I'm quite distressed by a bill that's been in congress for quite some time. From what I have gathered it protects the infringer. In other words, if someone has "stolen" your item and they cannot find who originally created it there is no protection for the artist who created it unless they register with the copyright office and pay the fees imposed. Can you imagine every time you create a piece of art, a technique, a piece of jewelry, your photography, your graphics, etc. etc, you have no recourse if the person who stole your work can prove they diligently searched for the owner but could not find them and therefore have a right to sell whatever they want because the work is considered orphaned. Bah Humbug!
Oh, I'm probably not explaining this as well as I should but frustration tends to stifle the flow of thought. There are several petitions against the passing of this idiotic bill but it isn't getting the attention it really should be getting in the art world so that it can be squashed.
Most artists barely make a living and who can afford all those copyright fees? Arghhhh. Sorry, but this just bothers the heck out of me.
Please consider this petition and sign.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/protect-artists-rights
More info can be found at:
http://www.copyright.gov/orphan/
http://www.orphanworks.net/index.html
http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/
http://www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/orphan.html
Monday, April 28, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
Monday Monday
I woke up thinking "it's Monday" and this song came to mind so I thought I would share. Have a great day!
Monday, April 07, 2008
Getting Started
When I discovered polymer clay, it was a medium I had never used. It looked very promising and I decided I wanted to try it out. Well, lazy me. I checked out some vendor sites and ordered a package with several colors. After all one color seemed boring. LOL
My package arrived quickly so like a kid I tore into it. I loved the colors and the feel of the clay. All of a sudden all kinds of "big" ideas popped up in my head but I didn't write them down. Needless to say I have no idea to this day what those ideas were. For all I know, they could have been really good...or bad. LOL
I really procrastinated picking up the clay and just doing it. I didn't want to waste it so I spent several days just thinking about it. Then I spent several days surfing the net, looking at what other artists had done and checking out the tutorials. Now I was at a total loss for inspiration so here I go to the book sites to see what I could find. Oh, I found some and then I ordered them.
More procrastination! LOL I finally got the books and spent quite a bit of time looking through them. I loved what I saw. I also noticed that many of the instructions were quite close to the ones I found on the web. I still didn't start. Really silly of me too because I didn't intend to buy it just to look at it. That is what I was doing though.
Finally I decided to just try it and see what happens. I pretty much prefer instant gratification so a large project was not in the cards. I wanted to see what this stuff does and I wanted to see now. LOL Well I took 3 colors, red, white and green...it was Christmas time. I played with them a while. That was called conditioning. I cleaned out one of my medicine bottles and started applying it just willy nilly.
So my first project was not a masterpiece but that was alright. I was starting to work with it and that was the whole point.
The bottle on the top left is my first project. After that I cleaned some more bottles and started playing with canes and techniques. I even moved on to making a pinch pot (upper right).
When I look back on those days, I wonder why it was so hard to get started. I do know I had a lot of negatives hitting me up side my head and I shouldn't have been listening to them. After all you can't have the experience if you don't do something about it.
Life gets that way sometimes. I shoulda, woulda, coulda but didn't. Many times I've gone through procrastinating about something only to realize it was much better just to do it. I did the same thing starting this blog. Why do some people do that? Well, now that it's in black and white staring me in the face, I'll just have to do something about it. More doing and less thinking about it.
Is there something you want to do but just spend time thinking about it? Well, now is the time to stop thinking and get doing.
My package arrived quickly so like a kid I tore into it. I loved the colors and the feel of the clay. All of a sudden all kinds of "big" ideas popped up in my head but I didn't write them down. Needless to say I have no idea to this day what those ideas were. For all I know, they could have been really good...or bad. LOL
I really procrastinated picking up the clay and just doing it. I didn't want to waste it so I spent several days just thinking about it. Then I spent several days surfing the net, looking at what other artists had done and checking out the tutorials. Now I was at a total loss for inspiration so here I go to the book sites to see what I could find. Oh, I found some and then I ordered them.
More procrastination! LOL I finally got the books and spent quite a bit of time looking through them. I loved what I saw. I also noticed that many of the instructions were quite close to the ones I found on the web. I still didn't start. Really silly of me too because I didn't intend to buy it just to look at it. That is what I was doing though.
Finally I decided to just try it and see what happens. I pretty much prefer instant gratification so a large project was not in the cards. I wanted to see what this stuff does and I wanted to see now. LOL Well I took 3 colors, red, white and green...it was Christmas time. I played with them a while. That was called conditioning. I cleaned out one of my medicine bottles and started applying it just willy nilly.
So my first project was not a masterpiece but that was alright. I was starting to work with it and that was the whole point.
