Sale on canvas prints! Use code ABCXYZ at checkout for a special discount!

Blog

Displaying: 1 - 2 of 2

Writing Task #832 KINDNESS

December 29th, 2020

Writing Task #832 KINDNESS

TASK #832-KINDNESS
Following a slow turn of the wheel and a gravelly sigh, the gear shift clicked into “Park” but the engine continued to hum, pumping heat onto her cold feet. She had arrived early and was now facing the office sign...”Attorneys at Law”... as she fingered the business card between mink trimmed, cashmere lined, black leather gloves. Why not simply ease the car into reverse and leave? Did she really want to:..sit down?...confess the gradual decline of the last fifteen years of a 30 year journey, with a stranger? reduce the successes and failures to a balance sheet? sort thru the flood of best and worst of times? She fingered the $200 in cash for the secret tryst, pangs of betrayal burning through twitching veins to implode her heart.

Two hours later, numb with impersonal facts and figures, she stripped and entered the hot shower as if anxious to wash off the experience! Only when her reddened skin burned did she FEEL enough to sob tears she had stored for those last fifteen years until a primal scream returned her to the moment. She toweled into a cocoon, exhausted.
Ugh! The familiar sound of the “pink bus” shrieked to announce her mother-in-law’s return followed by the grind of brake and bus door thud... slowly opening as she quickly reached for a day gown.

She was no longer alone; the mask was in place and she opened the door with the perfected smile flash with which everyone felt comforted. “How was your morning, Ma?“ taking her coat to hang up in the hall closet and rushing to ready her snack. “Good, sweetie. Here’s something for you from the mailman.” She saw the familiar scrawl of her best friend’s handwriting and opened the small box. Beneath layers of white tissue paper and the 30th Wedding Anniversary card was a pearlized silver modern slash of cross with twin silver rings hanging from a delicate chain in the center. Engraved in bold black script began the jointly chosen prelude to their vows: “Love is patient and KIND. It is NOT...” Another sob gurgled in her throat as she read everything SHE had NOT demonstrated for a long time. Slowly, she poised hammer upon a short nail and with each blow resolved to change what she could...herself! She re-read the scripted wall image now hanging on the kitchen cabinet above the phone. A slow smile of memory curved as she picked it up... and dialed. She heard herself ask, almost shyly: “Hi darling, we haven’t connected lately and, I was wondering if... Well, if, your schedule isn’t too heavy, ...what about...would you ? ”An unexpected masculine interruption answered: “Am I hearing you correctly? Is my wife asking me OUT tonight? ...I will MAKE time for us, say 7:00 p.m.?...”

There have been numerous opportunities for practicing random acts of kindness: the steamy thermal mug in the console coffee caddy at 3:15 a.m. so he could bypass the stop for stale coffee at the drive thru en route to the airport; specific acts of kindness:
the exhausting overnight hospital stays and early morning phonecalls to assure him all was well with his mom...have a good day!...yes, small and not so small acts from heartspace. ..the weeknight trysts at favorite restaurants, the slow pathway ...back.

Another fifteen years...another kitchen...the same cross and the same man. Every morning she reads: “Love is patient and kind. It is NOT...”

Contest Etiquette..what I Have Learned From My Mis-takes

January 29th, 2020

So, you’ve joined FAA, Created a portfolio, created Collections, Joined several Groups, and spend Half an hour hitting the LF button on the activity stream here and there. What’s left? Hosting a Contest!! Seems easy! The defaults mostly run themselves, right? Well,... I found that to not necessarily be my experience.
There is “FINE” in FINEART AMERICA for a reason and there is an Art to Running a Contest. THINK of what it is...a VIRTUAL EXHIBIT!! When one sees and enters a contest, one responds to a posted “Artist Call” to submit a specified number of images...for specific criteria ...one submits and often one’s work is rejected if the contest criteria is not met. Throughout the submission, voting and winners’ announcement processes, you mingle with and meet other artists by commenting on their work, encouraging them by letting them know you voted and are wishing them well. Your work is available to meet and greet your peers. You have a chance for visibility and mentoring opportunities with other artists. If you win or place, you may edit your work and even establish a collection to showcase your success to prospective clients.
I also learned thru being a newbie Contest Administrator for over seventy Contests now that I have a RESPONSIBILITY to HOST a well created, monitored and formally announced contest which both reflects my personal standards of excellence and attracts artists of the same mindset.That being said, I have stamina issues and I found I needed to develop some shortcuts to help me do what I enjoy and do it well. So, I thought I would share what I have found thru trial and error to be a reliable, time saving process, consistent with FAA suggestions that I am making available for your personalization and usage. Here goes....These are My CONTEST ETIQUETTE basics:

( I PREPARE: Four (4) SAMPLE, ADVANCE DRAFTS (in my tablet) as follows:
NOTE: Any helpful hints are in parentheses...the other text is the format I use)

1. (SAMPLE....GENERIC CONTEST FORMAT)

HELLO EVERYONE!
This (Type in TITLE of) Contest is about (TYPE REQUIREMENTS, i.e., LOOKing THRU anything GLASS...glass ceiling, glass slipper, glass bottle, glass vase, glass window, etc...it’s ALL about the interesting COLOURS AND SHAPES ...of and thru...GLASS!)

