Total Eclipse of the Art: April 4-12, 2024
Most of you should be able to see the eclipse this week, total or not, so we’ll make this an easy one: Let’s see your eclipse photos! (I’ll be out of town on Thursday, so we’ll make Friday the due date this time around.)
The Submissions:
by Journal Kurtz
I couldn’t have imagined how affected I was by experiencing the eclipse itself, but that is a poem for another time.
What I am submitting is the gratitude I have for the event having brought so many of us together. Neighbors whom I haven’t seen since winter hibernation began had the opportunity to catch up and share this wonder. I met “eclipse chasers” from SC, MD, and VA. And we discovered that when my wife had her glasses on, we could steal her snacks.
by Captain Quillard
by Heart of Darkness
by The Kilsigliere
by Espy la Copa
I didn’t get any decent pics (thanks iPhone 12), but I had fun making a mess of this bad photo.
by Anonymous Frau Redux
Our part of the USA did not reach totality. The eclipse event was as if I wore really dark sunglasses, or the short time of eerie weird light before a tornado arrives in Oklahoma.
One pic that follows was my attempt at the pinpoint viewer. Zoom in to see the start of the eclipse! The second photo was my dog’s reaction to the big event, clearly not impressed, but comfortable in the shade. I had her on an extendo leash due to the tales of animals going wild during the eclipse. That didn’t happen.
(They say we will see totality here in 20-ish years.)
Have a great weekend art folks!
Anon Frau R
Next Week’s Assignment:
This week I got the chance to attend a great keynote interview with musician and songwriter Jason Isbell. I’m still processing a lot of it, but there were several insightful and funny moments that made it a joy to attend.
One of the simplest answers he gave, however, was in response to a question about how many of his songs are autobiographical. Some of them, of course, very much are. Others, as you’d imagine, are the kind of thing where it’s not really about him, but parts of himself end up seeping into the writing. But he said he’s still amazed at how many people assume all the songs are about him and think that anything a persona in a song says or does is something he actual says or does or thinks himself. In reality, he said what he most often does is this:
"I create a character in my mind, and then I just follow them around and see what they do.”
For this week’s assignment, create a character in your mind that is not you. Follow them around, see what they do, and then write about them. You can write a full song, like Jason Isbell. You can write one just one stanza or a poem. You can write a short story. Anything you like.