Patrick's Hamster Wheel of Life

Sandy's sketchbook  "Hamster Wheel of Life" was passed to me right during a period of time where there was just no possible way I was going to complete the sketch - I was too busy.  So, I passed the book on and am just now getting back to it.  I had a crazy 5 weekends in a row where I was not home in Singapore and in that time I had a lot of fun and accomplished many things, but rest, relaxation and sketchbooks were not among them.  We did LegoLand and a trip to Phuket as a family before I set off for an R&D trip, then I had a few days in Singapore before heading to KL to co-lead a Google Apps BootCamp, present a few sessions and a closing keynote for the Google Summit.  I capped that string off with a few days of work then a trip to Hong Kong Disney.  Phew.  A slow Saturday of sketchbooking is my reward.

I tried to capture the idea that all the events and fun were keeping me moving while at the same time grinding me up.

Outliers at our house are the NORMAL ones.

Lego mini figs are a big deal at our house.  But I'm not sure why. We get really excited about recognizable characters such as Cowgirls or Mummies, but within minutes they seem to mutate into decapitated unrecognizable aliens.  Pristine mini figs in their unaltered factory state are the true outliers in our house, and they are usually only found in forgotten dark corners or under couch cushions.  

Unfortunately I wasn't smart enough to scan my picture right side up. Fortunately, they are "cheery"-O's so they don't really have a right side up! This piece was for Jeff Koltutsky's O Book. Cheery cheers to y'all.

Can you spot the outlier?

My sketch this week was motivated by my visit to the Red Dot Design Museum in Singapore. The museum is full of good design...well designed objects, technology, furniture, graphic design, posters, videos, etc. While there, I saw some books on typography and fonts. I love fonts. I'm kind of obsessed with them. Betsy's sketchbook theme is "Outliers". So, I thought I'd use fonts to think about outliers. Can you spot the outlier? It's obvious. But what makes that one the outlier? (Hint, there is more than one right answer.)

This Is Not a Waste of Time

If you're like me, you used to think moustaches were a complete waste of time let alone a waste of facial space.  Boy have times changed.  A decade ago, a few guys in Adelaide, Australia, got together to grow moustaches during the month of November and a global movement was born.  Chances are you can name a handful of friends and loved ones who are now Mo Bros all in the name of promoting men's health.  Oddly enough, this is what was on my mind when Kelly's book "I'm Really Not Wasting Time" came across my desk.

Sure my own moustache leaves a lot to be desired.  Some might even consider it a complete waste of time, but getting screened for prostate cancer (or any type of cancer for that matter) isn't.  My dad didn't think so, and they caught the cancer in time.  Not everyone is so lucky.

With that in mind, I made art to raise awareness.  By taking some tried and true slogans and campaigns, I used a combination of apps (gimp and snagit) and software (pages) to create this Movember collage.  Hopefully it might inspire others to make that appointment they've been meaning to make for a while.  Believe me, it's not a waste of time.   

In the Distance: Our Day, Their Night

Our nephew Tommy in Baltimore has always been fascinated with the idea of it being day somewhere else in the world when he settles in for the night. "Is it daytime in Singapore?" he'll ask on Skype as I walk to the bright window to show him the sunrise. He's usually in his jammies when he asks, and that settling-in time for the little ones is a nice time for the adults to reconnect, even if it's just online.

When Patrick's theme, "In the Distance," came across my desk, I was really inspired by what he wrote about Oscar -- being all the way "over here" when other things are "over there" is something I've struggled with as I explain things to our third-culture 9- and 6-year-olds.  The most fascinating element of it all to them, though, is this difference in time -- that we are always in a time zone so far removed that it feels like another world altogether.

So I thought of night. And I thought of home. And I thought about how much has changed, what stays the same, and what time gives us and takes away from us. Even the taking-away is a gift, but it takes a lot of meditation to see it that way.

Fells Point, one of my favorite old neighborhoods in Baltimore, Maryland, is one part of home for me that never seems to change too much. Sure, new condos rise each year, and Charm City is always reinventing herself, but Fells is, well, Fells. Any Baltimorean will tell you that.

