I'm sure you've seen the "pick 3 of my icons..." meme making the round of your f-lists. I responded to two folks, ciaracat and beeej, so I have 6 icons and 3 interests to babble about!

ciaracat chose:

Interest 1: Dutch Still Lifes:
This is such a funny thing for me to like because still life paintings typically bore me. I don't generally know the iconography that are key to interpretation so...*yawn*...they always looked like studies to me. But then I worked at the Museum of Fine Arts and spent a lot of time looking at, nay staring at art. I was shocked to discover a whole school of still lifes that I completely adored.

I'm still astounded at what some of the Dutch masters could do with a tiny smear of white paint on a canvas! The exploration of light and translucence is just so cool! My favorite painter of this group is probably Heda, as he's the painter I'm most familiar with...*googles*...here's a fairly typical example.

Interest #2: Sony DSC-F828: This is my baby. *grin* It's the big 'ole camera that I haul with me on vacations. It's the first time I've owned a camera that isn't the cheapest point & shoot model I could find. It was a present to myself and I'm still in love with it. :) Yes, the best photographers can still make art even if all they have is a cheap point & shoot -- but I'm not a "best photographer" and I've found that I do get better pics now that I have a better camera.

Interest #3: vba: Visual Basic. :) When I took my current job, I was supposed to be working with the corporate Quality System and ensuring compliance, yadda. In truth, I had little to do and was b-o-r-e-d. I could tell that we were doing things the hard way (paper based) and I knew that a database was where to start. So, I sat down and taught myself VBA by dissecting a couple of Access databases. Then I started reading about database design theory, hacked a couple of company's old databases, began designing Office-based systems to help our various offices, and well, now I've designed the system that keeps North America compliant with our German masters and keeps them off our backs. I have VBA to thank for my current position where I made up my own job. :)

ciaracat chose icons from 3 of my all-time favorite icon-makers. :)

by icon_ascension
Hee! It's Dr. Daniel Jackson. He's so sexy when he's blindfolded and tied up. ;-) I love the coloring and the way his muscles are wonderfully highlighted. I like the random striping effect because it's subtle enough to add interest without distracting from the über-sexy Daniel. Actually, this icon is one of the first ones I adopted and it has lasted because it's more than just Bondage!Daniel. It's the sort of icon I wish I had the talent to make. In particular, I love the use of text. It's brilliant and it's not anything I would ever come up with on my own.

by paddies
Gale Harold! Another beautiful, beautiful man. *sigh* This is from his stint on Deadwood but I love the hat tipping. Very appropriate seeing as I'm Texan, obviously, but it has such a multitude of meanings -- kind of like "aloha." ;-) It can be a "thank you," "howdy," or "seeya." And look at that smile! He's sooooooo dreamy. I absolutely adore this icon.

by mata090680
OK, it's hard to see just how hot Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki are in this icon but the icon makes me laugh every time I look at it and *I* know how hot they are. ;-) I am too much of a wimp to watch Supernatural but this is funny without even having seen most of the show. "Eep!" is actually something I say and write so this is a good fit for me in that way, too. :)

beeej chose:

by icon_ascension
Another memorable and wonderful Daniel icon! Like "eep!", it makes me laugh. I love the bright colors, the text, the animation is brilliant. I don't know how long she worked to edit the clip so that he's doing that, but I'm very appreciative. :) Plus, you know, Daniel in clothes that fit. Mmmmmmmm. Yummy, yummy man.

by skater_g8r
Slashy goodness with my favorite slash pairing, J/D. The manip to get their faces together like that is well-done. I'm not normally a fan of manips but this one is extremely good and the pics were well-chosen. It has the advantage of being very obviously slashy without crossing the line to being NSFW. I have several slashy icons that are NSFW and I try not to use those on regular posts, saving them for use on comments out of respect for those who might be surfing their f-list while at work.

by paddies
At the time paddies published this icon, I had been looking for a long time for a WTF? icon. I wanted one but I was being very choosy. I just love the way all the characters are staring out of the icon -- and the expression on Six's face is particularly amusing and I love the way Gaius is barely peeking on the right side. It isn't just one character making with the "WTF?" it's a cast of characters, so it feels like an even bigger WTF.

This icon is more than just a good match between text and picture, though. I love the use of negative space and the choice of a huge, eroded font.

Probably everyone who wants to participate already has participated, but if you'd like to play along, too, please comment here and let me know if you want to do 3 Icons or 3 Interests/Icons. If you say you want to play, I'll go through your icons, and interests if applicable, and choose three. :D