Yet another storage crisis

Although I'm not too bothered by the pile-up in the studio, when it comes to lack of space on my phone, I'm overwhelmed.

An avalanche of photos waits to be deleted to "free up space on device". 

(via)

And until there is space - ie, some memory is free - it's not possible to take photos with the phone. Disaster! Crisis! Panic!

First step - research. There is a lot of clear and helpful info online on "quick ways to clear space", for instance this, from which we learn that

Oreo [on Android] includes a new toggle called Smart Storage that can work wonders without needing to do a thing. Flip it on, and your phone will automatically clear out the biggest space-stealing culprit: photos and videos.

No no no, screams my Inner Hoarder, fearing an irreperable loss. Scroll past the photo of the screen in that article and calm down...........

Since we all forget to clear out our photo libraries regularly, you can choose to automatically remove backed-up photos and videos after 30, 60, or 90 days, making sure your phone isn’t stuffed with duplicate photos. 

Good plan (the photos are automatically backed up to googlepix on the computer) - but my phone may be too old for this. It seems to be an all-or-nothing model when it comes to removing items. So it's back to Plan B....

On Fridays, on the computer, I put the week's most important pix (the grandbaby, and a limited number of "creative" categories) into albums and then send them to the Archive [deleting them outright would wipe them out], which means that on the phone they can be found in Albums. The next step is to archive the lot but first I need to (a) decide on a few other "important" categories and make Albums and (b) go through the backlog... it would also help to (c) get into the habit of taking fewer photos!

This article on freeing space on Android phones gives more info on Google Photos -

which provides unlimited backup of high-quality photos and videos – up to
16 megapixels for photos and full-HD for videos – to your Google account.
You can also back up in the original resolution, but that will count as part of your
storage limit (15GB for most users*). 

If you’ve automatic backup in Google Photos turned on, pull up the menu from within
the app, and choose Free up space. This will remove all backed-up photos and videos
from your device, and they’ll be downloaded from the Internet when you go to view them next time.

*"Google gives 15 gigs of free cloud storage with every account, so you might as well use it. Anything inside your Downloads or Files app can be jettisoned to your Google Drive by tapping the menu button in the top right corner and choosing “Send to...” This will open the share sheet, where you can select select Save to Drive to choose which folder to add it to. Then you can delete it from your phone without losing it forever." (via)

"Why don't you just get a SIM card?" Oh if only it was that easy - my phone, the OnePlus, has no slot for a SIM card. Grrr. Otherwise the phone works fine (when there's memory space) - and I don't want to add yet another "old" but otherwise satisfactory electronic device to the mountains of wasted resources.

1.5 billion smartphones were sold in 2017; what happened
to the phones they replaced?     (via)

It's a useful personal challenge to learn how to use this phone efficiently and to keep it going. It ain't broke, so why try to fix it? The problem is with the user interface! Fixing that takes "only" time, thought, learning, and the willingness to change old habits.

Some progress has been made, and since then, many photos have been put in albums and archived on the computer, and entire weeks of 2017 have been deleted from the phone. We're not there yet, but I'm hopeful....

Of course I've set out to "get really on top of this" many times before, but it's like quitting smoking - each time you try, you get a little closer to eventual success.

Two things at once

Bit by bit, my fabrics are leaving the premises. The stash has reached the point of paralysis  - not only do I no longer know what I have and where it might be, but I know it would take another two lifetimes to "use up" all the fabric. 

As I rummage through this or that cupboard, I find useful things - fabric and UFOs to give to Project Linus, for instance, and potential tablecloths, like these -

The turquoise tablecloth-to-be will need a colour catcher each time it's washed, judging from the one used in this wash!

At the same time I'm getting out quilts of various sizes from this century and even from last century. Of course family gets first pick, so these are some of what's left -

In one of the many plastic bags I found a coat lining, of an old fur (second or perhaps third hand, of course) from my cold-winter Canadian days. The label says it was made in Halifax (looks mid-century); the lining is silk and the interlining is a fluffy cotton. "Prairie points" finish the edge of the pocket, a nice touch -

 I kept the pocket and the label, and the discarded lining was later joined by other "rags" for recycling. It's getting a bit easier to let go of things. (At last!)

