HaikuCat Creations

 I have been finding that in the doing of my Ordinary Beauty project, I am further clarifying for myself exactly what I mean to be doing. It's an interesting thing to me because when I set out this challenge for myself I thought I had a pretty good handle on what I meant. But, in the doing of it, I am discovering that sometimes my results are less than satisfying. I look at what I've got and I say to myself, "This isn't what I want." Take, for example, my results from week 5, which was the week of 1/29-2/4. I typically share what I feel is my best photo for this project, along with a runner-up if there is one, or at least that's how it's evolved over this first month of the project. But, this week's best photo left me feeling disappointed. Unicorn & Horse These are some statues in the corner of someone's yard. I think they represent ordinary beauty because I see them all the time, because they are kind of a little joke (they live on the corner ...

 I've been interested in block printing for a little over a year now, though I did have some experience with carving stamps for letterboxing when my kids were younger. I realized recently though that I wasn't experimenting or playing around with it much. The last time I carved a block was about half a year ago.  It occurred to me that maybe one of the reasons I wasn't practicing and playing around with this artform was that I was intimidated by the inking process. I have and have used water soluble block printing ink to make prints. It comes in a tube and has the consistency of acrylic paint. I find it difficult to get the ink on the block in just the right manner. I tend to either have too much or too little. Or, maybe I apply too much or too little pressure when I'm placing the paper to the block or the block to the paper. Of course it's something that requires practice to finesse and get a good feel for, but it seems like the frustrations surrounding my lack of e...

 Hey there! It's Friday which means it's time for my weekly blog post. Look, I'm as amazed as anyone that I'm here doing this on a Friday afternoon for the fourth time in a row considering I only posted two times in 2025 and once in 2024. The only way I can keep this up is by keeping it loose and keeping the pressure levels low, low, low. Therefore, despite the fact that my brain is yelling at me that this is supposed to be a blog about creativity and art, I am going to tell you about my experience with being a returning student. I am attending Arizona State University Online. I transferred all of my previous college credits from two different institutions to ASU in 2023 and I'm about to graduate (in May) with a degree in English.  I went back to school at an advanced age once before, in 2015 and graduated with an Associates Degree (English with a Creative Writing Emphasis). That experience was actually really great. I was 41-43 then and I took maybe 3/4 of my class...

 I decided this year to keep my creative goals as simple as possible. I slotted it right into the whole 52 for 52 structure I'm doing for so many other things. I decided I would make one creation per week and that I would leave interpretation pretty open as to what counts as a "creation." It could be a finished embroidery hoop art piece, or a carved stamp for block-printing, or, as it is for this week, a sketchbook spread. I figured I would know what counted and what didn't as I went along. For instance, this week I found myself already behind on this challenge due to not being finished with what I had planned on for the first week, and I knew I would need something non-taxing to get caught up. But I also knew a simple one-off sketch wasn't going to cut it, so I told myself I needed to fill up the whole spread for it to count. I did that, had fun, kept it loose, and I'm perfectly pleased with its imperfection.  As for what I did for the first week, it's a ...

 How can I carry on with the ridiculous blog topic I had planned to write for today when the world is in such a painful, chaotic, desperate place right now? Today is my social media day (M, W, F only (might talk about that more later, might not)) and already I have nearly been brought to tears twice. But I feel like I don't have anything to say that hasn't already been said better by someone else. I don't really want to add to the cacophony of voices (legitimately) shouting out in anger and sorrow and despair and fear. I'm not sure that would be helpful to anyone. But maybe my little bit of nonsense will bring a smile to someone during an otherwise trying day, so... I'll stick with it as planned. Last week I talked about one of my 2026 challenges and this week I'm going to tell you about another one, but it requires a little bit of backstory. Somewhere around August I discovered a little app called Pikmin Bloom . It's a Nintendo/Niantic game that's built...

 Hello! Here is my obligatory acknowledgement that I haven't blogged in a very long time!  With that out of the way, let's get on with it. Happy New Year! Welcome to 2026, or as Pat calls it, Twenty-twenty-twenty-twenty-twenty-twenty-six. No one knows why! It's the beginning of a new year and you know what that means! My brain is filled to the brim with ideas for CHALLENGES!! I've long ago given up on trying to keep myself from getting excited about the feeling of possibility that pops up at the beginning of every year (and every month too, but to a lesser extent). It doesn't matter that half of my plans and goals and expectations come to naught. I still love coming up with new things to challenge myself with and even if they do sometimes get abandoned (and sometimes they don't!) they always push me a little, help me learn, and usually give me at least some productive (and oftentimes creative) output.  I am turning 52 this year and guess what? There are 52 weeks...