Just trying to blend in.
Tag: abstract
LONGING
When north, south, east and west conspire in the reminder that beauty in nature is timeless.PICKING PIXELS
Some days it’s just jumping through hoops and rearranging blocks.
FLOW
When all the world is free for the creating with the swipe of a finger.
EVERYTHING IN ITS PLACE
It’s not always as simple as it seems.
LOOKING FOR JULY
The Farmer’s Almanac weather forecast for July in my region reads much like my biorhythm looks, all ups and downs, intense highs punctuated by icy lows, and long, lingering periods where much reaches some sort of tepid plateau. Here’s wishing for more temperate climes.
STEPPING UP
That teetering point between getting something concrete accomplished and actually moving forward.
AWOKEN BY THE SMELL OF RAIN
Being a heavy sleeper has its advantages when the Professor and our pup get up pre-dawn for their daily constitutional but lately it has been the sound of thunder and sudden torrential downpours rather than any absence of warm bodies in bed that have signalled to my unconsciousness that another day has begun. This unusually cool spell has meant we have been lucky enough to be able to open the windows at night and this morning’s reveille of raindrops was a sweetly clean yet heady fragrance reminiscent of simpler times.
Rainy Days and Mondays
Autumn seems busy kissing cold toes and the streets are slick with rain washing away the dust of summer. No need to go out today…
Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Abstract – Week 2
I did this with my ear and thought you might like it
Across the Bored is sure that at some point in all our lives we have looked at our pets and wondered what was really going on in their heads. We look at people and think the same thing so it’s not much of a stretch to extend it to those furry partners we wander through life with. Reams of paper have been filled with wise words and theories about the nature of the way we reason, be it concrete or logical, creative or emotional but the subject of animal cognition is still a subject of debate.
We know for a fact that our own smelly dog wishes he had squirrel superpowers – we can tell by the way he stares wistfully out the window when they taunt him from the lawn and the way he leaps up the side of the tree when in hot pursuit. Such desire is evident in the way his paws flex and rotate in very undoggy-like fashion when he lies dreaming upside down in our favourite chair. If he had opposable thumbs things might be very different around our house and that he forces us to stop what we are doing and stare deeply into his eyes until we know exactly what he wants would certainly indicate that there is more going on in his fuzzy noggin than “eat, sleep, bark, pee, eat, sleep, chew on something…”. The Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme this fortnight, therefore, puts forth that – Abstract – thinking is not solely the realm of those who stand upright.
Last week we pondered “What is abstract for you” – A concept or theory, an artwork or query, a math problem, a description, philosophy or music, the very universe …
We would love to see your vision.
For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info or want to browse past themes? Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.
Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Abstract
Rorschach’s field day
Across the Bored likes nothing better than to walk around in art museums contemplating the collections. What pleasure to work our way from the ancient to the modern in a few hours, lingering over the Renaissance, idling near the Impressionists, pondering the Cubists… but there are, depending on the curator’s choice of selections, some rooms we pass through at a brisk clip. Those walls where big, expensive panels glare at us in Webster’s best definition of art “expressing ideas and emotions by using elements such as colors and lines without attempting to create a realistic picture” and leave us, essentially, wondering why?
We do recognize most forms of artistic endeavour but there is a trend on many of the sites we visit online, both photographic and otherwise, that elicits the same reaction. One might assume by the number of purple leopards and fragmented flowers in the more purely conceptually dedicated galleries that there were a few who were asleep in Art Appreciation 101. A lot of people don’t get it, don’t care or just refuse to colour that boldly outside the lines. Does there have to be some reference point, some readily identifiable thing that puts it all into perspective and generates that “aha” moment where our brains are more comfortable being led to a conclusion? Or is it just easier?
We much prefer drifting along the stream of consciousness. With no man at the oars as it were, we are often spectators to the unusual, the unasked for, the unexpected. The waters can be idyllically calm or we hit the rapids with such force that it knocks the wind out of us – there are times when we feel like a man overboard but there is always the consolation that we can swim to shore with the best of them. This fortnight the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge guesses that an enjoyment of most things – Abstract – depends on where one has been before and perhaps even how far one is willing to go.
“What is abstract for you” – A concept or theory, an artwork or query, a math problem, a description, philosophy or music, the very universe …
We would love to see your vision.
For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?
- I will post some commentary on a random topic that pops into my head (such as the above) and then ask you to respond on the same.
- Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
- Please, don’t just link to an old post… challenge yourself.
- The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
- ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.
SO – Create your Two Cents Tuesday Challenge post
- Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
- To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Two Cents Tuesday Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
- If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Two Cents Tuesday” challenge on your own blog.
- Feel free to pick up your badge on the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge page
- Remember to Follow My Blog to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.
Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Painting
no drying time
Art – you either love it or hate it, want to hang it on your wall or throw it in the dustbin, mortgage your house because you absolutely have to have it or wonder why someone would pay a nickel for it. It’s all a matter of taste… Our first round of post secondary studies at art school were spent with the idea that the milieu itself would drive us to create works of such beauty and resonance that the critics would fall swooning at our feet. The reality was somewhat colder – yes, we did produce a few good pieces but truth was, at that time, most of the really good artists we saw were young and starving, or old and starving, and the thought of spending the next 20 years following in their footsteps paled to the opportunities presenting themselves in the wonderful world of advertising. So off we went and putting our visions on canvas became a hobby rather than a career.
The years passed and so did our focus. Today those projects which would have taken days, if not weeks, of toiling away can be accomplished in far less than an afternoon, sometimes instantaneously. We have the luxury of technology at our fingertips and switch with ease from one editing application to another, a few swipes and saves here, erase there, rework, restore, recombine and voila, we are very pleased indeed. Our masterpieces may never hang in the Met but we should at least get bonus points for creating them in less time than it takes to properly wash a good set of brushes…
From fingers to spatulas, the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge knows that everyone everywhere has, at one point or another, tried – Painting.
“What does painting represent for you?” – Graffiti on a wall, framed flowers in the hall, a masterpiece old or abstract bold, the sides of a house, finish on a car, commercial or couture …
We would love to see your vision.
For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, here are some guidelines for the challenge: HOW DOES THIS WORK?
- I will post some commentary on a random topic that pops into my head (such as the above) and then ask you to respond on the same.
- Your point of view on the current week’s challenge can take any form: a quote, a motto or saying, an essay, poem or opinion of yours or attributed to someone else, a piece of music, a song, a video, a work of art, photograph, graffiti, drawing or scribble – but it has to be about the topic!
- Please, don’t just link to an old post… challenge yourself.
- The Challenge will be open for 14 days (there will be a reminder post at the 7 day mark) after which I will post another.
- ENJOY, have FUN and TELL your friends and fellow bloggers.
SO – Create your Two Cents Tuesday Challenge post
- Then add a link to your blog in my comment box.
- To make it easy for others to check out your post, title your blog post “Two Cents Tuesday Challenge” and add the same as a tag.
- If you would like your reader to see what others are presenting for the same challenge, add a link to the “Two Cents Tuesday” challenge on your own blog.
- Feel free to pick up your badge on the Two Cents Tuesday Challenge page
- Remember to Follow My Blog to get your weekly (hopefully) reminders.
tagged “A”
A is for Apple
or so we are told
but I prefer Abstract
a word slightly bold
in Art it may Anger
much thought misconstrued
some say it’s Abnormal
what does it Allude
Ad-libbed or Actual
All must Acquiesce
be it Anteater, Angel
or beautiful mess
A
Amble Along to the entries in Frizztext’s A-Z Challenge: tagged “A”.
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: White
Two Cents Tuesday Challenge: Bold – Week 2
to boldly go where no man has gone before
We have been watching Star Trek in its many incarnations for longer than we care to admit. From the cardboard sets and shaver-communicators of the original television series to NextGen, Deep Space Nine and the many movie spin-offs and fill-ins, it has been a long sometimes upsetting loyalty to the Roddenberry’s idea of beyond, what it held and how to get there in the most exciting way possible. Not always thrilled by casting choices or certain plot progressions of the sci-fi classic’s metamorphosis, there was always some technological innovation, some snazzy new way of presenting deep space and its denizens that kept us hooked and hungering for more.
Armchair astronauts of the best kind, we fondly said goodbye to to those we had come to know and love (or hate) and learned to embrace the unknown and unexpected. Small screen or big, each director’s artistic vision gave us the characters, conflicts and very world of Star Trek much like this fortnight’s Two Cents Tuesday Challenge theme, larger than life, bursting with energy – Bold.
Last week, Across the Bored pondered “What shape does bold take for you?” – A flash of chrome, the walls of home, an umbrella bright or neon light, a favourite font, fishing cat or fearless brat, challenging or conspicuous, brave or brassy … We would love to see your vision.
For all those who are new readers to Across the Bored, some great entries and the guidelines for this fortnight’s challenge can be found here. Need more info or want to browse past themes? Have a look at HOW DOES THIS WORK.
Travel Theme: Bright
Part of a 7 foot canvas shaped like the continent of Africa
Even the hard to roust Miss Z is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning with the end of Daylight Savings Time and the arrival of the first few snowflakes twirling aimlessly down from grey skies. The gorgeous brilliant colours of summer are asleep until next year but those of us who live in the darker northern climes tend to bring them inside to illuminate the long days. The painting above hangs in the stairwell: at first it raged at us with its boldness, now we are used to it enlivening an otherwise dull bit of space. Changing with the light and season, this piece of art becomes a part of the Travel Theme: Bright portfolio.
ACROSS THE BORED 