When I Am Not Writing...

I have an idea for a short story, a little less fantasy/speculative fiction than I normally write but today I had problems getting the words to flow. I did manage 645 out of maximum of 2000 words so I have got  a start on it. There is just this segue scene.... 

So I took a break to let them muddle about, in my head, and see if they will come out to play tomorrow. 

My break  consisted of  some arty stuff and some garden-y stuff. 

Firstly, I tried out some new designs for Octoarm jewelry. Right now I have two new purple necklaces ($15+postage each). I have almost finished two sets of necklace with matching earrings. One set in purple and the other in red. I also made up some new bookmarks in red, green and blue.

Then some gardening: We had an old twenty-year old golden diosma bush in the front yard. Over this past (very hot) summer, it died. Since then, it has been a large, brown eyesore welcoming everyone's arrival at our house. Yesterday, we decided it had to finally go. (This photo was taken at 9.00 pm so is very dark...) My husband assisted me in digging it out.

This was no an easy task as we had to coax out all of the roots and then do a modern archeological dig to find the water pipes. We had previously 'dialed before we dug' so knew roughly where they should have gone. The information supplied, however, is not very detailed so today we returned to the scene of the crime and just kept digging along the pipe to ascertain its path. Luckily, it was in the opposite direction to our preferred place for the new lemon tree that will replace it!

The next step is to dig in buckets of old manure and compost and let it settle for a few weeks before we go shopping for a new dwarf lemon tree!!

Have a productive day, dear readers!

The Rule of Three

Publishing this manually... and late... sorry. I had tried the automatic publishing but it did not work... again.

There once was a young girl who read lots of books. She particularly loved fantasy and fairy tales - traditional, modern and futuristic. She dreamed of one day becoming a writer as she longed to create some of her own magic and share it with friends, family and everyone else. 

After many years of denying her passion, she finally started writing again. She wrote from the heart, she wrote often and researched in an effort to improve her writing. 

One day she came across an article entitled 'The Rule of Three' and realised excitedly that she had been doing it!

What is the rule of threes? 

In writing, the rule of three is based on the principle 'that things that come in threes are inherently more satisfying, funnier and more effective than other numbers.' (Wikipedia)

You can find it in traditional fairy tales-  Goldilocks and the Three Bears, three dogs in The Tinder box and Rupelstiltskin who spins straw into gold three times. You can find it in the classics - the three ghosts of Past, Present and the Future in A Christmas Carol, and the three witches in McBeth and in the Welsh Triads. In rhetoric, public speaking and adverting we can find many famous quotes encompass the rule of threes: 

• Friends, Romans and countrymen..
• Slip, Slop, Slap (Australian anti-cancer campaign)
• Veni Vidi Vinci (I came, I saw, I conquered) 

One of my favourites that comes to mind is the movie (and theme): The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

A story works best with a beginning, a middle and an end. Plays often have three acts for the same reason. A setting is established, tension is created and finally the story is resolved. In comedy you have the set up, anticipation and the punchline. In public speaking, it re-enforces a point and makes it more memorable.  

Maybe we are conditioned to respond to the grouping with its pervasion into our cultural heritage? (Or not.) We have come to subconsciously expect things to happen in threes. it seems to re-enforce a point and make a story feel more complete. It takes a minimum of three things to create a pattern (which explains why I subconsciously put three incidents in most of my stories!). It is simple, it is effective and it works.

"Cool!" exclaimed the girl, as she continued to write and write and write. 

Onward and Upward.

Friday, I spent most of the day doing final edits to  An Eye for Detail. How many times can I read and re-read a story and find more typos, sentences to rewrite or silly mistakes? Well, more than I would have hoped, actually. This is the frustrating and less glamourous task in writing. This is where I really find out if I actually like my characters. This one is a keeper; she will be returning in other short stories I am certain. I am not sick of her as yet. 

I have now read the story about fifteen to twenty times ( I actually lost count) and my proof-reading for the week has read it about seven, including four times just today! I think he is a bit 'over it' as well. Each time, he found errant commas, missed words or doubled up words (I was getting tired when I last re-worked it). My favourite was one of the main characters greeting the other with "Good morning," when it was actually in the late afternoon. Hmmm... that was corrected promptly. 

