Spouting random ideas.

I'll probably have some sketches or thumbnails of these ideas ready in the next couple of days, but I thought I'd jump the gun a bit and spew forth some ideas I have generated for the first/second project for my Digital Printmaking class (hereafter known only as GID40). I say first/second, because the first real project for GID40 is to create and print a test strip. This test strip is basically so that you know that your printer is printing the colors you've chosen in whatever software you've chosen to use correctly. There's some deal with profiles and how they're different from paper to paper and printer to printer, but it's all very technical and not fun at all.

So, some of the ideas I've brainstormed (in class, of course) for the projects I'll have to do for this class are pretty simple, and easy to pull off. Maybe not the most original of themes, but the theme doesn't have to be original, but the work itself should be. I'm also thinking about incorporating text into these images, since I'm also taking a Typography class (I may have mentioned this, but I wasn't paying attention).

A brief list of ideas for themes/content as follows (including a brief description of what I'm talking about)

• Things in Unusual Places: This would basically be me juxtaposing two unrelated objects, one of which would probably be a landscape or landscape-esque (ie, a place). An example would be a hillside with a close-up of an ant's head rising over the horizon, or a picture of a tree with a watermelon hanging from it's branches. It's quirky and not terribly symbolically laden, which is what I do best.

• Visuals + Text: This could be pulled off at least two different ways that I can see: A) Text collaged with images or B) Text becoming an object. I think, visually, B would be more interesting, and I wouldn't necessarily want to something clichéd like have the word "face" be used to create an image of a face.

• Opposites: This is the one that appeals to me the most, even a bit more than Things in Unusual Places. I think I would enjoy doing something like this more because it would engage me on a more cerebral level (ie, I'd be using my brains). Let me transcribe my poorly scribbled notes on this: "Maybe combine with Visual + Text: Visual one thing, Text the opposite of that, vice versa. Eg, picture of candle w/ word "dark" incorporated Ground w/ text "sky" or "up" > Can be a good series." And I'm sure that if I thought hard enough I'd be able to work in Things in Unusual Places.

I think I'm most partial to Opposites because it's simple. It wouldn't take more than half an hour with a thesaurus to get a good list of words to use for the theme. And I really like thesaurii.

Hm... looking over I see more inspiration and, surprisingly, it comes in book format. The book in question is "NASA: Visions of Space," and it's basically a picture book of awesomeness. The pictures are various images taken by NASA telescopes (I assume many of them from Hubble, glorious glorious Hubble) and would work great for Things in Unusual Places. And it feeds into the overwhelming need that I have to incorporate space and astronomical images into most of my body of work (I don't often do it, which is why you all haven't seen this desire reflected in what I've shown you).

See, now that idea of incorporating spacey images has merged with my fascination of the human body. Which is a good thing, because ideas are great. It's the follow through that I'm a little wishy-washy on.

So, yes, I will contemplate the mysteries of the universe and attempt to transcribe them on flattened wood pulp. Then, I will take a photo image of this flattened wood pulp, digitizing it onto my computer via my camera device and upload it onto the Intertubes while hanging from my Interwebs. And it will be a glorious adventure for us all.

If anyone has any other ideas they think I should monkey around with, feel free to tell them to me. I'm not shy about taking other people's ideas and running with them.