Feb

25

Form or Function?

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On something of an impulse I ordered “Living Out Loud” by Keri Smith. I have also been making a point of reading through her blog archives to get a better sense of where she is coming from. The more I read, the more I like her approach to art and creativity.

In her book I quickly came across an illustration called 10 (small) Ways to Shake Things Up. Panel 7 is captioned View Your World from Upside-down (which is actually written upside-down). The reminded me of the many times I spent turned over so I could see the world the wasn’t being used. That was how I used to think of it. What came to me today about this is looking at everything upside literally changes your perspective and forces you see things differently. I’ve decided if I have four or five more little flashes like this while reading the rest of the book, my money was extremely well spent.

Reading her journal the Wish Jar, I came across a recent post about uniforms. She wasn’t speaking of actually uniforms but rather of utilitarian ways of dressing.

about a year ago I started writing notes on what constitutes my Uniform.

I prefer multipurpose items. (works in the city or the woods)

they must be very durable and last for several years.

they must be comfortable.

I must be able to perform any task in it, (hiking, biking, walking, etc.)

must be made out of natural fibers.

it must travel well, (look good wrinkled)

I have heard of artists who adopt and particular manner of dressing. O’Keefe famously wore only black or white clothing. The reasons vary of course. This particular post caught my attention because I have recently formalized a process that began unconsciously three or four years ago. I began wearing cargo pants almost exclusively about three years ago. They are comfortable and extremely durable and have lots of pockets which alone is enough to recommend them. Whether I’m working in the studio, the garden or just lying around, I have not found anything as comfortable or versatile for daily wear.

Sometime last year I went shopping for clothes and was going a little crazy trying to find some good work cloths. After an hour or so trying to find the “right” shirts, I decided to just go for simplicity and comfort. So I bought six pairs of pants and six shirts, three black and three off-white of each. That has been my work “uniform” since. I now have six slacks either black or beige and about ten shirts either black, brown or beige. They are all the same brand and I buy them at the end of the season when they are 50 or 60 percent off.

The final piece was to clear out the closet and my drawers which I did in the last week. I have about fifty percent of the clothing I had before I started. I kept a few pieces I couldn’t part with but I did dump everything I hadn’t worn in a year.

This might not sound like a big deal but I have found this to be fairly liberating. I don’t spend any time thinking about how I might dress and whatever I put on is going to be perfect for what I’m doing. It doesn’t get easier. Form does indeed follow function.

Feb

23

All Thumbs No More

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I not sure if anyone should be surprised that I was asked for pictures of the injury to my thumb. But I did get requests and someone at work thought it was cool enough that they took a picture on their cell phone when I went back to work. The original post has been updated with a picture. Right now I am considering ideas for a tatoo for the thumb. My favorite is a dotted line with the works CUT ABOVE LINE. Please share your ideas if you have them and send them along to my blog name at comcast dot net.

tsm

Feb

13

Ideas

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As I work on projects I tend to get ideas about things related to whatever I’m working on. This makes sense of course, but I am sometimes mystified at how consistent this is. As I have been working on my website and putting my web presence together again, I have been flooded with ideas for web projects, writing ideas and ways to connect those things to other interests I have.

Almost immediately after starting on my site, I began slightly obsessed with Wikis. I went to a bookstore for a Wordpress book as I have quickly confronted the limits of coding abilities. I encountered a book on wikis and decided to pick it up and that has in turn led to ideas for two separate wikis.

With all the ideas I was getting I was thinking that I needed to start keeping track of this stuff and THAT thought reminded my of Keri Smith, who is someone who also seems to get a lot of ideas. While clicking around her site I came across an image of her book “Living Out Loud,” and the fed into some other ideas kicking around my head so I ordered it.

All of that took me to the thought that there are some amazing and talented people out there and I wish I more familiar with their work and how they approach creativity. That gave me my most recent idea — to pick a website and read it thoroughly and then write about it. This gives me a reason to spend some serious time with sites I might otherwise check for interesting updates.

As I was finishing up this post, it popped into my head that there might a good quote out there about this whole idea thing I was thinking about. I probably shouldn’t have been surprised to find this one:

You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we’re doing it. Neil Gaiman

t s m

Feb

11

Wolfgang Bloch

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While rummaging around Barnes and Noble this past weekend, I came across a monograph of work by an artist I had never heard of. The cover image is what caught my eye. It was an image of a surfline painted from a the perspective of a great distance. The sky was a turbulent blackened grey and the image appear to have been created at least partially on a piece of rough wood. I decided to become more familiar with the work of Wolfgang Bloch.

bloch1

If you read anything about Bloch, you will learn three things; he is from Ecuador, he surfs and that his lifelong love of the ocean deeply influences his work. What I learned about Bloch from looking at his paintings is that he is capably communicates both the primal power and the hypnotic beauty of the sea.

I rode ships across most of the world’s oceans as a younger man. I would often gaze out upon the horizon and just stare. Even during violent storms, the horizon remained unchanged, eternal and unreachable. What I remember is despite the ever-changing appearance of sea and sky together, their combined beauty almost always produced a sense of wonder and awe.

bloch2

The other thing that I was invited to recall by Bloch’s work is the mysterious nature of sea. There were times I would be staring at an incredibly noisy and dramatic display of the sea’s power as storm driven waves rose up to great heights and exploded into a furious display of sea spray and foam in a matter of seconds. Yet I was also aware that not very far below the surface there would be no evidence of the turbulence on the surface and that despite its furious extraversion, its real power was in its deep silence.

Turner impressed me with his ability to capture that furious power of the sea. But Wolfgang Bloch reminded me of what always mesmerized me about the sea; its extroverted beauty and its inscrutable depths exist simultaneously. Bloch has captured this in way I cannot recall anyone doing before.

Feb

11

In a Blink of an Eye

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Something I reflect on from time to time is how fragile and tenuous life can be. Regardless of who we are or what we do, we are all living on borrowed time. While we may not want to think of it often, the circumstances of our lives can change literally in the blink of an eye.

I was reminded of this several days ago. I was making a piece of trim with the table top router. The board bound in the router and was pulled towards it with great force. My right thumb went with it.

I knew immediately that I had hurt myself badly before I even looked at my hand. When I did look at it, I also knew that I was quite lucky. Most of the digit remained and I could still move it. Finding that my neighbors were not at home, I drove to hospital and had my injury treated.

Ten days have gone by and everything is healing up nicely. The thumb is fairly disfigured and now looks like it is sitting sideways on my hand. I have complete mobility and use of it, there is just a lot less of it. Most of it above the first joint is gone.

thumb1

In the days since this happened I have thought about how quickly that happened and I have thought about how lucky I was. I have also considered what it would be like to have lost the thumb completely. But mostly I have thought about how much I take for granted. Most days I assume a great deal about the quality and condition of my life. It was good to be reminded that despite all my complaints, I am indeed living a fortunate life, the direct result of a fortunate birth. Now I don’t have to look very far to be reminded of that again.