sketches

as i've mentioned before, i'd like to start sketching more often. although it's been a little while since my last sketch, i thought i'd go ahead and post some of what i've done recently (well...relatively recently...past several months or so). these are just a few little sketches...nothing all that impressive. but like i mentioned in one of my previous posts, these are just sketches and not drawings...so i'm not really expecting anything i do to be good for a while. and i don't really care whether it's good or not. i enjoy sketching. so as i do it more often, i'll either start getting better or i'll just become more accustomed to my sketching style. but again...i'm doing all this for fun, not because i think that i am a talented artist. so if you think they are good, it'll make me pretty happy. but if you don't think they are very good...i'm already well aware of that fact. these aren't all of my recent sketches, but they are most of them. there are a couple that i'm going to save for a later post. why? cause i think they are two of my better ones so i think they are just slightly more deserving of separate posts. also, it'll give me a reason to post another blog soon. and since i'm also wanting to start blogging more, i figure this will help to get me into the habit. anywho, here they are. hope you enjoy.

steampunk

so some of my friends had a steampunk party the other night. steampunk is one of those things that you've either never, ever heard of or you're fairly familiar with it. so for those of you who have never heard of it before, this should get you started. i find it to be a fun and rather fascinating concept, so i was pretty excited about getting to dress up for the party. but due to a lack of time and funds to create an awesome outfit, i had to make due with what i had. i had a few things here and there that i thought would contribute to the general feel...but it was still lacking the one major thing to really tie it all together and make it stand out as distinctly steampunk. i had some great ideas, but again, had neither the time or money to bring them into actuality. thankfully, i was talking with one of my good friends (cl) the night before the party and through our conversations we were able to come up with something that would be cheap, easy to make, and would definitely make the outfit stand out. so charged with my mission, i left for walmart. it was late, but that was part of the fun. my friend stayed on the phone throughout the entirety of my trek, so she was privy to somewhat unique play-by-plays of my wanderings up and down the aisles of walmart. the desired supplies were as follows:







eyepatch









washer









gold/brass thumbtacs









red thread









brass furniture nails



the next morning, i got to work. first, i bent the washer so that it was as close to the contour of the eyepatch as possible. then i started sewing the washer in place with the red thread.




it doesn't look very pretty, but hey...it's close enough for rock and roll. besides, i just needed it to be good enough to somewhat keep the washer in place during the next steps.


once the washer was in place, i put a brass furninture nail in the middle. then i started surrounding the washer with the thumbtacs. the thumbtacs took up the majority of the eyepatch, and then i placed a few furniture nails along the edge.








this is the finished product








it turned out looking a little rough. i wasn't exactly sure how it would go over. but when i put it on, it looked pretty intense


it definitely brought the outfit together, although it did end up making me look a little like a cyborg pirate. but who's to say that wasn't fitting with the steampunk theme. anywho, the eyepatch was actually a pretty big hit among everyone there. and it was really fun to see what everyone came up with for their outfits. so here are just a few pics of the night's steampunkery. oh, and one final note...i never realized just how important peripheral vision is. i'd say covering an eye takes away more than half of one's vision. seriously...it took me a little while to get used to navigating with this thing on. but i eventually got the hang of it.

nostalgia breeds inspiration

after talking with melissa yesterday about darkrooms, pinhole cameras, and all other things nostalgically photographic, i realized that i've not been taking the time to actually enjoy my hobbies. there are so many things that i enjoy doing, but during the school year i get so caught up in research, papers, work, reading, and trying to find time to eat and sleep that i just don't have time to invest in my hobbies. sure, i'll take some time every once in a while to relax or take a breather from my work so i can be refreshed before the next big push...but that usually just means that i'll watch a movie or grab dinner with a friend. those are, of course, enjoyable activities as well...but there are just so many other things that i enjoy that i've not been making time for. and while that might still be the case next year...this is summer for crying out loud! i should be making the most of my free-time while it still exists.

so i've decided to start rekindling many of the activities that i find so much pleasure in. i've started listening to vinyls (thank you oz and your $2 used records) while working on puzzles again. i sit in my recliner and listen to garrison keillor while drinking a cup of tea or coffee (depending on if i'm listening to the saturday evening or sunday afternoon show). i sit outside in the mornings to drink my coffee. i've started sketching again. my sketches are pretty rough, but on occasion i'll do one that won't be completely horrible. but they are just sketches...so i'm ok with them looking bad. my conversation with melissa also led me to setting some goals for myself for the rest of the year.

