A Year Ago April

In April of last year I was immersed in a painting for my friend’s 10th wedding anniversary. I really wanted to be able to show off the end result, and really had no way to do so. My website was seriously out of date, and reconfiguring it was likely to be a Herculean task. I didn’t even know what I needed to know.
I did not blog, nor did I know what a ‘blog roll’ was. (I did know that blogs were often a good source of various kinds of information.) I was not on facebook. I did not ‘tweet’ but I had spent some time on Twitter trying to figure it out. I did not know what a tiny URL or a bit.ly was. I did not know how to Share or AddThis. I had seen videos on You Tube, but didn’t realize you could collect them all in your own little ‘channel’. I had tried flickr, but wasn’t really aware of its possibilities.
In June of 2009 the Grand Experiment began with this blog. I intended to highlight artwork other than my paintings while researching new website possibilities. I joined facebook, and figured that out, sorta. I got an Open ID. I started tweeting as ‘moonflowrstudio’ (had to leave a vowel out due to character limits).(Ironically, there's no limit to the characters you can find there). I read blogs and tutorials on building websites. I downloaded software. I investigated limitless possibilities.
It took 3 serious failures, but I did manage to launch a new moonflowerstudio site in October. There are still things to tweak, but all in all, I am proud of it. When I step back and survey the little ‘moon-i-verse’ I have put together I find myself pondering. Where do I go from here…?
Ancora Imparo: I am still learning...
…I don’t have to decide for now…it's Saturday

Night Lights

You'd think that a blog associated with moonflowers would have more to say when celebrating 40 year anniversaries of landing on the moon. Especially when the same week contains a solar eclipse by the aforementioned moon. I must admit to a bit of a block; then again there's a lot to sort through whilst contemplating such significant events. I knew there was stuff in my head-I just couldn't find my keys. I needed that ol' EUREKA moment, which finally occurred when I found me a muse. The cow jumps over the moon. If that's likely to happen any time soon, I'll bet it'd be in Wisconsin. I began pondering an image I'd seen somewhere, and discovered it to be the work of an artist named Lowell Herrero (added a link over there in the artist column) Now I know that I am going to have to create my own version. I've got moons, moonflowers, stars, but no cows at night.
I remember the night of the moon landing. I know it was a defining moment in history, but at the time I was a little reluctant to celebrate it. I was waiting until they got back in the landing unit. I was waiting until that unit got launched back into space and was on its way home. I guess that makes me a bit of ‘Doubting Thomas’, but all of this space adventure stuff was still uncharted territory. It was comforting to hear the words from Genesis being read; the words were a good anchor when boldly going where no man had gone before.
Now we’ve got an International space station; I love the global collaboration. Imagine thinking ‘outside the globe’ and the possibilities it opens. I guess that is why I would like to see space travel continue-as long as we can be reasonably sure of the safety of all concerned. And I also glad they are fixing up the Hubble telescope. Those images are breathtaking and beautiful. Now there’s an Artist at work. It is no stretch for me at all to hear “Let there be Light” when someone defines the Big Bang theory. Thank God.