Consider all the components of a good photograph: lighting, composition, subject, movement, etc. Then, don’t be afraid of imperfection. Permit the imperfection to become part of the piece.  Meanwhile, adjust your settings for the next shot (!).

A stormy day in Central Florida gave me the perfect opportunity to try some recipes that have been on the to do list–kale and brussel sprout salad and balsamic pork tenderloin.  I followed the salad recipe closely–depending on the Cuisinart heavily.  Who knew raw brussel sprouts could taste this good?  The balsamic pork tenderloin got happy over 4 hours or so.  Slightly altered the recipe by omitting the honey (no sweet meat for me); heavy-handing the chicken broth; adding red onion and rosemary.  Both are winners.  Bon appetit!

The dry cool air of our recent days in Central Florida has had a pleasant affect on my garden.  My blooms boast my geography, rather than any near-green thumb I possess.  Layering is a powerful tool in floral design–the ordinary can pose as the luxe.  Pulled the print below from the lifestyle portion of the Wall Street Journal recently; pulled the life from outside my back door.  Note the pleasing layering of both texture and color–the oxalis (purple clover; a recent acquisition at the nursery), keeps things from getting too stuffy. My arrangement includes the oxalis, “Hot Cocoa” floribunda rose, geranium, and begonia.  Working on redesigning the bedroom.

Excerpt from post by Sam Mcnerney and his blog, Moments of Genius via Big Think:

And then there’s The Beatles, who were just another rock ‘n’ roll band for about five years while they preformed in Liverpool and Hamburg. Like Dylan, their first original material was an imitation of the mainstream. Mozart didn’t compose his first breakthrough composition until his early twenties – over fifteen years since he first started playing and composing music – and Picasso’s artistic talent was not evident early in his career. The real genius of people like Dylan, Mozart, Picasso and bands like The Beatles was their ability to recognize that on the road to an original idea, theft and imitation is key.

Yet, our culture is obsessed with being original. At work, we imagine ourselves presenting a novel idea that leaves the CEO dumbfounded. It’s the same at school – we strive to impress professors by trying to generate ideas that they never considered. In a larger sense, when we’re tasked to come up with an idea, implicit is that we must be original; no one wants to hear something they already know.

But what Shakespeare teaches us is that being original is not only overrated and misleading, it’s the last step in the creative process. We are better off when we begin the ideation process by surveying the creative landscape and stealing the best of other people’s work. Trying to be original, after all, is a good way to come off as an unoriginal conformist (e.g., the hipster culture).

I’m not pushing a mantra. I’m describing the reality of the creative process.Nothing is completely original. All artists’ work builds on what came before. Every new idea is just a mash-up of two previous ideas. Newton was right to remark that he stood on the shoulders of giants. And as Mark Twain said: “The kernel, the soul — let us go further and say the substance, the bulk, the actual and valuable material of all human utterances — is plagiarism.” Everything is a remix.

Behind any creative genius is a long paper trail of theft. For Shakespeare it was Marlowe and other playwrights of the Elizabethan Era. For Dylan, it was Guthrie and the rest of the 1950s folk movement. So don’t just imitate an idea – that’s what immature thinkers do. Instead, steal. That’s the trademark of a mature thinker.

I am generally a decided critic of the red rose.  It impacts the viewer with all that is un-artful about commercialized flower arranging–generic and contrived.  The need to reproduce and say ‘Valentine’s Day,’ in the way that is all too expected, has limited what is otherwise so beautiful.  I needed a pick-me-up today; flowers were needful. Surprisingly, among the array of other colors, I settled on red.  It is reinvigorating to approach what seems uninteresting to find what therein is truly beautiful.

Michael Carson

Gift-giving is one of of the distinct joys of the season; the added benefit of which is the packaging.  The ribbon aisle is a world of creativity–no matter the pedigree of ribbon on view (these spools are from Hobby Lobby).  Snowmen and candy canes won’t do when you have such interest at hand.