The Lardner Report – Page 38 – Unleash your creative superpowers!

Creatively Stuck? Give Yourself an Assignment!

February 29, 2016 by Lonnie Lardner

(Pic #1) Weathered wall “grab shot.” Santa Barbara, California. Photo by Josh Kaplan.

Guest post by Josh Kaplan

Last weekend I went to Santa Barbara to have breakfast with my closest friend. Naturally I took my photo gear along, because I love to shoot in SB — it never fails to inspire the muse. Well, almost never. After breakfast, I wandered around the streets looking for colors or shapes or anything that might grab my attention.

Nothing. I just wasn’t feeling it. I took a little drive over to Samy’s camera (or as photographers call it, the holy land). Surely all the gadgets, and glass, and lights and filters would get the juices going. Nada. I was just in a total creative funk.

(Pic #2) Samy’s Camera loading dock.

(Pic #3) Delightful decay.

(Pic #4) Perfect imperfection.

Readers of this blog may remember a post Lonnie did about the wonderful country/singer songwriter Deana Carter, and her sure fire fix for writers’ block. If she’s writing with someone, and it’s going nowhere, she will say “Have some whiskey, go for a walk…whatever you need to do to clear your head for a minute. When you come back, we’re gonna write a song in 15 minutes. Good, bad or indifferent, 15 minutes from now we’re gonna have a tune.”

So I decided to adapt that to my situation. I gave myself 10 minutes to shoot, and I had to come up with at least 5 images…. AND… it all had to all happen in the area bordered by the Samy’s camera parking lot.

None of the images I captured are award-winning, but forcing myself to just start shooting got me through the doldrums. Whether it was that beautiful blue doorway, or the bright red of Samy’s loading dock door, or the funky oxidized trash can cover, suddenly it was all interesting to me again, and I’ve been shooting with joy ever since.

(Pic #5) Pure trash. Sweet art.

(Pic #6) Yes, those are cow skulls on Lonnie’s butt.

The Fish That Makes Art

January 31, 2016 by Lonnie Lardner

True love found 80 feet down on the ocean floor.

(Pic #1) Close-up, creative pufferfish.

I think my husband could be a slacker. Look what this minuscule (5-inch) creature can pull off — in 10 days’ time — to attract a mate. Josh is always trying to find new ways to court me, and I think I need to share this report.

Not long ago, off the southern tip of Japan, a dedicated oceanic photographer named Amami Oshima discovered what he initially called a “mystery circle” — a shockingly intricate, rippling geometric pattern nearly 6-feet wide on the ocean floor. Well it turns out, the master architect of this stunning example of “environmental art” is a tiny pufferfish. He creates the mandala-like nest with his fins, digging furrows to attract the attention of passing female puffers (Click video, above.)

Before the female fish arrives to inspect his handiwork, the male forms quirky patterns in the fine sand of the central circle. He also decorates the peaks of the outer portion with shells and fragments of coral. (In contemporary art, we would tramadol call this texturizing or creative use of “found objects.”) Scientists believe, “when a potential female partner arrives on the scene, the male stirs up the fine sand in the nest’s inner circle. If she deems the nest (and the male who built it) satisfactory, she lays her eggs and leaves.”

(Pic #2) For a sense of scale: A male pufferfish (center) photographed by crew in 2012. Photo courtesy Kimiaki Ito.

Experts aren’t sure exactly what the females are looking for when they assess a male’s nest. It could be the patterns of fine sand, the decorations on the outside, or the nest’s size or perfect symmetry. But they do know that because the process is so time-consuming, a larger nest could indicate a stronger or “more fit”male suitor — both desirable traits to females.

Dudes: Take note.

FISHY FUN FACT: According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration less than five percent of the world’s oceans have been explored, meaning that 95% of what lies deep underwater on Earth has yet to be seen by human eyes.

Baby Painting? Yes!

December 27, 2015 by Lonnie Lardner

(Pic #1) “Baby’s first dip.” 7-month-old Mickey dives into her first “organic” painting session.

Never too young to create.

(Pic #2) Yogurt paint: two ingredients and a blender.

Like many of you, I spent much of my Christmas morning hunched over an 1100-watt Ninja food processor. But not for the reason you think. Truth is, I may have actually been the inspiration for the old Henny Yougman bit, “My wife said to me, “For our anniversary, I want to go somewhere I’ve never been before.” I said, “Try the kitchen!’

I was prepping edible organic baby paints, so I could have my first go at an “art lesson” with my niece Jamie’s 7-month-old baby girl. Nervous at first — thinking she just might bail once her baby fingers got immersed in chilly goo — I asked baby’s Mom and Aunt Stacey to be my wing men. We quickly determined it’s a three person job — one to hold baby, one to hold the drawing pad, and one to dip and then direct baby’s hands onto the paper.

We had a blast.

(Pic #3) “Mick-asso’s” first masterpiece.

Our project was to color a Christmas wreath we downloaded from the web. It was easy to find a simple black and white image, which I printed on matte paper. The rest is up to the artist. While it’s helpful to guide her little hands into the paint cup, and then onto the paper, you’ll find she might just like the feel of it. It’s a fantastic tactile experience. Smiling ear to ear, Mickey explored and expressed. She became the perfect ativan picture of fearlessness.

(Pic: #4) Fresh or canned fruits and veggies for natural, safe colors

Safe and natural: homemade yogurt paints.

The biggest concern for any parent is the safety of the products that can easily end up in a child’s mouth. That’s just a given. But the surefire way to ensure natural, non-toxic ingredients is to choose and mix them yourself. These paint recipes are so simple it’s embarrassing. For RED, Add a cup of yogurt to a half can of beets, and blend. For GREEN, take a bag of baby spinach leaves and blend with yogurt, and do the same with thawed frozen blueberries for a purpley-blue.

Making a Mess: A Rite of Passage, and a leg up on learning.

YES, expect a mess. But know that child development research tells us “messy play” for babies and toddlers is actually “crucial to healthy sensory development.” Experts say these messy moments “provide important building blocks, sensory experiences, muscle and brain growth – all of which prepares them for later success.”

But enough about finger painting as a teaching tool. Let’s talk about what really counts: how it evokes PURE JOY. And I’m not just referring to the baby. Twenty minutes of unbridled art making — with no rules, no agenda — makes for my own perfect day.

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YOGURT PAINTING

Suggested materials:

Any flavor yogurt (1 cup per color)

Green paint: Fresh Spinach

Red paint: Canned Beets

Blue Paint: Frozen/thawed Blueberries

Orange Paint: Canned Carrots

Matte paper – or watercolor pad

Blender and small containers with lids to hold the “fresh paint” (refrigerate)

Hefty bag to protect your floor

(Pic #5) Mickey Goldman’s first solo art exhibition. Encino, California.