We'll travel "home" for Christmas for the first time in six years next month. In the distance, we'll feel cold air, we'll sip hot coffee, and we'll walk those streets. On the waterfront, as I'll be careful to not trip over the cobblestone-padded train tracks, I know I will find our spot that we visit each year as we meander through alleyways and see the old row houses sinking more deeply into each other as the years pass on.

But one thing I won't hear is Mom saying on the phone at our old family home, "Don't worry about coming in late, honey. We'll leave the light on." She always said that when I'd get in after she and Dad settled in for the night. And all the Christmas traditions I'd hoped I could show my kids this December aren't there anymore with Dad's passing and Mom's move. Sure, we can invent some new ones, but knowing that those traditions are permanently in the distance is really tough to process.

Art helps.

Art helps because I can imagine it. I can even reinvent the idea of home on the page and imagine she's there in that bottom window switching the light on as she hangs up the phone. We never had a house in Fells Point, but I could draw it as if we did. 

In the distance, sometimes we create myths and legends to soothe a longing for the past. Maybe she'd become a new character who talks to the ships as they come in and go out, whispering promises into the wind that she'll leave the light on to welcome him back from the sea. 

Or maybe I'll just wait until summer in Florida to see the light on next to the shuffleboard court at her new place in Florida -- I know she'll be there.

And as for this Christmas, we'll have these lights in Hampden, the artsy neighborhood we first lived in when we met in Baltimore, which will be a scream for the kids to finally see. Mayzie doesn't remember them (she was 2 when we had our last Christmas in Baltimore), and Charlie was only 3 months old). Miracle on 34th Street, indeed.

"34th Street." Flickr, 2006. Web. 10 Nov 2013. 

The Elements for Michael's book

I'm having fun with freehand stitching and learning how to create representation with this method. It's hard, can I say. It makes me want a quilting machine that give you serious control over your stitching. I don't have that. Anyway, the square represents fire, earth, air, water. Great theme Michael, thanks!

Window Perspectives

As I sat reading Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane this afternoon, the day after completing my sketch, this passage made me smile as I remembered the same tree that I drew just yesterday -- the sway, the creak, and the purple sky made me wonder if he wrote it just for me:

I sat on my bed, and stared out of the window.

My bed was pushed up hard against the wall just below the window. I loved to sleep with the window open. Rainy nights were best of all: I would open the window and put my head on my pillow and close my eyes and feel the wind on my face and listen to the trees sway and creak. There would be raindrops blown onto my face, too, if I was lucky, and I would imagine that I was in my boat on the ocean and that it was swaying with the swell of the sea. I did not imagine that I was a pirate, or that I was going anywhere. I was just on my boat.

But now it was not raining, and it was not night. All I could see through the window were trees, and clouds, and the distant purple of the horizon.

How many times had I fallen asleep with that singular view from my bedroom window? Since moving to Singapore six years ago, we have lived in three homes; before that, Michael and I had bought and sold two houses and lived in four; if I think of every home I’ve lived in, certainly my childhood home gave me that singular view the longest.

My perspective from that window was always of a tree that would dance, scraping its nails in, oddly, the most soothing way, against my window. When it was cold outside, the candle for the Christmas season would warm one side of the glass while frost would creep up the other side. Snuggled in my bed, I had a view of the world that nobody else had.

I’d imagine that my view of the world was so far above that I was looking at the earth in the sky instead of the moon. If could gain that perspective on my life, I could remove myself enough to see the challenges from afar.

I often tell my students to climb their metaphorical tree for that perspective; if they can see their problems from that higher view, they can be outside of them and removed enough to see things more clearly, more objectively. Sometimes the shift in perspective is all we need.

With that new perspective, we see things that sometimes can be more magical than the reality we perceive.

a positive spin

a positive spin

Sandy's theme, "The Hamster Wheel of Life", got me thinking. I first thought about life in general and where we all end up. Then I remembered some really great photos I took at an old country cemetery. But this thinking was a bit negative, so I started thinking about the literal hamster wheel of life. When do we actually ride wheels? I remembered this photo I took at Santa Monica Pier in California. After showing Sandy my art for her book, she said it's the antithesis of the hamster wheel of life...another way to look at things. I googled hamster wheel and found this:

When life's melancholies and loss get to us, we need a spin on a ferris wheel. Hence the title, "a positive spin".