A friend came in search of patchwork fabric. There were many glad cries and appreciative murmurs as we went through the drawers one by one -

Note the tidy appearance of the red and green drawers. They've been like that for about three years, untouched. I haven't had the mental energy to start a new project and choose fabric for it...

But as we move to the blue and yellow drawers, things get a bit more chaotic -

Faced with another, daunting project with an upcoming deadline, there's nothing I'd like more than to get those drawers into perfect order! Of course, once time is available again, I'll have lost interest (been there, done that, still got the mess...).

A big bag of fabric left the building! -

And now, "What Was I Thinking" -

Looking at these, I came to some private decisions about this work, if "work" it is, rather than practice or play. The upshot is, it was fun to do and I did it in hope of it turning out surprisingly well. We live in hope, do we not! And if reality proves otherwise, there is no shame in sending it to landfill; even a charity shop would send it to landfill. I can't think of anything else to do with it -

"Crazy" sweet wrappers

Some of these might have become Bookwraps
(I made 120 or so for the Guild tombola in 2013;
enough is enough)

Samples and dead ends

More samples and sadly-dead ideas

Anyone want a beaded table runner??

At time of writing, fabrics in heaps and bags are everywhere. You hear about the lull before the storm, but this is the storm before the lull.

An hour or two of tidying and bagging should sort out most of it, and there might even be time to "curate" some ziplock bags of "craft fabric" for the charity shop or the quilters' bring&buy.

And the quilts pulled out for a fundraiser ... those need to get sleeves, labels, prices ... tomorrow ...

Starting out fresh, again, already

After the intense drawing course last week, it will be good to be back to "the old ways" and to pootle about. For instance, I've cleaned and shined the face of the washing machine, which beams its gratitude from across the room. But the deep cleaning stopped there, for today at least. 

September feels like the start of the new year. It makes me want to spring-clean my life. So much needs attention. The living space, especially the home studio space, has become a storage space ... and when it comes to the stuff that accumulates in studio spaces, everyone says how good it is to be rid of "those old things" ... well, it's an on-going project. That sort of clean-up could actually be a creative project?

Useful things sorted out

But this corner needs attention!

15 minutes at a time ... you can do anything for 15 minutes, right?

Miss Sensible to Inner Rebel: "Ain't nobody else gonna do it for you, hon, and you know you gotta do it sometime, so just get started, huh?" Now, where did Action Woman get to....

Out of the closet - or rather, the wardrobe

Since my art school days, round about 2010, I've been wearing jeans, black jeans, on a rotational basis - one pair on the body, the other in the wash. It's been a liberation to be freed of "the tyranny of the closet", never being able to find the "right" thing to wear. So much easier to put on the jeans, add a teeshirt and other layer, and it's all done, you're set for the day.

And, in theory, it reduces the number of garments in one's wardrobe.

But recently I bought a dress, and then another, "just for a change". In the past few years, dresses have been flooding onto the market. Goodness, I even made one last winter.

Also recently, I became aware that the dresses, and much else, are simply languishing in the closet, probably picking up that unwelcome whiff of oldness that starts to inhabit clothes that rarely see the light of day.

As a result of these actions and thoughts, I came up with a personal project: 

Jeans-Free July

Can a jeans addict wear other garments for an entire month? Are YOU a jeans addict - would you like to try??

Excited by the idea, I had a little rummage in the closet and put a few outfits together in readiness. (Only 10 days to go!)

Dresses -

Latest acquisition - I felt the need of some COLOUR

"Just a long loose teeshirt" - but the golden colour
is so wonderful!

The smocky dress is bit short, needs leggings...

