Berries and Down the River...

Sorry I haven't been available much these days, had the rents for 5 days, and now I'm heading out of town to go overnight kayaking on the Suwannee River in northern Florida until Saturday. YIPPIEEEEEEE!!!!!

It's a new moon as well as the day of an eclipse. My astrologer mentioned that Turkey was among the countries that observed the eclipse today, Keda, did you see it? Anyway, it's a day of new hope, new promises and a time to make a wish upon our star. Start something new today or give up an old annoying habit, your new idea or plan is more likely today than any other to be sure to stick with you!

The Mulberries are in and looking good! Here are some pics I took after picking some succulent, voluptuous berries! Jessica had mentioned that she would not eat these berries and referred to the means at which the tree sources it's nourishment as "night soil" meaning soil fed with human waste. The process isn't directly human waste applied to the tree, the tree feeds from the septic tank's overflow area. The tree then processes what it needs to produce the largest Mulberries I have ever seen. Is there anything else I should know about "night soil?" Would you eat these berries?

Hope everyone is well and I promise river pics when I get home!

See ya!

The process

Here is the progression of Tabula Rasa entries to date. The process can be just as beautiful as the final piece I think.

Tabula Rasa 2 - EDITED 03.23.06, 13:50 EST

EDITED 03.23.06, 13:50 EST - Keda's contri as well as my own addition. Pretty cool huh? Keep em coming if you wish!

EDITED 03.21.06, 08:05 EST - Jessica's contribution pictured above.

EDITED 03.20.06, 15:46 EST - Steve's contribution to the space is posted above. Download his contribution and add yours. then email it to me, email address below.

Thanks for all of your posts over the weekend, sorry I was away, visiting with my Mom and Dad as well as running a yard sale. The time is swiftly approaching when we will need to purge all of our things, right now it was just items we had no use for. It was exciting to see so much of it go though!
Anyway, I have made the first edits to the Tabula Rasa (oh, and my brother-in-law corrected me appropriately, it spelled Rasa, not how I had it at Rosa - but I've now seen it both ways). My intentin is for each of us to download the file, open it in some photo editing program of sort and create a digital picture all our own. Feel free to add whatever you like, be it illustration, your kids line art, a photograph, gradiants, filters, whatever you feel would be right to add. We shall see where this experiement takes us. If you don't have a photo editor, email me your chosen photo and I will edit into the layout. My email address is bruce(atsign)thisisbruce.com. for some reason blog posts won't let me post my email address with the @ (at) sign.

Thanks! Good luck!

My word verification for the day is: "smghgi" In a way, the damage wasn't so bad, but the damn smghgi isn't going to get us on our way now is it?

Tabula Rasa - EDITED BELOW

Reading through your comments has given me one clear, profound message, JUST DO. My martial arts teacher used to tell me in the middle of sparring - when I would usually freeze up - "Bruce, don't think, just do." You're so right, maybe what I've been creating around me has been a series of excuses why I could not do this or that. I'm a product of Depression era parents, I always watched my dad work hard at what he did, mostly making the best of the few tools he had. I learned from that. I rebuilt a motorcycle, without the aid of a proper shelter, knowledge of motorcycles and tools to work with. I compensate where I need to in order to achieve my goals, including this move to New Zealand - I just considered becoming a truck driver so I can make sure the bills are paid. I would like to say you've all inspired me to jump up out of my chair and start on something, but I'm not jumping yet, I still feel a bit stuck, but not so much in my head as I was. I want to experiment with introspection, to work through creating something from nothing, a story to tell - whether it's in photographs, pen & ink, crafts, woodworking, blogging or whatever. I'm even thinking about opening this up to all of you too, maybe make it a huge group effort. I liked what Steve did on his blog with the short story, but that is now Steve's medium. Any ideas out there?

Thank you so much for your stories and what you found inspirational, they all mean so much to me, and I very much appreciate knowing all of you through this medium. You're wonderful people! Keep blogging!

AUTHOR'S EDIT: 03.18.06, 15:05 EST
LOL= Laugh Out Loud
Tabula Rosa = Latin for "Blank Slate"
I actually had the though that we might collectively create a picture/work of art from the white space I have provided, anyone care to start with the first mark?
Thanks!

Artist Shoots Shoes, Searching for Creativity

[What to do until inspiration finds me, shoot shoes, at least it paid the bills]

I guess it's a good sign that I am finally feeling better when I'm back wrestling with the same old dilemma about creativity. In the empty moments this morning I found my mind wandering off in the familiar world of self-doubt. I thought about the notice I saw last night about another photography show. Steven Katzman is an area photographer who I have been witnessing as his career is taking off and his craft is gaining a voice in the area. I saw that he is having another show, this time on his photos of the Newtown area. (Newtown is an economically depressed area here in Sarasota) He is a documentary photographer and is doing what I have dreamt of doing. In a single photograph he communicates so much. Steven's photography is untouchable, his craft perfected, his subject matter perfectly composed, without feeling contrived. It is precisely what I see myself doing. How does one find the resources to do such work? What does he do for a living, is it from his documentary work, is it from other work? What is his technique like? How is he when photographing his subject matter? How is he with his subjects?

I know I have the resources to do what he is doing, I know I can be that creative, but I still feel I need to convince myself of that. I still need to prove that to myself. I feel I am still reaching towards that, but not enough that I can get there. Another David Grey song comes on the radio as I write this, yet another performer I admire greatly. I know I could write music like this, but again, I feel like I'm waiting for something, striving to reach out but feeling held back. I still have ideas, but I have no idea how to go about searching them out. I feel constrained still. All my life I know I was going to be an artist, I went to school, studied hard, worked towards my goal. I achieved my goal 7 years ago, now I'm trying to figure out what kind of an artist do I want to be. I've never had a question in my mind until 7 years ago, and since then, I have questioned everything. Do all artists go through this? I'd like to hear from you, I'd like to know your struggles and the ways you championed them.

New Perspectives

[If you squint your eyes, you can pretend you're somewhere else, anywhere.]

I'M BACK! Well, still tired and a bit weak from being so sick, but at least I'm here once again.

I'm feeling more and more trapped these days, the house has been for sale since the first of the year and we've only had two people do walk throughs, and that was when it was for sale by owner. Anyway, since listing it on the MLS we haven't had a single sniff at the house. Makes me think I may be here a while.

In the meantime, I need to search out full-time employment because business has slumped completely, why not take the opportunity to shut the doors now and just get a job. It's funny, when I went through the paper, there really isn't much for work out there that I am qualified to do and if I am qualified, it pays $7.75 an hour. Yikes! I guess I've been a bit spoiled! I like what I do but the opportunities in Sarasota are very limited for designers. Makes me feel a bit stuck. My horoscope says I should be prepared for a positive surprise this week, I hope so, I could use it.

Anyway, we went to see a documentary on New Zealand last night. The film was horrible, the only redeeming value of the film was the footage of New Zealand. The writer lacked any creativity whatsoever. It's hard to shoot something bad in New Zealand because it's such a beautiful place, so the footage of the hills and scenery was wonderful, it would have been perfect if on mute. Or maybe had only Maori music playing in the background. Makes me want to take up documentary film-making and do it better. Well, I came away with a perspective that made it worth going to see. Tanjariitta and I have a very unique gift in having the opportunity to move to such a beautiful place. Not many people have the opportunity we have. We are truely blessed to be able to do so.

Out for a while

Hey friends and family. Sorry I haven't posted in a while but I have been sick for more than a week now. I did see a Dr and now have medications to help me through this, but probably won't be updating until next week. Thanks for checking in and I'll be back next week.