I turned this photo into a faux painting in Photoshop with the Oil Painting tool.

An Invitation to Explore

Thanks to Heather's book and her invitation to explore, I finally got around to trying out something I've been meaning to do for a while.  I used the Paper 53 app to create different versions of the letter "e."  Originally, I was going to stop at one, but I couldn't help it.  The further I went, the more surprised I was at what I discovered.  I just wish I took more time to explore in my regular life.  Thanks, Heather!

Heidi's entry in Jonaca's book, "At a Crossroads"

Jonaca's "At a Crossroads" led me to this path intersection. I enjoyed trying to make "rocks" for the path and "wind" in the sky behind the trees.

Becky sketches in Linda's book: Thinking on my two backyards

I'm of two minds these days. Linda Blaize's theme of "Art and Inspiration in my own backyard" gave me even more reason to ponder and wrestle and drive everyone in my house crazy.  November break needs to come QUICK.

#learning2 Sketch

I learned a lot this weekend at the #learning2 conference.  I had an amazing opportunity to be in the presence of so many creative educators that good things were bound to rub off on me (and fittingly for Kelly's theme, it was absolutely NOT a waste of time).  I was fortunate to attend a 1 hour session on "visual note-taking" where the unbelievably talented Nicki Hambleton (@itsallaboutart) got us going taking notes on an iPad with Adobe Ideas.  The section on "A Whole New Mind" in my sketch is what I completed during her session, and the rest of the stuff on the page is some doodling I did afterwards, plus some photos taken along the way (thanks, +Jay Atwood +Nicki Hambleton @klbeasley )

I've been inspired.  I'm purchasing a stylus and there'll be no turning back for me!

Thinking of Home

Rock Falls Post Office, Illinois

This is a photograph of the post office in my hometown. The nicest people work here. They have known me since I first moved to Japan and my mom started sending me care packages. Since then, they have followed me around the world and back home again.  They are always friendly and helpful. They always give me a smile despite my asking them to weigh everything and give me every option for mailing it. :)  B delivers mail to my mother's house. She is the kind of person who bakes us muffins when times are tough and delivers packages to my mom's door because she can't walk out to the mailbox. Whenever I visit other post offices, I remember why I appreciate the people at the Rock Falls Post Office so much. When I am there, I am reminded that I am at home.

Kelly's theme is "I'm really not wasting time." One way that I like to waste time is by going through the endless number of photos on my computer and picking some to edit. Lately, it seems, I never make time to do that though. Thanks Kelly for giving me a reason to play. I took this photo this summer when I was at home. It is actually five photos of the same thing at different exposures. I used HDR Pro Photoshop to combine the images into one HDR (high dynamic range) image.

Trying to Make it to Friday

Taking Sandy's theme of The Hamster Wheel of Life. I used black marker to plot out my journey from Monday to Friday. The week I started this drawing was the week I got my new cats, you can see them hiding, and leaving their little footprints all over my life.

Exploring Colors on ColourLovers

Heather's book is about "exploration", and her previous entry depicts her exploration of shapes and colors within a grid on the page.  Keeping with my own goal of learning something new with each sketch, and being inspired by her own exploration I decided to explore color palettes in ColourLovers.  I know there are reasons why some colors go together and some don't - but the problem is that I don't know what those reasons are. So instead of learning about colors, I just headed over to ColourLovers and browsed for palates that were put together by other people.  I then applied them to my YouTube channel avatar to see what I liked best.  Pages on my mac allowed me to import the palate then quickly swap out colors using the color inspector.  I think I like the muted grey one the best.  Thanks, Heather for the inspiration.

Visual Etymology: Serenity

I was working in Leigh's book (theme: serenity) in the midst of colds, sore throats, two PD days, CWW, and life's "stuff." Thanks for the nudge, Leigh.

When I first started to think about serenity, I thought about the what it means to me, times I felt serene -- and started mapping out a plan. A window theme came up -- seeing Mom in the window waiting for me to come home when I was younger;  always seeing the candles in the window (electric, folks, no fire danger) at Christmastime. Ah, serenity.

But I'm always thinking of my classroom (blessing and curse), and the windows were a dead end visually for me. Roadblock.