The bottle on the top left is my first project. After that I cleaned some more bottles and started playing with canes and techniques. I even moved on to making a pinch pot (upper right).
When I look back on those days, I wonder why it was so hard to get started. I do know I had a lot of negatives hitting me up side my head and I shouldn't have been listening to them. After all you can't have the experience if you don't do something about it.
Life gets that way sometimes. I shoulda, woulda, coulda but didn't. Many times I've gone through procrastinating about something only to realize it was much better just to do it. I did the same thing starting this blog. Why do some people do that? Well, now that it's in black and white staring me in the face, I'll just have to do something about it. More doing and less thinking about it.
Is there something you want to do but just spend time thinking about it? Well, now is the time to stop thinking and get doing.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Ethics
There is a lot of controversy in the art world concerning infringements and copyrights. It's nothing new, however, it is important to remain courteous and respectful of other artists' work. The National Polymer Clay Guild has a post called Rules to Live By and I think it's worth reading.
http://tinyurl.com/356g90
http://tinyurl.com/356g90
Friday, March 21, 2008
Spring
Oh, I just love Spring. I can open my windows and bring the outdoors in. This is a time when everything begins anew. Even my attitude is new.
Before our current calendar was in effect (1752), Spring was celebrated (Mar 25) as the beginning of a New Year. It makes perfect sense to me but then I'm sometimes too logical...but think about it. In Spring the plants start growing, trees start turning green, and the animals begin having fur babies (LOL), just to name a few events. All these new happenings, so doesn't it make sense...NEW YEAR.
What happened? Well, the human element. Pre-Julian Rome calculations were 355 days and 6 hours broken into 12 months. Every two or three years, between February and March, the calendar would be adjusted 22 or 23 days. This was calculated to follow the seasons and the lunar phases. Managed correctly this all aligned with the solar year or Tropical year. Since this practice was not cared for when Caesar ruled, he eventually declared a reform and added 67 days to the calender. Funny thing but the last years before the reform were known as the "years of confusion" and 45 B.C. was known as the "last year of confusion".
Finally in 46 B.C. the new Julian calendar was in effect. It was more simplified and was to be as close as possible to the Tropical year without human intervention. Well, somebody got the algorithms wrong for leap year and it was happening every 3 years instead of 4 years. And here we go again...the calendar gets messed up but nothing was done for about 36 years.
Can you imagine how this kept making people confused? I'm crazy just telling it. LOL
Well, Augustus realigns everything in about 8 B.C. After that there were several proposals to recalculate things but it appears all were just theory, especially about the leap years. Now not everyone followed the Roman calendar and not everyone had the same New Year. Rome was January 1. I believe this was mainly due to when two consuls took office around 153 B.C. and Caesar never changed it. In other parts of the world the Alexandrian calendar began the New Year August 29 or 30 depending on the leap year. Those I call the Wise Ones were still using Mar 25 or Spring. In still other areas it was Sep 1 which is still used as the liturgical year for the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Now we speed ahead to 1582 when another miscalculation on leap days was no longer tolerated and Pope Gregory XIII promulgated the Gregorian calendar. Most Catholic countries adopted it and gradually the Protestants followed. Then Eastern Europe and some others. It wasn't until 1752 that Britain and US adopted the practice followed by more countries such as Russia. However, there are still some who still use the Julian calendar and some who celebrate New Year on a totally different day for various reasons.
So what is all this leading to. Just my opinion which is I think Spring is the New Year when all becomes new. It's the cycle of life and death. No matter how many calculations are contrived and how many calendars are imposed a new cycle of life begins and I'd like to think it is the New Year for Mother Earth.
Well, having gotten that out of my system I'm embarking on putting together bits and pieces of my short polymer clay journey so far. Eventually I'll catch up with myself and be up to date but in the mean time, I'll have some record of my travels so far. Oh, and I'll be putting up some pics too.
Before our current calendar was in effect (1752), Spring was celebrated (Mar 25) as the beginning of a New Year. It makes perfect sense to me but then I'm sometimes too logical...but think about it. In Spring the plants start growing, trees start turning green, and the animals begin having fur babies (LOL), just to name a few events. All these new happenings, so doesn't it make sense...NEW YEAR.
What happened? Well, the human element. Pre-Julian Rome calculations were 355 days and 6 hours broken into 12 months. Every two or three years, between February and March, the calendar would be adjusted 22 or 23 days. This was calculated to follow the seasons and the lunar phases. Managed correctly this all aligned with the solar year or Tropical year. Since this practice was not cared for when Caesar ruled, he eventually declared a reform and added 67 days to the calender. Funny thing but the last years before the reform were known as the "years of confusion" and 45 B.C. was known as the "last year of confusion".
