In Blog

…or something about things you might find here…

it’s not always easy for me to know what i’ll do before i do it.  i’ve found it’s better for me to say what i have done after i’ve done it, than to say what i will do before i do it because what i do often takes turns and spirals that i enjoy exploring without having to hold to a particular outcome…

that said, i suspect some of the things you’re likely to find in this blog will include a wide variety of what i do through my art.  which is likely to include works in a variety of stages and images with various reasons for existing and creations that i just plain enjoy creating such as:

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  • Drawings – particularly ink and colored ink, graphite, colored pencil and a few – or many – of the other drawing materials that i may become excited about for any reason

  • Watercolors – both pure and slightly to greatly combined with other materials

  • Acrylics – again both pure and slightly to greatly combined with other materials

  • Sketchbooks and Journal Entries – any way i can think of that i want to try

  • Mixed Media – which includes a variety of mixes in ways that appeal to me

  • Digital Drawing and Painting – in a few of the stunning ways in which this technology can be used

  • Digital Mixed Media Collage – again in any way that i can think of that appeals to me

  • Photographs and Altered Photographs – including scanner photography and montage

  • Haiga and Haiku – with a wide range of imagery (Haiga is the combining of Image with Haiku)

  • Mail Art or Postal Art formats and related materials including: ATCs/ACEOS, postcards, 4 x 4s, chunky books, skinny books, altered books, envelopes, faux artistamps, embellishing stamps, and anything else i might be able to send through the post office.

  • and anything else i might think of that i want to try…

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i’m also likely to show things i’m doing in current – or near current – moments as well as things from moments past and what ever else i have on my mind as it might relate to my art. …which as i see it is just about inclusive of the all-of-life-that-i-have, in general.

my hope is to post about 3-5 times a week although i’m sure there will be a few times when i post more than that as well as times when i post less frequently too.

a general awareness: it may appear that i hibernate in the months of October through January or at least some time in there each year (often i’m still working but just not posting for some reason). …not always but often.   …and sometimes it happens at other times too. that is just part of my pattern and i dont worry about it, because usually some down time is good for me.  so when i appear to disappear… no worries. i’ll be back. 

oh. and once in a while there may even be humor.  …even if it is only my own peculiar sense of humor.

34 thoughts on “In Blog”

  1. I see your comments are closed for the post January 6th 2020, so I will put something here. I loved this about avocados. I was raised in CA and the neighbors next door had/have an avocado tree. When I was a girl it was good sized but now it is a giant. The man who use to tend it never pruned it and died some time ago. The tree drops avocados into the yards around it. We once had a dachshund who loved them and got quite fat. Good to share the wealth of your tree and wonderful that you have it. Aloha!

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  3. Pingback: Dear Emma, | Traces of the Soul

    • aloha lagottocattleya – thank you. cool, i’m delighted you’ve taken a look.

      yes, i’m always in the process of becoming. it’s always fun to find out where i am (for me too).

      cool on “haiga”. i did not know that word until a couple of years ago—although i had been doing something like it for much longer. so i was delighted when i discovered it too. and of course i had to explore it. image with words—what a great combination. yeah, it’s way fun to explore. i’m sure you’ll see it much more now that you recognize it.

      fun. and fun on. aloha.

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  6. Hi Rick,
    Great submission to this month’s edition of The Paperbook Collective! A very cool take on The Culture Issue. Hope to see more of your stuff in 2014!
    Cheers,
    Jayde.

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    • aloha Jayde. i’m glad you like the work. although I like keeping in mind traditions when I work (because that is where I/we come from in our work), I also like to include elements that anchor the work in our time. it seems to me our culture is exactly that—our time. thank you.

      my work takes a lot of different forms and I enjoy being able to interpret a theme the way I want to explore it. . . . which does not always coincide with the way a call is intended. if it’s fun for me then I’m more likely to do it. i hope my work is fun for you and I look forward to submitting more in 2014 as well. aloha—Rick

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  7. Congratulations ! Thanks a lot for your beautiful writting which matches so well with the pictures. I am fond of your way of working: I don’t know also what I’ll do before I do it. Your pictures are so exciting

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    • aloha AJM – i’ve enjoyed discovering what i like to do with my blog. i suspect it’s still evolving. which is fine by me. i’m delighted that you have enjoyed your time with my work. yes, the visuals are very much a part of the fun for me. thank you. aloha.

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  10. Hi, it seems we both got “pingbacked” by the same post “HAIKU: Rain” and I’m presuming it’s because we both had Haiku and Rain somewhere in our blog. Whatever the reasons I don’t mind because it has enabled me to discover your blog which I think is truly excellent. I only had a brief look yesterday but I was impressed with what I saw, and I’m delighted to see some excellent Haiku that are actually Haiku, with seasons and juxtaposition. I think I’ll be here quite regularly.
    Mark

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    • aloha Mark, yes, i’m not sure if our posts come up in Zemanta via our tags and categories or the content of our post—or both. I have not pushed to far into that. i make use of it when i find it useful.

      i too do not mind others pinging my posts unless it’s being used outside of the intended purpose on unrelated sites. when something comes up on mine i click to add it to my post if i think it is relevant. Zemanta often seems to find my own posts and i rarely add those.

      like you, i often take a look and seem to as often as not find sites i like or that are at least similar in focus on that post as my own interests.

      thank you on the content of my blog. the content shifts from time to time but for me it’s all related to what i consider my art (in general that comes under the Visual Arts) which also includes writing to some degree in some way within what i do.

