art

Once upon a time… I didn’t “get” abstract art. I understood color, and motion, and composition, sure - after all, I’d been painting since I was a tot. And in art class, I’d gone through exercises of gradually distorting an image until it looked like something (or nothing) else - and I recognized the high level of creativity involved in turning a photo of a toaster into a series of squares and swirls.

But other than the occasional “that looks cool”, my results were lackluster, and the whole thing felt intellectual and cold.

Then I read “Drawing on the Artist Within” (a follow up to the classic “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” by Betty Edwards). With one quick exercise from the book, I grokked abstraction on an *emotional* level.

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Pointless but pretty, there’s a flow to this little web application that reminds me of ribbon dancing. Hypnotic. Soothing. Calm.

www.nikal.com

Relax.

This past weekend, my significant-something spent two days moving several very large pieces of production equipment.

It should have gone smoothly. He knew the equipment, had the right crew, and had a supposedly accurate floor plan to work from.

The problem was with the “supposedly” bit. It turned out that no one had actually *measured* the equipment or the floor. They’d just guessed at space and sizes, and so the result was your typical “maybe that couch would look better over here? No, lets try it over on that wall….” furniture moving scenario.

Nothing fit where it was supposed to, so it had to be moved three times instead of once.

What’s all this got to do with art and mind tweaks? I’m getting to it, I promise.

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