So I'll be honest with you....

I get these flights of fancy if you will, in which I take up an interest in something and complete dive in.  Being the crafty type that I am it's often a type of craft medium of art but other times it's a new subject to study such as languages or religion.

Anyway, all that is to say that my current obsessions are photography and the Swedish language. I have wanted a proper camera for years now. I have always had "point and shoots" but I longed for a DSLR. They are just so expensive and I thought adding in this hobby would be a dark path to over spending.

However my personal spending habits have changed a little over time and DSLRs aren't crazy expensive for entry level cameras anymore. So I dove in!

Stay tuned for lots of pics as I level up my skills. Great travels happening soon too so I am excited about taking photos everywhere I go.

Welcome to 2013

New Year's Resolutions..

Do you do them?  I like most, have set them in the past and maybe even kept up with some but others I have not had such success.  It's pretty unreasonable that one can change their life style so drastically once the clock tolls.  

It's not that I don't think we can change. I absolutely believe we can.  Perhaps the problem is just trying to bite off more than we can chew and expecting to do it in no time at all. At least this has been my problem in the past.

This year I am doing "themes", not so much "resolutions." I would like to focus on one theme at a time and once I feel that I have embodied that which I seek, I will focus on the next.

For starters I am choosing ACTION.  That's it. Simple. Straightforward.

I wish you all a beautiful and prosperous 2013!  May you achieve your goals!

To a "TASTY" New Year!  Cheers!

Hyperbolic Space and Crochet Coral

I am a big fan of crochet.  There's something amazing about turning a long piece of string into just about any form you can dream up.  With so many hobbies and responsibilities though, I don't crochet often.

A couple of days ago I really felt like crocheting, the problem was I'm a righty and was experiencing some hand fatigue (pain really) from constant use of it.

So I set down the yarn and hook and opted to watch a little Netflix.  A settled on a grouping of TED Talks that was on Math.  I did not know or plan it, but the first episode happened to be about Crochet!  A fun synchronicity, I thought.

The talk was about the worldwide Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef Project created by Margaret and Christine Wertheim of the Institute for Figuring in Los Angeles.  This project is decribed as:

"The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef is a woolly celebration of the intersection of higher geometry and feminine handicraft, and a testimony to the disappearing wonders of the marine world." -Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef

Watch the TED Talk here:
http://www.ted.com/talks/margaret_wertheim_crochets_the_coral_reef.html

This project is by no means new, but I just found out about it.  Our planet and the abundant life on it, are so very beautiful and the more I learn about it, the more it amazes me.  There's an amazing harmony to it all that reiterates itself in every scale of life..  I just had to get in on..

Here is the first piece I made:

It was quite simple and I didn't actually follow any pattern. 

Here's a sample of a bleached coral reef installation via 

MUSEUM KUNST DER WESTKÜSTE, ISLAND OF FÖHR, GERMANY

I'm very impressed by the work I've seen online by countless contributors. For more beautiful samples check out this article on Smithsonian.com.

Finding My Calling

Are you one of those "lucky" people that do what you love for a living or have always known what you want to do? I certainly wasn't, or was I? I think I was but I let fear and doubt get the best of me for far too long.

My whole life I have loved art.. It's been more than a hobby. If I have ever identified with any label, it has always been artist.  In my teens I stuck to drawing with pencil and pen.  Most of my work at that time was black and white.  I was almost afraid of color. Needless to say, I had no self esteem when it came to my artistic abilities at that time.  That led to about two years of producing almost no art as I struggled to find myself and my calling.

As I've mentioned before, I started college in another area I loved but didn't devote much time to... writing. If I wasn't drawing, I was usually reading or jotting down notes of things I wanted to write about.  The thing was I didn't actually write much aside from school work, letters to friends and my journal.  I felt lost.  I had always been told I was a good writer, but I didn't feel like it.  I didn't actually feel the euphoric trance that I would get with art as I'd lose myself in a piece with no concept of time.

While studying English at my University, I noticed that the art building was very close to the building that held the majority of my classes.  At this time I was already getting back into drawing and hanging cute little things on my dorm room door.  I ventured over to the art building and was awestruck. It was profound.. It was great.  It was almost the same feeling I got when I attended Comic Con SD for the first time.  I felt like I belonged.  I had found my long lost love again and this time, I had the sense to realize and appreciate it.  After that I changed my major to art.  I have never doubted that my calling is art since then.  I haven't always been as sure about what specifically in art I could do as a living.  That has become much more clear these days but I'm still working on it.

I absolutely love this little comic a fellow DeviantArt-ist made.
http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&global=1&q=bloom+like+an+artist#/d39dk8e

Like an artist by *JellyVampire on deviantART

A Case of the Mundys - Time Warp

Oh school woes.. I don't miss that at all! I have been pretty terrible at time management in the past and it's something I continually need to work on.  Today poor chap has fallen prey to the amazing master of distraction that is the Internet.  Happy day to all! Namaste.

Lost In Translation

It's that time again, folks! Monday's Mundys! Today's installment is like parfait.Delicious layered parfait. Hope you enjoy!

A Case of the Mundys Webcomic

Lots of funny and/or interesting things happen on a day to day basis. This strip is in honor of those mundane moments. In case you were wondering, Mundy is a (what I think to be cute) take on the word Mundane. 

New comics to come out every Monday! Please enjoy and tell me what you think!

Here is last week's first installment.

This week's installment is something we can all relate to.

Namaste.