Notes, Notings, and Common Refrains

Anyway, so at the end of July: I made a list of Na'Arts I wanted to make in the month of August. The very first thing I wrote for that list was:

A hand-drawn sketch of my own, bare, feet (they are the part of my body I am least comfortable with, and I want to get more comfortable with them) Problem: Getting a way so I can actually see them while in a position to draw them...

So this post is ALL the THOUGHTS and FEELS about that, that I just didn't have the energy to post on the day I did the picture:

( cut for those who are disturbed by images of feet (500 x 402 pixels) )

Okay, so it's one foot, instead of both feet... 'Cause ... Do you know how hard it is to get a clear view of your own feet when you're holding a clipboard in your lap?! Ahem. Anyway, yes...

I'm not sure if it's clear from this perspective, but my feet are "clenched" -- my instep is almost hemispherical, with my toes curled under; if the bones of my feet had the same range of motion as the bones in my hands, my feet would be clenched fists. The angle between my foot and lower leg is actually less than 90 degrees. Here - this picture, illustrating the full, normal, range of motion for the human foot shows what I mean: my feet are stuck in the full UP position -- if someone pulled really hard, they might be able to get my feet to budge down a millimeter, but not without me swearing bloody murder at them, 'cause OW. That dark line I drew around the top of my instep is no exaggeration -- it really is deep crease where the sun (or the library chandelier) don't shine.

I used to be more self-conscious over my feet's weird crooks and creases. But that's no longer the main reason I'm ambivalent toward them now. (As my friends know, I'm perfectly willing to be weird). And I'm even cool about their spasticity and its discomfort most of the time.

( 'It's just that...' -- Cut for your scrolling pleasure )

The thing that I love about drawing from life, by hand, is that in order to do it well, you have to slow down, and really look carefully at the thing (or part of yourself) that's in front of your eyes -- not your memories of it, or prejudices about it -- but what's really, actually there in the present moment (Which is why drawing from life is better than drawing from a photograph). So I'll probably do another foot picture or three. I'd love to get in front of a full-length mirror, so I can draw the whole of me, either nude or not (my feet are almost always nude, except in public). But I don't have such a mirror, yet.

This was going to be a much longer post... but writing this (with breaks for dinner and snack) has taken me five hours. So there may or may not be a part 2...

Oh, and here are ( the other things on the list, with links where applicable: )

My annual self-assessment (fuzzily... never exactly the same day each year, but always in August, since this began); drawing your portrait by hand captures your mood as well as your likeness (again, on the latter, fuzzily).

But one of these days, I'll go for the middle ground, and draw from a photo -- that way, I can experiment with different lighting and angle than the same pose in the same bathroom mirror, every year (and can go away to sharpen my pencil without having to wonder if I've changed my pose mid drawing -- epic Pencil! fail this year...)

Anyway:

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One interesting thing about the process of drawing this (interesting to me, anyway): my mind registered the shadows (and focused/bent light) cast by my glasses long before I "saw" the glasses themselves...

You know, I think I've hit almost all my arty goals, this month -- except I haven't written a geek pride song, yet, and I haven't done three-d art yet...

I'm pleased with this... though I think if I start talking about why, I will be here for all the hours, using all the words, about all the feels... And my tummy is rumbling, and I haven't had dinner...so maybe I'll come back after I've eaten.

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A different sort of self portrait (a usual one will likely be forthcoming, too, but in the meantime):

Following spiralsheep's lead, because some people don't like looking at feet, here's a link to the Flick'r page, instead of a thumbnail (ha, idiom is funny, in context): My left foot

Now I know why I was on that shading kick spree this week...

Cross-posted from the Na'Ar'Ma'Mo Community, again:

Same monster as yesterday -- what it's like when it's on the move. I fear it's one of those poor, tragic, creatures doomed to be "cute when angry"...

I'm particularly pleased with this...

[cross-posted from the community]
Anyway, I wrote another tune today -- an actual, recognized musical form: a hornpipe (I had a midi of a tune I knew was a hornpipe, and copied all the lengths of each notes as I put them in the score...)

I put it up as an unlisted video on YouTube (so you can only find it through this link), so you can hear what it sounds like: http://youtu.be/0srfZoiv37M

And I also made an image of the score (and stuck a pencil sketch I'd already done on the bottom, to make it more interesting):



PS: and here's a video of a woman playing the tune I copied (rhythm-wise) on the fiddle:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDsmaIX4ETM

1) had a dream, this morning, that was quirky enough that I've remembered bits of it all day:

( Four quirky details )

"she hath often dreamed of unhappiness and waked herself with laughing" --Much Ado About Nothing (a snippet of party banter from Act Two)

2) GIP! the icon with this post is my work for Na'ar'ma'mo; I kept it short, because I wanted to devote time to polishing up the video I made for day 6.

3) More polished version is here ("unlisted," so you can only get to it through a posted link, like this one): http://youtu.be/bf1FNf5NGn0. I'm much happier with it (and I learned how to make the midi tune fade in and out, in NoteWorthy Composer -- rather than just abruptly starting and stopping. \o/ but I'm still shy of posting it as a reply to Doodling in Math Class: Squiggle Inception because she has such a big audience, the most vocal of which are guys commenting on how they want to F* her, and about her voice... And I'm not sure I want to open myself up to that... On the other hand: her one throw away line in that video did inspire me with several Na'art ideas. And I do kind of want to let her know... So -- I'll sleep on it.

really! falling asleep, now... better go to bed...

This is a further exploration of an idea that I played with last year: "Make Room for Monsters!" A fuller description of the image is up at the flick'r page:



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(this is what I left out of today's posting in naarmamo:

Honestly? I'm really working on a big, multiple day project (which is kinda-sorta against the rules -- Shh! Don't tell anyone) but it's a project that I just don't have the spoons to work on in one session without sleep-waking cycles to break it up. So I've figured out different parts of the whole that could exist on their own, if they wanted, and posting each part as it's own na'art...

So... yeah...

[Cross-posted from naarmamo]:

Today, I took a picture of a monster that I drew last month:



And used it to make a new, over-the-top, cheerful, desktop theme for myself:



[End of Cross-post]

I'm really pleased at how the program icons fit between ze's hands. Though I wonder how long it will be before it becomes too cheerful.

And now, you know what programs I keep most easily to hand -- the clearest picture of my life's priorities!

Eight hours later...

A video BY ME!



The Tune, "Jolly Tumble," was something I wrote for a naarmamo, back in 2008. I uploaded a scan of the score, but I'm not sure how many people actually got to hear it, so... there you go.

Heya. On Thursday, we finally got around to rearranging the office furniture, and moving the computer tower from the rickety plastic thing to the solid piece of craftsman-style table that my (Mad) Great Uncle Don made, almost 100 years ago.

The Good: It's sturdy, beautiful, has enough room for the tower and my computer paper, and was handmade by one of my ancestors.

The Bad: In the moving process, the phone cord got jiggled loose from the wall jack, and I didn't realize it until Audrey left (and I couldn't reach it). So I have been without the Internets since Wednessday night...

*clings*

Anyway, I've been doing naarmamo all along, and I just uploaded Thursday's, Friday's, Saturday's and Yesterday's arts, and posted them to their respective posts. I haven't done today's, yet, but I may do something simple and quick and silly, because yesterday's pic just about wiped me out (an observation sketch of from the photo of the woman in the big feathered hat on spiralsheep's journal, here). I realize now that the head is about 25% too small, but I'm still very proud of it.

Throughout the weekend, I had stuff I wanted to journal about, but I can only vaguely remember what, now...

Oh well, if it's really important, it will bubble to the surface again.