Flexing Your Creative Muscles

One of the things that I learned early on when I started my art classes (about 8 years ago) was the importance of a sketchbook journal. In almost every class, the teacher would request that you do a journal of some sort. It was part of our grade for Art 2-D (2 dimensional design). My teacher wanted us to write and draw for our journal entries. Why? Because the part of your brain that you need to 'turn on' for doing art is the right hemisphere of your brain; that's the creative part. The writing activity helps to get that process engaged. I have a handful (more than I would care to admit) of hardbound journal books that I've started and have abandoned. The writing was forced. Most of all, it turned into a recitation of the day's events. It didn't do a thing for getting my creative juices going. Then, thanks to my friend, Raine (she has a site at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rainek/) who told me about blogs and sent me a link to one of hers, I was INTRIGUED (is that how you spell that word? it looks wrong here). That was back in March '06. So, I gave it a try here at Blogger. Heck, it was free and it was simple enough for a novice like myself to figure out. Now, I find that I do about 2 journal entries (or, blogs as they refer to these here in blogland) per week. I often do not have a game plan for what I'm going to write, but wing it as I go. It usually starts with the image, though. I have created a file of images to choose from (and keep adding to them) and, just like you go to the refrigerator hoping to find something enticing to eat, I go to my folder of images. I pick something, and usually the writing just seems to fall into place. So, these blogs are like going to the gym for me in regards to excercising my creative muscles. I love the workout and look forward to it. Hence, you see in the image posted here, the reference to flexing your creative muscles. This collage was part of a round robin with our Albuquerque ATC group; each person had to create a 4"x4" (double sided) page. I think we each made about 12-15 pages of the same thing. Then, the co-ordinator of the project collects all the pages and collates them into 12-15 books. One for each of the participants. The idea for this book was to do a self-portrait. I have another page, but perhaps will post that one at a later date. These are called "Phat Books". Google it. I never heard of them until this past July and did a Google search and was surprised at how widespread it was! Soooo much to do...so little time. But, what fun trying, huh? : ) BTW, two of my most favorite books for when I just want to write for the sake of writing are: "Writing for Your Life" by Deena Metzger (thanks to Juliana Coles for turning me on to this book) and "Inner Outings" by Charlene Geiss and Claudia Jessup. Both of them available at Amazon or probably your favorite bookstore.

Up close and personal

Much of my photography reflects my approach to life. I enjoy looking at things from different perspectives (if you've been reading this blog for a while, you might have noticed that). I like getting in as close as possible; noticing all the details that the eye can see. Often, when I look at the imaged I've taken, I'm able to see more than I did out in the field. I find this to be very exciting. When I spend time reflecting on events, the same things occurs. I see things I didn't see when the event unfolded itself. I get to hold it in my mind's perspective and examine it from different angles. If you look back to a previous posting, called "Reflections", I have an image of a ditch within that series. This was taken the same day. I got up close to the bank of the ditch among the litter and the very large black ants crawling everywhere to take this shot. Too often we let ourselves zip by little vignettes like this and think nothing of it. But, captured here for you to view at your leisure, it lends itself to a whole different feeling. And when you take the time in small moments like this to soak it all in, even if it's for a few brief seconds, you are living in the moment. Up close and personal.

Jimson Weed

Georgia O'Keefe must've loved this plant; she painted it quite a bit and it seems to be her 'signature' piece. When I first saw it, I fell in love with it. I hadn't seen Georgia's painting when I first saw this plant. I thought it stunning and humble at the same time. People call it a weed, though. Jimson weed. I'm guessing that it's called a weed since it crops up on its own. Along the roadside. Empty lots. Sometimes your yard (if you're lucky). I've taken photos of this plant many times. Have never been happy with them since I seem to catch it too late in the season and they are at the tail end of their blooming/life cycle. I spotted this specimen a month ago, growing vigorously along the roadside by the Kia car dealer on the Westside. Too early to take photos, so I made a mental note to myself to come back in a few weeks with my camera. And, that's what I did yesterday morning. I had my camera with me. I was heading off across town to go to my ballet class. All of a sudden, I decided that I really should be taking pictures; all the weeds were doing so well due to a highly wet monsoon season. Yeah, I ditched class. Again. The Jimson plant that I took note of previously was in rare form. I took over 20 shots of this one plant alone. I must've looked pretty odd along the sidewalk by the car dealer with my camera in hand. But, what a payload! It made up for all the previous unsuccessful attempts. As you can see, the flower looks a bit exotic and alien at the same time. This image is altered a wee bit in Photoshop CS2, but it really has those curly-qs on the end! I didn't know... I also have a photo essay of the other weeds that I took yesterday morning at: www.flickr.com/photos/molokaigirl I took a lot of images; these are the ones that I culled from the batch. So, we call them weeds. But, on the other hand, why should they be so undesireable? They are lovely in their own right and certainly have their place in this world.

