I'm giving away copies of my Dancing With Hecate CD for just the cost of priority mail shipping between now and the end of the year.
Happy New Year to all.
Thanks to everyone who participated! I hope you enjoyed the CD!
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Tueday's Lament
Here's my contribution to the solemnities today.
TuesdaysLamentt by voxwoman
I had the lyrics sitting around ever since my friend Margaret died suddenly from a heart attack in the late 1990's. The music was created after getting back from NYC Pagan Pride day on Sept 23, 2001. It was supposed to be held in Battery Park, but that was still smoldering from the attacks. So the venue was moved to Washington Square Park in the Village. I was one of 2 or 3 other bands playing that day; I don't remember who they were, unfortunately.
What I do remember from going in to the city that day was when I was on the NJ Transit train coming in, after we pulled out of the Newark station, I felt like we were passing through a physical barrier, and I needed to raise my own "shields" to keep waves of emotion from getting to me.
Music for the Goddess was the first act of the day, and I was given permission to sing the Star Spangled Banner to start off the day's activities. There were a lot of Pagans around the park and a lot of passers-by. A huge flag was hanging from the arch in the park. I remember that the crowd stopped to listen to me and the open area in front of the stage was full of people and there was a lot of cheering when I finished the song and I got to shout out "Goddess Bless America!" for the first time, which felt pretty good.
When we were done, Daxe, my bass player, Josh, my friend who lived in lower Manhattan at the time (and who since has moved out of the city to Connecticut), and whose apartment faced the World Trade Center, and I decided to walk down to ground zero to see it and pay our respects.
Walking down there was physically difficult. I think the city put up its own psychic shields around the place. When we got within 10 blocks of ground zero, it felt like I was walking through jello. It became more difficult to move forward with every step. We didn't have cameras or much of anything - we just felt the need to bear witness.
I got home that evening and locked myself in my studio, grabbed a microphone and recorded the melody played by the cello and the vocal line in a wordless cry. It took several years, and the passing of my mother in 2003 before I could revisit this and complete the song.
The freaky thing about the recording is this: I live 5 miles (as the crow flies) from Newark airport (the airport where the hijacked planes originated), right underneath one of their flight paths - some days it's takeoff, some days it's landing. When I was recording the vocal track, I didn't realize that a plane was flying overhead in the middle of the third verse. I didn't realize it until I was doing the mixing. I decided to leave that track as it was and not re-record it. If you listen really carefully with headphones on, you can hear it. That was not on purpose.
TuesdaysLamentt by voxwoman
I had the lyrics sitting around ever since my friend Margaret died suddenly from a heart attack in the late 1990's. The music was created after getting back from NYC Pagan Pride day on Sept 23, 2001. It was supposed to be held in Battery Park, but that was still smoldering from the attacks. So the venue was moved to Washington Square Park in the Village. I was one of 2 or 3 other bands playing that day; I don't remember who they were, unfortunately.
What I do remember from going in to the city that day was when I was on the NJ Transit train coming in, after we pulled out of the Newark station, I felt like we were passing through a physical barrier, and I needed to raise my own "shields" to keep waves of emotion from getting to me.
Music for the Goddess was the first act of the day, and I was given permission to sing the Star Spangled Banner to start off the day's activities. There were a lot of Pagans around the park and a lot of passers-by. A huge flag was hanging from the arch in the park. I remember that the crowd stopped to listen to me and the open area in front of the stage was full of people and there was a lot of cheering when I finished the song and I got to shout out "Goddess Bless America!" for the first time, which felt pretty good.
When we were done, Daxe, my bass player, Josh, my friend who lived in lower Manhattan at the time (and who since has moved out of the city to Connecticut), and whose apartment faced the World Trade Center, and I decided to walk down to ground zero to see it and pay our respects.
Walking down there was physically difficult. I think the city put up its own psychic shields around the place. When we got within 10 blocks of ground zero, it felt like I was walking through jello. It became more difficult to move forward with every step. We didn't have cameras or much of anything - we just felt the need to bear witness.
I got home that evening and locked myself in my studio, grabbed a microphone and recorded the melody played by the cello and the vocal line in a wordless cry. It took several years, and the passing of my mother in 2003 before I could revisit this and complete the song.
