Wrangling Those Blog Post Ideas

I Miss Oklahoma, ink on paper, 2009 by Sarah Atlee. Some rights reserved.

I'm learning in the Blog Triage course that ideas beget other ideas. How to keep track of them all?

Following is a cross-section of my own blog-writing process.

Ideas are slippery. Capture them.

If I get an idea for a post and I'm not at the computer, I write it down in in my Hiptser PDA. Then I say to myself, "Captured - huzzah!"

Since my Hipster is a series of to-do lists, incomplete tasks stay on top until done. Post ideas stay on top until I store them in the Blog directory on my flash drive, which I carry everywhere.

Ideas want to wander. Park them.

At the computer, I open a new file in a plain-text editor (NoteTab or TextWrangler) and type in one or two sentences describing the idea. Example: "Flat Stanley, cheap markers."

I save the file with the date in ISO 8601 format. Example: "20120501 flat stanley cheap markers.txt"

Because computer operating systems like to sort files alphabetically by default, this date format automatically keeps files in chronological order. Handy.

In a web browser window, I open all the web pages that relate to my post in separate tabs. Oh, how I love tabbed browsing! Each url gets copied and pasted at the bottom of my plain text document. This is just to park them until I turn them into links.

Maybe this won't turn into a post today. I move the plain text document into a subfolder on my flash drive called "unpublished." It's a great place to go back and browse when I'm looking for new content for my blog.

Now, to the WordPress dashboard. I create a new post, put ONLY the title in, and save it as a draft. It is very important that I do not fiddle around with any of the shiny WordPress buttons at this time.

Ideas want to be polished.

Back in NoteTab, I finish composing my post.

Using the bits of html code that I know, I put all the link URLs into place.

I run through my preflight checklist, checking all links, spelling and grammar, and taste-testing for maximum zestiness.

I copy and paste the whole text into WordPress. I save the draft again (!) and preview it to check my links again (!).

Then, and only then, do I click "Publish."

Last step: eat some chocolate and go to bed.

Are you having trouble deciding what to write, or how to write it?

Keep your eyes peeled for Alyson Stanfield's next Blog Triage workshop.

Conspicuously Absent - Composing a Still Life

Landlocked: Still Life with Sushi, acrylic on canvas, 8 x 8 inches, 2011 by Sarah Atlee. Some rights reserved.

Composition is about choices

When composing an image, the artists chooses where each element is placed in order to produce certain effects. The desired effect could be motion, tension, calm, strength, quiet, noise, and so on.

Lately I'm revisiting Richard Diebenkorn's Ocean Park paintings and studying his compositions. I'm wild about the way he pushes those divisions of space almost to the edges of the canvas in a conscious step away from the traditional Western pyramid. As my former painting teacher Martin Facey (himself a student of Diebenkorn's) would say, the middle of this painting is full of "nothing," as in no thing.

Painting no thing

In exploring still life painting, I find that composition is queen. A solid composition is complemented, not overshadowed, by color and paint handling. I enjoy playing on the notion that the most important business of a painting happens in the middle.

For Landlocked, above, I wanted to try pushing all the action to the first half of the hour, so to speak. I frequently employ the circle-within-a-square layout, and I like how the oddish placement of the sushi plays against the static underpinnings of the image.

My original photos of these leftovers included a teacup with soy sauce in it, a very dark element dominating the upper left quadrant of the composition. I decided against including it in the painting, choosing instead to fill that half of the plate with no thing. I also changed the color of the plate from green to a more neutral grey to turn its personality down a few notches, letting the sushi pop (better than putting it in the frying pan, no?).

Landlocked was created for the 2012 Small Works exhibit at JRB Art Gallery at the Elms.

And We're Back

My studio, featuring Submerge and Anonymous Niece.

How have you been? Glad to hear it.

I've enrolled in the Blog Triage online class taught by Alyson Stanfield and Cynthia Morris in an effort to spruce this place up. These smart ladies have started the course by asking participants to think about what goals they want their blogs to accomplish, and who they're writing for.

In other words, why do I have this blog? What do I hope you'll get out of it?

Interesting, interested people

I read a log of blogs. Like a ton, every day. My favorite posts on other people's blogs are the ones where I learn something new. About anything, not just art. This is my mission here - share what I've learned with you.

I post about painting techniques, sketches and experimental work, artists whose work I admire, art events happening in my area, and thoughts and ideas that roll across my landscape. If I think it's interesting, someone out there will be interested. I'll share with you; I hope you'll continue to share with me too.

What's interested me lately

David Rees sharpens pencils. I just love it when people find the thing they love to do.

I've been grooving to the beats of Kinshasa One Two for several weeks.

A cardboard arcade made by 9-year old Caine inspires me to build what I want using what I've got.

Ze Frank reminds us that we can begin anywhere. Like here.

Iron - Abstract Sketch Inspired by Billboards

Iron, mixed media on cardboard, 6 x 8 inches, 2007 by Sarah Atlee. Some rights reserved.

I made this collage sketch in preparation for the Signs portion of the Normal, OK exhibit in 2008. See more of these collages in this Flickr set.

Pulling out the albums

Revisiting my older works is a great way for me to take a look at the journey I've taken over the years. I'd like to share some works from the archives here that might not be featured in the Images section of this site. Watch for these in the coming weeks.

Try Not to Think About Hats

Try Not to Think About Hats, acrylic and graphite on found wood, 7 x 14 inches, 2011. Some rights reserved.

Some paintings just come out right the first time. This was done in a day.