P-PAW 2015

[Dan Mouer]

New Years Resolution: It's time for a new PAW...in fact this will be a P-PAW!

In 2008, 2009, and 2010 I participated in an exercise in self-discipline that had been started by some online photo friends on one of the Leica groups. It's called "Picture-a-Week," and the idea is simple: make at least one good photograph each week, no matter what, without fail, no excuses. Doesn't have to be prize-winning, but it should be one that I am happy to show off to some sophisticated photography/art audiences. It was a very productive and rewarding exercise to go through and, in fact, my 2009 solo gallery show called "Café Life: a Laptop, a Cell Phone and a Latté" was a direct result of that practice.

Because I primarily consider myself a print maker--my art is producing a work on paper (or aluminum, or copper, or plexi, or ceramic...) rather than being an "imager," I want to make my 2015 exercise a P-PAW (Picture and Print a week.) Following my 2009 show, I have done relatively little photo-based art. Instead, I've been making mixed-media compositions, collages, and mail-art. I had a very nice mail-art show this year at Artspace Richmond leaving me to wonder what is the next step for me and my ADD creativity.

I keep coming back to feeling that I want to do more of what I used to do: photography. What's more, I find myself attracted to traditional subjects (landscape, nature, portraiture) as well as traditional formats (film, silver prints, etc.). So I have decided to undertake another year of picture a week discipline, complete with a top-quality print of each week's PAW. Since I love my mail-art networks and don't want to lose the friends I have made there, I think that my weekly print will become the core of a weekly mail-art piece. So mail-art friends, watch your letter boxes!

To add a little spice to the mix, I have just had surgery which renders me very immobile. I am in a leg cast and restricted to movements I can accomplish on one foot only. That will be the case for at least a couple months, with another 2-3 months in a "walking cast" I probably won't be routinely leaving the house and/or driving until at least late Spring. So no walks in the woods with cameras for me. If it isn't in my house or on my front porch, I most likely cannot photograph it. What will I photograph? We shall see...

Keep eyes peeled, Friends,

Dan M

[Dan Mouer]

Valentine,
I am completely impressed that you have a 2CV, and that she is oranje! And gorgeous! Amazing.

[Valentine Mark Herman]

A silo, nope -- it's a very old (circa 1675) house, in the historic old part of the village. they built houses tall and quite thin then to avoid paying too much tax on land. Depending on how you count them, there are 3 1/2 floors, and a terrace. There are steps everywhere. When, or if, you get to the terrace, there is a great view of the lil vinyards and 'nature park', and , if you look down, you might find Oranje parked in the rue de la Vieille Fontaine. Talking of which, go back to the Repitition 'My tried and trusted and much loved 30-ye&r old Citroen 2CV -- ...

Sorry, Dan, we seem to have left your Paw Problems behind...

[Linda French]

54 steps?? How can that be? Are you living in a silo?  --Linda

[Valentine Mark Herman]

How is your paw?

Did you ever tell us how you came to get a bad leg? If not, perhaps you'd like to do so....

Keep on hoppin'!

[Valentine Mark Herman]

There are 54 steps from the bottom of my house to the top. About 50 too many for a person with a bad foot. I used to go up and down the stairs on my bum, carrying what I needed in a back-pack. Of course, when I got from the kitchen at the bottom of the house to my bed at the top, I realised I'd forgotten something and/or had to go down 20-odd steps to the loo.

Get a thermos and/or install a coffee machine or kettle where you are laid up?

[Dan Mouer]

Well Happy New Year Val and Linda. If someone would just please deluver a large coffee to my bedside this morning, I'll be most grateful! It's a long and tedious hop down a long flight of stairs between me and coffee at the moment.

[Linda French]

"Lakewalk" is meant to give the impression that a patient can walk out of there under their own steam. Not necessarily true, but a nice thought.  --Linda

[Valentine Mark Herman]

Thanks for the medical advice. 'Lakewalk'? Ah, so the surgery allows you to walk on the water? Or sink...and drown?

[Valentine Mark Herman]

If the Chosen Café is cold, Dean will liven things up with his 'Portable Mail Art Kit' that he always carries around with him.

[Valentine Mark Herman]

Er, previous experience of organising IUOMA meetings in Paris that, so the stories go and the photos reveal, have been very good fun.