The freaky thing about the recording is this: I live 5 miles (as the crow flies) from Newark airport (the airport where the hijacked planes originated), right underneath one of their flight paths - some days it's takeoff, some days it's landing. When I was recording the vocal track, I didn't realize that a plane was flying overhead in the middle of the third verse. I didn't realize it until I was doing the mixing. I decided to leave that track as it was and not re-record it. If you listen really carefully with headphones on, you can hear it. That was not on purpose.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Day 30: Using the Chaplain theme
My last day of the 30-day challenge and I'll play with the theme, which is Charlie Chaplin. A quick sketch and collage, in Illustrator.
Tomorrow, back to our "regularly scheduled programming" -- whatever that is.
Tomorrow, back to our "regularly scheduled programming" -- whatever that is.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Day 29: Playing with PhotoShop
This has been fun, but I'll be glad when I don't have to produce something "creative" every single day. I wish I had more time to do more music this month.
Day 28: Fishy Fishy Fish
Another view of the new quilt I"m working on. It's for a competition, so I don't want to show the entire thing.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Day 25: another quilt design
Day 23: Monograms and Signatures
working on my signature block for future artwork. Haven't settled on anything yet.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Day 20: Solsitce Ritual and Dinner With Friends
Me and three of my very close friends got together today to celebrate the Summer Solstice (Litha) in a very creative and impromptu ritual in my back yard.
I also managed to get my house clean as well.
Nothing permanent or recorded, though.
I also managed to get my house clean as well.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Days 16-18- Bees in a Jar
Playing a bit of catch up today.
Took this photo of some flowers on my desk, 6/16
These are for a project that I'm working on that I can't discuss the details right now. So, works-in-progress.
Reference photo 6/17:
Early draft 6/18:
Took this photo of some flowers on my desk, 6/16
These are for a project that I'm working on that I can't discuss the details right now. So, works-in-progress.
Reference photo 6/17:
Early draft 6/18:
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Day 15: Spirals, Pencils and Markers
When doodles get completely out of hand:
In related news, I have a new printer on my desk at work that also happens to be a flatbed scanner. I can't believe we're halfway through the month already. I'm not "unhappy" about it, because there are other, long-term projects I really need to start. I'm hoping I can keep up the pace. It's harder than I thought it was going to be.
In related news, I have a new printer on my desk at work that also happens to be a flatbed scanner. I can't believe we're halfway through the month already. I'm not "unhappy" about it, because there are other, long-term projects I really need to start. I'm hoping I can keep up the pace. It's harder than I thought it was going to be.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Day 13: Fast At the Office
Sketched this super fast while burning a DVD. It's one of the things on my desk.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Day 12: Pattern making is HARD
Have the actual foundation pattern for the Panzi block. And it looks just as big as the cat it's patterned after. It took a LOT of tweaking in EQ7 to make it useable.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Day 11: New Cat Design Sketches
preliminary sketches for foundation/paper piecing patterns for the next cat quilt - Panzi, my tuxedo cat, and Luna Moon, our youngest tabby. I think the curled part of the tail is going to have to be applique, but she often holds her tail in a "question mark" (which I think is adorable), and that needs to be reflected in the pattern.
Day 9: Quilting Design
Posting late, but I did this on 6/9 - didn't take a photo until this morning. The quilt's been delivered to the new bride and groom already, and I'm planning modifications for the next version (that I'm keeping in the house!)
Day 10: Finished Quilt
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Day 7: Quilted the center
Could only put in a couple of hours after getting home from a long day at work... But I got the center done.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Day 6: Quilt top complete
16 hours later... from design to quilt top. I have till Saturday morning to quilt and bind the quilt. Any bets as to if I'll vet it done in time?
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Day 5: Another Quilt Design
This quilt will be given as a gift on Saturday. I should have the top done by lunch tomorrow and the quilting well under way. The image below is the design I made in Electric Quilt 7.
I have no clue about the recipient's color schemes, so I'm keeping this as neutral as possible. So far, I have the center cats pieced, and the "ladder" about 75% constructed.
I have no clue about the recipient's color schemes, so I'm keeping this as neutral as possible. So far, I have the center cats pieced, and the "ladder" about 75% constructed.
I Saturday, June 4, 2011
Friday, June 3, 2011
Day 3: Quilt for Joplin, MO - in Progress
This is for day 3 of the 30 Days of Creativity challenge, and the Harvest Quilters of Central NJ guild's "care package" that we are collecting on Monday to send to the victims of the Joplin, MO tornado.
