Yep. I've had a good weekend. Once or twice a year, a REALLY GOOD IDEA will hit me and it's like a bomb goes off in my head. The "creative" bomb. I don't eat well (whatever my husband will go out and buy for me) I don't sleep well, and I spend about 24 hours or more just working feverishly to get that image out of my head and into a lasting medium before it decays in my brain.
Last night when I was noodling around looking for snakes I found these pictures I thought I'd lost! Charlotte and I went for one of our long bike rides along the Erie Canal a couple of weeks ago, and I had the presence of mind to bring my camera.
You know...I just can't shut my brain off! I think I'm going to do yet another variation on this theme that's grabbed hold of me. Tonight! *is half-nuts with ideas*
So that's what happened to me this weekend. I got an idea "what if dragons could be colored like snakes...you know, in cool patterns like a diamond back or a python...". That idea turned into "...why dragons??", which turned into another idea and that idea became a series of masks. The coolest, funkiest, shiniest mask idea I think I've ever had. From idea to finished mask...about ten hours. Then last night I researched snake patterns (they're REALLY beautiful animals. I don't think I ever noticed before how lovely they are). My design needed strongly patterned gray, black (or dark brown), tan, white, beige...a lot of earth tones but in cool designs. I narrowed it down to about five snakes. :-/ Heck, we have a LOT of pretty-but-poisonous snakes in this country.
So I spent the day in a blur, painting these masks. Each one was neater than the last. I kept jumping up, running to my husband; "Look at THIS one!" I wish my Dad was still alive...I loved showing cool new designs to him, he always got such a big kick out of it.
I'm not going to put a pic of it up yet...the first one has to go to![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ash_grey_sky because she indirectly inspired me. Once she gets it in the mail I'll be sharing pics because THEY ARE SO COOL.
I know I sound like a loon. :-) It just feels really good to do something that falls out of my head so easily and completely. The mask looks exactly the way I hoped it would, just the same way I saw it in my head. Usually, I get ideas that have to be pinched and tweaked into some semblance of order...but once or twice a year I get struck by lightning and IT FEELS GREAT.
Anyway!So I spent the day in a blur, painting these masks. Each one was neater than the last. I kept jumping up, running to my husband; "Look at THIS one!" I wish my Dad was still alive...I loved showing cool new designs to him, he always got such a big kick out of it.
I'm not going to put a pic of it up yet...the first one has to go to
ash_grey_sky because she indirectly inspired me. Once she gets it in the mail I'll be sharing pics because THEY ARE SO COOL.I know I sound like a loon. :-) It just feels really good to do something that falls out of my head so easily and completely. The mask looks exactly the way I hoped it would, just the same way I saw it in my head. Usually, I get ideas that have to be pinched and tweaked into some semblance of order...but once or twice a year I get struck by lightning and IT FEELS GREAT.
Last night when I was noodling around looking for snakes I found these pictures I thought I'd lost! Charlotte and I went for one of our long bike rides along the Erie Canal a couple of weeks ago, and I had the presence of mind to bring my camera.
Bike trip! We take this bike ride at least once a week every summer...it's my favorite trail. It actually runs from Lockport to Rochester and beyond, but we only do the 10 miles or so between Lockport and Gasport. Yes, it's the Erie Canal towpath! The same one that was built over a hundred years ago. We started in Gasport, because the wind was blowing from the west.
This is the map in Gasport. We always stop to look at it before we begin our hike...don't know why...we've practically memorized the trail. We head ten miles west from here, to Lockport, where we turn around.
Looking west. The Canal is on the left. The towpath is what's called an "ash path". It's a fine gravel that kicks up a satisfying dust when you really get rolling on it. Plus (coolest part) it sounds JUST like Rice Krispies under your tires.
Stormy sky... It was a really hot day, and though we take our rides in the early evening it was STILL really hot and there were thunderstorms popping up all over the place. Sort of a gamble, because this trail goes through a lot of farmland and rural and wild and not much else...so in a storm there's no shelter. We lucked out though; we got shade and a fantastic sky and all the rain fell somewhere to the south. So we won.