Without the teeshirt, this is perfect in the heat

Oldies but goodies - in fabulous fabrics. I whipped up
the jacket back in the 80s from a remnant, as one did
in those good old days

 Skirts -

That's probably enough* to be starting with, whatever the weather -

Just in case the weather turns chilly, as it can and has done, a number of LBJs (little black jackets) are ready for action. I do love an LBJ...

Leggings, if I dare, "at my age" - and why not! -

With other teeshirts, other shoes....

Love those long loose linen shirts!

Various non-jean trousers emerged, along with some other beloved linen shirts -

Candidates for studio-wear

... and a drawerful of teeshirts -

Too many stripes? No! You can never have too many stripes!!

*A while back I purged my wardrobe, with the help of a friend, in a couple of days of "japanese tidying". This involves gathering everything and going through it piece by piece. In our so-rich western culture, when we gather everything together, it becomes plain that we (I use "we" loosely, there are exceptions...) have SO much and often too much in our fortunate lives ... but that's another story.

At the risk of becoming a little old lady who is still wearing the clothes she bought during her working life - clothes that are now looking a little tired, emitting a gentle whiff and hanging loosely on her gaunt frame - I probably need buy nothing more for the next two decades, just rotate what's already there.

But goodness, isn't it nice to have something new to wear!! 

Spring cleaning is always with us

The beauteous wonderment of the rejuvenated (and dust free) bedroom, during which I rediscovered a few things and discarded others, has led on to other tidying and cleaning efforts, long overdue. 

Last week I purchased a couple of little tables, one for the big lamp and the other for another corner - they were delivered and clearly some sort of action was needed -

(Oh dear, action on that little corner just by the door of the room is still needed....)

It took a while to extract the little round table, which now sits more happily between the red chairs, and to sort out all the things hidden behind the chair ... but what a good opportunity for some thorough cleaning! -

The other corner - ah - sewing and knitting and library books had been accumulating rather -

But never underestimate the encouraging effect of "setting the timer for 15 minutes" - that gets you going, and when it pings you can stop. Progress will have been made. Or you can continue, if you're on a roll. Once the first table was assembled, I was definitely on a roll -

... what an improvement! But the other corner had to wait till the next evening -

Now I can sit at the desk and look left -

 and right -

and enjoy   s p a c e   and order. It's only a little daunting to think of the items removed to the studio "for now". I feel that the act of moving them has changed them in some way, so they can be more easily let go, when it comes to it. My mental picture is of "just things", rather than "oh I need to keep this".

This is something I think about when I'm out walking, reinforcing my resolve to get a grip on the Endless Stuff. Making it manageable.

It's still a big problem area for me - for so many of us! - so one line of attack is to have A Vision and keep nibbling away at the dark edges until the Vision starts to come into view. Little and often. Make a habit of it.

As for that glass of wine, to hand as I write - the latest wisdom on boosting the immune system via the gut suggests that a daily glass of red wine is helpful, and coffee and chocolate may be too. Seize the moment!

Techno-frustration

Do you make pacts with yourself? Does that work - do you stick to it? And if not, what happens next?

At some point during the weekend at the CQ Summer School I sort of decided to start using my new computer for "everyday stuff" ... so, bright and early this morning, I started to try out this new resolution. 

It has Photoshop and Indesign, which I need for newsletter etc layout. But on the tiny screen of the Surface Pro, the writing on the menu bars is suitable only for ants! Spend half an hour trying to find if this can be fixed - first, figuring out what words to use to describe the situation - and discover that Adobe isn't going to fix it, ever ... then find this fix but it involves changing the registry, which I'm not brave enough to do, not before breakfast at any rate, despite the clear instructions and the enthusiastic testimonials from dozens of people. 

I pretend I'm an ant, and give Photoshop a try - what I want to do is change the huge dimensions (and large file size) of my photos to 600x480 pixels at 72dpi for using in blog posts. 

You need a mouse to do this, and my "cheap" one, says the Son, isn't Bluetooth ... so he brings his, and it says "it takes a minute to connect."

