ATTENTION!

This blog has been migrated successfully to Word Press. Please bookmark the new link!
I will leave this one active for awhile, but all new posts can be found at:

http://electrofork.wordpress.com

thank you.

grrr

Here is my big secret:
I haven't done drawings on a regular basis for many years, aside from fits and starts. False starts-- or re-visitations. As a result, I can no longer draw anything unless I've seen it, or worse: unless I can see it-- in reality, or in a photograph. I've lost my ability to add or subtract from reality with ease- on a whim. It's crippling, as an artist who once invented things at the drop of a hat. But, it's simply a lack of exercise. (That's how you lose your chops- you stop doing scales, and you stop exploring.)

I tend to blame 'design'-- that my career in design has precluded my drawing, my explorations. But that's an excuse. The real reason is fear- you get far enough away from something, and it gets harder to go back. Or, more importantly, to go forward.

Well, hello 2009. I am drawing again this year. Goddammit!
Started tonight, and it wasn't easy (but then, that's my main problem. I've come to expect- or at least want- everything to be easy.) Here's Paris:

Overheard in the ether

Two things in rapid succession that meshed nicely (and made me smile):

An excerpt from an online column: "Well, that whole faux-happy moment [in our culture] appears to have expired. So you are right where you should be: full of trembling and dread, eyes wide open, unable to filter out the chaos of reality."

Followed by a snippet of conversation from an old tv show:
Adult: "How did your stream of consciousness thing go... What did your teacher say?"
Child: "She never says anything. She just checks to see if you did it."
Adult: "Well-- then how do you know if you're doing it right?"
Child: "You don't. You're just supposed to keep doing it."

Those two things are rather a good summation at the moment, hey?
Maybe at all moments. You just keep going.

Electro Fork available in Germany

Year of construction: 1994 load-carrying capacity: 2000 kg unloaded weight: 680 kg of battery: 24V battery Gew: 292 - 329 kg (depending upon load) fork length: 1200 mm of operation hours: 1338h factory No.: 145E11493620 Battery charger and battery participate. The mass are LxBxH: 2300 x 800 x 1300 mm

The data are mechanically translated in the english language. Translation errors are possible. No guarantee for printed data and pricing.

1.000 EUR plus VAT

(none)

Here I sit wasting time; a google search for tuckamore (Tuckamore are spruce trees that are stunted by salt spray from the coast) then led to an image search for ice boats (eisyachts, too) which naturally led to images of houses in snow. From there is was only natural to narrow the search down to the Moomin house in snow, and I learned of some Tove Jansson books of which I'd never heard (A Winter Book, The Summer Book)... Perhaps it isn'y exactly wasting time, but it certainly doesn't feel very productive.

It's time to do some drawing or designing. Or both.

drops

In the kitchen, rain is falling on the skylight-- a comforting midwinter patter; a perfect song (if you get to stay inside). It's bright outside, dark inside, and I'm wearing a Grinch-green sweater. Reading the news to procrastinate, and wondering why I'm procrastinating at all.
I've actually looked forward to these slow days of early January; days with plenty of time to get the work done and have hours remaining for other creative endeavors. Yet here I sit, puttering about with intangibles.
I think the puttering is itself an "other creative endeavor," though it's hard to convince myself of it.

I am easily daunted by lists of my own making.

welcome, new year.

A Sunday afternoon of puttering. Lovely!
Briefly interrupted by the realization: Network Solutions still holding my domain name hostage! (I thought I'd transferred it over a year ago.) My ongoing lease for said ephemeral domain lapsed December 29. Never having acknowledged my change of email (they had one on file from over ten years ago), received no warnings of impending digital homelessness. Now, having shelled out ridiculous fee for renewal, I once again must employ ancient fax technology to prove I am myself, then once again attempt to disavow them of electrofork.com once and for all.

:: sigh ::

Back to puttering.

