Yes, I said Pinning. Not Pining. Well, maybe a little of both. If you have not yet discovered Pinterest, I highly encourage it. It is an excellent means of “collecting” ideas and inspirations. I think of it as my very own, personalized (by me) catalog of what I'd like to have in my life/world. My expanded treasury or wishlist, if you will.
I’ve only actively been using the actual Pinterest website for the past six weeks or so. But the idea is not new to me. For years I have collected and cut out inspirational words, photographs of things I like or that inspire me to create, and ideas for future projects. These research files or treasuries, if you like, grew to such an extent that this past winter I finally culled my files and created a three binder system. I’m in the process of going paperless so this culling was necessary. I may eventually even move my binders to a digital format if I can find a methodology that I like and trust.
More on that later.
Binder one is called ART INSPIRATION. It is simply the hard copy cut and pasted pictures of artwork that I like/love or find beautiful—these range in every medium, every timeframe, every color scheme. I have a very eclectic love of artworks.
The other two binders are Art Articles and a mix called Art Biz, Glass and Public Art. Art articles are articles about artists, shows, techniques. The other binder includes articles about the business of art, and photos and articles of glass and public artworks.
Yes, I would like to get to where I am paperless, so my eventual goal is to take these items to a digital format. But as I mentioned above, I have to trust the format. I don’t want my items to be lost in some program that I cannot get access to once technology changes. I am sure that my efforts will most likely turn out to be Adobe format or jpg format. Perhaps I will create my own ebook of favorite articles and photographs.
But in the interest of avoiding creating additional paper, I use Pinterest as a method of collecting and “pinning” those items that are of interest. I love this because if I’ve pinned from a specific website, Pinterest saves that information and all I have to do is double click on the item and I can get back to the original page. VERY helpful if I am wanting to purchase something for example, such as art supplies or something that will help my studio be more effective or efficient. Or if I want to purchase a gift or something for my home. There does not seem to be a limit to the number of bulletin boards I can create with their own unique themes and my own pins, I get to see the pins of everyone I follow (and vice versa), and in the process, I inevitably find things that inspire me to create. I love to surf the internet for new and interesting artworks and “stuff” so having a place to collect it all for future reference is very interesting to me.
The one drawback I see to it is that, at this time, there is no way to save the boards or to download the information in any sort of off line product. This worries me in the sense that if Pinterest goes under, gets sold or changes, I may in fact lose my digital bulletin boards, waste lots of time having put items on them and lose so much that inspires me. I don’t actually think Pinterest is going to go away, and I have hopes that they will improve and increase functionality to protect my “pins.” But, when I need a little jolt to my brain, reviewing my own boards or looking at what others have pinned never fails to get my creative thinking cap back in operating order. I figure in 10 years, we will all be friends with everyone and everyone will be following and liking everyone else’s stuff on these social pages. It is truly a small world. Feel free to follow me. I’d love to see what you find of interest too.
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| My screen capture (sorry, a little grainy) of some of my current bulletin boards on Pinterest. (c)SZing, 2012 |
More on that later.
Binder one is called ART INSPIRATION. It is simply the hard copy cut and pasted pictures of artwork that I like/love or find beautiful—these range in every medium, every timeframe, every color scheme. I have a very eclectic love of artworks.
 |
| Photographs of my actual hard copy art inspiration binder, photos from magazines cut and pasted in. The non-digital version of Pinterest. (c) SZing 2012 |
The other two binders are Art Articles and a mix called Art Biz, Glass and Public Art. Art articles are articles about artists, shows, techniques. The other binder includes articles about the business of art, and photos and articles of glass and public artworks.
Yes, I would like to get to where I am paperless, so my eventual goal is to take these items to a digital format. But as I mentioned above, I have to trust the format. I don’t want my items to be lost in some program that I cannot get access to once technology changes. I am sure that my efforts will most likely turn out to be Adobe format or jpg format. Perhaps I will create my own ebook of favorite articles and photographs.
 |
| My other hard copy versions of Pinterest. These will someday be digitalized, but since they include articles, never Pinned. See how big and bulky? And such a loss of tree life. (c)SZing 2012 |
But in the interest of avoiding creating additional paper, I use Pinterest as a method of collecting and “pinning” those items that are of interest. I love this because if I’ve pinned from a specific website, Pinterest saves that information and all I have to do is double click on the item and I can get back to the original page. VERY helpful if I am wanting to purchase something for example, such as art supplies or something that will help my studio be more effective or efficient. Or if I want to purchase a gift or something for my home. There does not seem to be a limit to the number of bulletin boards I can create with their own unique themes and my own pins, I get to see the pins of everyone I follow (and vice versa), and in the process, I inevitably find things that inspire me to create. I love to surf the internet for new and interesting artworks and “stuff” so having a place to collect it all for future reference is very interesting to me.
The one drawback I see to it is that, at this time, there is no way to save the boards or to download the information in any sort of off line product. This worries me in the sense that if Pinterest goes under, gets sold or changes, I may in fact lose my digital bulletin boards, waste lots of time having put items on them and lose so much that inspires me. I don’t actually think Pinterest is going to go away, and I have hopes that they will improve and increase functionality to protect my “pins.” But, when I need a little jolt to my brain, reviewing my own boards or looking at what others have pinned never fails to get my creative thinking cap back in operating order. I figure in 10 years, we will all be friends with everyone and everyone will be following and liking everyone else’s stuff on these social pages. It is truly a small world. Feel free to follow me. I’d love to see what you find of interest too.
