Week 4- R.A. Matheson

Breathing Poppies

You don’t know…
(dodging empty plastic trash bags blowing across the freeway
being poured away
scratch skin off vomit off of porcelain lick the edge
break your back to fix it once, it’s gone hours later
turn all you own over to a stranger
hear it whisper in your ear like a jet engine, pulling
sweat out shaking drowning in the toilet
hypnotic “x” that stares like your eyes
bathe to relieve muscle tissue grinds stones under skin
brown beauty that sheds her amber sheen across backs of aluminum
specter of breath of tar up a straw and into your vitality
turn over, like Faust, the impetus for living)
…and you don’t want to.

Week 4 -ish :) Ashley Davene

Be here

On earth

As love

Your worth

On this sweet ship

On the wonderous night at sea

On your sweet lips

Tell me are kisses for me

I am

A part

The sands and the sea and the tide

Sweetheart sweetheart say you’ll stay with me for the ride

For the ride  , say you’ll stay the for ride

Be here on earth

As love

Your worth

Be here with me tonight

See the fire of your light

How that rocks my soul through

Be hold

Our home

Be hold our home

And love it

And love it

Tonight

Week 4 – Heather Ouellette-Cygan

Week 4- Sue O’Connor

These tiny little twin flowers were huddled together holding each other up and I had to shoot them. They are so small and delicate and so dependent on each other.

Week 4- Jonathan Gellert

Week 4- Sarah Gellert

Week 4- Alana Kelly

I had finals and Easter so I didn’t make anything. But we colored eggs and that counts right?

Week 4~ Caron Thomas

Week 4 – Photobug Shar

Take me with you...

Week 4 – Amber Perkins

This week landscaping was the focus of my creative endeavors. Gave landscape design an attempt and then I put some effort into putting the plan into place.

BEFORE

AFTER

Week 4- Michael Mooney

The Great Easter Exchange!

These are some characters I created last year some time; Ralphy on the left and Alice on the right. Easter bunny paid them a visit and they even invited another bug along to join in the fun!

Week 4- Cameron Ouellette

This is a rough edit clip from the film I am making for my Movie Making II class. The film is called Because You Were Home, and is a bout a brother and sister left home alone, who are attacked during the night by masked people. The final product should be finished by May 5th.

Link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f3NU-I1LAc&feature=channel_video_title

Week 4- Rachael Peabody

Voila!  Another fine example of poor time management.  Luckily the dryer at the laundromat (or as I like to call it ‘my studio’) was kind enough to leave my clothes damp enough to keep me there long enough to give this SOME ink.  Pretend there is a background and cool detailing.  Art’s about imagination, right?

Week 4- Devin Eldridge

Age: 30

Height: 5′ 5”

Started: April 12, 2010

Beginning weight: 283 lbs

Current weight: 183 lbs

My Journey

I am on a journey to lose weight. Sometimes I think it would be easier to ignore that person who is looking back at me in the mirror. I know it’s going to take a lot of hard work and commitment to get the weight off. I’ve always been told “You didn’t put it on overnight, and you won’t take it off overnight”. As far back as I can remember, I’ve been overweight. At my heaviest, I weighed more than I did when I was 9 months pregnant. Over the years, I have tried different things to lose weight and have lost a few pounds here and there. But things would happen, and I’d always give up and gain it all back and more. This time, I am trying to do things differently to keep myself motivated.

What made this time any different from the others? I guess I reached the point where I WANTED to change the person I was. I don’t like this person!! (This person has low self esteem. This person has no energy. This person is always depressed. This person hates herself).

The way I feel sometimes is as though I am standing still just watching my life pass me by. I used to tell myself, “I have to have to do this for my son. I need to lose weight so I can do things with him”. Instead of watching my life, I want to live my life. I remember going to an amusement park with my son and he wanted to go on a ride with his mother. For this ride, you had to be buckled in and I could not fit the strap around my waist. I had to get off and my son had to ride alone.

Every time I went to see my doctor I was told that I needed to lose weight. With my family’s medical history (diabetes, heart disease, obesity. etc.), I knew I would not live long unless I made a change. You can have someone tell you that everyday and still not do it. You have to do it for yourself when you are ready. That’s what I realized last year when my Dad had a stroke. I knew then that something had to change. For the first time, I was doing it for me.

I have been going to Curves for Women for 7 1/2 years, but was not following the diet plan and my exercise was inconsistent. There would often be long periods of time when I was not working out at Curves at all. When I realized I needed to both exercise and eat well, I talked to my Mom about a website called Sparkpeople.com. You can go on the website and track what you eat, your caloric intake, and log your exercise. It turned out to be just what I needed, to see it all out in front of me. So, I got on board and signed up with Spark People, started going to Curves 3 times a week, and would walk 2 miles at the track at Inter-Lakes high school 5 times a week. That’s when I really started to see results. At first, it was hard trying to eat right and exercise, but i would just give myself goals, 5 pounds at a time, and discovered I would lose the 5 pounds and more. Then i would set bigger goals. Even when I didn’t always reach my goal, I kept at it. It wasn’t until I lost the first 50 pounds that it started to sink in that it was working. I was eating 5 small meals per day totaling between 1300 and 1500 calories. I found it best to read labels and measure all my food portions. This helped keep me from opening a bag of snacks and eating the whole bag. I mostly stuck to snacks that were individually portioned, 100 calorie snacks, and when they were gone, I was done eating.