On the penultimate pass, I decided that those few sentences that had been really annoying me, as they did not quite track, were toast! I rewrote them and finally I am at peace with them. Interestingly, my proof reader had mentioned that there was something nagging him but he could not quite pin it down. On the final read through, he admitted that it was no longer an issue; I then told him about the rewrite (just a couple of words changed and re-shuffled). "Ah!" was the response. 

So, that was my exciting Friday. Polishing up a short story. While I still think it is not perfect (I never do), it is at a point where I had to either send it off for judging or ditch it and rewrite the entirety. For better or for worse, it is done. I faced my fear of rejection; It has been sent and now I can rest while my brain subconsciously tries to find another scene to add to my next short story...

Onward and upward.

More gallery showing, Portable Art for Sale and lots of Framing!

This weekend, I have been putting together items to sell at a new location:

A Rare Notion - a shop in the Adelaide Arcade in the city. 

You can find the shop at 110 Balcony Level, Adelaide Arcade. The lovely Mandy sells jewelry, craft and art supplies, vintage clothing and collectibles. 

I now have some of my Octoarm bookmarks, badges and The Question mugs available for sale there.

  

I have also got some of my original photography on mini-gallery display and for sale at A Rare Notion. Pink, Yellow and Dots are now available for purchase as matted 5x7 " in an 8x10" frame, for $30.

 

It was definately a day for framing today. I have also framed my latest photography work, Writing and hope to have it on sale soon.

Today, I am making some more badges for sale and planning a new tshirt...

Just for fun, we dug out some of the autographed photos we have collected at recent conventions. We spent the afternoon framing them and (my now  thumb-sore) husband did some hammering so we could put them on the playroom wall. Somewhere in boxes or suitcases, I also have various autographed photos, from the many conventions I attended in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s... 

somewhere.....!!

Photo Shenanigans and experimenting.

The past few days, I have taken a break from writing and have been playing with different effects on some of my photos. I admit I love the 'toy camera' look (as some call it) and the effect of desaturated colours and increased contrast. I found a 'toy camera' setting that does this in-camera on my Canon. I really do like this effect (right: Writing)

Other effects I can do in-camera include grainy BW and fisheye. Interesting to know they are there, for future reference. I use BW a lot but the fisheye possibly won't be used often.

  

I had a play with the basic Irfanview program (something many should have), in an attempt to recreate the 'toy camera' effect above. Firstly, I increased the contrast to about 3/4 along the scale, then reduced the saturation by about 1/4. These are some of the results. The first photo had less contrast, the second (steampunk attire) had more contrast. 

There is less blue than in the in-camera 'toy camera' so I can't really claim it is recreating the effect above.  However, with more playing, I prefer the higher contrast photos and tried some more below. I think I will have to keep this in mind for some future work...

 

My favourite photo from today's experiments is this one below (of my husband).  

New Portable Art to carry with you

After some deep-thought posts, here is a lighter one. I have been doing some more arty stuff.

Introducing new  Optoarms bookmarks. Something new I have been making for the discerning gentle who has an affinity for octopi!

These are available direct from my website for now.
http://purplefiles.net/karencarlisle/KCC_BuyStuff_PORTABLE_ART_DirectSales.html

Each is individually made, so pictures of each one will be posted as they become available.

1. Light Brown OCT0B1

2. Dark Brown OCT0B2 

3. Gold OCT0G1 

4. Silver OCT0S1

Material obsession

I have had a bundle of emails and messages from various people about making some of my designs available as material. I have been putting it off and then I got another missive asking if I had material designs for sale. 

so...

I have ordered from Spoonflower in the past and have now done some research on selling designs through them. http://www.spoonflower.com/welcome. So I visited Spoonflower and set up a Studio, deciding to start with some of my current designs. I  used the most popular designs viewed on Redbubble and downloaded The Question, Steam Trek and Marie Octonette designs then ordered swatches. This was recommended by Spoonflower to check the colour renditioning before finalising the design. 

 The swatches have now returned!

 

It is now official. I have three of my designs on Spoonflower. For those who don't know Spoonflower - it sells materials with artists' designs, or you can design your own! Designs are available in material, wrapping paper, wall paper and decals. My studio/shop is called Off the Artboard and  is viewable at: http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/offtheartboard

I started with the most popular designs from Redbubble and have now to decide what else to make available.
If you have any ideas of what I should put up next, let me know. I value your feedback!