1) i'm going to start doing more photography. i'm going to use my uncle's old film camera instead of my little sony cybershot so that i look less like a tourst and more like a photojournalist. but i've encountered a slight problem with the lid of the battery casing on that camera...so this goal might have to be put on hold for a short while.

2) i'm going to start sketching more. i've always enjoyed drawing, but i wouldn't exactly call my drawings "good." in fact...i probably wouldn't even call them "drawings." they are sketches. some of them turn out decent, and some of them are just attrocious. but i enjoy doing them, so who really cares how bad some of them turn out. besides, the more that i do them, the more that one of two things will happen: i'll either get better and start averaging more decent drawings; or i'll get used to the look of my sketches and like them for what they are. i'll start posting some of my sketches here as well. which leads me to my next goal...

3) i'm going to start blogging more. i know i've been saying this for a while now...but i really mean it. i'm going to continue with my efforts to photoblog, and with the addition of my wanting to sketch more i'm going to have more subject matter for blogging. i'd also like to do more just regular blogging. you know, the kind with words. as mentioned previously, it's been hard for me to find the balance of what to share. for many reasons, i don't want to be too personal or self-disclosing. but i also don't want my blog to be completely pointless. and i realized yesterday why that balance is a little tricky...i don't have a specific audience. there have been a number of emails (or chats) that i've written that i've thought to myself "this would make a decent blog. not too personal, not too pointless. witty with just a dash of insight, without appearing as if i'm trying to make an everyday occurence sound profound." but when i try to transfer the material to the blagosphere, there is something lost in translation. i realized yesterday that it's because when i write and email (chat) with someone, i know who i'm talking to. i know our conversational pattern. i know what will be found humorous and what will spark engaging conversation. i know what will elicit a "heh," a "hmm (curious version)," a "hmm (doubtful/disapproving version...though that doesn't quite exactly describe the 'hmm' being conveyed. it's hard to describe, but if you know what i'm talking about, then you know exactly what i'm talking about)," a "ha!...awesome," and a "*tfot*." even when i write papers for class, i know who my audience is. it is my sultry mistress, academia. but when sending my thoughts out into the void, i don't know who is going to stumble across them. and since my conversational patterns (though distinctly me) are slightly tailored to each individual, i have no rubric for speaking to no one and everyone at the same time. but as evidenced by this post...i hope to change that.

4) i'd like to start making use of photoshop, which means i'm going to have to familiarize myself with it and learn to use it first. but this could probably be considered a secondary goal.

so there you have it... 4 goals for me to work towards for the remainder of the year. i don't expect to spend all of my time accomplishing these goals. i just want to get in the habbit of doing them (as well as other hobbies) more often. but considering that heretofore the majority of these activities have been lying dormant, doing them at all will be doing them more often than what i used to.

and all that jazz

so i went to chicago a few weeks ago. my office took a group up there to do some community service. i was only there for the last few days (i was in tn for my best friend's wedding *tfot*), but when i got there it was pretty awesome. the people we stayed with at the amate house were such amazing people. i really wish that i had been able to spend more time with them. i only really got to talk to 3 or 4 people, so i didn't get to know them as well as the rest of the group. but i could tell even from just watching their interactions that they are good people. god be with you, my amate friends. while the people at the amate house were indeed amazing people, i cannot say the same for all of those who were on the trip with me. granted, i was in slightly ill sorts when i first met some of them so that might have slightly skewed my perception. but in short, not all of our personalities exactly meshed. but, i digress. here are some pictures from what little i was able to see of the city.