492: Clutter and Creativity
Jan. 8th, 2026 12:00 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
aslobcomesclean_feedIf you struggle with clutter, there’s a high likelihood that you are creative! Not all creative people struggle with clutter, but most people who struggle with clutter are creative. I’m talking about the relationship between clutter and creativity and how to go about decluttering when you see the possibilities in everything! Dana’s new children’s book […]
The post 492: Clutter and Creativity appeared first on Dana K. White: A Slob Comes Clean.
Media and Power: 01 Unit 1: Construction of Meaning: Picture Composition
Jan. 9th, 2026 05:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrI finally got back to this! Masterlist.
The chapter: Construction of Meaning: Picture Composition.
It was really interesting reading this as someone who has read lots of art theory for the purposes of being better at art, and picked up some more formal theory via vague osmosis from my artsy parents and their books, but not generally thought about composition very deeply from a media analysis angle.
( Read more... )
The chapter: Construction of Meaning: Picture Composition.
It was really interesting reading this as someone who has read lots of art theory for the purposes of being better at art, and picked up some more formal theory via vague osmosis from my artsy parents and their books, but not generally thought about composition very deeply from a media analysis angle.
( Read more... )
Media and Power: Masterlist
Jan. 9th, 2026 05:07 pmalias_sqbrGoing through the free university mini-course Media and Power from the University of Iowa.
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( Read more... )
Webrings!
Jan. 9th, 2026 09:42 ammekare posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
drawesomeI'm currently updating my Neocities art site again and found two artist webrings that I thought would be of interest:
Neocreatives Webring - this one has grown so big (500+ artists) that it now functions as a directory.
Adult Artist Webring - this is MUCH smaller but I'm glad those artists have found a way to connect on a new platform after being kicked out almost everywhere.
Neocreatives Webring - this one has grown so big (500+ artists) that it now functions as a directory.
Adult Artist Webring - this is MUCH smaller but I'm glad those artists have found a way to connect on a new platform after being kicked out almost everywhere.
Follow Friday 1-9-26
Jan. 9th, 2026 12:12 amysabetwordsmith posting in followfridayGot any Follow Friday-related posts to share this week? Comment here with the link(s).
Here's the plan: every Friday, let's recommend some people and/or communities to follow on Dreamwidth. That's it. No complicated rules, no "pass this on to 7.328 friends or your cat will die".
Last day off
Jan. 8th, 2026 10:43 pmcornerofmadnessI started talking about all the anxiety at the state of the world but it nearly sent me into a spiral so let me say what I AM thankful for this thursday.
1. chocolate covered strawberry mochas are back at my coffee shop. They are my favorite and I look forward to their Valentine's presence.
2. My well stocked library for as small as we are (now I can do the prompt for a book about a popstar that I didn't give a damn with a graphic novel about queen)
Have some community recs
betaplease as it suggests, a beta community
goals_on_dw set goals and get support on keeping them
ushobwri writing centric. I belong to this one
12monthsofmurder If I wanted a new challenge community, why not one where I can kill a character over and over for a year?
picture_prompt_fun I don't need another challenge. i don't need another challenge. I would love this.
1. chocolate covered strawberry mochas are back at my coffee shop. They are my favorite and I look forward to their Valentine's presence.
2. My well stocked library for as small as we are (now I can do the prompt for a book about a popstar that I didn't give a damn with a graphic novel about queen)
Have some community recs
betaplease as it suggests, a beta communitygoals_on_dw set goals and get support on keeping themushobwri writing centric. I belong to this one12monthsofmurder If I wanted a new challenge community, why not one where I can kill a character over and over for a year?picture_prompt_fun I don't need another challenge. i don't need another challenge. I would love this.
Daily Happiness
Jan. 8th, 2026 08:35 pmtorachan1. We recreated the delicious pineapple & ham tater tots from Knott's Berry Farm at home and they turned out really good! Not exactly like the ones we had at the park but considering it was a Christmas thing, we won't be getting it again for a while and it was super easy to make at home.
2. The Christmas tree is all down and boxed up, all decorations are boxed up, just a few more lego sets to take apart and then everything will be done. Sad to put everything away, but I am glad we can decorate again now that we have a cat-free space.
