Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Review of Strength

Strange Reflections

Strange Reflections - SoulCollage® card - Painter IX
See my card blog for more on this as a card which is an equivalent of the Hanged Woman or more traditionally the Hanged Man.


This week I've done almost nothing but make cards, or so it seems. And what a joy that has been!

Most of them are ones in which I feel that the "found" elements are still too strongly present as themselves to allow me to post them here. I don't want to infringe copyrights by publishing what is not mine. I may do drawings or paintings from them to make them more "mine" later.

Here I've drawn faces from pictures that others had taken which I hope is okay!

As a week of Strength I'm happy to report that my physical energy levels have increased enormously. I only needed naps to gestate ideas and pictures which is quite different from needing to sleep because of exhaustion, and much more fun. I also seem to be in the process of becoming more able to function at night. This is new. It may just be a phase but its interesting to be able to keep my eyes open beyond 10 pm!

There have been two synchronicities that have been haunting me this week. In fact throughout most of this time through the Artist's Way.

The first is the number of times I've heard the phrase "Good Angel, Bad Angel". I've done a card of the "bad angel" part and it seems to mostly be the impetuous little girl in me who doesn't realise that what she is doing might lead to danger; like jumping in puddles without realising there might be a rusty nail able to go through her wellington... and in looking up the posting I did when I mentioned that before I see the main illustration was of a strange reflection... hmm...

The second has been about cross-dressing. Men dressed as women and women dressed as men. This seems to be an extension of the theme of Mask as well which has haunted me just as much. These days and in the society in which I live its quite hard for a woman to be obviously "cross-dressed" as so many of us wear trousers. But when I was having my make-over (see my review of the 2006), last August - one of the things that I was criticised for was wearing men's clothes... though in fact it was just one favourite blue shirt I'd bought for Jim and then borrowed back because I liked the colour. And one of the things that the image consultant wanted to do was to make me look more feminine.

So to resolve this issue in a proper bloggy way I've taken a test:

You Are 53% Feminine, 47% Masculine

You are in touch with both your feminine and masculine sides.
You're sensitive at the right times, but you don't let your emotions overwhelm you.
You're not a eunuch, just the best of both genders.


So that's okay isn't it!

How masculine or feminine are you?

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

when i was nobbut a youth, someone threw drink over me at a party - i wasn't the target i hasten to explain -and the hostess lent me one of her shirts. well, it wasn't too unlike a man's except it was pink and had small flowers - but it was pure silk, the first - the only time I had worn silk next to the skin and I didn't let her have it back. In the end she tracked me down...

I don't know the answer because it depends on the preconceived values and they might be different from yours!
I mean, I might reasonably be a big girl's blouse to a redneck longshoreman but too butch for a gang of jermaine street shopfitters - there I go, stereotyping again... ;o)

word veri: smenita

Tony LaRocca said...

Here's me:

You Are 33% Feminine, 67% Masculine
You are in touch with your masculine side.
You are not overly sensitive and not easily moved.
Occasionally, though, something will get through and touch your heart!

What, no questions about quiche?

Anonymous said...

According to the quiz, I am 65% feminine, 35% masculine. It went on to say "You are in touch with your feminine side. Sensitive, intuitive, and caring are all words that describe you. And you're just masculine enough to relate to men as well as women."
Though, if they saw my usual attire (jeans, t-shirt, sneakers), they might revise those percentages :)

Johnnynorms said...

Apparently I'm 6% more feminine than Tony Larocca - hence the fancy millinery on my bonce! I was torn between fashion designer and fighter pilot...in an ideal world I'd be both simultaneously, and in a more ideal world I wouldn't have to kill anybody.

isay said...

must be exciting to have make over. i saw that post, you are stunningly beautiful.

i took the test, also and i will post it tomorrow. thanks and have a nice day caroline!

Caroline said...

Ian - now that's strange - last summer I bought a short-sleeved man's shirt from a charity shop - it was very flowery but subtle colours - when I got it home I decided they weren't the right colours for me and Jim rejected it as too flowery - I took it back and re-donated it - which was sad as it was 100% silk!

And yes it does depend on preconceived values... you see I'm really glad I came out as 3% more feminine than masculine but no more...

I like smenita - perhaps that's the opposite of macho, but not effeminate either...

Tony - hmm... okay... would you like a slice of quiche?

Tinker - did you get a picture of a woman? Why did I get a picture of a man? You see I'm sensitive enough to want to cry about that! ;-) Strangely the image consultant got me to buy some jeans though I hadn't had a pair for ages!

Johnnynorms - ah so that is the masculine mind, you were able to conceive of a fighter pilot who didn't kill anyone... whereas I'd love to have been a pilot but that word fighter sent me to the most extreme of fashion design heights!

Isay - the makeover scared me silly! Thank you - that was the result of hours of preparation and not the usual me at all!

steve said...

First off, the piece at top is a beauty Caroline, like something marvelous hidden only in the deepest recesses of the brain. I can relate, speaking of copyright matters when working in collage. I never really thought about drawing images though--I like that idea a lot.

Glad your energy is up and you're producing lots of great work. I wish I had more morning energy and could sleep quicker at night. As for the cross-dressing thing, no offense but I'm glad I don't have to worry about bras and makeup and the like. However, women seem to have more options as far as dressing, which is cool.Anyway, I read somewhere recently that women tend to take on more masculine characteristics later in life, while men tend to do the opposite!

Lila Rostenberg said...

My first visit to your blog...I like your card very much and will visit your art/card blog. I took the masculine/feminine test and was 72% feminine...I'm posting it too.

Caroline said...

Steve - thank you - it took quite a few versions to get this one to work, so you might be right about having had to go into the deepest recesses to find it.

If your body doesn't just switch itself off at night it can be a real pain getting to sleep can't it! Something we forget from when we were babies!

Well I don't do makeup much which is probably part of what the "feminising" of me was meant to achieve - but it didn't - I don't like the feel of it on my skin.

I'd rather not take on any more masculine characteristics as for women as they age that tends to mean facial hair doesn't it? Not good on a woman!

Lila - welcome! Thank you.


It does look as though in general I'm more masculine than most women are getting from this test doesn't it?

Anonymous said...

I did the test and had 72% just the same as Lila, the thing is I'm not particularly feminine. I went to have a look at Lila's blog and she had done another test, which power colour are you...mine turned out to be lime, which is cool since my e-mail and website are both limegreenjelly. I think your photo is lovely Caroline and you look very pretty, where as somebody in the bank the other day asked if the photo of me on my card was my son, I'd just like not to be mistaken for a man!!

Caroline said...

Jo - thank you! I took that too and came out as Indigo like Lila.

I'm still pondering the significance of all this male/femaleness... I know I can look okay but I often don't... most women would be much keener to always "look their best" than I am... I remember going to a neighbour's party and dressing up for once and got the compliment that I was "looking great but I was clearly not vain" which I took to mean I looked so much better then than usual!

Reluctant Nomad said...

I almost got the complete opposite to you: 57% Masculine, 43% feminine.

Word veri: hohomo - um, what are they telling me? :-)