ysabetwordsmith | Entries tagged with art

Snowflake Challenge 2: Pets of Fandom

Loosely defined! Post about your pets, pets from your canon, anything you want!

Snowflake Challenge: A close up shot of an owl ornament hanging amidst pine boughs..

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Current Mood: busy

The 2026 Rose and Bay Awards are now open for nominations! Please make your nominations and pass the word to all the crowdfunders you know and encourage them to participate. It would be especially helpful for folks you know via places like Kickstarter or Patreon, as I'm not on those sites.

The award period for eligible activities spans January 1-December 31, 2025.
The nomination period spans January 1-January 31, 2026.
The voting period spans February 1-February 28, 2026.

I am eligible in the Poetry and Patron categories this year, if anyone wants to nominate me.

These are the handlers for the 2026 award season:

Art: gs_silva Nominate art! Vote for art!
Fiction: fuzzyred Nominate fiction! Vote for fiction!
Poetry: gs_silva Nominate poetry! Vote for poetry!
Webcomic: curiosity Nominate webcomics! Vote for webcomics!
Other Project: curiosity Nominate other projects! Vote for other projects!
Patron: fuzzyred Nominate patrons! Vote for patrons!

Current Mood: excited

This post describes of the manipulation in the art market, and how that led to NFTs.

Current Mood: busy

People keep clamoring for this sort of thing. Ideally, everyone should have a "blanket statement." While I don't have a stance on many of the points, it seems useful to post the ones where I do have a stance. (See the 2020 version.)

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Current Mood: busy

icons is hosting a Friending Meme.

Current Mood: busy

This poem came out of the December 3, 2024 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from

mama_kestrel. It also fills the "Window" square in my 11-1-24 card for the Sleepytime Bear fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with

fuzzyred. It belongs to the series Arts and Crafts America.

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Current Mood: busy

Today I took pictures of the labels I'm testing, plus a few of the snowy yard as well.

These are the other posts regarding the labels. I need to make a post that shows them all in sequence; not everything has been posted yet.
1/3/25 Photos: Testing Pens on Plant Labels
2/3/25 Photos: House Yard and South Lot
3/3/25 Photos: House Yard and South Lot
4/4/25 Photos: South Lot
5/6/25 Photos: South Lot
6/2/25 Photos: House Yard
11/3/25 Photos: Lantern Terrarium Assembly Part 2 Testing the Fit (labels at bottom)

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

This is the second part of the Tuscola Winter Window Walk. Begin with Part 1.

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

Monday we visited Tuscola so I could take pictures of the holiday window paintings. These were done by Libby Neathery of Libby Jo Art Studio and there are 22 in this year's batch. I did not find quite all of them but I came close. Despite changing the camera batteries right before we left home, I barely got through the two sides of the block with Flesor's Candy Kitchen before the batteries died, so we had to stop and get new ones. I did manage to finish photographing the rest of the windows we found. I love seeing local artists do things like this, because it encourages people to get out and look for them. A little slice of Terramagne! (Continue with Part 2.)

( Walk with me ... )

Current Mood: accomplished

A new book of Edward Gorey’s drawings shows what’s lost when the artist’s sexuality is glossed over

As for his personal life, Gorey may have been what today we’d call asexual; Gorey himself used the term “undersexed,” but he also acknowledged, when asked directly about his sexuality, that he “supposed” he was gay.

Mark Dery’s 2018 Gorey biography, “Born to be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey,” documents the artist’s participation in postwar gay life. The book details a handful of crushes Gorey had on various men, at least one of which – a brief affair with a man named Victor – involved some physical intimacy.

To whatever extent Gorey entertained sex or romance, it was with men. As Dery points out, however, this fact largely goes unaddressed in discussions of the artist’s work.

Current Mood: busy

Signatures meant more in Mesopotamia than they do now − what cylinder seals say about ancient and modern life

In essence, a cylinder seal was a small sculpture that served a crucial utilitarian purpose: signing documents. It was generally made of a precious or semiprecious stone such as lapis lazuli, agate or chalcedony. Images and texts were engraved into the stone with a technique called intaglio. Notably, these engravings would need to be made in reverse of how the markings would look when it was used.

When rolled on a moist clay tablet, these engravings left low-relief markings, signifying that the object’s owner authorized the written document. In this respect, a cylinder seal’s impression is the ancestor of modern handwritten and digital signatures.