I started by bridging back to my last sketchbook entry (using oil pastels for the first time with Barbara, which needed way more practice, just like I teach my students). I loved the concentric nature of the drawings in my sketchbook. Why not torture myself with doing something I'm not good at yet? Wait -- is this theme serenity?

But then I really started just thinking about the word. Where does it come from? What are words related to serenity? Scott Riley and our teams in MS RLA are hoping to nail down some cool word study plans around etymology this year, so I wondered if I looked up the Latin, could I create an image to associate with what the roots really mean?

Serenity and serenade are cognates. Who knew? And when we look at that connection, we find that when a man serenades a woman, it's usually associated with night and peacefulness. Happy Anniversary, Michael! What great timing. Still waiting for that song, though.

It's turned into a cool idea for the classroom and would help us all visualize the Latin rather than memorizing boring lists or charts. 

Here's how it turned out, with elements of the word, its cognates, and the meaning of the roots, but it's built all around what the kids would make into an unforgettable image. Why would it work? Because they'd make their own meaning of the...well, meaning.

Serendipity? No relation, unfortunately.

The theme of Linda Blaize's book (Jonaca's mom) is "What's in your backyard?". I LOVE gardening and have two patios plastered with potted plants. Jim and I chose this particular apartment partly because of the two massive patios. Jim knows that I need this kind of space to pursue a hobby that makes me very content. Anyway, the beautiful tree and chinese lantern on my lower patio inspired this quilt piece. In fact, I told Heather and Becky that I was so inspired by the theme that I think I'll go on to create an entire quilt with trees and palms and birds!! You can't tell from the pic, but the blue background is a gorgeous silk piece, so nice la! Anyway I'm all buzzed because I haven't wanted to start a quilt project since we've been overseas (this is our 10th year). Thanks Linda for your great theme and I hope I'll be able to follow through with a quilt!

Prague CZ

This week I was inspired by Patrick's book, In the Distance, to go back to special place that we both have in common, Prague.  Sifting through our photos with Lisa and Isabelle, we relived those special years, and it made me wonder why don't we do this more often. In trying to capture this in artistic form, I used a fun online tool called shape collage. Thanks, Patrick, for inadvertently nudging us to remember those important moments in the distant past that helped define us who we are today.

Watercolor Quilt

My theme is exploration. Doing a sketch book is not something I normally do. I've typically not been someone who draws or paints, so I chose the theme exploration to inspire me to get out of my comfort zone and make some art. My sketches this week are watercolor quilts. There are two because I owe Heidi a sketch from last year. Her theme last year included textiles which reminded me of quilts which led to this. Each square was a kind of exploration. I did the top sketch first and I learned a few things and I made Heidi's sketch even better.

Looking forward to exploring with all of you.

Reverse Ekphrasis: Music Into Art

I loved teaching ekphrasis in high school -- having students look at pieces of art and then write poetry about them (or sometimes studying published examples of the written art). Cool examples include poetry inspired by art such as William Carlos Williams' The Fall of Icarus;  after contemplating Brueghel's painting, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, Williams'  eyes turned to the corner, away from the farmer, where most people look, to the legs splashing into the water. He writes:

unsignificantly
off the coast
there was
a splash quite unnoticed
this was
Icarus drowning

But this sketchbook could do more. I imagined using music as the inspiration for us to create art. Where the painting inspired the writing before, now the writing inspires the painting, or in the case of my first sketch, oil pastels.

One of my favorite memories with Michael is of a small concert in Baltimore I attended just before moving to Singapore. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova's film Once (a musical movie) was one of my favorites, and the two were on stage in my own hometown. I wanted to freeze that moment in time, seeing them in person and hearing their heartfelt music -- soon enough, we found out the concert had been professionally recorded, and we raced to buy it on iTunes. I often find myself going back to one song they performed that night (and that Glen had performed years earlier with his band, The Frames.

"Star Star" centers me. There's a point in the song where he surprises you. It fills me with the wonder of a child and is my go-to song when I'm having a tough day as a grown-up.

Quite simply, it's my song.

But I was stuck with how I'd make it into art. I wrote the lyrics down. I made lists to generate images, like the verbs he used, the repeated images (sorry, I'm an RLA teacher)...and then I threw my pencil down, thinking, I don't want to do Starry Night like Van Gogh. I'm teaching my students how to avoid cliche, for goodness sake!

