14 replies to this topic

[Ashley]

Someone started an Art section so....


I have a pottery and stained glass studio in my basement. Those are my hobbies. Well, I haven't done stained glass in years because there are way too many steps involved and I lose focus. So I guess Pottery is what I do. I bought a cheap a$$ kiln from a neighbor two years ago (pure luck). I'm hoping to be able to sell some things soon. My husband is awesome with stained glass. We always talk about having our own store one day. I'm so close to being fired or on disability. I really need to get my website up. Anyone can have a store (online) these days. Gotta love the internet.

[Mike M]

Ashley,

Any chance that you will be in Milwaukee? I know that the registration had something on it about bringing art, so I am hoping some folks are doing that. I am not much in the way of visual arts (other than loving to shoot lots of pictures with my digital camera), but I LOVE to create "word art." Poetry rocks my world. Anyway, I think it would be cool (if you are going to Milwaukee) to see some of your pottery (and your hubby's stained glass) at the convention.

[Ashley]

No, I won't be able to go. I hope to one day though... And if I do I'll take some things for sure.
I used to write poetry but for some reason I haven't been able to in a very long time. I think it's similar to the Charles Schulz syndrome. I wrote like crazy when I was really depressed but once I got on meds I had nothing to say.
I have never been able to write anything happy. I've been working on a novel for years. Actually I haven't contributed much lately because of everything that comes along with narcolepsy. My days fly by like seconds and I never have time.

You should put some of your poetry on here. I'd love to read it.

I love to take pictures with my camera too. Mostly because I use Photoshop to make them look funny. I'm working on a ridiculous Christmas card of Me, my husband and two fake kids. The kids have our faces from old childhood pictures. We've been married seven years and some people (in-laws) just won't get over the fact that we don't want to have kids so it's my way of telling them to shove off...or something. But it's a classic cheesy studio picture of a family dressed up in Christmas attire.

[greatbig47]

Besides being a musician...I make incense. Not the usual "flavors". I make my own.

One of my favorites I call "Sweet Baby Jesus!". It's Frankenscence, Myhrr and Red Wine...

I'm weird that way.

-Stu

[Marcianna]

I am so going to toot my own horn right now.

There isn't much that I cant do. I am very artistic. but to save you all the boredom, I will tell you about my Favorite.
That would be Photography. Anyone can take a picture yes, but to be able to capture a moment and realy a feeling and make the viewer see more into it than just another snap shot, is very tricky. very difficult. The balance of technique talent and creativity has to be perfect. There in lies the art of it. When I see a picture I want to see beyond it. I want it to be like I was there. I want to cry, I want to laugh, I want to feel. And that is what I try to portray in my own photographs.

I also have a thing about lines and perspective. I like to take ordinary things you see everyday and don't even notice, and make them Extraordinary instead. I want my viewers to see it and think.... where have I seen this before?

Pictures to me are so much more than a collection of memories stored in a box in the attic. They are my family and loved ones. They are my toaster. Or a bridge in PA. And more often than not, they are my cats...lol....

It's so much fun! I love it!

[Mike M]

Ashley, I am bummed that I will have to wait to see your work. I will put some poetry up soon (I probably should do my correcting for my students first). I do hope that I will get to see some machine embroidery (my first convention too) and awesome photos (I loved the descriptions - especially making the ordinary extraordinary) while smelling some stunning incense!

[Marcianna]

I have to say that photographing the conference was alot of fun.... but extremely challenging. It was really difficult to try to get the
"message" across I thought. much harder than I thought it would be. And the lighting.... was obnoxious!!! And being around so many people made me crazy nervous. There are alot of pics, but I really have to say some of them were really touching.... Like the two that I just posted in the conference photo section. It annoys me that I am so horrible with names or I would tell you who they were! I know the baby's name was Hannah... SO CUTE!!!!

My next assignment will be some pregnancy portraits for a friend of mine.

Then on to some Yoga pics for the academy.....