The Bird Family

Each spring, around lateMarch, beautiful birds that are called Baltimore Orioles (Mark calls them Oreos and wants to know if they can be dunked in milk) come migrating up from the south on their way home to who knows where. I think that their final destination in March, April, early June must still be too cold and not enough of a food supply to go all the way home at once. So, they stop off in our area for a month or so. If you put out a nectar feeder (not the kind for hummingbirds, but for Orioles; the hummers can feed off of it too), you'll be lucky enough to be graced with their presence. They feed one at a time and the females have to defer to the males feeding first before they can. I usually know when they are around as I can hear their distinctive announcement before they come into the yard. As though they are "testing" the waters or perhaps calling to see if another one like themselves are already there. The calling ritual before they come to the feeder is interesting to watch. I have a feeder outside of my library room window so that I can watch the nectar feeding birds unobtrusively. It's always a thrill to watch these birds as they are quite striking in their colors. The males are a vibrant hansa yellow (on their undersides) with the top part a jet black. Such a dramatic contrast of colors! Well, this spring, I was a bit tardy in getting my nectar feeder out even with Jim Warner sending me an email reminding me to put my feeder out as he had spotted the birds arrival. By the time I got mine out, they had given up hope on me and moved on to other feeders. They were all probably at Jim's house! So, I felt very remiss about not getting to see my colorful feathered friends this summer. However, back in July when we were at the Tamaya Hotel for some late afternoon drinks, my husband spotted these baby Orioles up in the tree in the parking lot. When he spotted them, they were all lined up in a row awaiting mama bird's feeding. She would fly in and feed them. Apparently, they were too many of them and they were too big to fit in the nest. Hence, they had taken to hanging out on the branch huddled up for security. When I got out there to take theses photos, one of them was particularly skittish, as you can see it huddling behind another sibling. I had no idea these birds actually nested here; perhaps it was an exception to the rule. But, at least I did get to see my colorful friends. Even better was this added treat of seeing these young babies!

What is this?

Take a guess and tell me what you think this is. Send me a comment by clicking on the "comment" button. I get to moderate comments, so I won't publish it if it seems too private or personal. Are you done guessing yet? Now, if you're a woman, you should be able to guess what the image is. Kind of looks like a moon on the horizon, doesn't it? OK, I'll let you in on it. It's my mammogram from today. The technician let me have it since she considered it a "reject" (she retook the same shot to get more detail in a specific area). It's kinda cool. I love xray images. For awhile (I think it was in the late '60's), one of our neighbors was a lab technician (Mrs. Fisher) at Moloka'i General Hospital. Since my mom was a school teacher, she would bring home piles of xray images and we'd soak them in a baking soda and water solution to get the emulsion off and end up with clear plastic. Mom would use that as an art supply for her class. Back then, we didn't know that the residue that was washed off was toxic for the environment (it went into our septic). As a result of these images finding their way to our home, I became fascinated with them. Chest xrays, radial and tibias that I had no idea who they belonged to. Seemed like most of the images were of chest and pelvic areas. Mrs. Fisher loved to bake and she would often bring a warm cake with icing dripping all over it to our home for all 6 of us to devour. Immediately. Warm cake should wait for no one! Back to the mammogram...I've had the same person do my mammogram for at least 11 years. Amazing, huh? So, if you're a female over 45 years of age and this image was totally unrecognizable, please imagine me shaking my finger at you! Once a year, ladies. Get it done. Don't tell me that life gets in the way. If you let it get in the way, it will be taken away from you prematurely. Breast cancer caught early has such a positive prognosis as opposed to much later in the game. If you do get one once a year, good for you! Just don't let that date become overdue. Even 6 months can make a world of a difference. And, last but not least, don't forget the monthly SE (self exam). Pick your birthdate and do it when you shower. How easy is that?