So I went into Barbara's art studio, played the song for a few of her students, and told her the story. She guided me to the oil pastels. We talked about paper and color; the rules of thirds and negative space; freedom to screw up.

Freedom to get my fingers dirty as I smudge everything. Freedom to not fill the whole thing in. Freedom to make movement visible and messy. Freedom to press hard on the oil pastel. Yes, I need to be told to let go, on occasion.

Which was the point of the song, oddly enough. Funny how art can bring us back to the images in the music that inspired us in the first place. Barbara "taught me how to shine, shine." Thank you, Barbara. And thank you, Glen.

Serenity

This year, I decided on the theme of Serenity to really delve into what gives us peace in our lives, piggy-backing on my theme from last year: Choosing A Positive Attitude.  I thought that if I figured out where I find tranquility, my "bucket will be full" and a positive attitude will follow.  Ironically, one of the greatest places for me to find serenity is in living simply, yet this page is far from simple.  In fact, it's rather cluttered.  Looking back at the page's contents, each piece represents a path to serenity, so I am going to refrain from self-criticism, and embrace the myriad of images and what each represents.

Singapore

a truly wonderful professional and personal place to reside.

Family

Books

a way to retreat

Ticket

love of movies and cheesy TV

Friendship

Travel

including the planning and journey 

Taxis

freedom of car ownership and hitting parked cars in Ikea's parking lot...

Crab

eating out and channeling my inner cook

Scrapbooking

a way for my Type-A personality to be creative (thanks Amy!!)

What's your Mood? Yippee we're back!!

Heidi's Mood, September 2013

My sketch book’s theme is, “What’s your mood?”

My first piece is a reflection of my mood this fall. With my second daughter, Abby, getting ready to graduate this year, Jim and I are bracing ourselves for the next chapter. I chose ambers, golds and yellows to express my mood, based on the chart below that I found online from another quilter’s site. Some days I’m nervous and unsettled, some optimistic and accepting of our coming experiences sans girls. Feeling nostalgic and reflective, I added a gold threaded trim that I made from a scarf that the girls used to play with. The scarf still rests in our dress-up box, long forgotten (minus it's trim!).

Found at: http://daintytime.net/2010/06/16/mod-mood-quilt-1/

Color perception and our reactions to color are subjective. They are shaped through our personal experience as well as our cultural environment. Below is a list of colors and some of the emotional mind states associated with them. Notice how colors can have both positive and negative associations.

BLACK: tense, nervous, harassed, over-worked, emptiness, void, mystery, allure, fascination, independent, strength

GREY: anxieties, nervous, strained, depressed, forbearance, perseverance, patience, reflection

AMBER-GOLD: nervous, mixed emotions, unsettled, warm, rich

LIME GREEN: excited, anticipation, new growth, perceptive, motivated,

GREEN: average reading, active, not under great stress, growth, abundance, prosperity, gratitude, hope, satisfaction, contentment, fertile, envy, greed, jealous, heart chakra

BLUE-GREEN: charged but relaxed, calm, dynamic, refreshed, tranquil, patience, cool, motivated, fussy, egocentric

BLUE: relaxed, at ease, calm, lovable, sincerity, peace, tranquility, faith, trust, truthful, sad, arrogant, throat chakra

DARK-BLUE: very happy, love, romance, dignity, integrity, intuition, knowledge, fantasy, wishful thinking, third eye chakra

WHITE: frustrated, cold, confused, bored, vacant, bare, peace, innocence, purity, open, faith

BROWN: earth, comforting, nurturing, stable, grounded, cozy, secure, elegant, fertile, humble

BRONZE: jitters, anticipation, restless thoughts,

YELLOW: imaginative, wondering, ok feeling, optimism, understanding, cheerful, motivated, curious, self-assured, productive, solar chakra

ORANGE: stimulating, ideas, creativity, daring, wants, joy, enthusiasm, sexuality, busy, bright, cheerful, naval chakra

RED: excited, energized, adventurous, ready to go, passion, courage, power, will, desire, anger, root chakra

PINK: fear, uncertain, love, affection, harmony, gentleness

PURPLE: sensual, clarity, purpose is known, wisdom, spirituality, passion, meditative, awareness, crown chakra

In The Distance...