I still need to add 6-10" of border around the entire thing, quilt it and bind it. But I have the weekend, so I should be able to get it done for Monday.
I still need to add 6-10" of border around the entire thing, quilt it and bind it. But I have the weekend, so I should be able to get it done for Monday.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Day 2: Funky Boson Jets
This composition is made primarily of sound files created by the fine folks at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, which is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator (according to Wikipedia). This make the LHC the coolest thing on the planet to fans of high-energy physics, like me.
You can grab the raw audio files yourself at lhcsound.wordpress.com
Also appearing n this track is the rhythm loop I constructed from the recordings made by the Cassini space probe of lightning on Saturn, which is one of the cooler things in the Solar System.
Rounding out the track are loops from the Evolver loop library from Sony.
You can experience this track as a YouTube video or as a straight-up audio file from the newly discovered (by me) Soundcloud.
You can grab the raw audio files yourself at lhcsound.wordpress.com
Also appearing n this track is the rhythm loop I constructed from the recordings made by the Cassini space probe of lightning on Saturn, which is one of the cooler things in the Solar System.
Rounding out the track are loops from the Evolver loop library from Sony.
You can experience this track as a YouTube video or as a straight-up audio file from the newly discovered (by me) Soundcloud.
Day 1: Octopus and Gears II
My first day's work is a digital rendition of Octopus and Gears, and I'm calling this a work in progress - I still need to add a lot of shading detail and flesh the gears out a bit more, but I've used up all my drawing time for the day.
My original sketch, done with fine tip Sharpie marker and vellum (which I did not look at when I was making the digital drawing - a mistake, I think, since I like the composition of the original better)
If I get back to this today, I'll update. If not, it will have to wait until later.
 | ||
| Octopus and Gears 2 |
My original sketch, done with fine tip Sharpie marker and vellum (which I did not look at when I was making the digital drawing - a mistake, I think, since I like the composition of the original better)
If I get back to this today, I'll update. If not, it will have to wait until later.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
30 Days of Creativity: T-1
I just found out about "30 Days of Creativity" and I am going to participate because I just don't have enough things to do. Some of this will be musical, and some will be visual (drawing, quilting, crafting, edibles, whatever). I will be posting my musical stuff here, and links to the non-musical things (that will be blogged about on my quilt blog),
If you want to check this out for yourself (and participate!), click the badge on the left.
If you want to check this out for yourself (and participate!), click the badge on the left.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
2011 Plans for this Blog
Happy (belated) new year to my faithful reader! This was intended to be my music blog, and then it sort of got a bit of design stuff stuck in it as well... that's now found a more permanent home on my ostensibly quilt-oriented blog... I'll keep all my "visual arts" stuff over there, and reserve this for my "sound and motion" projects. I have a few on my queue for this year.
I did find 128 Goddess Mandala CDs while cleaning my basement, so these will go on sale shortly. Also stay tuned for contests and giveaways!
The first feat is to get my studio put back together after the move four years ago. I am hoping to get this done before spring. I can still get some mixing done, but I can't record anything yet. So I may work with some rhythm track loops and my sounds from last year.
I want to finish at least one new song this year - I know that doesn't sound terribly ambitious, but you haven't seen the list of the other things I've got on deck for this year.
The other (time consuming) audio project that I want to accomplish this year is to record one or 2 audio book versions of my mother's Regency romance novels, with the long-term goal of having all of them available as audio books for purchase.
I don't plan to update here on a weekly basis, unless I've got something going on in the audio/video arena.
I did find 128 Goddess Mandala CDs while cleaning my basement, so these will go on sale shortly. Also stay tuned for contests and giveaways!
The first feat is to get my studio put back together after the move four years ago. I am hoping to get this done before spring. I can still get some mixing done, but I can't record anything yet. So I may work with some rhythm track loops and my sounds from last year.
I want to finish at least one new song this year - I know that doesn't sound terribly ambitious, but you haven't seen the list of the other things I've got on deck for this year.
The other (time consuming) audio project that I want to accomplish this year is to record one or 2 audio book versions of my mother's Regency romance novels, with the long-term goal of having all of them available as audio books for purchase.
I don't plan to update here on a weekly basis, unless I've got something going on in the audio/video arena.
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