a bit sketchy

I was going through some of my old sketch books and my work from an art class. There are only three faces that I found. All the rest of the sketches are missing just the faces. Occasionally I left out the hands too, but usually they are drawn in very strategically. The faces are just obviously missing. The three that I did attempt to sketch are a) required for the class project to be considered complete, and b) one time I was feeling overly ambitious. At first I was thinking there was a link between myself being faceless in my dreams and the sketches (one of my BFF's probably doing the same thing and bringing a lot more educational information on the topic to the table)... Then I realized, maybe it's really the simple answer that's the right one. Faces are hard to draw.

wyrd

I started reading  Beowulf again. This time, a translation by Seamus Heaney. AMAZING. So many translations to choose from, so many people are critics of the epic and ignore the translation, or are ignorant of the origins of this masterpiece. I am thoroughly enjoying Beowulf, partly due to it being something I decided to read again rather than be assigned, and partly due to the wonderful translation. If you have any desire to read this ancient poem, I would strongly recommend this version.

On a side note, reading Heaney's introduction to his translation of Beowulf also gave me a quite a bit more appreciation for Katharine Kerr's incredibly detailed Deverry series (fifteen books of interwoven lives and stories). Sometimes we just enjoy a work of art for it's beauty, not being able to fathom the effort and immensity of what the artist did to give us the final version. When we get a hint, it's a glimmer of something incomprehensible in our peripheral vision, so easily dismissed    ---  unless we have been there too, and recognize it in ourself as well.

reason to love the internet: Orcharding

I've heard a lot of jokes about the internet and blogs/bloggers. I think that perhaps if you dive into the "sewer of information" and start swallowing everything that comes to you, a) GROSS, and b) are you some mindless zombie?! As with any of the media we are bombarded with everyday, it takes discernment, a touch of common sense, and a sense of humor. While we wade through all this muck and brouhaha, we can discover little bright spots of happiness and art. 

http://wakeworkrinserepeat.blogspot.com/ 

Last year I found this blog (yes I use the Blogger "next blog" button and get so annoyed when it's not on someone's page). The blog site/title is GENIUS. PURE GENIUS. It's one of those things when you see it you say, "If only I had thought of that first!" Also, I love her sense of humor. And the reason I'm posting this today: the pictures are wonderful! I love seeing other people's view of their every day world. I'm a shaky photographer at best, and have no Photoshop skills. That makes me appreciate someone else's frozen time and beauty so much more. This wonderful "Orcharding" picture made my day. I'm posting it here after seeing that Bethany just asks to be sited when you borrow her work. So, dear friends, admire this picture and stop by and visit Bethany's blog.