Category: Biography

Tunes – Rocking the Night Away

Hide Away – Mick Jagger
You Got Me Rocking – The Rolling Stones
Danger Zone – Kenny Loggins
Start Me Up – The Rolling Stones
Your Love Has Lifted Me Higher And Higher – Rita Coolidge
American Pie – Don McLean
Love Kills – Queen
Time Waits For No One – Freddie Mercury

My middle of the night coffee drinking list. Lost the sweatshirt for a tee-shirt with Randy Orton – Apex Predator on it. Coffee, with its caffeine and heat, percolates my blood.

All this because the house is lonely as the stone across the water on Tanyard Creek, Lake Allatoona when I was a mite younger than these days and could ski that inlet all day long.

Of course, earlier, I got the notice there were proofs to do, and I shall be getting to that eventually. Just now, I am thinking it is time for We Believe by Newsboys, which I have been saving until I cooled down from prancing like Rudolph when he discovered he was to lead the sleigh. Did you not know he danced? Bet ya he did, because he was an outcast promoted to the spotlight. Not that anyone would relate to that or anything. Not really.

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As a prompt, take a current event weave it with a past event, throw in some tunes and create a work to share. Any medium will do, that is all up to you.

This was to be an update on Facebook, but it morphed into something of a fuller body, so I brought it here. I am quite disillusioned with Facebook just now. There are times I contemplate leaving the whole thing behind awhile, but the time is not yet. It bores me, though, Facebook does.

The picture above was taken at Callaway Gardens. I should go visit again. I adore the place. For once, I would like to go when it is warmer so that the butterflies are more plentiful and active in the Butterfly House.

© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan

Alex Goes Back to Nevada

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The will, it faulters
Besieged by sadness, failure,
Come bright tomorrow,
Bring to the present reason
To continue the battle.

Sorry, that is all I got. Sometimes it looks so bad, finding a silver lining in the looming clouds is too tricky. If I had not promised myself to do something creative every day this year, I would just go back to crying.

© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan

Recipe for Creating More

This is not meant to be definitive. The hope is to present some ideas. There is some background to draw upon.

  1. As much as possible, put your internal critic in the dungeon, a nice one if you like. You can liberate the rascal when you begin to edit, and absence makes the findings sharper.
  2. If you are stuck, do something else; a different style, media, genre, voice.
  3. Do Morning Pages as instructed by Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way.
  4. Use a different method; notebooks and a variety of pens, computer, tablet, phone; acrylics, oils, watercolors, pencil, colored pencil, pen & ink, canvas, paper, wood, sculpture; color, monochrome, macro, zoom, panorama, varied lenses, day, night, indoor, outdoor.
  5. Take a break and read something inspiring, or if you are more audio-visual, watch some how-to’s on YouTube or find some podcasts. Use music when you can, it can ease tension and promote imagination.
  6. Work in a different location: Go to a cafe or restaurant, a picnic table in a park, a bench or table in a high traffic shopping center, a library, a ball game, a parade.
  7. Give yourself permission to be an amateur. Everything does not have to be perfect. Even if something you do does not get glowing praise, it was an experiment in which you gain knowledge. There is no such thing as perfection. What you do at the moment is perfect in that it is an expression of yourself and was done courageously by you. Work, and in time you shall gain mastery.

This is brought to you by my son, Alex, saying he was having a hard time working on his novel. I thought it might be a topic worth my exploring since I consider myself a creativity expert.

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Opportunity

I have always supported every form of artistic/creative endeavor possible. I pay outrageously for the privilege many times.

A few years ago, I won two tickets to a concert, the prize sponsored by the company I now do my small job with.

I took my Mom, who had never been to an indoor concert, and we saw Kenny Loggins. The thing is, “Danger Zone” from Top Gun is and has been my ringtone.

I thought I would share a picture. I was allowed up close cause the venue was small.

 

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The concert was spectacular, and I am forever grateful I was allowed to share it with my Mom.

© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan

Something Unexpected

The Dell went crazy and lost its ability to connect again, this device has no IP address, um, no. I fixed it, so now I am updating this. It only took hours.

So I did this awesome thing in my journal and took photos of it with the S8. I hope you will think it is unique. I am replacing the shots with scans, so most of you will never see that mess.

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Lilies in Bloom

Those are stargazers from my house in the 90s. Once upon a time, I had a home. I have that file, but the network is in a reset, so maybe the Dell will jump back online. I have now replaced the photo of my print with the original scan file photo. I need my networking guru.

So, there you are. God bless, even if you do not believe in God, He believes in you. Please never feel like I am forcing the issue. We all need to think as we can until it changes. I love you any which way.

© Jo Ann J. A. Jordan