a little afraid that i will just do the same thing over and over, like i seem to do with my art lately. erf.

(probably dusk is not the best time for practice with unfamiliar settings?)