Do not adjust your set...

If anyone out there has noticed something a bit odd with any links you might have to the blog, it's just that I decided to take advantage of having my sketchbooks here at work to replace a few of the iffy photographs with actual scans. Sorry if I've messed with your brains, folks.

Sunflower bud in pen and ink

Hey! A scan rather than a bad photo!

This week's Illustration Friday prompt is pattern. I could have so many ideas for that word. Pattern's a bit of a thing with me, as anyone who's tried to figure out my pointless photography can attest to (er... check the other blog link on the sidebar if you're curious. It truly is pointless photography, though. No false advertising there). Anyway, this is just the first doodle that came to mind. There may be more later in the week, depending on how my week goes.

And why a sunflower doodle (well, almost scribble now that I look at it. Guess we're being a little free with the hatching today) for the word pattern? Well, I love patterns in nature, and sunflowers kind of fascinate me. The radial pattern of the seeds in a mature head, for example, or as in this case the overlapping pattern of the sepals in a developing flower bud.

No big message here -- I just think it's neat.

Ok, in my defence?

I've been a bit under the weather.

Also, things look a bit wonky due to lack of scanner and very warped paper. I wasn't even the one who warped the paper, but that's another story...

Anyway. This week's Illustration Friday prompt is infinite. And this? Well, the way I see it, if he really put his mind to it a lonely amoeba could make an infinite amount of friends.

Or seemingly infinite, anyway.

Um, yeah. That's all I have to say, I guess.

Except click on the thumbnail if you want to make it bigger.

Pasqueflower in watercolour

This week's Illustration Friday prompt is welcome. Since I don't usually do much with people but tend to associate welcome with them, it stumped me slightly.

Until I thought of how welcome flowers are after an Alberta winter, that is.

The reference for this doodle was a photo of a Pasqueflower (Prairie Crocus) that was just barely open at the time. Pasqueflowers aren't the same as the European Crocuses that many people grow; the only things they really have in common are being purple (I know, I know, not all crocuses are purple...) and being early to blossom. The one big difference between them is that Pasqueflowers are very, very fuzzy.

Anyway, with their purple flowers and bright yellow centres, they're definitely a welcome sight after a long, drawn-out winter.

Something or other in graphite

This week's Illustration Friday prompt is strong. And this... is a really, really quick doodle. And a not terribly great photograph since I don't have a scanner here.

Anyway.

Everyone knows that egg shells are brittle. The arched structure of the egg itself is incredibly strong, though. Strong enough that if you properly line up the eggs you can easily support a book. Or an elephant.

Ok, honestly? I'm not so sure about the elephant part.

Under the lens

This past week's Illustration Friday prompt was magnify, which is a really good one and I had lots of ideas. Unfortunately, it's been too hot in my apartment to feel like doing anything except melt, which I've come very close to. I had to do something before the week was out, though, so here's a quick contribution from the little modelling clay men.

Remember, boys and girls: it's not nice to put your friends under the magnifying glass.

Pointless building

So, I've had a reasonably sleepless (reasonably sleepless? What kind of stupid phrase is that? Sleeplessness is anything but reasonable), mostly uncreative week, so in lieu of the usual Illustration Friday effort (which I'll attempt to effortise tonight, assuming that my current headache will let me) please enjoy this look at one of my unfortunate obsessions.

Pointless building, yes. And I do realise that pointlessness generally belongs on my other blog. Just think of it as taking a holiday today.

I've liked building pointless objects for as long as I can remember. I probably stacked blocks as a toddler, I was definitely a Lego kid, and...

Oh hey. A quick word about Lego. Yes, I was a girl who liked Lego, and liked it long enough ago that it was just straight-up Lego and not all of those fancy themed kits you find nowadays (and you kids get the hell off my lawn...). My Lego time was spent building houses, mostly. Why houses? Well, why not?

Anyway. I had Lego, I had Canadian Logs (which were, perhaps unsurprisingly, the Canadian version of Lincoln Logs), and I'm pretty sure I also had Tinker Toys back when the pieces were still all wooden and a lot smaller than the picture in the link makes them look now.

Not dangerous at all, no.

Yeah, I liked building things. And that hasn't changed much. I still (sadly, for a person of my age) have my building toys, and when I can't be bothered to do anything constructive (ha! Constructive! I kill me) I've been known to get out my toys and just build.

It was that kind of week, boys and girls.





So. Let's introduce the toys. In the first two photos, magnetic sticks with ball bearings. There are a few different brands of these out there, and I can't remember what brand mine are so I won't bother trying to endorse anything specific.

In the third photo, coin connectors featuring exactly one hundred pennies. And yes, I did count them.

In the last three photos, a silly desk toy consisting of a magnetic base and way too many tiny little screws. So much fun to clean up afterwards. And you've just gotta love that Wave O' Screws at the bottom, right?

So what's the point of all of this?





There is no point.

Aren't you paying attention?

At least read the post title, people.

This is just something to do with my hands when I'm thinking of other things, or sometimes when I'm not thinking of anything at all.

I'm not sure why I do it. It's probably connected to the whole OLF thing, which I'm sure you'll agree with when you notice how much more it's about the patterns of building rather than the end result.

You see, I don't usually build with a reason. I build pointless things. Things that have no purpose and don't emulate anything useful.

I do like to build strong things, though.

That would explain all of the triangles and hexagons, I guess.

I also like my things to be symmetrical. They almost always are, except when I'm playing with the screws. It's hard to make them do symmetrical things.

That frustrates me, to be honest. I don't play with the screws much.

I just realised that I'm kind of letting you people into my messed-up little world here. Ah well. Yay for blog therapy.

Let's see... what else can I tell you about my toys? Not a whole lot, really.

I could mention that if you're thinking of getting into building things with pennies you should look into developing some serious callouses. The little plastic connectors are really stiff and after a while your fingers build up all kinds of annoying sore spots from forcing the things together. But then, I also have pretty wimpy hands when it comes down to it.

If anyone's wondering, at this point in the post I'm just typing enough words to maybe make all of these silly photos line up without overlapping. Serves me right for uploading them the way I did, though. If I'd made the thumbnails bigger they would have gone down the page very nicely without my having to do a thing about it...

That's got to be good enough now. I hope you enjoyed the open house, so to speak. Check back often, when we'll probably NEVER be doing this again.







Hmm. I wonder how the Little Modelling Clay Men would look doing a bit of pointless construction...