      yes, i suspect i’m on a long journey with my haiku. i’m sure i am still evolving. juxtaposition and season are important to me altho i occasionally miss the aim.

      i also accept that in the current world of haiku there are acceptable haiku that do not always make use of season and juxtaposition for what i consider valid reasons. it’s fun to explore that at times.

      on the other hand there are many writings that are labeled “haiku” that are or may be fine writings but truly (imo) are not haiku.

      the bottom line is that we are all each in our own place in this process of understanding and exploring haiku. as one of the worthwhile disciplines it’s a life long process as i see it.

      our western culture has a lot to over come with some of the initial thinking and miss-understandings of haiku which many people still hold to as they learned it “in school”. it is shifting tho, and i think the best thing i can do is to keep trying to learn, understand and continue writing/creating in my own way. sometimes when we push the edges our work does not “fit” a category but defines a new category. that is indeed how haiku has evolved over time as i understand it too.

      even the good writers and thinkers on haiku do not always agree on what makes haiku, haiku, or good haiku, good haiku. i’ve also discovered that some of the “dos and don’ts” that have been laid down by the great thinkers on haiku are actually exact opposites and both can not be followed at the same time in one haiku. so yeah, we have to pick and choose and think about what we believe is important to our own haiku. hopefully (at least in my case) i choose with reason and not just whim to suit my case.

      of course all of this makes it fun to explore haiku. fun to pick and choose what we hold as valid for our own haiku thinking. and to see where our own thinking takes us within our own writing. and of course how we evolve as our experience increases.

      i’m glad you like what you see in my work. you are of course welcome any time. i go through spells of getting around to other blogs, it’s rarely as often as i’d like to but again we can keep trying.

      thanks for taking the time to look. aloha—Rick

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    • aloha djderdiger. thank you. i appreciate the nomination. altho i enjoy the responses awards like this generate i have had to limit my time commitment to reading in this area. i hope you will understand this and have a lot of fun with your award. thank you for considering and including me. aloha. rick.

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  13. Rick, I am particularly enjoying your Haiga (learned a new word today), as I am also playing with joining words and images. But I’ve learned to call it “ekphrastic”. Now I know another word I can show off to my writer friends…If you care to visit my blog, you’ll find what I am talking about under the category “Ekphrastica.” Glad I stopped by your blog.

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    • aloha Beauty Along the Road – way cool on enjoying haiga. i too learned this word recently—a few years ago, but long after i was laying haiku into images.

      yes, and i now have a new word to explore as well. “ekphrastic” is new to me. i’ve looked into it a bit. i think it differs from haiga but they are clearly related.

      haiga as i understand it, is haiku and image (an image which now can be created with any process where as originally it was the brush-stroke of both letters and drawing that were used in Asian cultures). it is only haiga if they are in one work and meet a few other considerations (as i understand it). that is, the haiku is placed into the image and that becomes one work. from there, some considerations go into how the two relate in order for it to be considered haiga as different from haiku placed on an image but not in the relationship which is considered haiga. yeah, it’s a mouth full and i dont always succeed in creating it the way it should be. . . . but that’s the fun of trying too.

      ekphastic appears to be a response to an image. i’m not sure if it has to be a poetic response or not (yet). and it does not have to be part of the image (if i have that right), it can be placed beside the image but clearly connected perhaps(??). it’s still an interesting form (imo) which can be played with in a variety of ways i suspect.

      “etegami” might interest you too. it is writing and drawing (with or without color as i understand it) together that was originally intended to be sent through a postal service between friends. it originated as a Japanese Folk Art but i think now it is a little broader in scope. it often takes the form of a postcard but it does not have to be a postcard it could be in a letter form for instance—the requirements being hand written and drawing on the same page or sheet or card. the writing can be haiku but it does not have to be haiku. and, the haiku and the image do not have to have the same kind of relationship that haiku and image have in haiga. –yeah, another mouthful. fun tho and i enjoy playing with this idea too.

      i’m glad you stopped by as well and i will definitely take a look at your Ekphrastica. fun. aloha.

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  14. Hi, Rick, I think it starts in September, after Labor Day… Everything gets speeded up … getting ready for winter, getting ready for some great autumn walks, taking care of all those things left undone during the summer months, getting ready for the holidays… It’s a heady time and I’m wondering how I’ll make it myself this year.

    Life’s too short for tight shoes!

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    • bwahahaha – aloha SnowBirdPress – yes, chaos and September. definitely the season of changes. …and we hook into what we havnt done with what we think is coming and attempt a mesh. sheesh. yeah. i want one hundred of those great autumn walks.

      breathe. that’s all we really have to do. just breathe and keep breathing and we’ll get through okay. maybe even count our breath once a day or so too. the ahhh. of life.

      oh. and when life is too short for tight shoes – go barefoot. …those are the places to be. (imo of course) – aloha.

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    • aloha Whimisical KT. a year has gone by now since you nominated me for this award. sheesh.

      i’ve come to suspect that i have difficulty with awards. i seem to question whether or not i deserve them and my answer is not the answer i want it to be. i appreciate and thank you for the nomination tho—that’s a day maker every time.

      maybe this year i’ll find that collaboration image from last year too and some how post it or send it to you. . . . no holding breath on that of course—better to just count breath. . . . . and have fun.

      glee and laughter in the spirit of this season upon you. aloha.

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