3. It is very chilly and windy today. I like having wintery weather that doesn't involve rain.
4. Chloe enjoyed the sunny window this morning. Cats are glad the rain's done, too!
2. The Christmas tree is all down and boxed up, all decorations are boxed up, just a few more lego sets to take apart and then everything will be done. Sad to put everything away, but I am glad we can decorate again now that we have a cat-free space.
3. It is very chilly and windy today. I like having wintery weather that doesn't involve rain.
4. Chloe enjoyed the sunny window this morning. Cats are glad the rain's done, too!
current reading
Jan. 8th, 2026 08:21 pmthistleingreyI've finished the introduction of Emily Mendenhall's Invisible Illness: A History, from Hysteria to Long Covid (UC Press, 2026). Mendenhall is a medical anthropologist; this is a research-informed narrative, not an individual memoir.
Since I'm all done with being a pseudo-reviewer, this post occurs before I finish reading Mendenhall's book, deliberately. Instead, here's Kirkus, and an excerpt.
Since I'm all done with being a pseudo-reviewer, this post occurs before I finish reading Mendenhall's book, deliberately. Instead, here's Kirkus, and an excerpt.
aurumcalendulaJanuary 8th - 'if you could have a super-powered pet, what type of pet and with which power(s) would you want?' For brokenmnemonic
( Read more... )
(there are still slots open for the January Talking Meme here)
brokenmnemonic ( Read more... )
(there are still slots open for the January Talking Meme here)
(no subject)
Jan. 8th, 2026 09:02 pmflemmingsNo idea why both my knees should be having conniptions today but suspect the recurring Baker's cyst on the right one, oh dear. But went out in the one day only!! sun to return my library book at long last. It will be spring (10C/50F) and wet tomorrow and snow thereafter so will doubtless go back to my wonted lethargy. Some day I may get to the laundromat but that day will certainly not be tomorrow. Am relieved I was even able to get my dark wash from the basement.
Did have lunch at the Pour Boy, a cocktail and fried chicken sandwich that put me in a good humour. Bill was 29 and change with tax, I gave my attentive Vietnamese waitress a ten and a twenty and went merrily on my way-- until I realized, twelve feet up the block, that I hadn't tipped her. So had to go back to retrieve my ten and give her the twenty I should have given her in the first place. Very embarrassing. Ginkgo biloba has not taken hold yet, obviously.
Did have lunch at the Pour Boy, a cocktail and fried chicken sandwich that put me in a good humour. Bill was 29 and change with tax, I gave my attentive Vietnamese waitress a ten and a twenty and went merrily on my way-- until I realized, twelve feet up the block, that I hadn't tipped her. So had to go back to retrieve my ten and give her the twenty I should have given her in the first place. Very embarrassing. Ginkgo biloba has not taken hold yet, obviously.
Drawing Challenge #75 - Romance
Jan. 9th, 2026 02:05 pmmific posting in drawesome
Challenge #75: Romance
It's been a heady, romantic holiday season for some of us in fandom, so the first theme of 2026 is ROMANCE! You can draw characters from a romance, or put characters from any fandom, or no fandom, into a romantic situation. Or you can draw and paint anything connected with romance, whatever that means to you - like an anniversary, gifts, or a romantic memory. Make it as schmaltzy as you like, or as tragic and angsty, and don't forget "enemies to lovers", and other romance tropes! ❤️
The challenge will run through February as well, to cover Valentine's Day.
A round-up post for submissions to this challenge will be done at the end of February.
Admin Post: Community check-in for December 2025
Jan. 9th, 2026 02:32 pmmific posting in drawesome
December and 2025 are over, and we'd love to have you check in and chat with us. How have things been with you this past month? This past year?
Did you sign up for or take part in any fandom activities in December, or have you been working on any personal art projects? Are you currently trying to meet a deadline? Feel free to share upcoming art challenges that have got you excited, any frustrations you've been experiencing, possible goals for the next month, and so on.
