Chikara

The word for today is "chikara" --

Chikara: (Japanese)  Power, strength, force.

This is more traditional than abstract, but it's the direction that the powder took me this evening. I originally planned for the fist to be much more stylized and blocky, but wasn't sure it was clear enough what it was supposed to represent so I softened it.

I liked the idea of a fist breaking through a barrier. Hopefully the power comes through in this sketch.

Chikara:

Thank you for joining me on this journey!

...TRrrish

Blahs

Not feeling well today, and it shows in my lack of enthusiasm about these pieces. I just couldn't get into the assignments. Perhaps I'll revisit these words later. Probably not.

Day 24th word was Ya' aburnee, an Arabic term that literally means "you bury me". The context is a love so great that one can't imagine living without their partner. As in "I hope I die before you do so I don't have to live with out you".

I imagined two characters so intertwined that they can't be pulled apart. Here is my interpretation of  Ya' aburnee:

Our word for today is

Mamihlapinatapai -- A silent acknowledgement and understanding between two people, who are both wishing or thinking the same thing (and are both unwilling to initiate).

There are probably myriad different ways this interaction plays out between people. What came to mind for me was the idea of two people who are falling in love, but neither is able or willing to acknowledge it. I saw this as a barrier that feels impenetrable.

Mamihlapinatapai:

Sorry that today's offerings are so "meh". It's just one of those headache-y, sore throat-y, all around yucky days...

Just for fun-- girl on swing plus process pictures

I have been working on this one for a while. I initially drew the trees and fired them. I really liked the idea of making a pair of trees that were intertwined as a symbol of mature love. I then added the girl on the swing. I had planned to have a little boy pushing her on the swing (sort of young love juxtaposed against the trees) but she demanded to be the focus. So I fired her on and then she sat idle for a few weeks while I worked up the nerve to add some color. She's certainly not perfect, but she is

Girl on swing: first the trees

 Adding the little girl:

Adding powdered and crushed glass for color!:

And she's out of the kiln and done!

Days 22 and 23: Forelsket and Goya

It's funny how once I sift some powder on my base piece of glass and start to move it around, the powder often "tells me" where to go. I had this idea in my mind for the forelsket, but the powder took me in another direction entirely!

I do love this word, (although it does sound a bit like something that gets removed at a Bris). What a wonderful, frightening, euphoric, panicky time it describes!

Forelsket (Norwegian): The indescribable euphoria experienced as you begin to fall in love.

The powder took me on quite a ride with this  one, quite literally ;o)

Forelsket --

Our next word was from the Urdu language. The word is Goya and it means: A transporting suspension of disbelief- An "as-if" that feels like reality- such as in good storytelling.

I probably took this one too literally for this challenge of abstraction, but I have loved reading since I learned to put letters together to spell words. (My first was "toe", by the way. And I had some beautiful handmade Barbie clothes, toys, and any number of blooks that bear the mark of the unique blend of precociousness and immaturity that describes me at 4 to prove it!).

That other-worldly feeling you get when you are fully immersed in a story; that sadness when you reach the end of a book that became your world for a little while -- excruciating, I love them both. And all I could think of as I contemplated the word "goya" was the joy of opening a new book and becoming part of a new world.

Goya:

Now I am off to find a new book!

...TRrrish

Jugaad, Hiraeth and Waldeinsamkeit

Jugaad, Hiraeth and Waldeinsamkeit, frankly I will feel somewhat successful today it I have managed to spell each of our last three abstract terms correctly! Last time we had Korean and Yiddish words. Today's concepts are Hindi, Welsh, and German in origin. It's really cool to realize that so many languages include words that are so very pregnant with meaning! We really tend to forget that many of our words have complex and/or multiple definitions.

In other words, many words can not be defined with a single word  ;o)

Our word for Weds. was Jugaad:

Jugaad

Noun. (Hindi)

Ensuring that things happen even with minimal resources, even if they happen 'by hook or by crook'

This is such a fabulous word, and fabulous concept -- although I really wish it wasn't necessary. We are so often faced with limited resources and unlimited need. This word resonated with me very strongly.