Son also tells me, somewhat impatiently, about why yesterday's photos (taken on phone) haven't appeared in Google Photos - I need to go to the phone to back them up. This takes quite some time; perhaps a hint not to take so many photos?

I lose patience with the phone, and with the new computer, and here I am back on the old one. Two screens, two keyboards, two mouses ...

... and a photo uploaded straight from the phone, unedited, to find out, via someone else's computer, if the file or the photo is huge. Though actually a bit of research shows this is no longer a problem - you get 15GB storage:

Blogger usually doesn't have any limit for the storage as the images the you upload will be stored in Google Photos of your Google account.

You can check your Google account's storage usage by using this link.

Son and I had a conversation that started "you don't need photoshop Mum, you can do all that with the photo software in the phone" - er, no: not correct keystoning, not doing Levels to get the contrast etc right. Editing is more than just cropping, especially editing photos that will be printed in newsletters etc.

But to a large extent he's right. I need to move with the times, and with the improved software.

So my next challenge is to find out how to use "the photo software on my phone" for ordinary purposes. One quick way to improve matters is to take a little more time when snapping the pix in the first place!

To end, the photo that's on the new screen - unedited -

and trying to get the light right (with a little cropping along the way) -

Nope, can't get the light ... it was much more sombre, despite the sunlight. These huge old conifers are in the beautiful, varied Licky Hill Country Park, near Longbridge (my Summer School experience included long walks before breakfast) - look hard on the left, there's a man with a dog to give you an idea of how big these trees are.  

As for that pact with myself, I'll give it another go later. Much as I love the familiary old computer, it gets so hot when it runs, can't be good. It needs a rest.

Old work - what's to become of it?

Once again these small pieces (6"x4") have surfaced. I can't quite seem to move them into the charity shop box...

These riffs on edifying mottos from samplers were made about 15 years ago, in a burst of wild spontaneity. Couching on scraps of silk dupion. The words are:

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent

What is unsought will be undetected

The appetite grows by eating

One day ... not just yet ... I shall take them out of the clip frames and use them for notebook covers. One day, when they can be united with a bagful of precut pages that are somewhere in this room and will emerge in the fullness of time (ie the two weeks remaining for it to be sorted out) - then the sections will be sewn together and the cover made. (The books to be given as presents, and found "too good to use"?)

The sorting out of my studio(s) brings up, yet again, that big question: what to do with old work? Finished work and samples both. What to do with it all when has it outlived its usefulness - and should it be disposed of just because it's no longer "useful"?

It's hard not to "personify" pieces of creative output - they become our children. Can we simply discard them? Yet, when drastically downsizing, what's the point of keeping all this stuff? For many of us, the greatest part of creative pleasure isn't the finished object, it's the process of making - of seeing the work evolve through our thoughts and under our hands. Rather like helping a child grow up. At which point they leave home ... our job is (almost) done.

Hmm, pursuing this comparison, I'm straying into confusing the work-as-child with the mother having outlived her usefulness. A murky area! But perhaps some of what keeps us from letting go of our old work is rooted in that emotional arena. An investment of time and energy and love, made tangible in the object. Which, if it no longer exists, is a personal loss.

Yet we do withstand losses. Less personal losses can be seen as trade-offs: remove extra furniture, however beloved, and gain necessary space. Give up the expensive holiday and you're able to use the money for something else. Everyday decisions; first-world problems.

So, there's this body of "old work" that no longer represents what you're interested in. Clean sweep, start afresh? One door closes and another opens?

Or hang on to it, "just in case"?

Upheaval, continuing

Not all that long ago I showed some photos of my flat amid the chaos of renovation. Much has progressed in the two and a half weeks since the room was stripped. Now it's been insulated, rewired, replastered, and a skylight added -

This stage was preceded, of course, by this sort of thing -

Elsewhere in the flat, the chaos remains, with all the contents of that room, and others, needing "rationalisation" - basically, paring down to 10% (at a guess) of what has been and is hidden in cupboards and odd corners. The aim is to put back into the room ONLY what should BE in the room. So, I've lost my convenient hiding places for the books I might never get around to reading and the swathes of fabric I might never get around to sewing. 

