Cloth Paper Scissors magazine has issued an artistic reader challenge in their Nov/Dec '08 issue that I thought might be of interest to you crafty writers out there -- they're look for art that is a play on words. Check out the details and rules here.
As if I don't have enough to do already, I've been toying with the idea of an year-long online art project in 2009. I guess the idea goes back to when I used to visit the blog of this amazing photographer who would post pics that he took pretty much on a daily basis. He had a great eye for detail and finding beauty in the most ordinary things (alas, he closed down his blog and retired from the internet some time ago.)
I am nowhere near as competent as he was, but I often have some interesting experiences with nature, and I had a blast taking photos in Savannah. Keeping that in mind, I'd like to challenge myself to take one decent photograph every day in 2009, and post them online in an album or on a photo blog. No words, just the pics. It was mostly be for myself, to chronicle an entire year in images, and give me a reason to practice using the camera every day.
Have you ever done an online/offline project like this, or considered it? I'm wondering how tough it is to keep up with it, so if you have, let me know what you think in comments.
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I like to draw--although I don't really have any natural talent for it. About a year ago I decided to draw every day for six months, partly to see if I'd get any better and partly as a way to make more time for something I like to do.
ReplyDeleteI found the second and third weeks difficult, I think because I was still making drawing a habit. I had another slump about the four month mark where for about 2 weeks I forced myself to draw anything just to get it done. The funny thing was that the drawings from those two weeks are some of my favorites out of the six months. And as a side effect I did more writing during the six months than usual. I'm not sure if I was just more disciplined, more creative or both.
I haven't, but my husband has--funnily enough, his 2008 resolution was to take at least one photograph every day. He didn't specify any quality requirements!
ReplyDeleteHe's worked very hard at it and (touch wood) is on course to achieve his goal. You can see his photos on his blog: http://emilywindow.blogspot.com/
I think he has found it hard--many days the photograph has just been a quick shot of the cat. An omnipresent subject (and she loves having her photo taken!) :).
He also spends a lot of time working up his photos in Adobe PhotoElements (we can't afford shop) and even took a course with the Open University to improve his skills.
What you have to remember with photography is most photos will be discards. But every so often, along comes the perfect shot.
I've thought about doing something similar with teh bratlets, a day to day diary of how they change, but I'd get so tired of uploading the images....
ReplyDeleteNot on a daily basis, but my blog is a bit of a photo diary. I mostly post pics I take during my journeys and hiking tours, together with some historical background information. There are lots of castles and old churches, some Roman remains, and landscape.
ReplyDeleteThere are writing related posts mixed in, of course.
But my blog is the continuation of the travel diaries I wrote as kid, the same mix of photos, info, and some personal remarks. But today I have an audience and that is even more fun.
That sounds like a fantastic project. I've often lamented the fact that I leave my digital camera at home and then would love to take a picture of something, usually the mountains, on my way home from work.
ReplyDeleteI've never done a project like that, but it sounds like it would be a good way to work on what tiny bit of artistic talent I have.
Daily basis? Hah, no. This year I have been doing a monthly project, though- decorating a freebie calendar I got with the theme of whatever project/goal/trip I had going that month.
ReplyDeleteIt's been interesting, though sometimes I forget to do it in a timely manner, and the calendar is so heavy from collage it's starting to fall apart and definitely won't hang on a wall any more.
I do Illustration Friday (http://illustrationfriday.com, which is an ongoing art project with weekly topics illustrated by hundreds of artists. I've managed every week this year except the three I was out of the country with no way to find out the topics!
ReplyDeleteI'm also doing a couple international sketchbook exchanges, where the travels of the sketchbooks are tracked online (see for example the portrait party exchange http://mxportraits1.blogspot.com/ and the 42nd exchange http://moleskinex42.blogspot.com/.
I took a photo a day for a month as part of an online challenge among a group of scrapbookers. I have cute kids but I didn't want to just take photos of them every day. I wanted it to be more of a journal of our everyday lives. Some days I had trouble coming up with something new to take a photo of. It was an interesting experiment, but I know I couldn't keep it up for a year!
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