T-shirt Protectoring

I am concentrating on a short story today and my characters are getting annoyed that I am taking too long to come and play. So today is an update on a blog post (about the process and progress of a t-shirt design)  from last week. I was down to two options on the colour combination. After some further thought, I chose the design with the purple frilled edging to the parasol. I feel that this design had more balance between the colours.

At the time I was also toying with the idea of sending it to teefury. I have  decided to provide Protectoring by Appointment on Redbubble and work on other designs for teefury.  Most likely this will have a steampunk theme. What sort of things would you, my dear readers, prefer to see?

Protectoring by Appointment is now available on Redbubble:  

http://www.redbubble.com/people/katdb/works/10278887-protectoring-by-apptointment?body_color=white&p=t-shirt&print_location=front&ref=shop_grid&style=mens

Also a reminder of another steampunk themed t-shirt is entitled Steampunk Library. This image is another of my original photographs which I digitally enhanced to give it more zing. This is also available at Redbubble: Steampunk Library.

Protectoring by Appointment.

Usually, I try not to make very fannish designs, not because I don't want to (I have so many fannish ideas) but as it flirts close to copyright. I am a strong believer of the rights of the artist/ writer, as I have mentioned one or twice before.   Just occasionally, I just can't help myself. If I can wangle a homage that uses a few key images that provides enough of a hint to fans of the genre but without infringing on the originator's copyright, then I am quite happy to go for it. 

I have been doodling on another t-shirt design, after starting to read Soulless, the first book in the Parasol Protectorate series.  What could be simpler than a parasol? (not if I am drawing lots of frilly frou frou on it!)

First, the pencil sketched layout: I decided to hand-draw the writing, much quicker (for me) than trying to manipulate it in a programme. The wording? I did not want to use Parasol Protectorate, as that was Gail Carriger's own phrase, so I went with Protectoring by Appointment as that is what I would want to do! Waiting for ink to dry is like, well, like waiting for paint to day. A few cups of tea later and I inked up the parasol. 

The colours were determined by a description in the book - a black parasol with purple pansies. That was what started me off on this one - my favourite colour was purple - I just had to do it!

I am thinking of sending this design into Tee Fury, to see if they will take it on. Tee Fury seems to sell a lot of fannish T's.  With that in mind, I kept the colour pallette limited to only 5 colours which is much harder than you think! Shading must be kept to a minimum (argh). Otherwise it will be on Redbubble later...

Thanks to the computer, I tried a few different colour combinations and here are the final options. 

Any preferences? (I am leaning towards #1) If I am lucky enough to make it through their screening and you see it on Tee Fury, please make sure to vote for it!!!!

Seeing pictures everywhere.

Over the past few days, I have been hit by multitudes of mental images and flashes of ideas for short stories. I have been exhausted trying to keep up with them and get them onto paper for later work. ( I did manage to finish a short story called Second Chances? which was sent off last night.)
What a dilemma to be in! The problem is being able to concentrate on one story at a time!  Too much, too quick. I am hoping I will remember some of them at a later time...

I have also been annoying my family, with constant 'wait up, I need to shoot something', when we have been out and about, this week. I have even resorted to borrowing my husband's mobile phone (which has a better camera than mine) as I am seeing photographs everywhere - in the shopping centre, on the street, just walking or driving around. It seems to be worse when I don't carry my SLR with me. Here are a few from 'iphoneographies' (but not on an iphone) from the past couple of days: (and we all love piccies)

1. waiting for the rain to stop. 2. Puddles. 

 

I do however miss the optical zoom of my SLR. The digital zoom is just not the same! The second set of images was at a local supermarket.

3.Cleanup. 4. Stuck in a corner. 

photos: copyright Karen Carlisle.  2013

(sorry for the short post, not well today)

Leek and Potato soup... no, it is not a metaphor

Winter is on the way. I am happy. I love the coolness in the air, the freshness on the breeze through the back door. The comforting, smokey odour of woodsmoke, from the neighbours chimney, completes the scenario. I am happy.  My husband now has to deal with the drop in temperature, inside the house, and has started rumaging around in the attic, for his trench coat. 

It has been raining and my garden is glistening with the watery bounty. Slowly, it is soaking into the ground and I can almost hear it gurgling its way down to the aquifer. Unfortunately, this summer was a scorcher and our leeks shrivelled and the potatoes were sparse. A trip to the local fruit shop, provided what we needed, however, for one of my cold weather favourites - Leek and potato soup!