Hi!! I'm new here and still trying to understand how it works :P
Jan. 9th, 2026 02:00 ameinbeistrich posting in addme_fandomName: Lia
Age group: Late twenties
Country: Born in Brazil, currently living in Germany
Subscription/Access policy: I don't have any locked entries and don't plan on having them. Feel free to subscribe! I'll subscribe back :)
About me: I was born and raised in central Brazil and am currently an exchange student in Germany. My major is Linguistics and Literature. I'm still not sure what career I'd like to pursue - for now, I'd describe me as an aspiring writer and researcher. I'm bisexual and in a long-term relationship. Since 2020, I've been in treatment for bipolar disorder. My current interests include fandom, creative writing, reading (especially Nachkriegsliteratur and Brazilian literature), linguistic variation, traveling, and hiking. I'm a bit awkward, but love to talk and exchange thoughts and interests!
Fannish interests: The usual stuff - reading fanfiction, shipping, fanart etc
Fandoms: I'm currently more involved with bandom (mainly FOB and P!ATD), but still have a lot of love for fandoms I used to be active in, such as Sherlock BBC, Doctor Who, Foo Fighters, Nirvana, and Homestuck. I'm also a Little Monster, a big fan of Fleabag, and into vertical dramas :D (has anyone here watched Pool Boy? Haha)
Ships: Ryan Ross/Brendon Urie, Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Dave Strider/John Egbert, Dirk Strider/John Egbert, Fleabag/Priest, Doctor/Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones, Dave Grohl/Taylor Hawkins, many ships from vertical dramas etc
What I like to post about: I've been mostly venting and talking about my day, but I'd like to post about fannish stuff, other interests of mine, and original works (mostly poems)
Before adding me, you should know: I'm mostly okay with RPF and vent a lot. DNI if your ships involve incest or anything illegal (you know what I mean), or if you don't respect the fact that I don’t like to meddle in other people's drama.
Age group: Late twenties
Country: Born in Brazil, currently living in Germany
Subscription/Access policy: I don't have any locked entries and don't plan on having them. Feel free to subscribe! I'll subscribe back :)
About me: I was born and raised in central Brazil and am currently an exchange student in Germany. My major is Linguistics and Literature. I'm still not sure what career I'd like to pursue - for now, I'd describe me as an aspiring writer and researcher. I'm bisexual and in a long-term relationship. Since 2020, I've been in treatment for bipolar disorder. My current interests include fandom, creative writing, reading (especially Nachkriegsliteratur and Brazilian literature), linguistic variation, traveling, and hiking. I'm a bit awkward, but love to talk and exchange thoughts and interests!
Fannish interests: The usual stuff - reading fanfiction, shipping, fanart etc
Fandoms: I'm currently more involved with bandom (mainly FOB and P!ATD), but still have a lot of love for fandoms I used to be active in, such as Sherlock BBC, Doctor Who, Foo Fighters, Nirvana, and Homestuck. I'm also a Little Monster, a big fan of Fleabag, and into vertical dramas :D (has anyone here watched Pool Boy? Haha)
Ships: Ryan Ross/Brendon Urie, Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Dave Strider/John Egbert, Dirk Strider/John Egbert, Fleabag/Priest, Doctor/Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones, Dave Grohl/Taylor Hawkins, many ships from vertical dramas etc
What I like to post about: I've been mostly venting and talking about my day, but I'd like to post about fannish stuff, other interests of mine, and original works (mostly poems)
Before adding me, you should know: I'm mostly okay with RPF and vent a lot. DNI if your ships involve incest or anything illegal (you know what I mean), or if you don't respect the fact that I don’t like to meddle in other people's drama.
(no subject)
Jan. 8th, 2026 07:05 pmtwistedchickI haven't written much about myself here in a while... ( so pass on by if you aren't interested )
2025
Jan. 8th, 2026 06:40 pmmomijizukamoriA new year means time for one of my six posts a year here, lol. I'm most active on Bluesky at the moment but 90% of it is reposting TKRB fanart and replying to friends.
2025 was weird in that I kept being like 'wait how is it [date] already???' but also there is stuff where I'm like 'wait that was this year????'. Time, man. Anyway!
* Big thing this year - top surgery! Was early June, and everything went smoothly, so all the initial healing has been done for a few months and it's now the long tail of like, nerve regrowth and scar remodeling. I was also extremely lucky in that my health insurance covered basically all of it!
* Related to the above, I did my first truly shirtless cosplay at Dragon*Con, which was also my first time trying to do fake facial hair - Goro Majima from Yazuka for an 'oops all Majima group with friends'. We also got badge ribbons made to hand out for the first time.
