It's Friday night

[Nevermore]

And thought I would take another stab at posting. I have missed everybody, seems like things kinda sighed and died after we got our names. Maybe just too much excitement...Not sure what key I hit last night that ate my post (was working in pitch dark on the front porch) but there is some ambient end of day light left tonight so maybe I can get this in.

I think Max may be quirky. Last week he saw me working on Fugue's piece when I was masking the onion. Hey, he said, why don't you make a few of those and put them on sticks and then you would have onion suckers? I thought that might not be a bad idea but Kaza posted her "C" wings in the meanwhile and I have been working on onion wings (no relation to rings). I don't know if anyone else is working on this but Kaza said she was operating out of curiousity re what could be made into wings and I think that that is a gonzo challenge.

I think it says something about our house when the dinner conversation is along the lines of "mom, did you make the onion suckers yet?" "no, hon, I wanna make them into wings first" "oh, cool". Joe, bless his heart, doesn't have a clue but doesn't bat an eye.

Akissling's Rolodex piece just knocked my socks off, so much so that I am seriously contemplating doing a Rolodex series in lieu of my ABC*ATCs. I am only 6 in to the series so no real loss and can possibly restructure some of them to fit but the notion of having the series in a Rolodex on my desk just tickles my fancy no end.

I guess this is what people who have a blog do (don't know, don't read them and don't have one but I suspect that this is about the idea?). Betcha wish I had one so I could move this on over, snigger. Sorry. You will have to be my blogees or whatever the recipient of a blog is. If this is a blog.

Robyn slammed me which is tres cool. All in all, life is pretty good, eh?

[skyescrapz]

Ah, the post worked this time. We have our talkative Raven back! Praise be!

It sounds like Max is quite quirky. I believe it may be genetic.

[AmyK]

Onion Wings. It makes me laugh. And yep, you're right, you're a blogger at heart. :)

I am wondering if a rolodex project might be a good thing for me too. I made a deck of ATC backgrounds (just cut up some paintings on cardstock into ATC size) in order to make an ATC every day this month. But I only got 3 finished, and then I was sad because there's really no where to display them where I can look at them and feel proud. A rolodex could be fun.

I am slowly working myself back up to posting frenzy. A week off from the computer just about killed me. I was slipping away into a terrible funk the last two days. Today I'm just overwhelmed trying to figure out what to do! I can't believe it's Friday though - guess it's a good day to come back as Fridays are always slow online. :)

[kygirl]

So glad to see you all back in full form. :-)

Love the idea of onion suckers, and can't wait to see what you come up with.

Yes, I think quirkiness runs in families. My father may be the quirkiest man who ever lived. I grew up with skeletons in the living room, a darkroom in the basement, telescopes in the backyard, and vacations spent in graveyards and battlefields. He was the only father in the neighborhood with his own WAR album and disco shoes. Compared to him, I can be pretty stuffy. :-)

Both of my children are artistic -- my daughter is a fashion major and my son spends hours on the computer doing digital art and design. It will be interesting to see if they're able to maintain their quirkiness into adulthood.

[Nevermore]

Willow, you expressed it well "able to maintain their quirkiness" because no doubt peers and institutions and the like sure try to beat it out of them. I always thought I was pretty well endowed with imagination but Max beggars mine much of the time. Even when he was two he was into my schtick which is basically gestalt--disparate ideas and themes merged into one. From day one, he insisted that Goldilocks met the Big Bad Wolf on the way to the three bears and he always wanted the story to end with a show down between the bears and the wolf. Certainly a more even playing field than the pigs and the wolf... Max considers it a grave insult to ask someone, don't you have any imagination? I won't bore you with the progression through the last few years but for two of them, every day he picks something (started as animals, progressed to Super humans and is now aliens) that he is in the morning and he spins that out until we go to school. These dramas are continuing and take place over several days until he chooses the next thing. I give him as much rein as possible although I do put my foot down from time to time and insist on spending time with my son. The human. Who has no super powers. I truly do enjoy doing "art" things with him as he has no fear of it--he hasn't yet been told that he can't draw or paint so as far as he is concerned, he can. What I enjoy the most is the balancing act he does between outrageous fantasy and the minutest detail. I had created a collage garden with cut out pieces. His contribution was a gigantic worm. He then took one of my lettuces and cut a piece out of it and stuck it on the worm's mouth. For lunch. I have no idea why I wouldn't do that but I know I wouldn't. And it makes the collage.

