I grab ideas wherever I can. Today, I was inspired to try to make a flame by seeing a toot on the federated social media using Mastodon’s web interface. I do most of my random short posts there. It is a more friendly environment than the ones at Facebook or even Twitter, and it has the extra benefit (from my perspective) that it is not run by a corporation whose purpose is to track my online activities in order to make money from analysis of my behavior.
I’m signed up as @algot@mastodon.art and I share my creations there as I also do here. There are servers set up all over the place and are run and paid for by the participants, not a controlling company. People on an “instance” agree to a code of conduct and that leads to supportive, civil, engaging conversation instead of rude, harsh attacks. People get banned for bad behavior. Moderators of mastodon.art have done a great job, in my opinion.
I don’t know which “platform” gets more views. I’m not sure if I really care. After all, doing the work comes first. Sharing comes second. Getting seen is mostly out of my hands. I do hope that others sometimes enjoy what they see.
Today, I saw a post which included a very effective flame image.
I felt the immediate urge to make my own version of the flame so that I could use it in my own illustrations. I launched Inkscape and set to work. I think I’m happy enough with my version to move ahead to create a useful illustration incorporating the clipart. I’m happy.
So, in addition, I will ask the burning question, “How is Saturday going for you?”
