WordPress Daily Prompt February 25, 2023

What advice would you give to your teenage self?

When I was a teenager, I did a lot of drawing with pencil, pen, chalk, pastels, and more. I also painted. I made a lot of traditional art. I was the president of the art club when I was in high school. I got to be pretty good and developed some nice skills. I even won an award from a congressman.

Sadly, after I graduated from high school, I stopped making traditional art. I focused on mathematics and computer science in college, but I completely left art behind. I stopped practicing my techniques. I have since moved on to digital art, but I no longer know how to draw or paint with traditional media.

The advice I would give my teenage self is this: “Don’t stop making art. Keep practicing. You can make art and enjoy math and computers at the same time.

If I had continued with my art abilities as a teenager and into college, my digital art skills would be even better today, and I’d also be able to say I can make traditional art as well.

WordPress Prompt for February 12, 2023, and a Haiku

You get some great, amazingly fantastic news. What’s the first thing you do?

When I get good news, the first thing I do is tell my husband. I also share the news with my mom and sister. Then, if I think other people might be interested, I post the news to Facebook and other social media sites, including blogs.

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Here is a haiku I wrote today.

a few ducks lined up
on a floating oak tree branch
three turtles visit

WordPress Prompt for February 5, 2023

Something on your “to-do list” that never gets done.

There are many things on my to-do list that never get done. For the sake of brevity, I will mention just one of them in this blog post.

As some of you already know, I make art and do other creative projects. The art I make these days is strictly digital. However, over the past six months, I have bought a lot of art supplies so that I can make some traditional art. I used to make traditional art when I was younger. My problem now is that I can’t seem to get started making it. I keep making things digitally.

I want to use oil and chalk pastels, and make watercolor paintings. I want to draw with alcohol markers, pencils, pens, and fine-liners. I want to use my PrismaColor colored pencils, especially, because I bought the biggest set. I want to use my special art paper to draw and paint on. There is so much I want to do, but I don’t get it done.

I made this fractal on January 30, 2023.

WordPress Prompt for February 4, 2023

What’s your favorite thing to cook?

This may come as a bad surprise for many people, but I don’t cook. I simply don’t enjoy cooking. I do sometimes throw frozen food in the microwave, though, if that can be considered cooking.

When I was growing up, my mom did all the cooking. She cooked everything until the day I left home when I was 19. I moved in with my boyfriend, and he did all the cooking until our divorce in 2010. My next boyfriend did the cooking, again. Then, when I met my second husband in 2015, he did all the cooking. He still does it.

I have tried cooking before and I’ve made some delicious meals. My husband John was very impressed and enjoyed the food I made. However, I am not interested in cooking, and I do not find it to be fun or enjoyable in any way, other than the process of eating the food afterward.

John is 31 years older than I, so if I outlive him, I will have no choice but to cook my own meals. I am not looking forward to that. But, I can’t live off microwave food forever.

I made this fractal on January 28th, 2023.

WordPress Prompt for February 3, 2023

Write about your first computer.

My first computer was an Apple IIe. I was a kid in the 1980s when my parents got it for me and my younger sister. We kept the computer in the bedroom that my sister and I shared.

I spent a lot of time on that computer. I played games like The Oregon Trail and Math Blaster. I also made digital art using a programming language by Turtle Graphics called Logo.

The Math Blaster game really fueled my love of math. I went on to get a bachelor’s degree in mathematics with a minor in computer science when I graduated from college. Also, having a computer at such a young age has helped me to be skilled at using computers and electronics in my adulthood.

I’m glad I got started making art on a computer as a child, because I use computers, phones, and tablets to make art these days. I’ve had a lot of practice, and, while I also have made traditional art in the past, my main obsession in my mid 40s is using computers and other electronics to make digital art, write poetry, and make music.

Incidentally. I apologize for neglecting my blog. I hope to take better care of it in the future and stay in better touch with my blogging friends.