Finally in 46 B.C. the new Julian calendar was in effect. It was more simplified and was to be as close as possible to the Tropical year without human intervention. Well, somebody got the algorithms wrong for leap year and it was happening every 3 years instead of 4 years. And here we go again...the calendar gets messed up but nothing was done for about 36 years.
Can you imagine how this kept making people confused? I'm crazy just telling it. LOL
Well, Augustus realigns everything in about 8 B.C. After that there were several proposals to recalculate things but it appears all were just theory, especially about the leap years. Now not everyone followed the Roman calendar and not everyone had the same New Year. Rome was January 1. I believe this was mainly due to when two consuls took office around 153 B.C. and Caesar never changed it. In other parts of the world the Alexandrian calendar began the New Year August 29 or 30 depending on the leap year. Those I call the Wise Ones were still using Mar 25 or Spring. In still other areas it was Sep 1 which is still used as the liturgical year for the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Now we speed ahead to 1582 when another miscalculation on leap days was no longer tolerated and Pope Gregory XIII promulgated the Gregorian calendar. Most Catholic countries adopted it and gradually the Protestants followed. Then Eastern Europe and some others. It wasn't until 1752 that Britain and US adopted the practice followed by more countries such as Russia. However, there are still some who still use the Julian calendar and some who celebrate New Year on a totally different day for various reasons.
So what is all this leading to. Just my opinion which is I think Spring is the New Year when all becomes new. It's the cycle of life and death. No matter how many calculations are contrived and how many calendars are imposed a new cycle of life begins and I'd like to think it is the New Year for Mother Earth.
Well, having gotten that out of my system I'm embarking on putting together bits and pieces of my short polymer clay journey so far. Eventually I'll catch up with myself and be up to date but in the mean time, I'll have some record of my travels so far. Oh, and I'll be putting up some pics too.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Wandering Mind - Blogging
For quite some time I've been wondering what to write on my blog and procrastinating the eventual commitment. Now that I've been following some other blogs, I don't feel as uncomfortable. I had it in my mind that I would be committed to publishing some daily masterpiece, laboring over the content, stressing because I can't think of anything to say and be too disoriented to work on my art. I was very wrong...slap me in the forehead or can I only do that if I should have had a V8? LOL
Amazingly enough, bloggers range from posting an occasional snippet to very professional publications. I fall somewhere in between, leaning much closer to the former at this point. Why is that, you may ask? Or maybe you didn't but it's my blog so I'm going to write what's on my mind.
Blogs are another way of communicating and you can put into it whatever and whenever you want. One day it may just be a ramble and then the next it's something profound but it's always something you are interested in. IMHO your blog is for you. It's an avenue to express yourself, maybe think out loud, learn something, remember something or let your mind wander. Which is something I do very easily. I've always wondered if I have an attention problem. Sometimes my brain just jumps from one thing to another. Well, like it's doing right now.
There are so many things you can do with your own blog. You can keep track of a new path you are on, like a diary or maybe you found something that you think others would like also. With all those spiders crawling around the internet there is going to be someone who is interested in what you have to say...even if it's only you. After all if you are pleased by what you have written, then it's time well spent.
Now I just have to listen to my own advice. LOL
Amazingly enough, bloggers range from posting an occasional snippet to very professional publications. I fall somewhere in between, leaning much closer to the former at this point. Why is that, you may ask? Or maybe you didn't but it's my blog so I'm going to write what's on my mind.
Blogs are another way of communicating and you can put into it whatever and whenever you want. One day it may just be a ramble and then the next it's something profound but it's always something you are interested in. IMHO your blog is for you. It's an avenue to express yourself, maybe think out loud, learn something, remember something or let your mind wander. Which is something I do very easily. I've always wondered if I have an attention problem. Sometimes my brain just jumps from one thing to another. Well, like it's doing right now.
There are so many things you can do with your own blog. You can keep track of a new path you are on, like a diary or maybe you found something that you think others would like also. With all those spiders crawling around the internet there is going to be someone who is interested in what you have to say...even if it's only you. After all if you are pleased by what you have written, then it's time well spent.
Now I just have to listen to my own advice. LOL
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Welcome
Every day is a brand new day in which we have a choice. My choice is to follow a dream and although there may be challanges, there will be new experiences. The road we choose to follow is an adventure and I'm going on safari! I may not always update this site as well as others who publish their information but that's probably because I'm experiencing something new and exciting or it could be I'm just in my studio creating a new art piece.So welcome to my little piece of the internet. I hope we'll enjoy the trip together.
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