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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I do like to point out I pick my selections to showcase from my Amazon searches. May not always be the case, or wholly always the case, but for now, I prefer picking titles and book covers and gift items that just really appeal to me. There’s lots more to choose from, but only have so much room, lol! I hope you enjoy —

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My Related Blog Posts

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My Latest Blog Posts

• March 07, 2021 – Dispatcher – Gift Writing / Poetry by AdanMarch 7, 2021
  Seeing how folks seemed to really like both previous posts, I’m following up with another well received work, Dispatcher.
• March 06, 2021 – A Yoga Teacher – Gift Writing / Poetry by AdanMarch 6, 2021
  Yesterday I posted about another of my gift writings, one that sold just recently, Volleyball Setter, and I thought I’d post a short note about another I’ve always liked – A Yoga Teacher.
• March 05, 2021 – Volleyball Setter Gallery Wrap Canvas Print SOLD @FineArtAmericaMarch 5, 2021
  “…pleased to say I’ve sold a gallery wrapped canvas print featured in one of my most viewed posts on my site, Volleyball Setter – Original Sports Poetry Back in Stock, to a buyer in Sturgis, Michigan!”
• March 04, 2021 – Masks in Grocery Stores in Austin – Back to Mask/Mass ConfusionMarch 4, 2021
  All I feel I can really do is wish and pray for the safety of everyone in those stores without mandates, whether pro or con re the masks. If we’re in this together, we really need to act like we’re are in this together ♥️
• March 03, 2021 – Why We’re Only Shopping at Sprouts For Groceries (and a few others) Here in Austin For Now, Hint: Covid-19March 3, 2021
  “… for us to choose to voluntarily restrict ourselves to Sprouts, and a few other stores I’ll highlight hopefully tomorrow, is a big deal. Fixed incomes of the qualifying-for-most-any-level of stimulus cut-off-money work that way 😊 “
• March 02, 2021 – 1st Full Day of Recovery After My 1st Covid VaccinationMarch 2, 2021
  I’m developing a different kind of problem ☺️ – too many good things to choose from I want to do!
• March 01, 2021 – Floating Butterfly 1 Pen and Ink with Watercolor – circa 2021 Watercolor – Adan’s PhotoPoemsMarch 1, 2021
  “…wings spotted like the sun’s own face….”

Thanks so much everyone! 😊

Adan

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