Oh, also: Apologies to all who may have been expecting an electrofork calendar for 2009; the novel rather undermined my hopes-- but next year, next year! Fitting, anyway, to start up again for 2010. A nice round number.

map-making

Although I found myself dabbling in cartography just last evening, I have no intention of writing about map-making (at least not in this post), but needed something other than "Cold," or "Winter" for a title. Don't you agree?

It's the thick of Holiday shopping, so I've been busy with jewelry-- making, selling, keeping track of and packaging up for shipping. I do have other work waiting on the docket, however, so the remainder of today shall have to be for such things. But a big thanks to all my lovely customers, if any of you find your way here.

I shall try to write here more regularly, although lately every time I log in and set out to say something, I draw an utter blank, as I'm doing now.

More later.

NaNoWriMo

(Man, it's cold in here after the heat's been turned down all day!)

Well, It's done. It's been done for several days, in fact. The "National Novel Writing Month" 50,000 word challenge! I made it, and with about 700 or so words to spare. It's by no means "finished" of course-- now it shall require reading and editing. There will be the filling in of plot holes, the sorting out of continuity problems, a good deal of re-writing and of course the crafting of more effective and beautiful language to tell the story.
I didn't use half of the characters I'd invented, nor access a good deal of detail that I'd like to incorporate. Now's the time to go back and sort it all out. Well, soon, anyway.

I miss the frenetic writing writing writing!
Getting back to work in earnest has been a little difficult.

And, in honor of winter...

I have some new jewelry pieces on the way-- some ridiculously cute new pendants and earrings. These are featuring some adorable little winter drawings instead of photographs! Look for them in my Etsy shop next week~

I will also be selling jewelry at KE Haas Salon on Wednesday, December 10th for a Holiday Party and Trunk Show.

Winter is here.

I have been remiss with this lately. Writing other things- well, one thing; the book-in-progress! Nearly at 30,000 words, but still behind. Jewelry has been keeping me busy as well.
It's frightfully cold the past few days, although it's what ought to be normal for late November. Sucks having to pay for heat; it makes me miss the steam radiators of past apartments whose excessive exudations were included in the price of monthly rent! ::sigh::

Oy!

Well, the folks at National Novel Writing Month weren't kidding when they said it's hard to catch up once you get behind! I'm over 3.000 words behind now, and by tomorrow even more! I have to write tonight! It's one-third through the months and I'm nowhere near one-third to 50,000 words.

::sigh::

But first, dinner...

an excerpt...

From the book in progress. It's entirely likely that this, along with mush of the rest of it, will be re-written once the first draft has been completed.

___________

She continued, “They were printed with blank pages at each end, and it was on these that family trees were recorded. Many people also kept their most important papers safely folded away inside the book. They are rare these days and extremely valuable. Not just valuable because they are worth a lot of money, although that’s true-- but because the information in them often exists nowhere else.”

Emily had a way of discussing dry topics like bibles and paper so fervently, and with such interest, it was impossible not to get caught up in her excitement. The three of them sat and waited as she donned a pair of white gloves and rustled through a sheaf of papers that looked very dry indeed. They were all wondering when she was going to pull out one of these family bibles.

Instead, Emily drew three yellowed sheets of paper on which the brown ink had nearly faded away. She carefully spread them out on the table so they could all see them, and removed her gloves. “These three pages were tucked away- not in a bible, but in an early edition copy of Charles Darwin’s The Origin of the Species!”

She paused dramatically to let this soak in. When she saw they were all staring blankly at her, she sighed, and continued. “This book was one of the breakthroughs that led to modern scientific study as we know it. The man who wrote these pages was a scientist! It was his bible, you see?”

“O-oh!” the three let out nearly in unison.

___________

it wasn't even close.

President Elect Barak Obama!
What an amazing Election Day (and we even knew who won before midnight for a change). You should have heard Brooklyn last night!! Horns honking, people were in the streets celebrating and whoo hoo-ing for several hours after the announcement was made. An epic victory.

It's exciting to see intelligence, reason and compassion come out on top.

EVERYBODY WINS!