Does anyone else get a kick out of knowing that my next move after every post is to hit the "post quick reply button?

[kygirl]

I do the same thing. Does anyone know what that button is even for? (Ended that in a preposition, but you know what I mean.)

After 25 years of writing PR fluff for the utility industry, the creativity and the enthusiasm I once held for writing and design was long gone. So, I definitely know what you mean about the world beating the quirkiness out of us.

That's why this community has been such a blessing for me. Just to know that there are other people in the world who really care that burnt sienna is no longer in the Crayola box is so affirming. For the first time in a long time, I can give my imagination free rein, and I don't get funny looks; I get praised. Wow!

It's wonderful that you've got Max to share this with. I do miss having little kids in my house. They really do help you keep the world in perspective, and remind you how much fun imagination can be.

[akissling]

So, I am not the only one at home on a Friday night. My teenage daughter has a great social life. I get to sit at home waiting for the phone call to pick her up!
The Rolodex is so much fun to do and it is nice to try the slightly different format! Can't wait to see what you do! You have a "quirk" mail re: the template.
Your Max sounds like a cute one!!!!
No need to blog when you can talk here and get a response, right?!!
This is such a nice, active group!

[skyescrapz]

Max sounds like a gem. I love kids' imaginations. So vivid and they just don't censor themselves at all. Keep telling us these great stories of him -- I love reading about his take on things. Cool stuff!

I think it is genetic, which is why I had mentioned it. I think my mom has me beat on the creativity front. I aspire to be as good as she is someday. I don't have kids, so I don't know if I will pass on this quirk gene or not (still to be seen, I hope!). I just hope my kid(s) like to color. My nephew just got into artsy stuff FINALLY so I love being able to color and draw and paint with him. It's so much fun.

KYGirl mentioned having the PR world pummel the creativity out of her. I will second that emotion. I go back and read things I wrote in college and I wonder where the good writer went? Where DID she go? Can I find her again? Thank goodness for digi scrapping and designing and for DAQ. I thought my creativity had taken a permanent hike until I found this wonderful creative outlet. It never left. It was just taking a looooong nap. Now if I could just get my good writing thang back, well, I almost wouldn't know what to do with myself if that happened too! Too many mindless press releases trampled the muse, I guess.

[Nevermore]

Krista, I don't know if you have ever tried Morning Pages? It is an exercise from the Artist's Way. I resisted at first and then I did them and ended up doing it for 4 years!

1. The idea is you fill 3 pages every morning. I started off using a mini notebook (very very very small pages). Actually, I first started with an expensive journal but I am so anal and such a perfectionist it didn't work because my handwriting had to be perfect and I had to white out mistakes. So I switched to a little tiny $1 notebook. Needless to say in no time at all, 3 little pages didn't do it and I had to get a bigger notebook. So, I went to the dollar store and they had these wild notebooks from China of the cheapest pulp imaginable at about .50 cents a piece and I bought six. They were just the right size.
2. You write anything. For three pages. Non stop. At first this was brutally painful and I would write things like I am in the middle of page one and I have nothing more to write but I will sit here and write until I fill up this page even if I write nothing more than I am sitting here writing trying to fill up this page--you get the picture.
3. Next stage for me was it ended up looking like a diary. It is cold. It is raining. I am busy. I am sick.
4. But then it started to segue into a diary/writing thing. From what I can read here, almost like an art journal but heavy on the journal and light on the art. This was way before my visual days but I was adding small watercolour pencil doodles etcetera.

I don't know what kind of writing you do and I didn't end up writing short stories or novellas or the like. But I did end up doing what were the seeds of essays and character portraits and dialogue. Mostly what I ended up doing was loving writing. I loved my pages and my time spent doing them. I took them everywhere and have pages done in Costa Rica and New York and all over.

You might want to give it a go...it is free-ing and that might help. When I went back and read them I was startled: at me, at my thoughts and yes, at times, at my writing. I have never seriously picked up writing again but I have no compunction about dropping my own lines on my layouts. I guess it helped choke off the censor.

