Saturday, December 7, 2002

All My Collected Seattle Bookmarks
Since I've been updating mostly over here at livejournal or here at the blue bicycle weblog, I haven't had much call to post over here lately.

Obviously. Since the last entry was in what? July?

Anyway, since I'm moving out of Seattle and back to the Land Of Flat to save up some money for Phase II of IN(ner) QUESTION's development into full-fledged art magazine, I don't have time for my usual pithy declarations of Art Goodness along with the varied and sundy linkage, so I'm just posting a link to the bookmarks.html file that I had IE generate for me.

I'm cheesy and opportunistic like that, see. :)

Send me letters while I'm exiled:

Eliza Badurina
112 S. 9th St.
Norfolk, NE 68701
USA

I'll definitely have time to write you back these days. Ugh. Cows. Corn. Flat. No mountains to climb, few letterboxes to get. My poor cerebral cortex is going to atrophy if I don't watch it.

Monday, July 29, 2002

Woo...I almost forgot I had this. I'm probably going to move it over to moderngypsy.com at some point, since I can't ever access pitas with any kind of speed or reliability.

Then again, I may just leave this here and move forward. But boy, these links are good.

Quandary, quandary.

Monday, April 1, 2002

Cleaning up!
I've been a clean machine today. Windows are sparkling, sinks are clean and empty, and all that's left is laundry, and computer stuff.

So here's some more bookmark cleanup:

I heard about To Do List magazine on NPR, and it occurred to me that I had to have any magazine that had an in-depth article about flossing. It was a little disappointing, but hey, nothing's perfect.

There's this great radio station here in Seattle, KEXP, and they have this worldbeat show that just plain kicks ass. You can even listen online if you've got realplayer, mediaplayer, or a bunch of other players.

It's too late to submit a birth story to Atomic Petals for spring, but you can get in on the other life passages themes for the rest of the year on this kick-ass literary magazine online.

Have you seenthis choice bit of stalkerism? I still can't tell if it's a joke or not. Kinda scary.

And in case just being a geek isn't enough for you, try being a socially drunk geek instead. Make it so!

Who doesn't love the Disgruntled Housewife? If you don't, you should. Lots to look at, lots to see.

I adore Dystatic's artzine work. So prolific, it's like looking into the face of...well....a prolific zinester.

And did you know there's a great place to get bookbinding stuff, right online? Colophon kicks ass, even if the site is a little old-skool.

That's enough for now. I'm mostly writing over here, but as I get more organized and focused, you may just see more of me here and there.

Have an artful day.
------------e

Saturday, January 12, 2002

altered books rock
I just found the queen of tarts, who seems to have done an altered book with tori amos lyrics.

Now, I am fully aware that a) tori is kind of the realm of teenage angsty popgirls right now and b) it's just not -cool- to be thirty and to like her and c) she's exceedingly gone further and further over the edge of insanity with her lyrics and will likely end up driving her own audience away eventually with her bizarre experimentations. But, and this is a big BUT, I'm still listening to "Little Earthquakes" all the way through and liking it all, which is a big compliment since I found it in '94 (I believe. maybe '93.)

Plus, this altered book has some really fabulous pictures. I need to do more book altering. (And get a scanner so I can update my own pages on the subject. Sigh.)

----e

Saturday, January 12, 2002

multiples aren't ALWAYS good
Excuse the multiple postings yesterday. Our 'net here was being exceedingly flaky, supposedly because of some enron lines that were all jacked up. (This is from a tech at the ISP where I'm staying, and I don't know if I necessarily trust that judgement, but hey. It's all fixed now.)

As a consolation prize: An Artist's Way message board for you creative types to get together to banish blockage.

If you find one for Cameron's other book, the Vein of Gold, let me know. I'm looking for one.

----e

Friday, January 11, 2002

a e s t h e t e s
Okay, I know it's kind of hokey, but i've been really fascinated by the whole aesthetes and decadents movement that took place around the time of Oscar Wilde lately. I'm not sure what it is about the whole thing that gets my attention, but it does. From the overblown philosophy of senses over everything, to the political views, to the bizarre works that came out of the time period, I'm just all over it.

