Rather Unkind Sketches/No Publicity is Bad Publicity....right?

More sketches from Open Mic nigh at the Riverwalk Cafe.  I must admit, my skills are just enough to insult my subjects.  They are just life like enough to be recognizable.  How wretched.  Especially since Punk Rock Kid did one of me on his admittedly filthy napkin, that is much kinder.

Punk Rock Kid

 

See what I mean?  I really don't deserve this.

Old Abram Brown - "Novelty Prize"

braided bracelets

I saw a bracelet in  Artful Blogging magazine made out of braided strips of fabric.  I'm not sure if I even like my own version of it, but we tried.

Levity got distracted along the way, and made flags, instead.

My friend and fellow artist/crafter Rachel Conte

Levity also decided to make paper tissue dresses for the barbies.

Finally we have Levity's sea monster, including poop ball suckers, and "poysen."

Sketch a Doodle

I'm in love with our walkable downtown coffee shop, the Riverwalk Cafe.  Host to my book club, early morning journaling sessions, gelato rivaling NYC and now: Open Mic night, I can't possibly complain I'm trapped in "Cow" Hampshire.

After months of a boy dominated line up, I'm pleased to say five, count them, five girls played.  Ranging from spoken wordish deadpan humor songs, to a Nora Jones voice, to a girl who actually exhibited...wait for it...a song that included chords not in the key of G major...it was a more than satisfactory showing.  Downside: I realize the words/imagery of "sky," "ocean," "emotions," and "good-bye" kept coming up.  With a start, I realize one or two of my songs could be categorized as Chick Songs.  Need to keep that in mind.  More original, less predictable metaphors, pronto!

Sketches from last night...

 

 

Today Jason attended an all day Church Council Training in Concord.  Apparently we pass time in a similar fashion- doodling in the margins.

Self Portrait In Series

I just discovered these on our digital camera...Levity has been hard at work.

note the underpants on the head; a classic device

Virulance of Barbie

How is it possible that, although our Barbie videos (unwrapped annually under  a relative's tree in an unstoppable tide) are practically locked away under security comparable to armed weaponry, and allowed out once a week at most, that my dear darling daughters can, spur of the moment, quote great swaths of random Barbie movies at will?  Good grief.

(This is Bella's Creative Expression assignment of the week- "Step into the shoes of a well known character"...of course she wrangled the girls for her supporting cast.)

Can anyone name that Barbie movie?

Metaphors

These all make me laugh...'cause I'm a hopeless word nerd, I guess.

Excerpts from Successful Lyric Writing by Sheila Davis

Tip #1:  Avoid Mixing Metaphors

"You've got me covered.....but I won't take your bait"

(love is like hunting)........(love is like fishing)


Tip #2  Metaphors- Use Sparingly

Metaphors are like seasoning-not too much of one kind, and not too many different kinds, or you'll over season your verse, like this one:

The past is a drug imprisoning my soul
Regret is a shovel digging a hole
Fear is a master standing over me
Oh, where is the power to set me free?

(According to the book, this is overwriting; what's known as a "purple patch.")

Tip #3  Give your figurative image a figurative set up

Set my course for sunny Spain
Crashed the cliffs off rocky Maine
Mid wind and wave and blinding rain
Won't put foot on land again

Girl you made a wreck of me
I'm doomed to drift my whole life through
I've gone overboard over you

Water here, more water there
Frigid water everywhere
I looked for love and found despair
Love can be so damn unfair

(chorus)

As a song streams by we cautiously sort our what we're currently hearing, what we've already heard, and what we've been led to expect next.  The opening of "overboard" with it's real place names of Spain and Maine, leads us to expect a literal story  So we are jolted by the obviously figurative of the title word in the chorus' opening line.  An effective metaphoric image results from setting it up figuratively and maintaining it figuratively.  To understand this important principle, consider some famous rain = trouble songs- "Stormy Weather," "Raindrops keep falling on my head," "Don't rain on my parade."  The opening line of each song announces it's figurative stance by using it's key words-weather, clouds, rain, sun- in a non literal way.  And all subsequent theme words support the plot's metaphor.  Had the writer sprinkled the opening verse with a few expressions like a stormy time on the sea of love, love boat was shipwrecked, the tides gone out for us, no shore in sight, and so on, then titled the lyric "Man Overboard," he could have steered his song to safe harbor.

(heh heh.)