Two leeks, finely sliced have been sauteed until they were just translucent with a handful of shallots thrown in and soon the wonderful smell, of allium, began to fill the kitchen. Half a kilogram of potatoes (chopped to about 1.5cm squares) were then added, with a litre of vegetable or chicken stock ( I prefer chicken) is then added and the lot is left until it boils. It is now simmering for another twenty minutes and will then be processed in the blender to a soupy consistency. I am just enjoying the aroma as it fills the rooms. Onions are too strong, leeks are less painful on the eyes.

Dinner tonight is leek and potato soup. Easy to make, nil preservatives, healthy and figure friendly. Most of all it is hot, soothing and great for dunking bread. I am looking forward to winter!

The makings of an almost period Patent of Arms.

I call it an 'almost period' Patent of Arms, as it this is almost like an unpaid commission for an individual, playing at re-creating Medieval and Renaissance times, living in a modern world. They have modern ideas and sensibilities. They have not grown up in the past, with all of the the ideas and cultural references that would have been everyday, say in the 1400s. So no matter how much I wish to recreate a perfectly accurate Award Scroll, by definition I am starting with a conundrum. A scroll is a rolled piece of parchment. What I am recreating is a modern document suitable for framing, to celebrate an achievement in a modern-day club, in the style of a six hundred plus old piece of scribe work. 

Yet, despite this, I find the whole process very fulfilling. Deciding on a style and designing and then creating, a homage to it. Firstly, I like to get an idea of the recipient, the colours they favour, any favourite images or totems (animals or plants etc), and whether they have a preferred era they like to 'play in'. This can cover from early, say Saxon, to late Elizabethan.   I need to get the feel of the form of the images, the layout, the colours and style of writing (calligraphy). This can only be done by looking at as many different versions that I can find.  Like most of my artistic ventures into a modern 'scroll' or 'patent of arms', it starts with research. Lots of research. 

Yesterday, I flipped  through a pile of my calligraphy/ illumination books and a few copies of Books of Hours, that I have at hand. I also trolled through the internet, trying to find a specific picture, that I KNOW I had seen somewhere. I did not find the specific one I was thinking of, but did find some adequate substitutes to get me started.

This project does have a few constraints, one of which is that it needs to be done in a short time. For this reason, I have decided to make it smaller than I usually do. Thus, I do not have to rush to fill a larger space. I would not be happy having to rush the painting portion as this is my favourite part and I do want to give my best effort for the recipients. This  also means that the calligraphy portion will cover less area - a bonus - as this does require more effort on my part. The standard script/wording also requires truncating, due to the smaller space available. This is still a work in progress.

The day ended with a definite size and basic layout which now requires a decision on the final decoration. The colours are mostly decided upon. I have sent a draft of the shorter version of the wording, after some help of friends, with possible translations.

I leave you with the layout and will elaborate, at another time, when more progress has been made on this project.

Not Just For Profit

.. not that there is much actual monetary profit in being an artist anyway - at least for most of us. Honestly, who would choose a job where the most common description, used for well over a hundred years, to describe it is 'starving'? Or the track record of many artists making more money after they have died? Not the most attractive selling points for a career choice.

So what do I do it for? I have no choice, and there lies the rub. I have spent over 25 years in a well-paying profession which I enjoy but it does not give me the same satisfaction as creating something. Over the past years, I have rediscovered my 'bliss'; nothing gives me the same calmness or completeness as I achieve during or after I have actually created something. Every one has a piece of my soul embedded in it. My dear husband has commented many times, over the years, that I get grumpy when I have not 'made something for a while'. 

It does not matter whether it is writing, drawing, costume making, photography or even creating in my garden. All elicit the same endorphin-like effect. Bliss. Today, I am meeting with some of my friends for Scribes, for calligraphy and illumination, as a part of one of the clubs I am a member of. We re-create medieval and renaissance style 'scrolls' for boons given in our club. It is yet another outlet to give me my creative fix. It can take 3-6 months to create an original design, with calligraphy (writing) in a period style to match the artwork.  

Here are some examples:

And at the end, each one is given freely to someone (I often don't know) to thank them for work done. Though I do take commissions, these work is a labour of love - worth it for the smile you see on the recipients face! 

So, the answer to the question who would choose being an artist as a job? Me, because it is a passion and not just for profit.

(I won't be giving up my other part-time job in a hurry, but what a wonderful  full-time job it would be.)