Uncle Big Boy's Boat

This is probably not something that you can get into. I was leafing through a batch of photos from ages ago (I forget why I had drug out my photo albums and what exactly it was that I was hunting down) and saw some images I took when I went home for our family reunion back in 1989. This image is at the fishpond (that's what they're called and I'll explain why a little later) which was at my Aunty Trining and Uncle Big Boy's house. My aunt is my dad's sister. Big Boy is her husband and he came over from the Filipines to work as a planter in the pineapple fields. I don't remember what his given name is, but he was called Big Boy because he was tall and thin. Their house was small; I don't even think it was 800 square feet; 3 bedrooms, a bathroom and a combo kitchen, dining, living room area. Smallest house in the family, I think, but most of our gatherings took place there because the kids could walk down the path to the 'beach' where the fishpond was and play to their heart's content. You didn't have to tell anyone where you were going; if you weren't at the house, your were down at the fishpond. Biggest activity down there is hunting crabs! For a child, a fishpond of this kind is a magical world where you could spend the entire day without ever getting bored. A few summers ago, my sister and I rented a house on the shore of Molokai that had a fishpond and we got to watch our children discover the magic of a fishpond. OK, so here's what a fishpond is if you don't know. Along the southern shoreline of Moloka'i, it is quiet flat for quite a ways out to the reef. Maybe about a quarter mile of shallow, flat water (I think the scientists named it the "Penguin Flats" even though there are no penguins for thousands of miles). The Hawaiians in their wisdom (probably an "ah ha" moment) brought large stones over the mountains from the other side of the island (legend has it that the menehunes which is sorta like Hawaiian leprechans that do handy work) built these ponds. There are (was) miles of shoreline that had these ponds that are half cirlces of a stone walls. When the tide rises, the fish from the ocean swim through the gate and as the tide goes down, the fish are 'stuck' in the pond. It's aquafarming of the earliest kind. Anyway, makes it easy to go fishing. The pond is very muddy from the runoff of soil from the rains. Kinda werid to go walking in (especially barefoot) as you sink down about 6 inches or more into thick mud. So the fish are happy since they live in a rich environment and are safe from their usual predators. Crabs florish and there are even small sized shrimp that grow in the pond. All you have to do is go out in that little boat and lay down your fish nets or your carb nets and you have fresh seafood everyday. Organically grown. Too bad I didn't like fish and crab when I was younger! : ) To find out more about Hawaiian fishponds, go to: http://oe.soest.hawaii.edu/~fishpond/index.html There is a section on Moloka'i fishponds, but I don't know the name of the one that was by my Aunt's house. Maybe if my cousin, Kalani reads this blog he'll tell me as he is able to remember things like this. There are a couple of photos of some other ponds, but they are not traditional (one of them has a wire cage). The old ponds just have a stone wall. The wall itself was fun to walk around on when the tide was down.

Reflections

Being a philosopher at heart, I spend a lot of time reflecting on things. In this process, I try to reflect from different perspectives. If it's someone I don't understand, I try to leave my frame of reference behind and try to look at the world from their eyes. Not an easy task. But, over time, I find that what I end up with as a result of the effort is the ability to understand that person or situation a little bit better. Of course, I could be totally off the mark with what I come up with. However, I still benefit from expanding my horizons and seeing things from another perspective. More importantly, it is a tool that helps to make me a more compassionate person. These images represent different ways in which reflecting can be done. Although they are concrete images, they represent abstractions. Sort of like that proverb about the blind men and the elephant. Each one is feeling a different part of the animal and describing what they feel. It's the same animal that they are feeling, but each one has a different perspective and sees the elephant in a different way.

The Road Less Traveled

Every day I try to incorporate as many ways as possible to reduce stress (which is a part of my "living in the moment" strategy). A strategy I've used for many years now during my commute across town, is to take a more scenic route. At least, for a part of it anyway. Traveling east on Paseo Del Norte, I usually exit at 2nd street instead of going down to where the freeway on- ramp is. I go south on 2nd and turn left on a small side street called Los Ranchos Road. This little stretch of road is probably just a half a mile long, but it has given me many joyful moments. A few weeks ago, after a torrental downpour the night before, nearly all of the road was under water. As I turned onto the road, I could see all this standing water; with no wind or recent traffic on it, is was like a large glass mirror. In it, I could see the reflection of the Sandias Mountain and the soft lavendar colors of the sun rising behind it. It was absolutely breathtaking! I only wished that I had my camera with me to capture that fleeting moment in time. Other joyful vignettes have been the freshly mowed alfalfa bundled up and drying, or the early morning mist laying heavy on the field. The fence wire laden with dew drops and spider webs. Or, the gorditas (little gourds) that lay along the roadside in the fall. This morning, however, I think was one of the most delightful of scenes. As I turned onto the street, crossing hurriedly from one side of the street to the other (in front of me) was a hen with about 12 little chicks running with her. Those little legs had to have been working hard to keep up with mama! Immediately, I was flooded with childhood memories of Moloka'i. My grandma always seemed to have a cardboard box lined with newspaper and a tungsten bulb hanging over it to keep the baby chicks warm and cozy. I think she even did the egg incubation too; all of this careful tending ensured her of a maintaining her chicken population. She raised them for the eggs and the meat, but also for my uncle who rasied fighting cocks (hey, its a part of our Filipino culture you know). Memories of coddling those fuzzy little chicks, playing out in the chicken coop and yes, even the sound of roosters crowing in the early morning bring a sense of comfort and warmth to me. All this happiness brought forward into my conciousness in just a few seconds! Because I do make it a point to take the road less traveled, I feel as though I am bestowed with precious moments like this as a reward. Something I surely would've missed had I taken the more "direct route".