[dreamiestgirlever]

my REAL art is conceptual using image + text + found items. i can make something out of anything it seems. these are my most emotional works that often, in a strange way, make themselves. i'm also a tinkerer/crafter. i have some of those items on etsy - dreamiestgirlever.etsy.com. do others of you have an etsy shop? i'd love to go take a look. i have some things on myspace.com/dreamiestgirlever also.

my first n poem, written in 1995 just after diagnosis...

narcolepsy - my dysfunctional dreams disorder

the plague of no energy.
my mind races with visits to undetermined places with bizarre conversations.
some changing in quick secession. some drawn out + drugged.
worlds difficult to distinguish from the waking yet more desirable.
the fight from the fogginess drains any will to stay out + pulls me back.
two realities on opposing sides.
one entertains the mind. the other hinders it.
yet only in the awakened world can that born in sleep survive.
the energy is missing to bring it to paper.
instead sleep holds on + beds down for more bombardment of play + torture.

[Marcianna]

Ashley, did you ever get your website up? Christmas is coming, and I am interested in gifts!

[Mirianda]

Well... ah... I crochet in the bus to go to work does that count I also used to play clarinet but stopped because of an event that affected me a lot. I will start again soon... I also like to draw. But I always think my drawings are horrible hahaha I still do appreciate Art a whole lot!

[nannie]

i love pottery,and you should open up a business,especially if this will make you both happy in life,us PWN'S don't see much happiness,go for it. i know that i would love to buy affordable priced pottery.and if you go on the website for small business loans,they have all sorts of things that can help you plan it out,and give you a loan or even a grant....i love art,i paint[abstract mainly],write in my journals,write poetry,i am even teaching myself beading,plus i love taking old things and turning them into something new,paint on plates,make paper beads,i am in art therapy due to how bad my narcolepsy is,my doc's tell me i have zero quality of life,so my disease counselor is helping to find things i am capable of doing without blacking out or losing my focus.i even donated some of my jewejry i made to the conferences raffle to raise money.
good luck

[amazingracie28]

I design and make jewelry. I sort of stumbled upon it by accident...I was looking for a medical ID bracelet that had interchangable bands that I could switch to match whatever mood I was in or outfit I wanted to wear. I found a few websites that had what I was looking for, but the prices were crazy and I couldn't find quite the style I was looking for. So I jumped in and made my own. I did some reading and research, learned the basics and gave it a go. It wasn't long before I fell in love with it and started making other things......then it wasn't long before people started noticing, which led to actually selling some of the pieces I had created. I'm just getting started at wire wrapping, but I already love it. Some of my customers are ladies I work with and it makes me so proud to see them wearing something I made

I feel like jewelry design has given me a part of myself back-something narcolepsy didn't completely screw me out of or take away......

[dogdreams]

I do 3D rendering art in Second Life and photoshop. I also do a bit of music and I write stories, primarily in the cyberpunk genre.

My art blog is http://alchemalart.tumblr.com/

[MMK]

Can you teach me , Creativity is talent which should be shared then only it increases

[munky]

I like to write, though I've never managed to focus on anything long enough to finish it. Maybe that'll change now, with the meds.

I'm also starting a new "crafty" hobby. I love hair sticks, but the ones they sell in stores are usually cheap and ... well, ugly. I bought a few pairs of hair sticks with really ugly beads hanging from them a few weeks back. Took them over to the neighbor's house--she does beadwork--and raided her bead supply to make something I actually liked. I had so much fun doing it that I decided I want to do more, so I bought some pine dowels and figured out how to use my Dremel tool to carve them into hair sticks. Then, I'll finish them, seal them, and bead them. Once I get something of an inventory, I'll probably set up an etsy shop or something of the sort, but I don't expect to make any money off them, really. Mostly, it's just fun!

I've remade two pairs. One is a pair of wooden sticks with copper wire and various copper and stone beads (tiger eye, green aventurine, brown sunstone), with tiny little porcelain monkey charms at the ends. They look rather elegant, with just a touch of playfulness. The other pair are translucent, light blue plastic. Those I beaded with various blue glass beads--including some that are supposed to glow in the dark, though I can't tell since they're on the back of my head--silver charms, and little silver bells at the ends. Not jingle bells, mind, they look like regular bells, and they're much quieter than jingle bells tend to be. I can hear them when I move my head, but they aren't loud enough to disturb my co-workers.

Anyway, at this point I'm just working on carving out some more sticks and getting what I need to finish them. It's awful close to Christmas, though, so I'm on a purchasing lock-down, which puts it all on hold for a bit.

--munky