Saturday, August 18, 2012

Phase 2 - be prepared for good things, update 2

hello new camera, good bye tiny house
I've been working on being prepared by improving and systematizing my art records.  I started a database but need to work on my photographic documentation as well. Initially, I thought I would embed a thumbnail in each database form record, (and I still think it's not a bad idea, maybe for some other time), but it didn't work well with this database (I'd needed a separate, low-resolution image to keep the file size lean).  So instead, I built a text form to feed a spreadsheet, and at the top of the form, I assigned each work an accession number (last two numbers of the year it was created-abbreviation of the primary medium-record number within that year), and will make a parallel folder of photos labeled by accession number to match the text record. (Ok, now on to the fun part...)

I've been wanting a new camera for a while (see the photo of mini 45 - evidence) Unfortunately, it's not all the camera's fault.  Despite the fact that I often make tiny, precise artwork, I have trouble holding still enough to take photos, and I have a tendency to drop (non-art, non-living) things.  Fortunately, compensating for human frailty is what technology is for, no?  I'm so excited about the new shock-resistant camera that I thought I'd do something a little different and make a photographic entry or "what I did on my week 3 of phase 2":

Pack Boxes - while I use the library for reading books, I have a lot of art books for the pictures (I took this picture to remind myself that I may want to exercise greater restraint on that front in the future.)  I labeled the boxes with neon tape in purple pen and went back and used happy faces and different color neon stickers as a code for each room to try to distract myself from the stress of packing (did it work? About like taking tylenol for an oozing flesh wound, me thinks).


So, I decided to go for a walk.  Now I can take more and better pictures of industrial stuff (yay!)
I also got really interested in looking at mushrooms (some samples):


 which reminds me that one of the best things about real vs painted space - real space has a z-axis
Try Again
Look up


seriously - wouldn't want to step on this
 Look Down

In terms of my current art focus on mechanical vs organic copying - I think I've been looking at striations lately because a machine makes parallel lines by basing each one on a formula, and therefore can produce the same thing over and over; but a plant, animal, or human can make each line respond to the one before it and incorporate the unexpected so that, unlike with a machine, the result is unpredictable


I decided to test out the waterproofing on the camera by going for a walk in the rain even though my raincoat is already packed - it was totally worth it.

poem: rainbows are never cliche, and this image is (c) btw ;)













Finally, facing the emptiness.
studio floor in excellent condition (pat on the back)!
brought to you you with the help of:
 the happy timer, the lucky sheep, the kitty friend, and my man Albert