Art

Sailing to Byzantium

Just finished a quick read through Austin Kleon’s Steal Like an Artist. Like many books on creativity, it is full of good ideas, some of which I can use. I have started “following” Austin Kleon on flickr, and checking him out online. I’ll learn from him.

In the meantime, what art have I been stealing making?

A project started several months ago is using GIMP to colorize images from George Wither’s 1635  “A collection of emblemes, ancient and modern“. Several folks joined in with an initial outpouring of gifs and anaglyphs. But I am taking it further, and am planning on working with all 100 roundels and the few other images in the book. Final product will be published somehow, maybe a pdf with little or no comment; maybe text stories for each of he images. Right now, it’s an album on flickr.

Another art activity has been an increase in picture taking. I always have my phone, but also keep a camera in my car, and occasionally take along my good camera. On flickr, I’ve been adding to my “along the road” album, mostly pictures snapped while driving (usually stopped) or on walks near work or home. Of the many pictures taken, a few are slightly edited in GIMP and put on flickr. The editing on these is usually just a little color enhancement, white balance, and contrast adjustment.

Getting ready for November Nanowrimo – National Novel Writing Month. I really don’t have a big idea for a novel, so am considering making a narrative to go along with a series of pictures, and posting the whole thing on flickr. I’ll let you know what happens. Are you doing Nanowrimo? The idea is to write a 50 000 word novel in 30 days. I did this in 2009 with an autobiographical narrative, but nothing since. Hint: just write, don’t revise. Save revising for later, if you want to revise at all. Just get the words done!

Along the ds106 trail, I’ve been completing the occasional Daily Create. I haven’t been following along with the current wire106 version, nor did I actually participate with the summer Berguron106. (Previously involved with ds106Zone and Headless ds106). I hope I’m not just gafiating, but just being more selective. Dipping into ConnectedCourses keeps me busy, too. Not to mention real work!

Next week I’m off to a conference/forum on the state of manufacturing in Virginia. Then Saturday I’ll be at the OpenVA meeting at Tidewater Community College in Virginia Beach (hoping to say hi to one or two ds106-related folks).

This update has been brought to you today by the letters W and E.