Pleasing Planar Symmetry
As a photographer, we learn right away that repeating patterns make for interesting images. Every workshop has you looking for and making photos where the pattern repeats. We love seeing…
Struggles with Language Learning in COVID times
What I notice is my fear that I will have to speak or be spoken to in the language I am struggling to understand. The first semester of Portuguese class…
Ambiguously Intriguing
An artist is always wondering how to push the envelope and create something that engages the audience. While there are many ways of making captivating images, there is one in…
Attention
The world around us is loud. When I sit at my computer to work, there are dozens of things that pull me away and send me down rabbit holes. It…
Oneness and Actions
I stumbled upon new (to me) evidence that we really are all ONE, and that the only thing that separates us from each other is our skin.Have you noticed that…
Art and the Artist
Con Christeson talks about 'Art' and the verb To Be. She says in many tribal cultures, there is no word for ART. Art is simply the way someone is. It…
What is Your Problem?
Creativity is the solution to a problem. Maybe it is boredom or loneliness,or a way to communicate an idea,or to validate yourself.To teach something, to learn something.Maybe it is a…
Don’t Be Excellent
How often have you been derailed because you failed to meet an expectation? An exercise routine, a new diet, 365 days of blogging with an image?Striving for excellence is a…
Gone To The Show
Snubsta took the day to drink mint tea with ginger biscuits. I did close to the same. But instead of chickadees, squirrels, and sunflowers, I watched ‘Rookie Historian Goo Have…
Becoming Masterful
Susan M. Weinschenk, Ph.D., says, "Mastery is a powerful motivator." The smallest signs of progress can motivate people to move forward. This is the reason social sites display the percentage…
The Struggle With Habits
I have been trying to establish healthy habits for what seems like a million years. In September, I began a practice of keeping a habit tracker. I gave it a…
Practice, Practice Practice
Radim Malinic, an award-winning graphics designer and the founder of Brand Nu, a Creative Branding Studio, writes about finding your creative voice in his 'book of ideas'. Like many others,…
Where is the love?
Somewhere along the way of creating a daily practice, I turned making art into a discipline. It has become a militaristic habit, and in doing so, something got lost. I…
On The Top
The upper half of the frame in an image is often a place of importance. Gods and Kings were placed in this area, often taking proportionally large space. You can…
Distraction
There is a chill in the air in Portugal today. This is my 92nd consecutive blog post. I watch distracted along with the rest of the world the sport of…
Safety, Generosity, and Saying Goodbye
Sian Barlow, a Welsh Artist whom I know through TCW2 has many ideas that cause one to stop and think. Recently she posted that safe spaces are not a realistic…
Ambiguity
In Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers Poets & Philosophers, Leonard Koren points to a description of Wabi-Sabi by contrasting the ideas to Modernism. He says Wabi-Sabi is “comfortable with ambiguity and…
Purple Calla Lilies
The grocery store had a shelf of calla lilies. They were strange colors, blue, black, and this deep purple that felt like it would wash off with watering. Calla lilies…
A Tropical Kingbird flies over to a favorite perch, showing us the beauty of her perfect wings.
Dreaming of a Better World
Years ago, I was part of a spiritual group that followed a lesser guru. I changed my life in many ways to follow the discipline. Meditation was a regular part…
The Radical Abstractionists
Abstract Painters and paintings are among the many topics that have captured my interests lately. Abstractionists were part of a movement that gave the middle finger to the established way…
mandala
Rotation Symmetry
I had a silly thought that symmetry was simple. After all, the basic element is a simple shape, so it should stand to reason that a symmetry operation would be…
Advice from a Mentor
I had a timely conversation with my mentor, Robin Griggs-Wood, today. I've been a bit stuck this week. Filled with doubt. I needed someone with a generous heart to meet…
Are You Generous?
In Seth Godin’s The Creative’s Workshop 2, the word ‘generosity’ has changed how I think about the subject. I have always thought myself to be a generous person, but it…
The Building Blocks of Repeated Patterns
In 2014, Richard and I visited the palace of Alhambra in Granada, Spain. There, I was captivated by the intricate geometric designs and symmetrical patterns created by the Moors. Some…