Good, they need to go on to other places, new lives. But the hardening of heart needed to let them go is a wretched process. 

At the moment I'm concentrating on the books. This lot, some 3 dozen volumes, went to the Oxfam Bookshop early in the week -

As it was a sunny day, I put another dozen books "on the wall" and they disappeared in no time.

Which left the rest of the books that had been gathering dust under the desk, on Tom's carefully custom-fitted shelves - a practice piece, it turned out, for the bespoke shelving and cupboard-building that makes up a large part of his "carpentry" livelihood. 

On the left, the keepers; on the right, 44 books looking for new homes

The pile isn't down to 10% and there may have to be some new bookshelves somewhere, but 50% is pretty good.  I'd actually enjoy this if there was an obvious difference, such as a rewarding expanse of empty shelves.

And the sorting is the easy part - without a car to carry many bags at a time, getting the books (etc) to the charity shop takes time. So much easier to put them on the wall on a sunny day, and enjoy seeing them disappear.

This is from one of the older books (1929) that went out -

Conservation of contemporary art

Ice Bag Scale C by Claes Oldenburg at the Whitney (via)

Museum conservation is a rich medium, says a recent article in the New Yorker. (The Custodians, by Ben Lerner; The New Yorker, 11 January 2016, pp50-59.)

"At a time when so many artists outsource fabrication, [the conservators at the Whitney and other contemporary art museums] are conservators of skill: they know a material's chemical composition, its reflectance levels, its history of usage (and if they don't know they'll find out). In an era when many critics speak of the rise of curation as art - when artists arrange objects as often as they make them - conservation is deeply curatorial, as conservators choose which aspects of a work are presented and how. To treat conservation as it has traditionally been treated - as the behind-the-scenes work of minimally invasive technocrats, bursting onstage every few decades during a cleaning controversy and then receding into the shadows - is to exclude essential questions about culture and value from the domain of contemporary art."

When is it sufficient to restore a work of art (and to which of its former states; the question of the "elusive original") - and when does it need to be replicated? Contemporary works, made in new media, can be most in need this decision; the article talks about the subtleties of conserving Rothko's late, dark works (containing house paint and rabbit glue), and Claes Oldenburg's Ice Bag Scale C, with its (internal) broken gears, motors and fans, a sculpture described as "moody" and even "suicidal" - it never functioned for more than a few days at a time. It was restored by hired experts of various sorts: a guitar maker, an electrician, a robotics engineer;  an auto body expert worked on the lacquer of the cap, and the exterior fabric was carefully matched and replaced - though a slight change in colour needed the approval of the artist. The museum regards the sculpture as conserved, not replicated - a wording that means it can continue to exhibit it as "the original" other than as a version of it.

In any case, says the article, a new strategy is needed for acknowledging the hand of the institution in the life of the work, a way of showing when and how and why the museum has altered what it displays. The conservatorial vocabulary joins other museum vocabularies - curatorial, legal, archival - in considering questions that cannot be answered impartially or finally.

Going, going...

Today's windy weather, the tail end of Storm Katie, is whispering "spring cleaning..." - so I'm having a stab at it. Nothing full-blown, just trying to make some more room for light and air and life.

It was easy to fill three bags for the charity shop and another for the bin, but there are always items that are hard to deal with.

Tweedy, bobbly hand knit, finally finished and worn just twice... any takers?

Love the red beads (happy 1990s memories); in fact all of this
is about memories, even the 1970s necklace made for me by an
uncle, and the Chanel soap brought from Paris when Mr T went
on a trip there with the school he used to teach at

These have found a home with book makers, to be scanned and used in collage

No doubt about it, you just have to harden your heart and say goodbye to things. "They're only things ..."