[Nevermore]

So, I am not the only one at home on a Friday night. My teenage daughter has a great social life. I get to sit at home waiting for the phone call to pick her up!
The Rolodex is so much fun to do and it is nice to try the slightly different format! Can't wait to see what you do! You have a "quirk" mail re: the template.
Your Max sounds like a cute one!!!!
No need to blog when you can talk here and get a response, right?!!
This is such a nice, active group!
I laughed at this. Max is out at the Dome at a Blue Jays game. Tomorrow he has a birthday party and on Sunday a confirmation party and barbecue. He is six. Joe is at the dome with Max and tomorrow he is playing golf. I am trying to figure out how I can back into work to put a few more hours urgently needed in. It is hard to schedule around the drop off and pick up! Friday nights used to be my night to howl but for a couple of years now they are my night to make a pot of java and scrap. And if I am not up to that, they are my night to go to bed early.

[Nevermore]

So glad to see you all back in full form. :-)

Love the idea of onion suckers, and can't wait to see what you come up with.

Yes, I think quirkiness runs in families. My father may be the quirkiest man who ever lived. I grew up with skeletons in the living room, a darkroom in the basement, telescopes in the backyard, and vacations spent in graveyards and battlefields. He was the only father in the neighborhood with his own WAR album and disco shoes. Compared to him, I can be pretty stuffy. :-)

Both of my children are artistic -- my daughter is a fashion major and my son spends hours on the computer doing digital art and design. It will be interesting to see if they're able to maintain their quirkiness into adulthood.
Wow, have you ever collaborated with your son? That might be neat! Not sure about the genetic thing. There is no evidence in my family whatsoever. My mother is a monochrome decorator (beige. I am not exaggerating.) My father is a computer/systems analyst. Ditto my brother. If it is genetic it makes me think that the normal childhood changeling fantasy might not be that far off in my case.

[skyescrapz]

Wow, have you ever collaborated with your son? That might be neat! Not sure about the genetic thing. There is no evidence in my family whatsoever. My mother is a monochrome decorator (beige. I am not exaggerating.) My father is a computer/systems analyst. Ditto my brother. If it is genetic it makes me think that the normal childhood changeling fantasy might not be that far off in my case.

Maybe it skipped a generation. Did/do you have creative grandparents?

[skyescrapz]

Raven, this is in reply to your comment about doing the Morning Pages... I just got the Artists Way (finally!) and plan to try some of the exercises in it. That one sounds like it could be a winner for me. I'll keep you posted. I appreciate the suggestion greatly! (And how cool that you have those journals of yours!)

[happyrobyn]

So you know Ms. Raven that I have been on vacation and have no time to read all of your lamentings at this juncture. However, I wanted to tell you that ... yes ... ABSOLUTELY ... please keep rambling right here at DAQ! We love it when you use us as a blog. Me too! I tried out a blog but it just wasn't for me. My mind jumps around too quickly so this message board is just perfect to organize my random thoughts!

And about a rolodex - I want one, too! I thought I would make a MAD Rolodex and categorize my relatives in alphabetical order! Sounds fun.

[kygirl]

Robyn, the idea of a MAD rolodex is just brilliant. I've been wanting to do a book on my ancestors, but found the whole project too intimidating. But a Rolodex card a day (or week), that I could handle. Thanks for the great idea.

[happyrobyn]

Glad you like it Donna. I think it would be so fun to just be able to flip through ancestors.

[akissling]

POST SCRIPT
I have just put the template on my blog (http://www.thekissling.blogspot.com) (it is just full of digi works, nothing nearly as interesting as other people's blogs!). I am sure that other people have made much nicer ones but....

[Nevermore]

A Raven never borrows and tells...

[akissling]

Thanks for not telling...I just updated the original post so now they will NEVER know!!

[kygirl]

Thanks for the template. Now I can add this to my DAQ "to do" list which seems to be growing by leaps and bounds. Unfortunately, the muse appears to be on vacation. I keep adding to the list, but nothing seems to be coming off.

[webchyck]

Thanks for the template Alison!

[happyrobyn]

Me too! I need the template!!!!