Today

Woke early. Need an equally early breakfast today. Taking Sheila to Gold’s Gym, then I head over to my 1st showing with Creative Arts Society since 2010 w/2 paintings. If I can head back soon enough to Gold’s Gym I might be able to catch a new SilverSneakers Stability class there & try it out. After, we make a return trip to Olive Garden after several years lapse for their special annual Veterans menu-offering for Veterans Day. With my new post-surgeries appetite, I’ll especially appreciate their bottomless soup and salad option ❤️ Then another stop, this time Walgreens, and finally home, to batten down for the afternoon’s freeze-bringing temps & winds! Maybe a little painting, hopefully a little walking, even if at the fitness center – we’ll see 😊

Yesterday

Listening to the quiet outside this morning, that stilled lull when opposing winds have equalized. The north wind will win we think later today. Meanwhile, Sheila and I leisurely drove ourselves to near exhaustion yesterday, ie, we were ready-ready for bedtime, lol!

(chores, art, creativity)
Today’s Yesterday in Pictures shows but a bit of it, I just didn’t think to snap pics of all the food samples at Central Market (too busy eating, lol!) Or much of anything til I was back home early afternoon for a full day at home.

I did prep final prep of my paintings for a new Creative Arts Society show I’m delivering to tomorrow morning. Test drove my new 1/4 oval mop on my seemingly perennially in-progress painting (which is okay, it’s still exploring and expressing ❤️) and finally tested out my new art projector with my newly arrived hdmi adapter.

I set everything up exactly as described, rechecked everything, and – with mini instruction manual in hand – went through the process. Several times. Many times. No signal. Unplugged and replugged and retried. Same result. I finally acknowledged it wasn’t gonna happen, packed everything back up, and sadly set up to send it back.

The newly arrived hdmi adapter I decided to keep, since it’s likely I’ll need it again for something else. I painted a bit with the last of good light, and called it a night. Time enough for a much needed hot bath, set the dishwasher to do its charm, and gave myself permission for a few minutes reading.

(reading / absorbing Notan)
Notan, is still my reading-in-progress, and am through chapter 1, and ready to start reading (doing?) the design exercises projected to awaken my (in my words) inner Notan 😊

I am very much enjoying the image examples and thesis, but beginning to disagree that there’s a total separation of what primitive people created – like for ceremonies, and designs in modern life – like razor blades.

That so-called primitive folks had a tighter connection to nature, and thus primal design impulse, in general, yes. That today there’s so much more freedom of how and what to design one must “work harder” and more consciously about creating a “gestalt”, a feeling, in effect a design, again yes. That today’s designs, though because utilitarian for (usually) money making purposes, are inferior to designs early people created for ceremonies, because they weren’t utilitarian, seems off, even if just a bit, I think.

My sense is, early people’s ceremonies, even if invested with more awe and appreciation for the forces of nature and fate around them then we folks today, with concerns for (example) shaving (and thus designs of blades for shaving that work and hold up), probably felt their ceremonies were quite utilitarian to them, ie, “designed to be useful or practical rather than attractive” – attract a good harvest, ward off evil spirits, insure a good reception in the afterlife.

Though, my true sense is, a true contemporary designer, like the ceremony designer of times past, will just as often create as attractive a design as practical that also gets the job done.

Why?

One, because nature seems to be repetitive in it’s formation-inclinations so to speak, from snow flakes and arteries in lungs, to diamonds and branches in trees, from eyes that see to spirals of galaxies.

And two, because attractive designs sell. They sell products. They sell feelings to be held close by to remind us of those same feelings each time we see those products.

Making something that makes us feel good, long term, vs punitively addictive and short term, is, I believe, part of what art is about.

Is it designed to be useful vs attractive?

Or —

Are positive emotional experiences and states of mind useful?

Are positive emotional experiences attractive?

Yes. And yes. 💕

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My Latest Blog Posts

• June 19, 2021 – Reblog : 10 Ways To Observe #Juneteenth This Year (via Women’s Health)June 19, 2021
  Reblog – Women’s Health, 10 Ways To Observe Juneteenth This Year
• June18, 2021 – What Makes Dappled Light Work? It Almost Always Looks Good!June 18, 2021
  Being in and around a changing if steady light at the greenbelt near us has given me the visual impetus to actually think about something I’ve long liked in much of Renoir’s and other impressionists’ art work – dappled light.
• June 17, 2021 – Update for Delivering Art for the Reopening of The Old Bakery and Emporium (across from the State Capital) Austin, TexasJune 17, 2021
  Almost a month ago I posted pics of Sheila and I making our 1st visit in over a year to the Old Bakery & Emporium where I show and sell a variety of images and writings…One of the nicer surprise developments has been a request to offer prints of my 7 unit Volleyball series.
• June 16, 2021 – Interesting Tweets I’ve Spotted RecentlyJune 16, 2021
  Below are random tweets I liked for some reason – uplifting, funny, inspiring, informative, hopeful, pretty..something good or encouraging at the least 😊
• June 15, 2021 – My New Upload @FineArtAmerica – Violet Crown Trail Morning (Digital Art) PosterJune 15, 2021
  Though most of my hikes to the Barton Springs Greenbelt nearby are still exploratory, even when taking the 8 year old along 😊, I am beginning to recognize when I need, and want, to be there.
• June 14, 2021 – Volleyball Server Poster, My Newest #SportsPoetry Upload @FineArtAmericaJune 14, 2021
  Last of my 7 Volleyball theme posters, Volleyball Server Poster, is now available on Fine Art America as both prints and gift items! 😊
• June 13, 2021 – Austin TexasJune 13, 2021
  ….on-going authentic aspects of Austin, Texas….

Thanks so much everyone! 😊

Adan

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