KINDLY SUBMIT: FOUR (4) ENTRIES...(Type either: All MEDIA or HandArt ONLY or PHOTOGRAPHY ONLY, etc.)...WELCOME!
(I double check and coordinate the entry number in the follow-on contest tab on set-up)

As always: NO nudity, FAMILY FRIENDLY, ...JUST FOR FUN!
(Typing these guidelines avoids a LOT of unnecessary monitoring/deleting artists’ work)

(Follow the prompts for uploading an “entry example” image of the kind of entry you are seeking. Then continue to follow the contest instructions. They are well delineated.
I DOUBLE CHECK that The contest is only for “FAA members only” because I do not wish to attract/encourage votes’ solicitation. I make certain I select and MATCH the number of entries in both tab and contest overview, I DOUBLE CHECK that the default is left blank for “prizes” and that I have not entered any typed in prize comments, etc. pre-submittal. I also do not like to restrict the votes; voting and spreading “ comment love” is good for us all.
NOTE: There is an “edit contest tab” in the contest creation format if one needs to make changes or correct mistakes; however, once the submit tab has been tapped and it goes LIVE and entries have been posted, one experiences limits on edit options.)

Thanks,
( Type one’s name)

2. (SAMPLE......GENERIC....TIME TO VOTE ANNOUNCEMENT) (I prepare this right after I create the contest. I then set my calendar timer to remind me of date/time...I also try to maintain a schedule or consistency that interested artists become accustomed to: i.e., if weekly, I post, create, vote and announce winners on the same days...this works for my themed Contest Series. Remember the DREAMS of BEAUTY “DBCS” Contests that spanned almost six months?... they were generally well attended and were scheduled.)

Hello everyone,

THANK YOU ALL for such WONDERful contest entries. I hope you all had FUN. It’s not over...it’s now TIME TO VOTE!!!
Please remember to spread some “comment love” and liberally VOTE for entries you really like in the contest. Everyone wins when we promote each other’s talent.

Here’s your link:
( this can be established as soon as you have set up the contest so it’s ALL READY TO GO. You simply tap the “fineartamerica” url bar line at the very top of the contest page; it changes to show the contest link info...after which you, tap “SELECT all”, tap “COPY” and tap to “PASTE” it here in your saved draft. - Apologies to those of you who are tech savvy...this took me FOREVER to discover because I did not know what a “url” was! I know...really? Yes!)

Until the LEADERBOARD SPEAKS, PLEASE:
VISIT and cast your initial votes early on and REVISIT on
(pre-type whatever day you chose.... which is listed on the contest Overview page, for the contest to end )
before the CONTEST ENDS to recheck the Leaderboard. When there are multiple ties for each category, YOUR vote really counts to tighten the WINNERS CIRCLE...otherwise, the Contest Administrator must determine the outcome and I prefer to defer to the FAA collective. Have FUN and I will see you soon.
THANK YOU,
(Pre-Type one’s name)


3. (SAMPLE......GENERIC...WINNERS ANNOUNCEMENT)
( I double check ALL of the initial information typed earlier before I release this format to all members by tapping “members tab” of the contest page and select all/copy/pasting this completed format to the “send Message to all contest participants” tab.

HELLO EVERYONE!
What a wonderful Artist Call response to the “( Tyoe in ) CONTEST” which featured (pre-type...) members, exhibited (pre- type...) amazing, varied media entries of Beauty, Imagination and Creativity and generated (pre-type... )votes! ( This info is gathered from the contest overview page, contest overview Tab on bottom Right)
Thank you, thank you SO much for the glimpses of Beauty!
Here’s your contest link:
(Again, I establish this on contest creation using same process as delineated above.)

THE LEADERBOARD has spoken and THE WINNERS ARE:

FIRST PLACE : (pre-TYPE in WINNERS FULL NAME, “IMAGE TITLE”)
(I pre-type these PLACEMENTS in an hour or so before...double check and make adjustments AFTER...“TO SEE WINNERS, PRESS HERE” prompt is officiated and BEFORE initiating and sending this format to ”send message to all Contest participants” Tab located above the members photographs )

SECOND PLACE: (Pre-TYPE)

THIRD PLACE: (Pre-TYPE)

HONORABLE MENTION LEAD: (Pre-TYPE)

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS AND PLACEMENTS!!
I hope you each enjoyed this wonderful exhibit and had a chance to mingle by generously leaving comments on each other’s work.

Best to each of you in your Aesthetic,
(Pre-Type one’s name)

4. SAMPLE....GENERIC INDIVIDUAL WINNERS ANNOUNCEMENT
(The stats are pre-typed in after final winner officiating results are posted and the names/placements are adjusted easily. Return to the overview page, tap on winners, tap on each winner, tap their image, tap to make announcement in their personal comment section...repeat for all winners/placements. )

CONGRATULATIONS!! ( leave blank...this gets typed once into the winner’s personal image sheet in the comment section under the image), You are the FIRST PLACE WINNER in ( Tyoe in) CONTEST, (pre-Type in) members, (pre-Type) entries, (pre-type) votes. YAY! So well deserved!

I like using these formats, especially if a contest has been well attended so a member can easily tap and copy/edit to archive the stats into his/her image page. As noted above, this info is easily obtained from the Contest Overview Tab of the contest overview page. This allows flexibility to add things like TIE status or change FIRST PLACE to SECOND, etc. It personalizes the experience, establishes Your Contest Administration Credibility and encourages concurrent, likeminded interchanges with much less effort. I have also met and swelled my watchlist coffers with such masterful artists because of hosting contests. I enjoy creating Contest Series...perhaps you remember my Dreams of Beauty Contest Series (DBCS) CONTESTS which celebrated my watchlist members by genre? I believe there is an Art to doing ANYthing and I strive for excellence in whatever task I perform...because I am ...a grateful artist in service to my Aesthetic.

Hope you enjoy these “format guides” that developed over time, trial, many “mistakes” and emails from disgruntled contest members that I gratefully took as “opportunities for greater learning” and to which I responded with gratitude. If, after reading this, you would care to share YOUR helpful hints with me and others, I would be most appreciative. I hope to see you hosting a contest in the near future!
~Laurel