Oil and soy


Oil and soy
Originally uploaded by justmakingstuff

Poppies


Poppies
Originally uploaded by justmakingstuff

Easy Peasy

My new mantra...







"be the buddha..."

Welcome to the SAM

Real life is analog.

Dirt, rocks, shovels, rakes, tractors, plants, bills, work, cooking, cleaning, eating, vet visits, driving and if lucky, sleeping enough to keep the organism more or less healthy.

Most time spent working at the day job, working outside, spring fixing and building, or the quick run down east to see the parental units. So not much making of esoteric stuff happening. but ideas galore.

Books and movies and completely pointless sculptures, coming sooner or later to a blog near you.

But for now, I have to leave for work, and if I'm lucky I'll get home this evening, it won't be raining and it won't be dark, and I'll sit on the deck and watch the hummingbirds and have a gin and tonic in the late spring fading light. And contemplate the Tao of Holga and the offshoot projects it spawns...

Welcome to the Slow Artisting Movement.

f=60mm



Coming full circle...

A thousand years ago in another lifetime I had dreams of being a photojournalist. Oh yes, lots of black and white photos, 3 darkrooms, and a vision. My pictures had meaning, told stories...

Fast forward 30 years and 3 lifetimes. And here we are...

I got a Holga after some serious consideration about what I'm trying to do/make. Been through a lot of different things over the years, morphing and changing because of circumstance, necessity, interests, economics. I don't make pots anymore, can't afford to fire them the way I like to with fuel prices skyrocketing, and time/energy doesn't allow for woodfiring. I'm a half assed painter/drawer, can't get to what I see/feel effectively, limited by skill. I love doing all things digital, but have had the need/urge for something more tactile lately. So the Holga might be the ticket: cheap, sketchy, lo-fi, simple. Not photos for photos sake, but for making something else with; collages, paintings, books, posters, who knows what all. Plus recent dayjob changes have put me in the position of having full access to a large and fully outfitted b&w photo teaching studio. So the time is right, and integrating analog and digital appeals to me.

We'll see what comes of it all. If John Cage made pictures, he might have used a Holga.

And a blindfold...

which all suits me just fine. Control is highly overrated.

I found these "rules" which I have generally subscribed to in my making, who knew they had them posted specifically for photography? Of course I'll adhere to and ignore them simultaneously.

Life is too short to not enjoy it.

Life is too short.

A really good tree





I was going to say most awesome tree ever, but that might be overstating. But it's a nice one, my favorite of the spring. Located down in the holler from my friend Steve's house. It's about 3 feet in diameter, 100ft tall and probably that wide. Glorious twisted and gnarly as hell, we are pretty sure it's a white oak.

Peony


Peony
Originally uploaded by justmakingstuff

Idea stage


Idea stage
Originally uploaded by justmakingstuff

The Llama Hut (extended version)


As promised...

Tree drawing link

I love the combination of elements: randomly generated drawing, natural and man-made components, and all the potential for cross-media developments.

Tiredly considering trying to build something of my own up tomorrow...

JMS- an artister public service

Good morning, dashing out to work in a bit, but wanted to respond to 2 comments. Here at just making stuff, we endeavor to inform, entertain, educate, opinionate, and pontificate whenever there's a scarce chance someone might be listening...

On the wind machine, no, i didn't make it, I wish I did!. It's an idea I've toyed with for a long while, but never have gotten around to working on, but will soon, now that I've seen this and been re-ignited. This one is much more finely crafted than my personal aesthetic would support, it's totally furniture quality (cherry and walnut, fitted joints, hand riveted, real ball bearings). The drawings this thing makes are exquisite. I have some more video and stills that I'll put up soon.

This was built by one of the students in the recent wood class.

Also, I have the willow tree drawing link saved in old bookmarks somewhere, thanks to Shara that's what first planted the seed in my mind. Obviously, I have a slow germination process. I'll dig the link up and post it too.

That's the news from the field at the moment. I'm off to the day job. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Machine drawing

Formats available: 3g2


(click the format to download, i haven't figured out why it won't autoplay cell posts...)

Drawing


Drawing
Originally uploaded by justmakingstuff

Wind-powered drawing machine


Llama hut

Thursday on the knoll
Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Web tao


Web tao
Originally uploaded by justmakingstuff