itesser ink: progress, uncensored

rockin' some christmas gifts :)

I'm not quite ready to descend into the "real world" and do things like blogging, internet-reading, or cleaning the room yet. Late December has so many reasons to "take the day off". :P Soon, though! And I did do drawing/writing while away. :)

Labels: christmas, excuses, holiday, photos, trips

(as opposed to the Holiday Recap which will happen (most likely) on the 25th)

Merry Christmas!

The all-important dates are upon us again, and it's currently Christmas Eve everywhere in the world, except for the special few, like Kiwis, for whom it is Christmas Day.

Although I guess I'm early in these wishes for some of the Eastern Orthodox among you. :)

Reagan and I collaborated on the gifts we gave my family. I did sketches of bunnies for my parents and sibling (and his wife), then Reagan did inks and watercolor. They turned out fantastic, so of course I didn't prod him to scan them.

On my dad's side of the family, we each draw two names out of a hat and get gifts for those two people. For my uncle who works for the USC football team, I did a graphite drawing of a water buffalo wearing a Roman/Trojan helmet. Sadly, a lot of the tonal subtlety was lost in the scanning.



For my cousin I did ducks and chicks. Reagan did the inking for me, then I added the watercolor. Surprisingly fun, that!



The fowl in the lower left was supposed to be a duck diving under the water, but I guess there was some ambiguity in the pencil work, so when the inks came back I had a rooster! :)

Labels: christmas, graphite, holiday, scannies, watercolor

Warning: plate of beans ahead.

On the heels of yesterday's post about language not yet catching up with the experiences of the Internet, I'm taking a moment to look inward as I am wont to do after a period of not blogging, however short or long it may be.

As I was starting up the previous post with noise about status updating, I began pondering in the back of my mind what kind of blogger I am, how my style fits in with the "culture" of blogging, and what sort I might like to be.

While I post art, I'm not a sketch-blogger. Most art is vastly overshadowed by words. Words about what? My life, usually. My thought-life, to be specific, as my offline-life is a tad rusty these days (though not for long). I don't do very topical or news-related posts, nor am I at the deep end for any particular hobby, lifestyle, or what-have-you.

The reflective questions boil down to "If this wasn't my blog, would I read it?"

That raises the question "What kind of blogs do I read?". Primary answer right now is "not many". For all the RSS items I clear out these days, they either don't require reading or are saved in open tabs to be consumed at some proper future moment. I muchly enjoy blogs that have a personal mixture of diary, correspondence, and art.

Some periods of time I do a good job of performing the "would I read this?" test in mind as I write a post, other times, not so much. Perhaps that should be something I strive for in the future.

I'm calling this a plate of beans because whatever I decide doesn't truly matter. I'm keeping this blog for myself, and can't foresee this ever becoming a destination so popular that I where I care to cater to my readership. The goal, then, is to cater to the more demanding aspects of myself and try to please my harsh internal critic.

--

Today held the celebrations of my mom's birthday, my immediate family's Christmas, and the Winter Solstice. The only one it actually was was Solstice, which Reagan and I celebrate privately.

We're not pagan or druidic, but I, especially, like taking notice of the moment when the night is longest. Festivities involve cheese, fruit, something tasty to drink, and making a nest of pillows and blankets on the floor to feast by candle light. We use the time sans computer, tv, and other digital interferences to talk about everything and nothing. In the midst of worrying about family this and other family that, it's very nice to devote some quiet time to each other.

I took a moment to think about Hanukkah today, too, while setting fire to the wicks of pine and apple scented tealights.

Between the celebrations of Christmas and Solstice, Reagan and I went to the bookstore where I quickly spent my gift card on poetry books: The McSweeney's Book of Poets Picking Poets and The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry. I believe both will challenge me and give me a lot to think and write about in the coming months (which is a lot of why I didn't pick up a novel).

I hadn't heard of either book before today, and I haven't heard of most of the poets in either until today. With my limited experience with poetry, both points contribute to my interest in these volumes.

The bookstore trip also made me devastatingly interested in getting a e-Ink eReader. Technology. Wow.

Other, less amazing technology brings you a washed-out scan from my sketchbook, mostly of bunnies. These were practice for pencil sketches that Reagan turned into watercolors, which I turned into frame watercolors, given as gifts to my parents and my brother's family.



And last of all, a small stone of a poem devised as I was falling asleep last night. Oddly enough, it goes to answer the question posed in the title of this post. At least to a small degree.

Who Am I?

As I'm
a poet
my lines
should
be just
long enough to point.

That's your official poem.
Here's the collection of words inspired by writing it:

awake in the wee hours
just light enough to write
a burst of words on a post-it
(thankfully near by)
before more sleep

Merry Solstice. See you in the longer days.

Labels: books, holiday, memories, meta, poem, poetry, scannies, solstice