I found a great page that I haven't been able to find since, dammit. It had, in clear language, the whole philosophy of aestheticism, laid out point by point. I didn't agree with most of it, but I was intrigued and was looking forward to going back to the site to try to figure out what it was that both bothered and interested me, and I found that I bookmarked THE WRONG PAGE. Dammit. If you find anything like this in your own travels, feel free to email me. I'd be all over that.

I had a bunch of other links, too. Unfortunately, my 'net connection's being about as cooperative as a lemur on a leash, and I can't put them in right now. I'll update them throughout this weekend and try to flesh this out a little.

For now, suffice it to say that I think I'm about to chuck my practicality and take up an absinthe addiction, creating art and bizarre political statements while laying naked on my velvet setee.

----e
aesthete wannabe

Friday, January 11, 2002

Journals, visual and otherwise.
This visual journal just knocks the socks offa me. Amazing stuff here.

Or if you're looking for more of the spiritual side of things, you can certainly find it with this program.

more, coming soon.

Friday, January 11, 2002

CatsLife Press
Woo. I have a couple of these stamps, and had no idea there were so many cool ones. Gotta get this catalog. On an unrelated note, I finally remembered my password. So I might be updating one of these days, if I get some time. In the meantime, go visit me here or here, where I write quite a bit.

Wednesday, October 17, 2001

Bookbinding and Artists
There are few things in this world that get my blood moving as much as bookbinding. The feel of the paper, the pop of the needle when the awl goes through, the smooth flow of the glue over binder's board -- it's almost erotic.

I just found out there's an art colony and store out in Palm Desert. I'm smelling a road trip soon. (like I need an excuse for a road trip, anyway.)

Speaking of artists, you've got to see these: the guy who does my pet skeleton should be deified. Paper Soul is what I wanted my art journals to be. Out of the Blue Studios has a great links page, on top of great art. I only WISH I could do illustrations like Keri. Historically, there's a ton of info about Rosetti. (Did you know he started a secret society? And didn't let his sister in? Jeez.) Or for outsider art, there's a whole bottle cap revolution going on.

Get some inspiration during your coffee break. Or some great mp3s and software for evaluation purposes only, of course.

One more artist, and I'm done: Claudia Rose makes these super-funky rubber stamps that make you slap your head and say, "Why didn't *I* think of that???" I love her stuff. I'd buy it all if I was richer than I am.

-----e
getting down to the
nuts and bolts now.

Wednesday, October 17, 2001

Projects and Fascinations
I'm enamoured by potential. So projects (before they're made) really excite me on some kind of deep and primal level.

So things like making and using a pinhole camera just turn me on. Or making boxes. Or bath bombs. (The previous is a great all-around site, incidentally.) Or learning how to do encaustics....

And that's just offline projects. There's tons of stuff I'd love to do/write for/play with online, too. The photobooth project, Louise's fabulous SLOW zine, Stories.com for fiction writers, the hip Soapbox Girls, Seal Press if I ever get this damn book done, Hootchie Mama for the spicy side of things, or maybe finding a site in the webseed network. And for distraction, Matt's project is just the best.

And speaking of reading up on things -- distraction or not -- there's nothing like history to inspire the present. The World's Fair of 1915 had this amazing story and a great set of ephemera that sparks the heck out of my imagination. I wish I knew of some books about it -- if you know any email me and let me know.

This just barely scratches the surface, too.

More, coming soon.

--------e
the one with all
the weird interests.

Saturday, October 13, 2001

CREATIVITY

Every artist needs it, and when you most need it, it seems to have absconded with a scullery maid, leaving you holding onto shreds of inspiration from days past.

Luckily, there are sites to help. Like Artrageous Women, and other woman-centric sites, which are fine if you're a woman. But what about everybody?

Try the creativity portal or stuff for gifted people. Or take an artistic retreat somewhere fun. Do a search for others like you. Or you could buy things, of course.

You can watch things on PBS (and do a search for "egg", the arts show, which is FAB, too), look at mail art and artistamps to inspire you to connect, or turn an old book into art.

Looking at other people's work, even if they're gone, can be a kick in the pants. So can seeing things from people you don't know or people you know thirdhand.

Progressive web projects turn me on. But not in a porno way. At least, I'd never admit it.

And still more, coming up.

-------e
inspired continuously,
to the point of getting
NOTHING done.

Saturday, October 13, 2001

One would think...
...I would get tired of art links. But I never do.