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Current Mood: busy

The Winterfaire spreads out as far as the eye can see. Some booths show streamers of red and green, while others sport blue and silver. All of them offer treasure after shining treasure. Music fills the air with lyrics of Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Solstice, and Yule. From the Wordsmith's Forge comes the bright chiming of words being hammered into literature. Delicious scents of hot chocolate, spiced cider, peppermint, baking cookies, and gingerbread tantalize the appetite. Smiling, laughing shoppers amble from booth to booth with lists in hand. Vendors grin back, calling out, "Come try, come buy...!"

I know a lot of artists, writers, musicians, crafters, and other talented folks who make some of their living from their creative endeavors. I don't always have the money to support them as much as I'd like, but what I can do is set up a virtual faire where vendors can offer their wares to an audience that likes crafts, literature, and small businesses. For those of you doing your holiday shopping, here's an opportunity to buy or barter or find something made with love, something unusual or unique, in a way that helps make it possible for creative people to go on creating wonders. And there will be no traffic jams, stampedes, or gunfights at the Winterfaire!

This holiday season, support local and independent artists, designers, and crafters.

This holiday season, support local and independent artists, designers, and crafters.

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Current Mood: excited

The November

crowdfunding Creative Jam is up with a theme of "Love and Sacrifice." Come leave us prompts, or claim some for your own inspiration!

This is the 149th Creative Jam! There is none in December, so January will be the 150th. \o/

What I Have Written

"Better Than a Million Dollars" is this session's freebie.

From My Prompts

Current Mood: busy

Today we visited two events, the Otto Center Bazaar and a craft market at Cross County Mall.

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Current Mood: busy

This picture of a horse in a spacesuit snagged my attention. There are a lot of things wrong with the picture, but one in particular I wanted to talk about because it's so relevant to science fiction. That horse would be almost blind. Humans see mostly forward with binocular vision. Horses see mostly sideways with monocular vision; they have a narrow blind spot in back, another right in front of them, and a little wedge of binocular vision. This is why you always approach a horse from the side, where they can see you easily, and why they often turn their head to look at you sideways if you are in front of them.

So a spacesuit helmet for a prey species with eyes to the side should have its reinforcement as a strip from front to back, with a faceplate on either side, rather than a small window only in the front. When you design spacesuits for aliens, keep in mind how their sensory organs work, and try to avoid just mimicking equipment designed for humans.

Current Mood: busy

New study: Viewing art in galleries 'immediately' reduces cortisol levels, boosts health

“Our unique and original study provides compelling evidence that viewing art in a gallery is ‘good for you’ and helps to further our understanding of its fundamental benefits,” Dr. Tony Woods, the study’s senior author, said.

“In essence, art doesn’t just move us emotionally — it calms the body too.”

More specifically, cortisol levels — a key stress hormone in the human body — fell by an average of 22% in the gallery group, compared to just 8% in the control group.

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Current Mood: busy

Here are the notes for "The Strange Transformations of the Moth."

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Current Mood: busy

This poem came out of the October 1, 2024 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from

siliconshaman. It also fills the "Energy" square in my 10-1-24 card for the Fall Fest Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with

fuzzyred and

mama_kestrel. It belongs to the Shiv thread of the Polychrome Heroics series.

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Current Mood: busy

The October

crowdfunding Creative Jam is now open with a theme of "Knowledge vs. Ignorance." Come give us prompts, or claim some for your own inspiration.

What I Have Written

From My Prompts

Current Mood: creative

12,000-year-old rock art found in Arabia reveals a lost civilization

Archaeologists in Saudi Arabia discovered over 170 ancient rock engravings that may be among the earliest monumental artworks in the region. Created between 12,800 and 11,400 years ago, the massive figures were carved when water and life returned to the desert. The art likely marked territories and migration routes, revealing social and symbolic sophistication. Artifacts found nearby show early Arabian peoples connected to distant Neolithic communities.

Current Mood: busy

The Wordsmith's Forge

The Writing & Other Projects of Elizabeth Barrette

Snowflake Challenge 2: Pets of Fandom

Rose and Bay Awards

Art

Transformative Works Statement 12-28-25

Friending Meme

Poem: "Creativity, Ingenuity, Compassion, and Perseverance"

Photos: House Yard

Photos: Tuscola Winter Window Walk Part 2

Photos: Tuscola Winter Window Walk Part 1

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Welcome to Winterfaire 2025

Creative Jam

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Notes for "The Strange Transformations of the Moth"

Poem: "The Strange Transformations of the Moth"

Creative Jam

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January 2026

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