My Theme:
It is where the moon is, it is where that train whistle is coming from, it is the time when we get to take the trip to Hong Kong Disney, and it is where Gramma and Grampa live - all of these things are in the distance.  We use this phrase a lot with our little O.G.G.  It helps.   All these things exist.  They are things that we will experience up close again, even if not this second.

Sketch 1:
In the distance, we plan to experience what we are now calling our "Year of Adventure."  We will take the year to follow our passions, to hike, to kayak, to learn (but not from a textbook).  We will travel the US going from city to city, studying their histories and drinking their beers.  We'll spend entire days biking and entire days reading.  We'll practice our Spanish and our Ukulele.  We'll play, we'll eat well and we will savour each day...in the distance.

Learned:
I used illustrator and Photoshop.  I learned about clipping masks and putting effects onto those clipping masks.

Knew I Kept Those Crutches For A Reason

I admit, that I left this one until the last minute. Josh's theme is Spines and Hospitals. I had other ideas, but then Monday morning I was putting my shoe on and looked at the big red scar that curves around my ankle. Then I looked up and saw my crutches. An idea was born. I started with the red ink on the end of my crutch and stamped the paper. That looked like a poorly done Target ad, so I added the black stamps. Then I started drawing stitches. At that point, I thought, what the heck, lets do some real stitching. So I cut holes in the paper, backed it with red construction paper and stitched them up. They actually, look not unlike the scars on my ankles. 

Exploring Shadows and Media in Heather Dowd's Book

I have always loved taking pictures of shadows.  I thought I would take Heather's Exploration theme and see what I could find.  Initially, I really wanted to get my Nikon out and search the whole island for shadows I could shoot.  With my foot injury, I quickly realized that mobility is a bit of an issue.   I decided that I would have to add to my "Shadow Album" via  my iPhone5.  I found a few interesting shadows around home and printed them out on regular printer paper  (I must really buy photo paper and better glue). I think the shots around home could have been really good, had I played on iPhoto or used Lightroom to clean them up.  I hope to continue exploring shadows this summer.  Thanks for giving me the chance to explore, Heather!

First set of photos:  Mia on Sentosa  2011- Playing With Shadows

Second set of photos: iPhone 5 - Around the House (The three in the middle are difficult to see as the glue soaked through the paper)

Becky recycles in the mystery sketcher's book

I learned that I like a few boundaries, and when a book doesn't have a theme, I have to work a little harder. It's not bad, but it makes me think. The mystery sketcher had a vibrant geometric tic-tac-toe of patterns that Leigh built upon with likewise embroidery. Betsy collaged  a Degas-like woman covered in keys over a whirling dervish. Where's the common thread???? And so I ended up with a collage of my own that echoed some of their choices. But the real message in it was that  sometimes the best ideas are the ones we've used before. I don't think ANYTHING in the sketchbooks is cheating, but after some discussions with sketchers this weekend, I realized that we all have our internal "rules" we're following. I believe good work can be already-used work, and I made myself do it. Almost every image is one I've drawn for something else at some other time.

The Art of the Orchid

When thinking about how to capture orchids for Heather's book, I decided to go back to my roots (yes, pun intended).  A few months back, we went to the Art of the Brick exhibit at the ArtScience Museum, and we were amazed at what we saw.   So, I followed Nathan Sawaya's lead and started building an orchid from scratch.  Luckily I had photos I took from the National Orchid Garden to refer to, but I was limited to the colors my girls had in their lego box.  I also had to dismantle some of their structures to find all the pinks.  Shhh, don't tell.  Thanks, Heather, for letting me dig through the Lego box once again.  It felt so natural and peaceful.  Just like an orchid.

Perspective on Singapore

Photography is the art form I'm most comfortable with and that's what I used for Scott's book on Perspective. Living in Singapore sometimes overwhelms me with the numbers of people and lack of space. I make sure to find another perspective on Singapore by looking for the green, open spaces when I need to feel space. So, I took a bike ride from Woodlands to Ang Mo Kio Bishan Park and captured these scenes. (I have to admit that Doug helped me post process the photos to get the vibrant colors that you see.)