Slow Notes
When and how often to post on your Facebook page?
There are many theories on when and how often you should publish posts on a Facebook page in order to bump the reach and visibility of a post. Some will tell you how you should post during weekdays and never after 8 pm. Another will say you should post only 3 to 4 times a week. And they are both quite possibly wrong. First it is very important to note that when and how often to post depends on various things. The foremost issue is when your fans (the people who have liked your page) are on Facebook. This is not necessarily during weekdays and before 8 pm. If your fans are mainly office wor...
Too many words
It looked promising. A little interior and decoration shop, nothing too fancy, perhaps not too expensive either. I walked in and saw it. Jars and bottles with words on them, yelling at me what I should put in them. Sugar, salt, pasta, flour. No creative usage of this container, please. Don't make a mistake of using it for something else. Other items had text on them too. Little "funny" things, or some uplifting piece. Words all over the place. I looked around, tried to find the wordless things, and gave up. We, the humans, are slapping text on everything. More obvious targets are t-shirts...
Pleasurable proficiency
A young woman carefully adds thin sheets of gold onto something. In the background you can hear floaty and jubilant piano music. The young woman tells about learning her profession, watching the masters in their work, and wishing to be some day one of them. In the end she gets that something done. It's an onion dome of a church, golden and shiny. A Finnish coffee brand has been advertising with this sort of commercial short movies, which showcase craftsmanship, since before I was born. In these ads, professionals of different fields are shown to make anything from a skateboard to jewellery, fr...
What's my email?
Today I received an email to my Gmail address from a strange building manager. He asked for more information about a complaint I apparently had made via an online form. Before I even looked further into the email I knew what the case was: The person, called Mervi Eskelinen, filling the online form had given the wrong email address. This wasn't the first time for something like this happening. Just a little while ago I was emailed an electronic train ticket with a students discount, a ticket I obviously hadn't bought. I have also received information about a senior's gymnastics class being resc...
Details
I started with a photo. I found it some place online, a photo of a nice braid. I took the idea from it, the wholeness of the picture. I outlined it, drew basic guides on where the hair would fall. Then I added the first layer, just strands of hair, lots of them, with a hard pencil. I smudged all of it with a blending stump and then I took a softer pencil. I sharpened the pencil and draw the second layer of strands. I blended that layer too, and went for my eraser pencil. Yes, it is an eraser, but cased as a pencil. Great for detailed erasing. I erased strands, bigger areas, adding light and...
Guilty pleasures
Last night I was drawing and the television was on at the background. I wasn't really paying attention to the programming, but at some point the show was cut to the commercials. I only listened. The first ad was for a well known and well trusted Finnish company and brand. They were selling yogurt. The assuring voice explained how the product has the "same good taste" with less sugar. The voice told that one is "allowed to enjoy" this yogurt. The ad that followed was promoting cosmetics, a facial cream or something like that. Another assuring voice declared how it was "allowed to enjoy" a...
Creative processes
My creative process usually includes lots of thinking and procrastinating. I create, especially at first, with my mind. I imagine the drawing or the blog post, or perhaps the website before anything. For example I "wrote" this article in my head before the actual writing process. In the same way I imagine my drawings before I actualise them. If I instead get straight to the creation, take the piece of paper and a pencil to draw, or sit down with my laptop, I end up staring at the empty paper or the screen mindlessly. When I am creating I also take breaks. I may step away from the writing or th...