Quick doodles

My daughter likes to draw, so I introduced her to cadavre exquis, which is a game where each person draws a section without seeing the parts drawn by others.

I was surprised at how the game developed. At first I drew something resembling her head but, by the time it was passed back to me, I was using my imagination.

In later games, like the one shown here undertaken with both Neve and her brother Eden, I found myself really wanting to push myself and come up with even more outrageous doodles -- such as these Siamese twins

The games have been rewarding, both for our entertainment and a sense of pleasure.

The experience came to mind when I read about a study that found "an inherent potential for evoking positive emotions through art-making—and doodling especially."

The results of the study by Girija Kaimal et al, titled Functional near-infrared spectroscopy assessment of reward perception based on visual self-expression: Coloring, doodling, and free drawing, suggest that it only takes a quick doodle to get into a creative mindset:

In fact, in surveys administered to the participants after the activities were complete, respondents indicated that they felt more like they had “good ideas” and could “solve problems” than before the activities. Participants even said they felt the three-minute time spans for art-making weren’t long enough.

Hi cutie

There's been lots of talk about haiku in my household recently

I've been writing a haiku a day this year, which has been a challenge. I've also been trying to interest people in writing haikus to describe Narrandera for an exhibition that will be held there in October.

Anyway, it was a nice surprise when my youngest announced he was going to write a haiku. This is by my eight-year old Eden:

Lying on the leaves
fresh air blowing on my face
it's lovely weather

Octopus teapot

Love this octopus teapot by Keiko Masumoto.

Seen here

When people call you a "snowflake"

As a fan of Fight Club, I enjoyed this discussion of its lasting cultural impact in the use of the term "snowflake" allegedly written by Adam Protextor.

Unleash the creative goddess

Clearly Facebook's page suggestion algorithm can use some work

If it knew anything about me it should be that there's a domestic goddess within me!

Seriously though, why the need to gender creativity? Pretty sure it's a universal trait.

30 versus 30,000

This is an epic battle in miniature, as hornets take on a bee colony.



Reminds me of the battle scenes in Ran. Especially love the glitchy bits.

Crossing Streams will cross borders

Narrandera’s writers, photographers and audio producers are invited to join an inter-continental collaboration that will exhibit at the town’s Arts and Community Centre in October.

Western Riverina Arts will work with London-based Naviar Records to develop an exhibition that draws together haiku poetry and audiovisual responses.

Development of the exhibition begins with haiku and workshops will be held at Narrandera Library on 19 and 24 June to share tips on crafting a poem within 17 syllables.

“Writing a haiku is a fun challenge as you want to convey an observation within a strict structure,” explains exhibition curator Jason Richardson.

“That word limit is stricter than Twitter, so we’ll accept tweeted contributions if they use the hashtag #Narranderahaiku

Haiku contributions are encouraged before 15 July for the next step in developing the exhibition. They can be sent via email to crossingstreams@naviarrecords.com Naviar Records will use selected haiku in their weekly haiku challenge for audible interpretations.

Naviar’s founder Marco Alessi has been inspiring a community of musicians from throughout the globe to record and release albums of contributed music and soundscapes.

“Naviar Records were responsible for having my music heard in exhibitions in London,” explains Jason Richardson. He has been a participant in haiku challenges for over three years.

“I’m keen to promote their activities as I think too many people are frustrated with their creative abilities for the wrong reason. Duke Ellington is famously attributed with the line ‘I don’t need time, I need a deadline’ and it’s true for talents.”

“Everyone benefits from having a prompt to try an idea and I want to encourage everyone to challenge themselves to describe a Narrandera scene in 17 syllables. You may get to hear your observation as a piece of music, possibly on a CD album at the exhibition.”

For more information see http://www.naviarrecords.com/crossing-streams/

Arose in my mind

Rose Byrne came to mind while I was having a bath today.

If you know the Australian actor then you might think that's a lascivious observation, and it kinda is.

I mention it because at the time I wondered why she'd come to mind.

Then at the library I was reading The Australian and there she was in the magazine.

I'd like to believe this is my intuition at work today but I am fond of Rose Byrne.

She sat next to me at a festival once and her voice had that Sydney accent that had reminded me of an ex-girlfriend when I'd seen Two Hands.

Personalities

One of the women at my workplace told a story about how interesting it had been to undertake Myer-Briggs-type personality tests with her kids.

Last weekend I suggested a website to my kids and they were enthralled by the questionnaire.

One son let his pizza go cold while he pondered whether he agreed or disagreed with the statements.

The result wasn't immediately exciting, as three of the four of us shared a result.

Then today, more than a week later, I asked my son what to make of the result and we pondered how best to negotiate a particular personality trait.

Expectations

My son bought this egg last weekend. 

It was meant to hatch before my partner got home, but it didn't. She had time to quip we'll tease Eden if he misses the birth of his monster. Then he began stressing about whether Godzilla was going to appear and it began to feel like it was a pregnancy.

Never thought I'd be happy to see another crappy toy but I am.

Near Nirvana

Over 25 years ago I watched Nirvana play at the ANU Bar from outside.

I didn't join the crowd who pushed through a window and into the gig. I stayed outside and watched from the beer garden, then was surprised when the band emerged for a breath of air before returning to play an encore.

Kurt Cobain avoided eye-contact but I did get to enthuse with Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl about the show and asked the former for a plectrum. You can see the orange guitar pick on the Nevermind cover in this photo.

Just now I spotted this photo of a ticket to a show featuring Nirvana from January 1992 and was excited to see it's accompanied by another orange guitar pick.

Neve's very bad parents

I've been encouraging my daughter to start a sketchbook diary but she never finishes her comics.

It's just like how she eats her dinner, saving the important vegetables until the end and then leaving them.

Clearly there's a conclusion required here to explain why the parents are two mums.