* After years of refusing to care about 2.5D stuff, I made new sword friends at Katsucon who convinced me to give it a go and two months later I had watched basically all the Musical Touken Ranbu back catalogue and I now own more blu-rays that I'm sure I want to admit. Half the songs are like 'these lyrics are so dumb but this melody line slaps so hard'
* I bought a kit to copperplate 3d prints - I've only done a few small things so far, so my technique still needs a lot of refinement, but it's very neat to be able to basically turn things into actual metal.
* I took an intro blacksmithing class! It was offered through the community education program at a localish vocational high school and was very resonably priced. It was really need and got me interested in learning more, even if most of my creations from the class are extremely janky-looking (no, we didn't get to make knives, being at a school meant no weapons)
* Went outside the US for the first time in... probably close to a decade? Only as far as Montreal to visit family for Christmas, but look, the world's been weird. Managed to forget cellphone roaming was a thing, but we spent most of the time inside watching movies and playing with cats anyway.
* Got around to setting up my lathe, and turned one extremely messy test piece out of some scrap pine I had, then realized I needed better safety gear before getting more into it. So more to come on that this year hopefully.
* Signed up for an e-learning course on sewing machine servicing and maintenence, in part because the place I used to take my machines to closed and in part because I want to Learn All The Things.
* I finally saw Labyrinth. Yes, the 1986 Jim Henson film. Yes, I somehow managed to have not seen it before. It was delightful, I want most of Jareth's clothes, and afterwards we watched the making-of featurette filmed at the same time as the movie and it was super-cool to see all the stuff that went into the puppets and effects.
* Bought a smart ring in September, which feels hopelessly tech-bougie of me, but I wanted some fitness/heartrate tracking and the one I have (Oura) is particularly good at tracking sleep as well as having good privacy policies. We'll see how useful it ends up being.
2025 was weird in that I kept being like 'wait how is it [date] already???' but also there is stuff where I'm like 'wait that was this year????'. Time, man. Anyway!
* Big thing this year - top surgery! Was early June, and everything went smoothly, so all the initial healing has been done for a few months and it's now the long tail of like, nerve regrowth and scar remodeling. I was also extremely lucky in that my health insurance covered basically all of it!
* Related to the above, I did my first truly shirtless cosplay at Dragon*Con, which was also my first time trying to do fake facial hair - Goro Majima from Yazuka for an 'oops all Majima group with friends'. We also got badge ribbons made to hand out for the first time.
* After years of refusing to care about 2.5D stuff, I made new sword friends at Katsucon who convinced me to give it a go and two months later I had watched basically all the Musical Touken Ranbu back catalogue and I now own more blu-rays that I'm sure I want to admit. Half the songs are like 'these lyrics are so dumb but this melody line slaps so hard'
* I bought a kit to copperplate 3d prints - I've only done a few small things so far, so my technique still needs a lot of refinement, but it's very neat to be able to basically turn things into actual metal.
* I took an intro blacksmithing class! It was offered through the community education program at a localish vocational high school and was very resonably priced. It was really need and got me interested in learning more, even if most of my creations from the class are extremely janky-looking (no, we didn't get to make knives, being at a school meant no weapons)
* Went outside the US for the first time in... probably close to a decade? Only as far as Montreal to visit family for Christmas, but look, the world's been weird. Managed to forget cellphone roaming was a thing, but we spent most of the time inside watching movies and playing with cats anyway.
* Got around to setting up my lathe, and turned one extremely messy test piece out of some scrap pine I had, then realized I needed better safety gear before getting more into it. So more to come on that this year hopefully.
* Signed up for an e-learning course on sewing machine servicing and maintenence, in part because the place I used to take my machines to closed and in part because I want to Learn All The Things.
* I finally saw Labyrinth. Yes, the 1986 Jim Henson film. Yes, I somehow managed to have not seen it before. It was delightful, I want most of Jareth's clothes, and afterwards we watched the making-of featurette filmed at the same time as the movie and it was super-cool to see all the stuff that went into the puppets and effects.
* Bought a smart ring in September, which feels hopelessly tech-bougie of me, but I wanted some fitness/heartrate tracking and the one I have (Oura) is particularly good at tracking sleep as well as having good privacy policies. We'll see how useful it ends up being.