A little further along. I love this spot. There's a thick grove of very old oak trees, and you can always feel a cool breeze blowing out of this mini-forest.
Looking back. Char is, of course, noodling around with her I-Pod. The sky looked clearer to the east.
I love this spot. This is my favorite field. On a really clear day you can actually see the lake (Ontario) and sometimes the CN Tower in Toronto! In a month or so...that field will be full of waist high grain. It'll be all golden.
These three rocks are cool to me. They're just sitting next to the path, under a huge old elm tree. The reason I think they're cool is; I have this book about the Erie Canal (I'm into history...and local history fascinates me). In the book are several old b & w pictures of the canal being built. One of the pictures is of a couple of men and a mule, dragging some huge boulders out of what would become the canal. These are those boulders. They're huge (see the bench there betwen them?)...and I LOVE that I have a picture of some young men (long dead) and an old tired mule (also dead) hauling those rocks to THAT EXACT SPOT and they've sat there for over 180 years. Everything around them has changed...they stay the same. It's like they're watching over the Canal. I dunno, I just think that's beautiful.
Last pic! I took this one and then ran out of space in my camera. Poo! A little further along the trail is this farm...some people got creative and made a GIANT CHICKEN SCULPTURE out of the barrel of a cement truck. Yes. It's truly amazing. That'll have to wait for another trip, another day. For now, be consoled with this lovely picture of the path running beneath a huge old willow tree.
I know. NOT as cool as a giant iron chicken. But still...
This is the map in Gasport. We always stop to look at it before we begin our hike...don't know why...we've practically memorized the trail. We head ten miles west from here, to Lockport, where we turn around.
Looking west. The Canal is on the left. The towpath is what's called an "ash path". It's a fine gravel that kicks up a satisfying dust when you really get rolling on it. Plus (coolest part) it sounds JUST like Rice Krispies under your tires.
Stormy sky... It was a really hot day, and though we take our rides in the early evening it was STILL really hot and there were thunderstorms popping up all over the place. Sort of a gamble, because this trail goes through a lot of farmland and rural and wild and not much else...so in a storm there's no shelter. We lucked out though; we got shade and a fantastic sky and all the rain fell somewhere to the south. So we won.
A little further along. I love this spot. There's a thick grove of very old oak trees, and you can always feel a cool breeze blowing out of this mini-forest.
Looking back. Char is, of course, noodling around with her I-Pod. The sky looked clearer to the east.
I love this spot. This is my favorite field. On a really clear day you can actually see the lake (Ontario) and sometimes the CN Tower in Toronto! In a month or so...that field will be full of waist high grain. It'll be all golden.
These three rocks are cool to me. They're just sitting next to the path, under a huge old elm tree. The reason I think they're cool is; I have this book about the Erie Canal (I'm into history...and local history fascinates me). In the book are several old b & w pictures of the canal being built. One of the pictures is of a couple of men and a mule, dragging some huge boulders out of what would become the canal. These are those boulders. They're huge (see the bench there betwen them?)...and I LOVE that I have a picture of some young men (long dead) and an old tired mule (also dead) hauling those rocks to THAT EXACT SPOT and they've sat there for over 180 years. Everything around them has changed...they stay the same. It's like they're watching over the Canal. I dunno, I just think that's beautiful.
Last pic! I took this one and then ran out of space in my camera. Poo! A little further along the trail is this farm...some people got creative and made a GIANT CHICKEN SCULPTURE out of the barrel of a cement truck. Yes. It's truly amazing. That'll have to wait for another trip, another day. For now, be consoled with this lovely picture of the path running beneath a huge old willow tree.
I know. NOT as cool as a giant iron chicken. But still...
You know...I just can't shut my brain off! I think I'm going to do yet another variation on this theme that's grabbed hold of me. Tonight! *is half-nuts with ideas*