I have been over weight since I was very young, and I loved my food, but i never realized anything was wrong until someone close to me told me that I had a food addiction. “No i don’t. There’s no problem, I just like to eat,” I would tell myself. Once I realized I needed to lose weight in order to live my life, I saw that I did have an addiction to food. If I was bored, depressed, happy, anxious, whatever the emotion, I would always turn to food to make me feel better. Even though I have better eating habits now, I still have that addiction and slip off every once in a while, but I just need to tell myself that I need to snap out of it and get back on the train. I still treat myself to a dessert or go out for Chinese food from time to time because I love food, but now I enjoy it in moderation, and I don’t beat myself up over these treats.

I started my journey on April 12, 2010. It has now been a year and I reached my goal: I have lost 100 pounds. It’s been the best thing I have done for myself in 30 years. A year ago, I didn’t think I would be where I am today, but here I am: I’m healthier, happier, and more active, because I set goals and I didn’t give up.

Week 4 – Kenia Cris

Boredom

A passing note

Boy with butterfly wings and the boat somewhere else

This week I used a few of the sleepless hours I’ve been collecting to work on something I thought a lot about, first driven by Betty’s third flying lesson, and then again, after writing this poem and having a reader leaving the following question on the comment form: ‘when is it easier to fly — when one is young or old?‘ If she knew me well, she would never have asked me such question (it will take me a year to stop thinking about it)!

The three collage pieces above compose ‘My study of flight’, which is obviously unfinished. *sigh*

Week 4- Kevin Contreras

Base coat of silver spray paint, then glow-in-the-dark spray paint, and finally paint markers…

Week 4- Kelly Bennett

Week 4 – Brian Weeks

I’ve been creating a lot of artwork lately. It seems that every week, I have art to create, and a short window of time to make what’s in my head a reality. Someone really famous once said, “All creativity needs is a deadline.” (OK, maybe it was just a handful of geekz back in ’05, but you get the general message here.)

Each week, I’m creating new art. With a deadline. Sound familiar? Yeah, I thought it might… Well, once I’m finished with all my artwork for the week, I can begin to think about TGAP. You see, it’s in my work life that I’m called upon to also make magic from a piece of paper and a Sharpie.  I am the Sign Captain at the West Lebanon, NH Home Depot.

It’s a part of my work culture that getting our weekly ad set, free clinics, and other promotions we run on a daily, weekly, monthly basis  to run smoothly and effectively is just 70% of the while package – the remaining 30% is where we are called upon to infuse our own Entrepreneurial Spirit.

As our store’s Sign Captain, on Mondays, I take a look at what promotions we have coming up for the following week’s ad (these begin on Thursday). Between Monday night when I work, and close of business on Wednesday, it’s up to me to take what would be merely compliance to the next level.  To be clear – I am not the only person who can make a sign.  I am in charge of the ‘special project’ signs and stuff that requires real artwork.

I work with the other Department Supervisors and the Assistant Store Managers to decide which merchandising departments are the focus of the week and I will either come up with my own ideas, or another DS will have something in mind that I will create.

Here’s an example:

Andersen Windows and Doors recently had a promotion for 10% off all special order windows and doors. I really wanted to shout out this promotion, and I went to Tony, the DS of Millwork, with a sketch of what I thought would be a killer display. He helped me make it a reality.

We actually built a 12-foot tall rolling display cart with composite decking, siding, a working patio door, and greenery. I just found out last night that we are regional finalists for the best display for this promotion.  The prize for the winning store is a pizza party for the entire store courtesy of Andersen Windows and Doors. That would be nice to earn something for my team, and I like pizza. 🙂

Not everything I make is so grandiose, but I do churn out a lot of new and creative ideas every week.

On Wednesday nights, I work a long day to execute all my signs for Thursday’s new ad. My reward is a short day on Thursday where I generally open the store and get out at noon. So, I came home this afternoon and sat down to think about this week’s TGAP project. I turned around in my chair to look at the clock and was instantly inspired by a print by one of my two favorite artists, Hans Hofmann. I wanted to bring his essence to this week’s project.

So those are my brushes in the main picture, sitting on the edge of the sink in the bathroom at work last night . I liked the lines and the contrast in the colors, so I snapped a quick photo with my phone.  Who knew at the time that a simple moment like washing out my brushes so I can get ready to go home would become the basis of this week’s piece?

I’ll leave you with one last image. You may wonder what I was painting with such neon bright colors. Well, my last piece of the night last night was inspired (very loosely) by my other favorite artist, Keith Haring. The bright colors, the simple, radiating lines – this was my holiday tribute to him.

Happy Easter to all my fellow Geekz, if you celebrate that holiday. If not, have a happy Sunday.

(I can’t promise that I won’t ramble on about work in another TGAP posting, but sometimes I have to tell a story to reveal the whole picture…

Week 4- Michael Sean Piper

Everything has a soul.

Week 4- Robyn Anne Piper