So why do people create? One answer is to solve problems, which of course is very important to evolution. So perhaps evolution drove us to make it exciting to create? So that's why we create. But why do we create things that don't solve problems? Heaven knows that art and literature and music address issues of the spirit and the mind, but that doesn't exactly mean these things are solving problems. 

Creativity has been studied in several contexts, with the primary focus on
* education
* business (opinions on this one later)
* psychology.

The nature of beauty is studied in aesthetics.

None of these answer the underlying question surrounding why it is humans create. Any comments on this welcome. Am reading some things now, and promise to keep you informed. 

In the meantime, consider the following, where one is at least fun but serves no real purpose, and that other is at least designed to serve a purpose.... (yes, I made both):

In the wild, elephants and egrets are buddies--the egrets get dinner from small prey and insects that get kicked up by the walking elephant, and the insects that bother the elephant. In return, the elephant suffers from fewer bugs. In that spirit, I made cattle egrets to go on the back of my small African elephants. Then I had to make them even smaller. It's fun to play around on the scroll saw until it works.

By the way, I had always wondered how in heck the ancient Egyptians drew a heron or crane hieroglyphic. Now I know--with a lot of practice.  I also didn't have any idea how MANY ancient Egyptian bird hieroglyphs have been identified. 

In my new capitalist experiment, using the best of the online options (well, that's what Etsy is for me), I would like to reinforce the belief that at least for some of us, "business" is not the best friend of originality. Certainly the business aspects are demanding. They also use the analytical side of the brain, which I would prefer to reserve for solving problems posed by creative challenges--that is, figuring out how to make things, rather than figuring out how to sell things. 

The business-related problems are not all that interesting, at least, not yet? I doubt they ever will be. The ideas and the making, that's the point. Still, this discussion returns to the on-going conundrum: I see creativity as a good thing for society as well as for the maker. That is, it's okay to make things for yourself, to play music without feeling the need to perform (some of us introverts don't enjoy being on-stage in any capacity)--but part of the reason a lot of us make things is that we love doing it and we want others to love it too! Spread the joy.

Business does not have any joy. For me. So far. I am trying to keep everything entertaining--from the description of the items on Etsy, to the photography, to the marketing-y sorts of tasks. But I have to tell you, SEO and related have not yet proven to be fun puzzles. Nor has it been a party to become familiar with the ins and outs of Etsy-dom even though the site is very friendly and etsians are incredibly welcoming and open. And very supportive. At least for now, all I end up doing is learning as much as I can about whatever the current challenge is, then try to execute some variant of best practices. No originality involved.

And of course I know that every process has bits that aren't as rewarding as others. This is certainly true when following through the entire process of making things--parts are more fun than others. Just wish more of the business aspects were less like chores and more like something innately (to me) interesting.

I always end up with the Richard Feynman quote (which explains how I gutted it out for decades in the corporate environment): "Everything is interesting if you go into it deeply enough." Maybe I'll find a way to make the business aspects more interesting and less draining as I learn more? Or not. We'll see. I'm betting on "not."

Challenges faced today: set up an abbreviated facebook page (yes, askamarmot on facebook) and an askamarmot pinterest board. Also spent time trying to figure out how to post something to pinterest on a board I am following. That, plus no email all day (my isp site is down). 

Phew. Tomorrow is for making things!

Today, someone reminded me of birds on large creatures--elephants, for example. Now that's a cool item to assemble! 

Attribution: The adjacent image is from the US gov/fish wildlife service, so I know it is okay to post. Still trying to figure out copyright on images and attribution and all. I'd include one of my own photos, except that I've never seen or photographed said subject matter.

Have you seen that video with goats in trees?  I do not pass around youtube video clips, so that means that if I like it enough to mention, you might want to waste a few minutes watching the clip. I really laughed when it started essentially raining goats. All I can think about is the Charlie Brown bit about "I could have been the hero, but now I'm the goat." 

One of my friends pointed out that <1>  I make trees, and yes, <2>  I've made goats, so ergo, I should make goats in trees. I spent today drawing Argan trees of Morocco (the kind the video goats were climbing), and also shrinking goat images I had drawn to fit into the tree. I have made some progress, but still have a way to go.

