A Quick Artistic Project
I don't really get much accomplished when my health is lousy and, for the past few weeks, my health has been pretty lousy. I don't even remember when I last immersed myself into an art project.
I've been fighting off a cold for at least two weeks now. A cold isn't a big deal for most people but, for me, a cold only compounds my problems with my mast cell disease. The cold ends up knocking me for a loop and it seems to take forever to shake it. My body already has too many mast cells and too many overactive mast cells. When we add a cold to this environment, my mast cells are even more overactive wreaking havoc on all fronts.
To make matters worse, I really wore myself down over the past few months. I knew this would be a recovery period for me but my mast cells are a bit angry right now as well. Angry mast cells make for prolonged cold symptoms, bone pain, joint pain, fatigue, intermittent anaphylaxis, and a bit of nausea. This makes for some very long but very boring, uneventful and unproductive days. I want to accomplish something... anything... but I feel like I could sleep for a month.
After just a few days of being physically down, I actually need to accomplish something...
This evening I skipped dinner because I've been feeling so lousy. The grandkids had just left and I was parked on the couch. I glanced over at a shelf in our living room that is temporarily displaying a few O scale trains... sometimes I just look at something and see some art in it. I grabbed my camera and started shooting away...
This old Mogul steam locomotive with the big old Hudson steam locomotive parked next to it reminded me of a scene from almost a hundred years ago... I envisioned an old photograph shot with an old large format camera that has a few light leaks and multiple lenses...
After shooting one quick photo, I moved over to my computer in a different room where I do most of my art. I had a vision of some old darkroom techniques which were problematic back in the day but which can add some romance and visual interest if done correctly today... wet plates, light leaks, lens distortions, grainy film, double exposures, faded color, dirt, scratches...
Okay, I finally accomplished something... now I can go to sleep and feel good about myself!
I've been fighting off a cold for at least two weeks now. A cold isn't a big deal for most people but, for me, a cold only compounds my problems with my mast cell disease. The cold ends up knocking me for a loop and it seems to take forever to shake it. My body already has too many mast cells and too many overactive mast cells. When we add a cold to this environment, my mast cells are even more overactive wreaking havoc on all fronts.
To make matters worse, I really wore myself down over the past few months. I knew this would be a recovery period for me but my mast cells are a bit angry right now as well. Angry mast cells make for prolonged cold symptoms, bone pain, joint pain, fatigue, intermittent anaphylaxis, and a bit of nausea. This makes for some very long but very boring, uneventful and unproductive days. I want to accomplish something... anything... but I feel like I could sleep for a month.
After just a few days of being physically down, I actually need to accomplish something...
This evening I skipped dinner because I've been feeling so lousy. The grandkids had just left and I was parked on the couch. I glanced over at a shelf in our living room that is temporarily displaying a few O scale trains... sometimes I just look at something and see some art in it. I grabbed my camera and started shooting away...
This old Mogul steam locomotive with the big old Hudson steam locomotive parked next to it reminded me of a scene from almost a hundred years ago... I envisioned an old photograph shot with an old large format camera that has a few light leaks and multiple lenses...
After shooting one quick photo, I moved over to my computer in a different room where I do most of my art. I had a vision of some old darkroom techniques which were problematic back in the day but which can add some romance and visual interest if done correctly today... wet plates, light leaks, lens distortions, grainy film, double exposures, faded color, dirt, scratches...
Okay, I finally accomplished something... now I can go to sleep and feel good about myself!
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