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Please don't tell me to skip the stenciling and just paint on my own; I am extremely sensitive about my lack of artistic ability. Also, one of the things that I am looking for is a specific Scandinavian design/symbol thingy. |
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I wouldn't have ever thought of that on my own. |
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i would not have the patience to make my own stencils. but stencils are cool. how's life, kazoo? |
Life? (thanks for asking :) You know, I've been meaning to fill everyone in, especially now that Nate is back and is sharing so much. I'd forgotten how comforting all the various perspectives here can be, and I'm sorry I haven't posted much. Usually I feel like I have little to contribute (I mean that in an "it's already been said" kind of way not in an insecure "everyone thinks I'm lame" kind of way) or I have so much to say that I get overwhelmed. That's a good word. Overwhelmed. I've been feeling overwhelmed, but I'm not sure by what. Let's see...well, I don't really have anything to complain about. I have a part time job in a pottery studio that I love. That is my only source of income and it isn't enough, but my parents are kind enough to help out with essentials until I get my loan check in the fall. Things with Sem are going well. I think I make a good live-in girlfriend. I could clean up more, espcially since I have so much free time. My cooking has improved. My papers are not done which is doing wonders for the academic side of my self-esteem but that's really not getting the best of me...they'll get done. So externally things are fine, at least I feel like I have control over everything. Internally...that is a different story. I don't feel motivated to do anything interesting, yet I'm constantly irritated at myself for not using my free time to read about new things or find new music. I'm probably a little depressed; that's nothing new. My appetite is fine. I have no trouble getting to sleep, but have had several wierd and scary dreams in the last few weeks. I cry constantly. Anything on the television involving children, puppies, and couples makes me cry. I never minded the occasional weeping over a song or a movie that was actually moving...but now it's brinks home security commercials...I can't believe I just admitted that. Anyway, ever since Mavis' wedding, I've been feeling rather negative and empty. It has nothing to do with the wedding. We had a blast and Mavis looked beautiful; it was probably the most fun I've ever had at a wedding. However, it was their vows, which they wrote themselves, that got me thinking about some things. I was thinking about what I want to say in that situation* and I felt like there was nothing there. Nothing that I can share with people about myself in any meaningful way. Believe me, my innerworld is vast, but everything that inspires it is either too personal, too weird, or too academic for any kind of ceremony (which really isn't even my primary concern), and lately, it hasn't been all that fulfilling. That led to larger ponderings about how disconnected I feel. I don't feel connected to any particular tradition, spiritual or otherwise, and I don't feel creative or energetic enough to come up with something on my own. I don't think that's what I want. It just seems that everything that I love is an agglomeration of music, literature, and academics and I feel like there is nothing holding it all together. Listening to certain music used to make me feel connected to my soul. Maybe I need to find a new song. Holy crap that's a lot. Thanks for reading. *and that situation is still a long way off so don't get all excited. |
I'm afraid I don't have any good advice for you, except I want to say that there are many different crafts/art forms that don't require Bosch-like creativity to work. Knitting is one of them, and so is stuff like Celtic knotwork. This is the best book on Celtic knotwork (which is very similar to Scandinavian/Viking folk art) I have ever seen, and I use it myself. Don't get put off by the reviews -- the directions aren't difficult to follow (though some of the patterns are very time-consuming). The images it teaches you (knotwork borders and panels, key patterns, spiral designs, letterwork, etc.) are gorgeous, though, and they'd look great on pottery. |
Depending on the shape of the pottery, of course. If it's not too bendy (i mean for a flatter painting surface) and it's not all glazed and shiney, you could just do a transfer of the design right onto the pot and then paint in the lines after. Just get a photocopy of the thing, cover the back with think pencil, THICK like a 4B or darker (or get some carbon paper) and then trace overtop of it so the lines go right onto the pot. This only works if pencil lines will stay on the surface. ......yeah. |
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They are a wierd publisher. It is essentially their sole mission to take cool books that went out of print and reproduce them. They also have oodles of refrence books for artists like the one Spidey linked too, right free for those of us who care... Better yet, your local independant bookstore can totally hook you up with the Dover goodness. Or they might even have a cool staff person who has good suggestions for stencils/books. *peers around and steps from her soapbox* Art is fun. I am not very good at it, sadly. Although I did recently finish a pretty cool project, it's a folding chair from the depths of my father's house, only covered in paper mache and "My daughter and apple pie." I also stenciled "chair" on the bottom rung in case anyone was confused, because it is fully sit on able. It's pretty rad, maybe I will do the other one on my next day off. |
I saw the books that spider posted when I checked amazon. I think I am going to get the one she recommended. I've since changed what I need, but I like Celtic stuff and it might be fun to learn some of the knots so I can design a tatoo for myself. Maybe this hobby stuff will be a satisfying distraction until I get my head together. I have a discount in the pottery studio where I work. The scandinavian thing is for a wedding present. Instead of a scandinavian folk design though, I am going to try to get the three crowns, the symbol of sweden, onto a plate of some kind. And a grasshopper which is part of her husbands family coat of arms thing or something. I am making a platter for my mother that is going to have my handprints on it and will say, To Mum, From Elizabeth Age 28. wisper, we have all the stuff for transfering pictures. And the wax paper is a great idea. I love Dover coloring books. I used to have about 30 of them. One of my favorite things to do, when I am alone and stoned, is color and listen to music. Maybe I should start doing that again. Platy, your project sounds like the Chair project that one of the art classes did and all around campus there were these crazy chair-sculptures. Some were just for looking; others you could sit on. My favorite was the one that was a swing and it looked like a magic carpet when you sat on it. |
The town is alive with the sound of chairs? Speaking of dover colouring books, I really like the stained glass ones. My friend had one of art nouveau designs and she, clever girl that she is, somehow managed to transfer it onto tile, each glass chunk a different tile, and did this amazing art nouveau tile thing that just blew me away. Artistic people are so cool. |
Thanks for pointing me to that site, by the way. I am so attached to Amazon, used and otherwise, and Powell, that I forget about checking individual publishers. la-da-dee-dee-doo-dum |
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