For instance, there's moonshine lane, by a friend's daughter, that makes me drool. Or this link of artlinks where I can spend a whole afternoon looking at art instead of doing it.

Some actually ARE doing it, and doing it well. Some are putting it up for the world to see, and some are putting it up to collaborate with the others in the world. Some write, some play, and some just share. And then there are those who sell things: Rubber Stamps, and ephemera, all kinds of paper stuff, and...well...more rubber stamps.

Actually, it's surprising that I get any work done at all.

More to come.

-----e
she who must be stopped.

Saturday, October 13, 2001

It's About Time...

Now that I'm running an actual journal-y type weblog on my site (which I've FINALLY been redoing somewhat), I've been ignoring this site more than usual. Which means I'm ignoring my EVER GROWING BOOKMARKS LIST, until times like now, when it just plain becomes unmanageable. Sigh.

So without further ado, I begin THE BOOKMARK BACKUP PROJECT, part III.

Hold onto your hats.

-----e
who just mistyped that
as "hold onto your hate",
which means something
completely different now,
doesn't it?

Tuesday, September 4, 2001

Nervousness.org
As if I didn't have enough obsessions, along comes nervousness.org to round out my lack of free time.

Brainchild of Erik, the guy behind SeattleStories (the Seattle branch of Derek's citystories project), it's this amazing place where you can sign up to participate in others' artistic projects or post your own. Best of all, other than the cost of postage, it's free.

Gotta love free art.

------e

Tuesday, June 12, 2001

As if all that wasn't enough yet...
I've got yet more. Sometimes, the sheer number of all these resources and communities and galleries makes me wonder if everyone in the world is really an artist underneath it all, with latent talent lurking, just waiting for the right outlet to draw the creativity from their very souls.

Not all art is Michaelangelo, after all. Lettering, prints, collage, books....there are lowbrow and highbrow arts, new mediums and outsider movements all the time. Step back and just create with what you have or what you like, find materials that make your heart sing and your blood race and do it.

Not everyone is destined to be famous for what they decide to do, but everyone can channel themselves into art.

Think about it: A world of artists may never be a perfect one, but it would without a doubt be one that is more beautiful, and maybe, even a little more in-tune with we who record it.

---------e

Tuesday, June 12, 2001

Sick of Art Yet?
Not me.

I'm just geting started with all these links. Is it any wonder my browser crashed under the weight??

Anyway, all it takes for me, most of the time, is to see art to get me inspired to actually start creating it. Seeing what other people either have done or are doing currently helps keep my idea well at full levels.

As such, the section of my bookmarks that's the most overstuffed may not be actual art at all. They're quotes or letters, writings or projects that creatives have come up with that aren't traditional art at all.

Our brains and memories are strange things, after all. A perfectly harmless site can trigger a whole slew of new and fresh ideas in me, whether or not that was the artist's intention.

That's why we, as artists and creators have to be conscious of letting go once things are made, once the image is past raw form. We don't own what we do, either collectively or individually. We create, set free, and let the viewer find relevence and application. They may imitate us, take it one step further, dumb it down, or just plain not GET us, but the experience is purely for the viewer, listener, or critic. It is no longer ours, despite our resistence.

This isn't to say that we don't have rights to our actual works, just that interpretation will happen. Commercialization will happen. We're just along for the ride of our lives.

-----e

Tuesday, June 12, 2001

Supplies!
One can never have too many supplies as an artist. Trust me. If you've an artist in your life, you may as well just accept it now. Paint will always come before food.

If that artist is a bookmaker, just replace "paint" with paper, archival glue, and binder's boards. Same principle.

Speaking of book artists (which is an awful segue from supplies to artists, I know), some of these artists online are doing some really incredible things with this medium. Sometimes I just sit and click through my unholy list of links and realize that I've got a long way to go with regards to skill before I'll ever be able to create in this way. It's humbling and inspiring.

Luckily, there are a myriad resources online for just about all skill levels, and some just for fun and reference.

Some artists go so far as to share how-tos and techniques. Some share instructions that can be modified for a book or press, and some just show off their creative streaks.

Already started? Need a picture or a font? Lots of those out there.

And if you just want to get published -- or see how others are doing so -- there are places for that, too.

-----e