Reverb10: Beautifully Different

I'm taking inspiration from a 31-day blogging challenge called reverb10, responding to writing prompts that are designed to allow bloggers to reflect on 2010 and to send out reverberations for 2011. You can find out more about it here.

Day 8 – Beautifully Different. Think about what makes you different and what you do that lights people up. Reflect on all the things that make you different – you’ll find they’re what make you beautiful. (Author: Karen Walrond)

My name. The extra two 'E's (at the end). If you spell it out, you have to smile. If I'm in a hurry while I'm signing my name, sometimes an extra E sneaks in at the end, an extra loop-de-doop, free of charge.

W-e-n-d-e-e

Reverb10: Make

I'm taking inspiration from a 31-day blogging challenge called reverb10, responding to writing prompts that are designed to allow bloggers to reflect on 2010 and to send out reverberations for 2011. You can find out more about it here.

Day 6 – Make. What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it? (Author: Gretchen Rubin)

The last things I made were origami cranes. I cut squares out of pages from magazines, looking for nice big pretty pictures. Not that I have stacks of pages torn out of magazines with nice, big pretty pictures or anything.

Wikipedia says: The crane in Japan is one of the mystical or holy creatures (others include the dragon and the tortoise), and is said to live for a thousand years. In Japan, it is commonly said that folding 1000 paper origami cranes makes a person's wish come true. This makes them popular gifts for special friends and family.

I haven't folded 1000 cranes this time around. Yet. I'm making them one or two at a time and sending them out into the wild.

I found some instructions here. The square base in step 6 is tricky, so I found an additional set of instructions for that part, here.

As for the part about something I want to make, but need to clear some time for, it may have something to do with stacks of pages torn out of magazines with nice, big pretty pictures, if, let's say, I had these stacks  ...

The Japanese Garden

Southern California in mid-December. Yes, indeed.

Last week I visited The Japanese Garden at Van Nuys. It’s one of those spots that I’ve known about forever (20 years, let's say) and finally visited for the first time.

From their brochure:

Nestled in the heart of the busy San Fernando Valley is a peaceful oasis: Suiho-en, ‘Garden of Water and Fragrance.’  The exquisite design of The Japanese Garden leads us from a world of freeway traffic, pressures, and haste into a world of meditative calm, where it is possible to focus on and remember the very simple and beautiful both in nature and in our lives.

The uniqueness of this garden is that it is authentic in every detail. At the same time, every effort was made to make it compatible with the nearby contemporary Administration Building.

I’ll vouch for all of the above.



The Japanese Garden at the Tillman Water Reclamation Plant, 6100 Woodley Ave, Van Nuys, CA.
http://www.thejapanesegarden.com/

A happy note: The Japanese Garden participates in the AHS reciprocal admissions program (as does: Descanso Gardens, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Los Angeles County Arboretum, San Diego Botanic Garden …)





See the whole Flickr set and enjoy all the warm 90deg mid-December yumminess here.

To Draw is to See

Now available, just in time for gifting:
To Draw is to See: The Sketchbook of Norman J Schureman.

This sketchbook features over 100 of Norm Schureman's master drawings. It is an absolutely stunning collection that showcases his talents as a designer and teacher. From birds to dinosaurs and from tanks to insects, every page is an inspiring example of his legacy.

100% of the proceeds of this book go towards his two sons, Milo and Kian.

Click here to preview the book online.

Thanks to Fridolin Beisert, who lovingly made this idea a reality. ♥

Reverb10: Letting Go

I'm taking inspiration from a 31-day blogging challenge called reverb10, responding to writing prompts that are designed to allow bloggers to reflect on 2010 and to send out reverberations for 2011. You can find out more about it here.

Day 5 – Let Go. What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why?

I've let go of the sense of guilt I got over not posting to my blog so often.

I let go of people who complained about educators, with particularly unrelenting vitriol.

I let go of people who told me that art education only leads students astray and into unnecessary debt.

I let go of people who told me that pursuing an MFA is a complete and total waste of time.

I let go of a number of books via paperbackswap.com. Yes, I gained a few more in exchange, but that's how swaps work, after all.

I let go of the insistence of people who said, “Stay! If you don't come back you'll never know!” I'm satisfied that I've had plenty and that I know well enough for myself.

My car, for its part, let go of a hubcap and  a radiator hose, somewhere along the 210 freeway, on my way to class, a few days after having had seriously $$$$ major work completed by the local dealership. I subsequently let go of my need to always go to the dealership for major work on my Camry.

I let go of the first new pair of running shoes (I was so excited!!) I've gotten in five years because they were really messing up my knees and ankles. Thanks to Run With Us in Pasadena for the help in getting me back into another pair and back to training.

I let go of email subscriptions where people always, always opened first with offers of workshops (free or for a fee).

I let go of grabbing paper napkins at school in favor of bringing a few fabric ones with me.

I let go of the idea that if one is told that they're so sensitive (!) that that's a bad thing and that one should try to be less so.

I let go of one of a pair of earrings that I've worn almost every day for 20 years, down the drain. I haven't yet let go of the sadness and sense of loss.

Reverb10: Writing

I'm taking inspiration from a 31-day blogging challenge called reverb10, responding to writing prompts that are designed to allow bloggers to reflect on 2010 and to send out reverberations for 2011. You can find out more about it here.

Day 2 – Writing. What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it?

What keeps me from transferring the lines in ink to digital prose?

What makes me hesitate, keeping me from clicking 'Publish'?
What keeps me from writing?

–  The whispers of doubt, imagined taunts, “You think you're a writer?”  Really, shouldn't that be enough?
–  The worry that the pain and weight of grief is too much to share.
–  Time. It takes so long to edit and craft and re-craft. The wordsmithing takes so terribly long.

What else? I mean, really? What doesn't contribute to your writing?

–  Wondering about water-miscible oil paints and reading up on them, comparing brands.

–  Same for field easels and thumb boxes and pochades.

–  Quilting and sewing projects that people post, pretty textures and patterns.

–  Lovely photos on Flickr

–  Lovely, haunting, inspiring, uplifting words

The internet.

I'm so inspired and engaged and connected and curious and investigative and …

… so distracted.

p.s. Special thanks to Debbie and Patti, whose posts have inspired me to sit for a good long while, away from the Internet, to write.

Reverb10: One Word

I'm taking inspiration from a 31-day blogging challenge called reverb10, responding to writing prompts that are designed to allow bloggers to reflect on 2010 and to send out reverberations for 2011. You can find out more about it here.

Day 1 – One Word. Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?

I read the posts every January: declare your intentions for the new year; declare your ONE WORD.
I usually get around to thinking and writing and setting my ONE WORD, oh, in February. It's usually a struggle to sustain focus on this ONE WORD through the whole year. This year was no different. One word for how I feel about that could be: Chagrin.

So, honestly, I wasn't going to even bother thinking about one word that sums up the year. But, in doing a few more day's worth of writing to the prompts and looking at the words that appeared, and reflecting on the many words that had come before, I've discovered, quite clearly the word for this year. Through it all, one word has emerged with a steady beat and rhythm, strong and unyielding.

One word, one name: Norm.

I've written about Norm, here.

For next year, the word/name/memory 'Norm' will continue, in spirit. I know this because I want 2011 to be Fierce (in the non-scary, non-angry, non-aggressive sort of way that I interpret the word). I'm also resurrecting a phrase from a few years back as well: Run fast and true.

I'll keep you posted.