It was really fun to sand all those tiny goats. Will update the universe on the progress of the goats-in-trees project as it moves ahead.

Yay! Goats in Trees! 

By the way, the reason for making a new tree is that the following tree just doesn't work for the current goat set.

Yes, this does hold lemurs--but not goats so far. Part of the problem is the 3mm birch ply--too thin even for the 3mm teeny goats I just cut. So I will continue work on an official argan goat tree.

Any compliments on any photography in this blog, website, or etsy store are automatically forwarded (by me) to my husband, Jack, who made sure the pictures were as good as they could be--dragging me into the world of his Pentax digital SLR. Thanks, Jack! Here's some shots Jack took today, mixing up the wood creatures with some serious metal. (Yes, Jack does metalworking, along with woodworking and on and on.)

Jack milled the metal in the photo above--the part he made is called a hold-down.

This tool, next to the wood sheltie, is a layout scribe that you can use to precisely mark layout lines. Whoo hoo!. That sheltie in the photo is working out how to use that tool.

"the American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) is ... a wonderful surprise on the reservoirs and lakes of Colorado." 

No kidding--the first time I saw one here I thought I needed eyeglasses.  The good news is that the white pelican does NOT do the spectacular dives of the coastal brown pelican, given that the waters are just not that deep around here. From same source as above: "This large snow-white bird is 50″–70″ long with black wing tips that can span up to 110″ (9ft.), their feet are orange, and webbed not only between the four front toes but also between the second toe and the inwardly directed back toe."

White pelicans are BIG.

These are absolutely the most adorable creatures--tiny, and they spend all their time gathering food for winter and eating. (The following picture is from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, so it's copyright free, by the way.)  They don't hibernate, so they have to stash food like mad across the short summers of the high terrain.

With this level of omg-cuteness, I had no choice. I added a pika to my growing menagerie of wood critters. 

AskaAMarmot.etsy.com is up and running, yay! Now to figure out more and more about all kinds of things that go with an etsy store. At least the store has some things in it. It only took me four years to get this far..

One of the ways to stay inspired is to find beautiful things to enjoy, and etsy is heaven for that, at least for me. Treasuries on etsy on small collections of items put together either thematically (color, use, other) or simply because they are lovely. This treasury went up yesterday:

https://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTEyMDA0NTd8MjcyNjM2ODAxNg/its-the-little-things

It includes some small things are very cheering! Here are two of the items (below, linked)  listed in the treasury:

This is from www.StarHomeStudio.etsy.com--

In the meantime, I've been adding to the shop. I admit to being very fond of the newest additions.

Yesterday, I stepped away from my day job. I will soon join the ranks of the officially self-employed. I am terrified.

My decision is one that in some ways has nothing to do with me. Instead, it is a result of an interior imperative involved with creation. Essentially, I am giving in to an increasingly loud interior voice that is demanding change--that I switch course and have creation/making as my core organizing principle. This principle, making, is not the principle I would have chosen, mind you. If I could pick, I would be a different kind of person with a different core organizing principle--for example, the kind of person to volunteer in NGOs in Syria or Rwanda. But I'm not that person. And I have to make things and write, or I am miserable (and miserable to be around).

So why do we create? Why do we need to make  and write  and see beauty and read and sing? I keep thinking about a picture of a monastery built into a cliff--for some reason, knowing that those monks are out there meditating and praying and thinking and reflecting makes a different. What difference?  Hmmm. I am looking forward to finding out more about what that difference is.

More immediately, I find myself thinking about specific tasks to accomplish in the near-term--the next six months, say. One of those actions is the act of doing nothing. Life is short (you can call me Captain Obvious), and it's time to pay attention to it, both with intention and without. Staring into space, daydreaming, and letting the mind be free are as important perhaps as action and movement. "Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time."*

 Another essential action includes daily (or nearly daily)  writing--so here is the new blog. 

Wow.



* Quotation variously attributed to John Lennon, Betrand RusselL, and Marthe Troly-Curtin.  http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/06/11/time-you-enjoy/