Its been awhile since my last post. Too long apparently, as one fan was wondering if I had quit. I better write something just to keep you all entertained. I imagine I have about 3 people reading my blog and I could just as easily pick up the phone and talk to them. But that doesn't discourage me. I glean a fair amount of selfish pride from posting here. Nothing at all to do with the mosaic, but everything to do with 40+ and writing on a blog. Blogs are trendy thingys for 20 somethings. Posting here makes me feel hip. Being hip is something I don't feel very often and that makes me laugh.
Let me put the thought that I've quit to rest. No, I haven't quit. But the question does raise an important issue about men. My latest reading has been about masculine/feminine issues and church attendance (
Why Men Hate Going to Church and
The Church Impotent: The Feminization of Christianity) This reading has me thinking about men in general and what an odd breed of duck we are at times. Men, though they would never admit it, need encouragment. Now clearly we all, men and women alike, need encouragement. But men aren't "supposed" to "need" encouragement and women are. It is a feminine trait to be needed, and a masculine trait to be independant. Of course this is complete bunk, but our culture tends to encourage men to be silent about their need for encouragement. So we men run around doing stuff, or trying to do stuff, and behind the scenes we ask our spouses, or significant others, or blog buddies, "Hey, what do you think?"
This question or others like it are sophomorish trolling attempts to garner encouragement. Us guys would never dare say, "Please tell me you like it cause I need to make sure that I'm doing this ok." We might ask that if we're a ten year old boy, but not when we're 16. (Sixteen might be as old as any of us men ever get.)
There are much more sophisticated levels of trolling. You might create a blog for instance and make sure that there is a place for messages. You might put your stuff up for sale and see if someone will pay money for what you've done. What you really hope for is a perfect stranger walking past your mosaic, stopping cold, gawking, reaching out to put their fingers on it, and saying something akin to, "Wow."
Yes, I'm a encouragment black hole.
Here's a couple of updated pictures of my current project. I'm using 10mm glass tiles mostly - a very tricky size to nip - and only 5 colors. The monochromatic brown theme adds a slight taste of "old style" I think.
