"The time has come,"

 the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of songs--and canvases--and Featuring: magazine--"

Well, another 3 week gap, despite best intentions. Every time I sat down to write this, something happened to distract me. ho hum, such is life.

First off, Songs!

Over at Collabor-ART we're starting a new CJ based on Desert Island Discs. Each of us has created a top 10, which will do the rounds, with each person picking a song and creating a page for it. Mine is a "Tracks of my years" list, not necessarily my 10 favourites, but 10 tracks that mean something  to me; a place, a person, a time.

The hardest part was picking 10 songs. There's dozens to choose from and narrowing it down wasn't easy, but I got there in the end.  Once that was done, it was a case of creating pages, sign-in discs, etc and then creating the first page.

 Yes, I was once that young!

The whole list is;

Brighton Rock – Queen
Caroline – Status Quo
Tainted Love – Soft Cell
Vienna – Ultravox
Street Tuff – Double Trouble & the Rebel MC
A New England – Kirsty MacColl
The Lark Ascending – Vaughan Williams
Beltaine – Jethro Tull
Read ‘em and weep – Meatloaf
Freebird – Lynyrd Skynyrd
 

Another project at Collabor-ART is now coming to an end, a travelling canvas. This left me six months ago as a blank canvas with a bit of red paint on it. It returns as a multi-layered piece of collaborative art, ready for display, once I figure out where.

Lastly, magazines. Or one magazine in particular - Featuring:

Generally I don't read  craft magazines as I find most of them to be dominated by card making, scrap-booking and cuteness. Nothing wrong with that, but it's not for me. The exception in the past has been Somerset Studio, but recently I've found that it doesn't hold my attention. I received the latest issue and skimmed through it in 10 minutes, with only one article catching my eye.

Thankfully there's a new kid on the block Featuring:

It's edited and produced by Marit from Marit's Paper World, and it is a real breath of fresh air. In the whole magazine I noticed only one (yes, one) advert. The articles are well written, well illustrated, and are actually worth reading, rather than just looking at the pretty pictures. Also, it's not centred on the US/Canadian market either, it's international. Seriously, get a copy and read it if you can - you won't regret it.

Oh, and there's no adverts on the back cover. Just mini art from readers - like me :)

Dad dancing?

This is a crafty version of an ear-worm*

I have no idea why it came to be stuck in my head, but it did, and like an ear-worm the only way to get rid of it was to journal it.

Ok, by now, those outside the UK are probably wondering what I've been 'using' (as well as many in the UK) but I'm clean - well, apart from the stains on my shirt, but that's because I couldn't find my bib.

Big fish, little fish was a dance move from the 90's, usually performed at raves, and for a while the phrase was used in a mocking way to describe what some of us pass off as dancing.

This was started yesterday at the Cubby Hole, and finished off at home. After much discussion, we found that only 2 people (plus me) knew what I was on about, which led to accusations that we were weird. As the other two were Paul, and Sue Roddis there may be some truth in it.

*Ear-worm - a song/tune that becomes lodged in the brain and keeps repeating, possibly only one or two lines. Usually something banal and irritating e.g. The Wichita line man. The only way to exorcise it, is to listen to the whole song, or find something else to replace it.

Odds & sods, bits & bobs

Ye gods!  3 weeks!

So much for getting back to blogging etc. Once again, life has managed to get in the way. Nothing spectacularly earth shattering, just life. Oh well, it's better than the alternative!

There has been creativity, just nothing really worth blogging. Some birthday cards, gift tags, that kind of thing. Plus background work for other projects; making blank journals, backgrounds on canvases and so on.

At one point I got a little bored of all this preparation, and just wanted to create something purely for the sake of it, and inspiration came in the form of a blog entry by the wonderfully talented and inspirational Pauline Leger.

It's nothing fancy, deep or meaningful, just a quick burst of 'stream of conciousness' random creativity.  

I've also signed up for AEDM2012. 

Last year was my first year, and it was a blast. Apart from art I also managed some poetry and short prose, and it's a great way to get the mojo going. It also introduced me to some amazingly talented blogger artists.