Saturday, January 12, 2008
"Gaining a Better Perspective"
6:23pm
Saturday, January 12, 2008
"Gaining a Better Perspective"
6:23pm
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It was the Gathering of the Gunfighters at the Yuma Territorial Prison today. The last time we went was in 2002, when Laura was still with us. After six years, I figured it was due for another visit. I got quite a few pictures, but am sharing just a few for now. |
Observatory at Yuma Territorial Prison...
View from that observatory...
Click for full size view...
| I took lots of photos, many of the fascinating items in the prison museum. Julia and I found of special interest the 'mug shot set up, which featured the mirror the prison officials used to gain both a front view and a profile of inmates' faces: |
But after examining the antique samples, I was able to better position myself so Julia could get a good shot...
Sunday, January 13, 2008 A
"Taking Some Deep Breaths"
8:17am
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I am still getting over the effects of that terrible flu. My lungs are filled with gunk. I got some pills from the health food store "TOTAL CLEANSE: Respiratory". It's herbal medicine. It will probably do the trick. (The 'Alavert' and 'Delsym' Julia gave me probably will help, as well. I can cough myself raw if I don't take at least the cough syrup.) That, along with getting lots of fluids and deep breathing. Deep breathing is good for the lungs. After Laura's heart surgery, she was given a device to help in aiding breathing. If the user breathed deeply enough, a ball would lift in its chamber. The goal was to prevent pneumonia. Now today, I noticed an ad on an often visited webpage, to a device to help one in lowering their breathing rate, to slow and deep, rather than rapid and shallow. The goal is to lower blood pressure. Well, I don't have to have a device to take deep breaths. I just have to remember to do it. |
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I spent the morning and early afternoon engaged in a favorite distraction, downloading music. I gathered about what I figured would make a nice assemblage of folksy jazzy pop tunes, and then Julia reminded me she craved classical music. "Berenice!" She cried out. So I sampled various Baroque pieces, to see what we both like. Julia's got a preference for minor tunes, but I balanced it with some major keys. So now we're enjoying the results of this collection. I've yet to sort and burn the other group, but I'm out of discs. When the music finishes, we'll go get some...
Second Disc Done!
Monday, January 14, 2008
"In Olden Days..."
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
"Odd Clock"
The clock in the photo isn't very visible, but the clock glass reflection did capture a mirror on the museum's opposite wall. The clock's reflection in that mirror is being reflected again in the clock glass! |
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
"Three Drawings and a Set Sighting"
9:05pm
| Before I checked email or did anything in webland, I thought I'd check in with my intuitive side to see what I'd turn up: |
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It looks like a frustrating impasse, two figures that cannot face each other, perhaps it reflects my frustration regarding good intuitive inspiration. That was my first reaction. Now it doesn't look that frustrating, to me... Then there is the Flicker searches and sketching what intrigues me...
 I omitted the runny mascara and toilet seat of the original
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The wall relief has been broken into pieces, it is propped up by two wooden posts at the bottom. The photo of it is tiny, and even magnified, it was hard to sketch from. But it is a real Set sighting!
(Note of January 18, 2008:) |
Thursday, January 17, 2008
"Old Time Feller"
Friday, January 18, 2008
"Complex, Subtle Thoughts in Legible Handwriting"
7:11pm
One of the re-enacters at the "Gathering of the Gunfighters" last Saturday:
If I remember right, this is a group from Pahrump, Nevada which makes yearly appearances....
10:48pm
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The Friday Illo theme this week is PLAIN. There's a variety of ways one could go with that. I decided to have a look at the dictionary definition of plain: plain Function: adjective Date: 14th century 1archaic : even level 2: lacking ornament : undecorated 3: free of extraneous matter : pure 4: free of impediments to view : unobstructed 5 a (1): evident to the mind or senses : obvious <it's perfectly plain that they will resist> (2): clear <let me make my meaning plain> b: marked by outspoken candor : free from duplicity or subtlety : blunt <plain talk > 6 a: belonging to the masses : common b: lacking special distinction or affectation : ordinary 7: characterized by simplicity : not complicated <plain home-cooked meals> 8: lacking beauty or ugliness That done, I thought it would be interesting to look up quotes using the word "plain". I found over a hundred (there might have been more, but I quit searching), and picked two that intrigued me:
QUOTATION: "Take pains ... to write a neat round, plain hand, and you will find it a great convenience through life to
write a small and compact hand as well as a fair and legible one."
QUOTATION: "It is always a mistake to be plain-spoken."
I have great trouble with attaining a "neat, round, plain hand". The only "F" I ever got in school was for fourth grade penmanship. But I struggle, and what I can't attain for my drawings, I try to fix by digital means.
Stein's quote is enigimatic, until one looks more closely at the dictionary definition. She wishes language to have subtlety and special distinction. To give further clue to this, I found an interesting paragraph about her at Wikipedia:
"Gertrude attended Radcliffe College from 1893-1897, and studied under the psychologist William James who first discovered,
and then encouraged, her great capacity for automatic writing, a stream of consciousness technique in which the conscious
mind is suspended and the unconscious directly evoked. Her studies with James, in psychological experimentation (Mellow,
1947, pp. 31-34), would later resurface in her numerous word portraits. The exaltation of the unconscious mind at the expense of the sophisticated conscious mind was to become an important principle in Stein's work and is manifest in most of her writing."
This is a technique I've found useful. It is a way to get at what one's core Self is thinking and feeling. But the results are not always 'plain', as the imagery comes out often rich with symbols and layers of meaning.
I found it amusing for my illustration to sketch both Jefferson and Stein, and their quotes. Oddly, they have similar appearances, being both long of nose and narrow of lip:
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© Joan Lansberry
