Weekly Hindsight and Photo 365 - Day 36 (Explore)

Day 36 (August 8th, 2010)
Title: Scrapbooker's Dazzle

This weekend we went to the Scrapbook Expo, and saw the dark and scary side of crafting!  We saw people with bandoliers of grommits and semi-automatic Crop-A-Diles.  Mace cans that said: "Now in Glitter Cherub Pink so you can not only stop an attacker, you can make them look good!"  Groups of women who said: "Hey, watch where you are walking, else we'll cut ya!... Die Cut ya that is!  I've sharpened these scalloped circles and they'll cut your head right off!  And then we'll use it as an embellishment!"  Compton gangs have nothing on scrappers.  

The picture is of a "tag" (looks like a giant price tag, ala Price Is Right), that is distressed and colored.  Afterward, an acrylic picture is glued on and it's spritzed with a gold-sparkle spray.  I honestly don't even know what most of what I just typed means, but it is what they do!  I think the photo looks a bit like a tattoo myself.  It is a close-up of a hot-air balloon that says: Explore.  Course, if it was a tat, it would more likely say Explode, but nifty either way.  

Weekly Hindsight

This week was a bit crazy for me.  A lot of "life" things were going on that really threw a wrench into many of art projects.  But, I guess that's how it is sometimes, so its best just to "roll with the punches".    I didn't really get to complete any projects that I was planning to do.  I will say, having to deal with huge corporate bureaucracies is a long and arduous task. 

I did get a chance to play a few games this week (mostly as a decompress from talking to "special" people all day) and that was fun.  For this weeks art related projects/tasks, basically its the same as last weeks.  While at the Scrapbook Expo, I did come up with a few scrap related projects that I am going to work on this week (I doubt I'll finish them but I think just starting them can be the hardest part!) 

I did want to make one small "editorial" as well, regarding scrapbooking.  I was wondering what is the overall goal in creating a scrapbook?  Normally, I would have said "scrapbooking is the act of creating customized photo albums to help a) enhance the photo, b) describe the theme of the photo(s), or c) tell a story related to photo(s).  To me, it always seemed as if the photo played a key part in the overall scrapbook experience.  Some people use more or less embellishments, some use basic techniques, while others use more advanced methods, but when you boiled it all down it was still about the photo.  This weekend, I saw a LOT of scrapbooks that were JUST embellishments.  Beads, gemstones, ink patterns, sea shells, fabric, etc.  But not one photo in the book.  I thought, perhaps they were "blank" books for photos to be inserted later, but I was told "No! The scrapbook IS the subject matter!"  I guess this is just another form of scrapbooking that I didn't know existed, but to me, is seems to be missing the point of sharing memories and stories.  Course, that might just BE the point. 

Art movements scare me. 

Till next week,

Anthony

Ps:

Here are a few additional photos from the Expo that didn't quite make it to "Daily" status.  Enjoy!

There seems to be a letter missing...

Sparkly and socially aware!

Colored pens while on pain killers.  Wee!

Photo 365 - Day 27 (Circuit Board)

Day 27 (July 30th, 2010)
Title: Circuit Board


A small inanimate electronic object decided to fail today.  Clearly, the only appropriate punishment for such a travesty was to hit it with a hammer... a few times.  After showing said object that I was in charge with said hammer (because inanimate object can SO be threatened to work!), I decided: "Hey, those little electrical bits look kinda neat!"  And away I shot! 

I *might* have done a bit of color editing using photoshop... but its really subtle, and I doubt you'll even notice. 

Photo 365 - Day 25 (Blue Golden Gate)

Day 25 (July 28th, 2010)
Title: Blue Golden Gate (Bridge)

I was watching CalTrans start putting the tower up today for the new Bay Bridge (sadly, none of those shots came out that well) and I saw the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance and thought; "What the heck!"  It was very "muddy", so I played around with the colors a little bit and I think I got it to look pretty good.  In full size, is looks much better (the full-size picture is about 4 times the size of the picture that I post here), and if fact, I might even print this one out for the wall (16x20 or so).