I wanted to portray the idea of nothing being made into something of value and that something being multiplied out into the world. Hopefully that is evident in this 10-minute rendition of "jugaad":

Our next term is from the Welsh language: Haraeth

Hiraeth

Noun.  (Welsh)

A homesickness for somewhere you cannot return to, the nostalgia and the grief for the lost places of your past, places that never were. 

I found this word much easier to feel than to pronounce. I ended up drawing a figure of someone or something trying to surround or embrace a void -- attempting to capture something that isn't actually there. Hopefully this comes across here:

For our final word of this trio, we go to the German language.

Waldeinsamkeit

 Noun.  (German-..... Any Germans out there who'd like explain pronunciation on this one? ha!)

The feeling of being alone in the woods, An easy solitude and a connectedness to nature.

Perhaps not as unpronounceable as the Welsh, but still a mouthful of a term. This one was the most difficult for me to get very abstract on. I really could not get my mind away from focusing on the feeling of meditating in a fairy circle in the woods. I couldn't make a powder drawing to do this justice in 10 minutes, but here is what I managed to throw together:

And, that's all for today, folks. Thank you for stopping by!  :o)

I never thought I would say this but: Resfeber and Trepverter

The words keep coming, and they get more challenging (I originally was going to say "weirder") every day. 

Yesterday's word was "resfeber"

Resfeber

Noun. (Swedish)

The restless beat of a traveler's heart before the journey begins. A mixture of anxiety and anticipation.

I must admit that my first thought upon reading this definition was of our fearless leader -- the woman who is "assigning" these words and encouraging our powder drawing attempts. She has been on vacation with her family, and between missed flights, missing rental cars, and tornadoes (TORNADOES!), their vacation has not been much of a holiday! Kelly and her entire family have been much on my mind.

Despite the way the "vacation" has turned out, I imagine they experienced resfeber as the day of departure grew closer!

Here is my powder interpretation of the word resfeber:

Hopefully I have conveyed the idea of jittery excitement and anticipation of the future!

Our word for today is a Yiddish word, but not one I have heard coming from a certain presidential hopeful in recent weeks. Today our concept is trepverter:

Trepverter

Noun.  (Yiddish)

A witty riposte or comeback you think of only when it's too late to use.  
Literally means 'staircase words'.

Although this is a concept I recognize and something I have experienced, the word was a new one to me. Here is my depiction of "trepverter":

What I was thinking when creating this was something along the lines of: "wait, wait, okay I've got it...HEY, where did she go?".  ;o)

Thank you for visiting -- and please, come back tomorrow for a vocabulary and spelling test.

Just kidding  ;o)

Contentment and nunchi

Hi there! Our sgraffito powder drawing challenge has, to use a much overused term favored by politicos, "turned the corner". Assignments through yesterday had us drawing our interpretations of abstract nouns. The first picture I have for you today is the last one in that series: contentment. I had to let this one rattle around in my brain for a couple of day, considering and discarding my way through a variety of ideas. The one I was unable to toss aside was this -- contentment represented as light, gentle waves of, well, contentment ;o)  Not very profound, I know, but here it is:

Contentment:

As I mentioned above, our assignment for today (and apparently those for days to come) is different. (as in head scratchingly, perplexingly abstract-er) The word for today was "nunchi":

Nunchi

Noun.  (Korean)

The subtle, often unnoticed art of listening and gauging another's mood.

Say what? Yes, this is a Korean word, and a rather complex idea. How the heck does one draw nunchi?  

I tossed this around for a couple of hours, but I kept coming back to the same thoughts on this term: this is something that occurs frequently in abusive relationships. In order to survive abuse, a victim learns to quietly, surreptitiously, gauge her/his abuser's mood. So, this one is somewhat dark for me, although I do recognize that this could also be used to describe "active listening" activities. 

So, if you want quiet, gentility -- send your eyes back up to the picture of contentment. 

Nunchi: