Adult Decisions

This last 12 months has been full of adult decisions. Not fun adult decisions, not sexy adult decisions, but difficult adult decisions. I am satisfied with the decisions I've made, and I am satisfied that they have put me in a good place in life. I just wish that I was having more fun making them, and that the results were less mundane.

My decision to come to California was a good one. If I could go back, I would change how and when I did it, but it has turned out alright in the end. Finding a job was hard, but waiting for the right one turned out to be the best choice I could have made.

Speaking of jobs, I now work at Happy High Herbs! It's an herb shop that sells herbs to make you happy, healthy, and horny! That's actually in the orientation book, I think I'm among friends there. ; ) Everyone I work with is super nice. And this job has opened my eyes to a huge new world of knowledge and experience. I've finally found a treatment for my cramps that works, I've found effective treatment for my depression and anxiety, and I've even found some herbs that make me feel super "well"! The greatest thing about this job is that I get to help people. I get to introduce people to a wonderful new world of plant healing. It's wonderful!

I've been making some great new friends in the past few months and I'm very happy with how things have been expanding for me socially.

Finances are finally starting to even out, but I'm not out of the woods yet. Nearly there. I'll finally feel secure in September when Academy of Arts University schedules me in officially for modeling. Then I can get rid of my debt. Once that's gone, life will be awesome!

So yay being an adult and making shit work for me!

Now if only making shit work for me was as fun as all that. It is satisfying, but in a different way than doing my own thing with little regard for the consequences is satisfying. I liked the other pathway better, but this one is more sustainable in the longterm.

I'm almost 31. Weird. My Saturn Return is over, and I'm at the beginning of the next phase of my life. I like were it's going so far.

On the art front, I hope to get lots done before September. By then, I'd really like to have enough material to have a show somewhere. Here's hoping! It's taking lots of time. But there's a very good reason for that. I have chosen to develop a style, finally, at long last. While all my classmates were busy doing that in college, I was busy playing catch-up with color and design. So I never took the time to figure out how I really operate artistically. Now, I'm doing the work. Figuring it out, throwing all of my instruction out the window to reinvent my artistic self. It feels so good! And I love that I have taken a chance to tie it back to the sacred.

Everything in my life seems to be waking up that way. It feels really good. I feel like I've been missing out on a lot by not paying attention to the world through that lens.

So being an adult isn't so bad after all. Here's hoping I'll figure out a way to make it stellar before time marches too far past me. : )

Mythogenesis

I have embarked on what might be the biggest art project I've ever done in my life. The series will be called Mythogenesis. Here's the pitch.

I'm creating new mythology! Meet your new gods.

I have embarked on a grand project that I have been toying with since before I attended art school at the UofA. I have done a lot of work in the realm of comparative religions independently for most of my life. My fascination with ancient pantheons began in 6th grade when I first learned about the gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt and Greece. I devoured books on mythology, learning symbolic alphabets of iconography. As I grew up, I learned about even more pantheons, Norse, Celtic, Hindu, Arabic, Roman, and many more. I learned about Catholic saints, Kachina spirits, Orishas, animal spirits and myriad more fantastic creatures that inhabit our invisible, spiritual world. And the most fascinating things lie in the parallels between these spirits, and ultimately, that they come from the same place and are, in fact, the same spirit.

"Mythogenesis" will be a series of illustrations and later paintings that bring similar spirits back together, using all of the iconographies of each parallel spirit to create a composite image that reflects the dominant aspect of the deity. The title of each piece will be the name of the new God(dess) depicted, and the final piece will be done in the style of medieval sacred icons. The final paintings will be done in oil paint and gold leaf on panel. I'm attempting not only to create new myths, but pay tribute to the new spirits that these myths give rise to. I am drawing inspiration from ancient religious art, relief sculpture and statues, Russian icons, modern cartoons, pop culture and a host of modern artists and illustrators.

By fusing similar deities back together, I hope to impress upon the viewer that all of them are one. All of the thunder gods are thunder gods at the end of the day, be they Norse or Native American. No one religion is correct, but all draw upon the same wonder and awe, and the same spirit is present in each of them.

Here's what I've worked on so far.

Savior:

Chrysalis:

I'm hoping to develop a stylistic language that can give new life to philosophical concepts and characters alike. Savior is a conglomeration of the mythical Saviors of Mankind from 5 ancient cultures, and Chrysalis is my commentary on sacred metamorphosis.

My room mate told me to do what I can right now. And the way I interpreted it isn't just to keep plodding along, but to do what you can RIGHT NOW. I can't worry about the huge finished product yet, it's way far off! I have experiments and small pieces to do before I sit down and begin work the huge finished products. So, baby steps. First Chrysalis to test out the gold leafing process, then some other experiments to work out paint and techniques and progression. After all of that, I'll start on Savior. And when Savior is done, I'll begin work on the other 7 pieces to go with it.

The broader scope of this project includes many tribute pieces to spirits, deities and sacred concepts. I plan to do multiple versions of the same image that focus on different aspects of the same deity and all kinds of fun stuff.

Super excited and super inspired. The frankincense helps. ; )

The wrong things are important.

I've been feeling artistically stifled lately. And a friend on Facebook made a comment, after I listed a bunch of important things I had to do instead of paint, that maybe the wrong things are important. He was right. And those things didn't even make it on the list.

I hate to admit it. I've had a ton of fun being a circus freak and redefining myself as a musician, but the expense for this fun has quite literally been my artwork. There's just been too much going on. My time with Circus Bacchus is drawing to a close soon, I'll be calling it a done deal after this next show. I had tons of fun. But I really miss my babies (all the embryos). And I need to get back on the horse and paint some more.

Portland is looking like a real possibility for relocation, followed closely by San Francisco and trailed eminently by Tucson. We'll see how it goes! Whatever happens, by June I will be out of Flagstaff and on to bigger and better things.

So long, small town. It's been... something.

Things I've been thinking about...

I'm an American. As ashamed as I am of that fact sometimes, I don't know anything else. My art needs some direction, and I've been thinking I should stick with what I know. So here's some subjects I've been thinking about.

Dia de los Muertos - I've been conceptualizing a tribute project to all my dearly departed in which I will make a skull portrait of each loved one I have that has passed. And maybe make actual candy skulls to go along with them. Having lived in Tucson for 10 years, this small part of Mexican folk culture has lodged itself in my bones, and I think I would like to explore it further.

American Folklore - Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed, Pecos Bill, Davy Crocket, John Henry, Calamity Jane. Those are the mainstream ones. What others? Where are all the women? Who were they before they became the stuff of legend? Frontiersmen, Cowboys, Ranchers, Lumberjacks, Hobos, Railroaders, and stage coach drivers. Why the romance? What other romantic figures didn't make it into folklore (gangsters, militiamen, other rebels)? Are there any heros that chose harmony with nature instead of overcoming it? And what about our actual historical figures? George Washington didn't want to be president, Abe Lincoln didn't want to free the slaves, Martin Luther King Jr. didn't want to be used as an advocate for lower taxes for the rich... If we were still writing folklore, who would the modern characters be?

Embryos - I need to expand this concept into the political realm. And with all the stink being made about women's reproductive rights lately, that shouldn't be hard.

Immigrants - Unless you are a native American, you're essentially an immigrant. Doesn't matter how long you've been here. Or does it? How long does it take, how many generations, for a person's blood to be tied to the land they live in? Am I an immigrant? Immigrant spawn? Or am I too a native American. The short answer is no, but what is the long answer?

Little ramblings. I feel like I need to expand myself a little in the realm of creativity. I also feel like I need to attach more meaning to my art. What is my message? I'm not sure anymore. After 2 years as a designer, I feel like I'm working for/within a system that I fundamentally disagree with on multiple levels. How do I use my skills to raise my voice within that system? And what do I have to say?

6 or so months pass...

...and nothing much has changed.

Here's a business card and alternate logo I made for 34 Electric and Communications in Flagstaff.

I'll be posting one image per day for the next couple weeks. Each image comes from the span of time that I have been employed at The Print Raven in Flagstaff.

6 months from now, I will be living somewhere else! I've decided that it is time to take my leave of this stifling small town, and actually get paid for my expertise at a more professional organization. I have had a good time up here, met many good friends and had many good times, especially the circus related ones. But it's time to move on. I am growing to hate this place, and that isn't what I want.

Ram Dass is my new guru. If you haven't heard of/listened to him, you ought to. His name was Richard Alpert before his awakening. He is in his 80's now. And my new goal in life is to meet him before he dies. He has beautiful thoughts. And an equally beautiful smile.

Speaking of goals, it's time for new years resolutions! Which I hate. So I've decided to have new year's guidelines instead:

Yoga regularly.

Begin juicing.

Eat more raw foods, veges, salad, fruits, smoothies.

Eat REAL breakfasts in the morning. (By real I mean see above and quit the mini doughnut and mountain dew combo I've been living on for a YEAR almost...)

Control blood sugars. (The docs tell me it will help my joint problems among other things.)

Regular meditation.

More sitting in the sun.

Control inflammatory pain.

More art for me.

Art as activism.

More poetry.

Better general hygene (eew, I know...)

"Be the lover you desire" and then start looking.

All easy guidelines to stick to.

My first plan for moving away is to move to Eugene, OR with my friend Natasha. The second plan is to just apply for jobs in whatever city I feel like going to and see what turns out. I definately need a job before I do any moving. Work cut me to part time, so now I have next to no income. And jobs in Flagstaff are hard to find unless you want to work food or retail. But even then...

I will, however be doing some figure modeling at NAU in February and March. Putting just a little bit of cold hard evil into my savings account for the move.

One last thing, I'm pretty sure I'm an anarchist. I'm also pretty sure I'm a communist. But I'm pretty sure I'm not an anarcho-communist. That community has a tendency toward violence and disrespect that I am not angry enough to get behind yet. I mean, sorry black bloc, but I don't have to believe in private property to respect it or accept people's addiction to it. Breaking windows only demonstrates your anger, it doesn't really make any kind of point beyond that.

Actually, that's not the last thing. The last thing is a "big think" (read The Island of Dr. Moreau). I'm an adult. I can make my life be whatever I want it to be. When I was younger, I used to get discouraged about being stuck in a rut and not being able to change anything. Now, I am seeing that it just takes a little more time than I want it to, and that is the source of my frustration. But, the time is necessary. Time presents the opportunity to grow, plan, change without growing pains, and make easy transitions. One of the things that I will take away from my time in Flagstaff is the ability to appreciate the baby steps in the process to bettering oneself. I have changed a lot since I've been here, and it has been too slow to account for all at once. But looking back on the last 2 years, I can see the progression. And only now does it all begin to make sense and fit together. Patience, as it turns out, is less of a virtue and more of a necessity. People only say it is a virtue because they are victims of their culture, too ADD to sit and wait, contentedly, for an outcome. Maybe patience should be on my list of new year's guidelines.

The end. For now.

Update

It's finally Spring! No more snow or frosts this year. I've planted squash, beans, and carrots. We'll see how they turn out. I'm hoping to receive tomato plants from my friend Esther once they get big enough. We have mint taking over one of the planters, green onions, sage and cilantro. Good eats!

I'm gearing up for Fairyworlds in Eugene, OR. Natasha, Maria, a few others and I will be manning a booth and selling all manner of wonders and trinkets. There will be art, masks, jewelry, books, clothing and more! Fun for all!

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, mostly about my current direction. Circus is taking over my life and I didn't want it to, so after this performance season, I'll be scaling it back significantly. The only performing I'll be doing will be with the band. Fire up in Flagstaff is just too much of a hassle. I'll be learning some new and interesting skills like fire meteor, dart, and fire breathing/eating. And I'll be keeping up with the juggling. But just to dabble. Maybe something awesome will come out of these experiments, but I'm not banking on it. I just want to have fun with it. More trumpet, more painting, less stress, happy Kim.

I'll be celebrating my 1 year anniversary in a couple weeks. My how time flies when your in love. : )

I can't wait until my self-imposed 2 years is up on my job. I'm ready to be more creative and actually get paid real money for what I can do.

Diabetes management is improving. I discovered to my dismay that all the ratios in my insulin pump were completely off and I have been working to get things back on track. Vision is improving with my blood sugars, and I've hooked up with an excellent diabetes educator who doesn't scoff at my dreams of curing my disease or participating in clinical trials to that end. The next step is finding a like-minded endocrinologist (a requirement for most of the clinical trials). I think I may be conducting interviews for that position. I really want my new doc to be on board for curing me, not treating me. I have faith.

On the injury front, I've started light work-outs that include stretching, balance and equipment-less exercises (push-ups, crunches, pull-ups, etc.) that use my body as its own weight system. I've decided to track my progress and see how I improve month to month. Maybe I'll be a flier yet! Stretching and moving feels really good. I'm doing it right.

I'm donating a painted adirondack chair to my Mom's Soroptimist Club for a raffle in Phoenix. It's a desert-scape with prickly pear cactus. I'll be painting it today. I had another, more epic idea, but she told me to stick with something simple. Next year, I'll be painting it a Dia de los Muertos theme with a skeleton mother and a skeleton embryo and flowers and bright colors and yay!

Motorcycle, gallery showings and paintings are in the works.

End of line.

Also, Resolutions Update

My New Years Resolutions can be found here.

I'm in the middle of all my books and pretty close to finishing 2 of them.

The Circus Bacchus brand is taking shape, once I find where my computer hid my fonts, I'll be good to go on that.

No paintings done as of yet.

No elaboration on my stories as of yet.

Still knitting sometimes.

1 rave down, but it doesn't count because it sucked. EDC is looking like a definite.

My insurance pay-off for the car accident came in, so money saved. Chi-ching!

Band is taking care of all my trumpet needs and more.

I'm on the fence about the hip-hop class because of time commitment.

As soon as it gets warm enough, I'll start biking. Probably sometime in April.

In addition to all that, I'll be learning a new circus skill, buying a motorcycle, and trying to get a local gallery show or two before the end of the year. And Detox in April.

Update and Plans

So, as you've probably guessed, I've been out of the neck brace for some time now. Muscle pain is almost nonexistent and my muscles are coming back in. Poi helps a lot, but I've lost all of my strength and using my heavy practice rigs is now a workout!

Circus and band are coming right along. It appears that I've caught them at an interesting time when they're starting to be sought out for gigs and formalizing the ranks and becoming an actual performance troop. Very exciting indeed. I'm going to be in an acrobalance act, a fire breathing/eating act and a fire poi act. I've got music for most and have started choreography for none... Shows appear to be during the summer, so I have a little time.

I've also accidentally developed a sad clown character. Her name is Crispy, and she'll play with fire. Kindlin Stokes continues to be my main stage presence though.

I profoundly miss modeling. I crave the meditation time and never seem to find the time to sit for 3 hours and think, which is what that work became for me.

Spring Fever. I has it. And along with it, the desire to do a detox. I think I'll try one for 3 weeks starting in April. This time I'll take the supplements and get the body work and do the exercises and the special hygiene things (scrubs, skin-care, aromatherapy, etc.) I'll feel fabulous when I'm done. : )

I'm trying to manage my time better, it's coming along... Slowly... This is an ongoing problem that I need to address.

In art, I'm trying to make more time, and I'll be tricking out part of the garage to make a studio for painting and outside sorts of art activities. I'll probably use it as a drying room too, away from the pets.

Blood sugar control never ceases to amaze me. I've been keeping better track for a week now and I can already read street signs from the car again. The world is a lot bigger when I can see the trees on the peaks and the leaves on branches across the street. I'm also feeling a little more energetic. Not that any of this surprises me, but I think I'd like to see how far I can take it this time and actually be well for a while. I'm tired of being sick and injured.

I'm very tired today. Stayed up late to pick my sister up from the train station. Really late. I think I'll be nice to myself when I get home and take it easy.

Angst and Progress Report

So, I've been having these PTSD panic attacks while riding in cars and traveling at high velocities... I've never had this problem before and it's making me very unhappy. I'm not too sure what to do about it. And it's putting me in a rotten mood.

No more angst.

I'm getting the creativity bug again. I think it's time for some epic painting! And I found another gallery in Flagstaff where I could potentially display my work.

I'm currently reading 10 books.

I'm set up for learning fire breathing and eating as soon as it gets warm outside and the wind dies down! And I'll probably be performing it as an act in late summer! Exciting!

I'm also seeing some improvement in my blood sugars. Hopefully I'll be able to achieve my goal of a Hemoglobin 1Ac score of 8 by the end of the year.

Lastly, I landed an illustration gig yesterday! It's for a series of science oriented children's books on nature and natural forces. I'll explain more once I get more familiar with the material. : )

Update

Finished the first knitting project I ever started. It's a short scarf with yellow buttons. : )

I've been out of the neck brace since the 10th. And it's been SO nice. I'm recovering quickly and have lost a bit of strength and muscle, but there hasn't been much pain aside from stiffness.

I begin work again full time next week. Yay paycheck!

I've made a rag tag list of resolutions to guide me through my next year. Very few are physical goals, but I can make those once my body is in working condition again.

Read 5 Classics

Read 5 books from personal library

Circus Bacchus Act Posters

Love Paintings

Kris' Angels

Elementals

Burn Unit Story and Character Sketches

Geb & Nut (legend in Burn Unit universe)

Finish 2 video games

Kitten Head Paintings

Beanie the Premie

Mittens, Chessie, Ginger, Mica

Finish Character Backgrounds

Sculpt a little

Knit a bit

Go to 2 raves

Rebuild lost strength

More trumpet

Bike (later in year)

Hip Hop Dance Class (later in year)

Save monies

A1c 8 or lower

Victory!

I just finished my first knitting project ever! It's the second project I've started, and it only took 2 days! It's a pretty, multi-colored scarf!

Uuuum... Pics to come. My tragically specialized cord for my camera is AWOL. Both of them. They must be lost in the sea of still-packed boxes that is my bedroom currently. But it's totally pretty and I'm totally proud of myself!

So new skills learned:

Casting On

Knit Stitching

Casting Off

I supplemented the learning I already did with tutorials from a website called videojug.com. It's a DIY/How To site. My favorite part about it is that the search bar says "I want to be good at..." before you click on it to enter your keywords.

Disneyland tomorrow! XD

The Verdict...

...is in.

The neurologist says that I have to keep the brace on until mid January. On the bright side, I'll be able to skip to the front of all the lines at Disneyland.

My trigger finger was helped, but not cured by the first shot. I suspect a second shot is needed. Not thrilled.

This week I'll see another doc about the nodule they found on my thyroid. Hopefully it's nothing. My Mom has one too so I'm not too worried.

I got moved into the big office at work! Now I'm in the room with all the other graphic designers. : ) It's not a promotion or anything like that, they just have room now.

Speaking of work, The Print Raven won Best of Flagstaff this year in the category of "Best Print Shop"! We didn't even advertise for the competition this year and we ended up winning. We rock.

Being back at work is hard on my neck, but I'm settling back into the routine again just fine. The doc told me to only work part time and not to do any lifting or bending. So I'm confined to my desk except for a few production tasks like binding, laminating and copies (as long as they're not heavy once they're done).

I'm looking forward to my move. Lots of painting space. And I have lots of new ideas for art, mostly involving Circus Bacchus publicity and print design. But paintings are coming to me as well. I know I've been complaining that I don't paint enough. I think all the painting space in the new house will fix that. They have a room with a south wall that is mostly windows looking out into a pretty back yard, perfect for natural light.

Lance Horton, the guy with the gallery in Winslow, will be picking up my Brain Babies for display on Wednesday. I can't wait for them to be up again! And I'm stoked that they'll be displayed in a tattoo parlor. That alone makes the distance worth while. The best part is that he's understanding about the car and willing to pick stuff up from me.

Onward and upward and toward the New Year!

Black Friday

I hope everybody's holiday feasts were as spectacular as mine was! I judge a feast by its gravy, and let me tell you... It was divine. That's right, divine gravy. I said it. ; )

Wikipedia says that the term "Black Friday" was coined in Philadelphia in 1966, in reference to the heavy pedestrian and vehicle traffic that the city experienced as a result of the beginning of the Christmas buying season. Since then, it's become the money slinging free-for-all that we know it as today.

I first heard the term in the early 2000's from a friend that worked in a camera store in the Tucson Mall. I had known that lots of people started shopping for Christmas gifts then, but I hadn't realized that it was a national phenomenon with so much notoriety.

Further research indicated that "Black Friday" and subsequent "Cyber Monday" are local phenomenon. They have spread to other english speaking countries (Canada, England, and Australia) slowly over the course of the last couple of decades with the expansion of websites like Amazon and Apple.

A newer interpretation of the term defines it as the shopping day that puts everyones profits back "in the black".

My impressions of the holiday are far from positive. To me Black Friday is the epitome of consumer gluttony and decadence. It represents a social sickness that infects western culture. It is an orgy for big business. Sneaky corporations and producers of defective goods cheating sheep-like, lemming-consumers out of their savings, wages and assets. A couple of years ago people were killed and sustained heavy injury as a result of this ridiculous display (look here and here). Is a day of discounted shopping spree really worth human lives?

To not be robbed, to not participate in this event, is to be a rebel and an outcast. To not participate is to declare oneself "poor" and stingy. The way this is expressed can vary. I've noticed that if one does not take advantage of the sales, one is labeled a frivolous spender, because clearly, not taking advantage of sales means that one can't manage one's finances. I think people should be praised for buying gifts throughout the year, when one can afford them. Why have your budget take a giant hit for Christmas when you can easily find more meaningful presents all year long for friends and family? Why is participating in a consumer mania far more important than money management and thoughtful gift giving? I can only guess; it makes no sense to me.

Of course, for me, gift giving happens all year long. I don't confine the act to birthdays and gift-heavy holidays. Usually if I find something I like for someone, and I can afford it, I'll buy it and give it to them right away. Sometimes I have the presence of mind to check on when their birthday is or consider an upcoming holiday, but I usually forgo it in favor of not forgetting that I have bought the item. I'll call it a belated birthday gift or and early Solstice present.

If I had my way, and there was less stigma attached to the forgoing of gifts, I'd give only a couple of gifts per year. The need never strikes me to get gifts for everyone I know. I may send a card or salutation or bag of cookies, but that's usually as far as it goes. I trust my friends to know that I love them, even though I skimp on presents. I'm not stingy, but I am financially decrepit and forgetful. Luckily I surround myself with people who consider those reasons adequate excuses, and are sensitive to them.

The point is, that the act of giving is cheapened by holidays and social events of this kind. If you want to give a gift, do it! Don't worry about cost and sales and holidays and brands and trends. If you find a thoughtful trinket that you feel displays your gratitude for someone's friendship and support, get it and give it. Simply. Better yet, make it yourself! Paint a painting, knit a scarf, crochet a hat, sew a plushie, sculpt a chochkey, bind a journal, put a piece of yourself into the gifts that you give and have it be a labor of love!

Happy holidays to all. I hope your gift giving is heartfelt and genuine and filled with the affection you feel towards the receiver. Love!

Artings

The latest creations from my mind-womb!!!!!

"Java Baby"

"Water Baby"

"Oil Baby"

"Monthly."

"Moon Time"

I'm considering these sketches for future paintings. I've made stickers out of most of them. Let me know if you'd like some. : )

Update and Burbling

Wow, so work has been so hectic that I haven't been able to produce any stickers for, like, a month now. Yay school starting. Apparently this is our peak season. At least it'll calm down soon.

I'm seriously considering the purchase of a vinyl cutter. They're expensive, but I really like it as a medium. I have plans. So many plans. *evil grin*

I have a girlfriend, her name is Laura. : )

She made me a bento lunch today that included a big rice piggy and little hot dog piglets! So full of cute! And made with love. You know how sometimes you can totally tell that your food was either happy or made with love? You eat it and it nourishes your soul and your body. I started my lunch happy and ended it laughing because I could feel the love. :D Best lunch evar! Thank you my dear! I'll post a pic later.

I've been artistically constipated. I haven't done anything in a really long time. It's time to get painting. And knitting. And sewing. And sketching. Anything...

The problem I've run into has to do with my energy level. It's non-existent. I've been trying to counter it with a little mind-over-matter exercise. I wake up, frown, and my first thought is "I'm tired, I want to sleep more, this sucks." I'm making a concentrated effort to wake up, smile, say an affirmation, and think "I'm awake, I'm happy, today is awesome!" It has produced good results so far, actually.

My dreams have been very vivid lately. One involved visiting Atlantis and seeing their water accumulator tower; it pulls water out of the atmosphere using polarity and drips it into a lake, all pure and drinkable. There is a force field that keeps contaminants out. If a large enough organic body falls in (ie. Me or another person), it teleports it onto a platform that is like a dock running out into the center of the lake. For the record, teleporting is SUPER FUN!

My inquiry into Hinduism had produced some interesting results. The more I research it, the more I am drawn to it. Not the Hare Krishna movement, but the religion as a whole. It is full of light, balance, love and tolerance. Not just tolerance, but understanding and acceptance. Cool stuff, and the deities are super cool.

I have a big happy today. : )

My cat caught his first bird a week ago! I was very happy for him, and he seems to have perked up a little since then.

I have an awesome potted vegetable garden now! It is doing well. Hopefully it will produce zucchini before the frost. There are tomatoes also, and lettuce and peas. Herbs too. Om nom nom.

I'll try to sell Argentina this weekend. My car and I have had some good times, but now we must part. I'll see how well I do with for sale signs and leaving it in a visible place before I go with craigslist.

I'm in Circus Bacchus as their official fire tech (LOL!) and I'm now the trumpet player in the Circus Bacchus Band! I'm having tons of fun with them and I'll start learning new skills soon. Juggling and fire staff are on the list. And I think I'll be able to coordinate group fire routines too.

I tried disc golf. I LOVE it.

That's all I can think of for now!

Life Seed Stickers!

LIFE SEED STICKERS!!!!! In GOLD and GREEN and WHITE!!!!!

The gold is about 3 inches and the green and white have 3 and 4 inch versions.

Want some? Lemme know.

Oh clients... (a short rant)

...Why don't you listen to me? I have a degree in making you look good, but you insist that I design sub-par items for you because you think you are better at this than I am. You are silly. Stop it.

So R.T. Henderson and I are working toward creating a business card that utilizes their new logo. They are insisting on scripty, Victorian fonts with photos of a very modern kitchen, greens that clash with the green in their logo, and they want their Victorian font in burgundy... In burgundy and inside of a white box on top of the photo... They also want the format vertical on one side of their card and horizontal on the other... REALLY?!? I'd laugh if I didn't feel like banging my head against my laptop.

I really wish I could present my ideas to them so I can explain why having a specific, limited pallet of fonts and colors is very important to a company's identity. You want customers to associate you with a particular group of fonts and colors, it makes it easier for them to recognize you and separates you from other companies.

That's nitty-gritty. But seriously, I thought everyone knew how to match colors at least! Burgundy + Global Green + Lime Green = NAZTY!

It's little things like this that make me wish that I actually had written contact (at the very least) with the clients that I get to do creative design for. I'd absolutely love to sit down with them over a cup of coffee and go over proofs with them, explaining why I made versions of their card that didn't follow any of their directions but utilized the images and text they gave me. About why using the logotype is better than using a random swishy font to write their company name. And why one should use only one green at a time.

Maybe if I work on my bosses a little, they'll actually let me start sending out proofs so I can write all of these comments diplomatically in an email. I'm really good at being diplomatic when I am trying to persuade people to make good design choices.

That, and they usually end up going with my original suggestions anyway! Why can't we just listen to me the first time?

Oh clients... I love you, but you're silly.

Oh, and we have a vinyl cutter here at work. Life Seed stickers are SO happening! And others, maybe Ouroboros and Life Tree strips.

Tiny Update

Work is so fun! I get to make things every day!

A company called R.T. Henderson chose my logo out of the ones that the other designers and I sent for proofing. It was the first time my design has been chosen ever! I was super excited about it. Here it is:

I've finally gotten settled enough that I've started working on my own artwork again. And I even got hit up to illustrate a children's book by one of our clients! It's a cute story about a Moose and a Goose and a mystery bird with low self esteem. The mystery bird is very self conscious about the way he looks and is afraid that others don't like him because he is different. By the end, the Moose and the Goose present him in all of his glory to the other animals. The mystery bird is a Peacock and all of the animals crown him king of a festival because he is so delightfully unique and beautiful. Cute story, I'll be getting sketches of that done this coming week if all goes well.

Wow, life is good.

A Tiny Rant About Musical Notation, Graphic Design, and Clip Art

Musical notation is a language. Each note and rest represents a sound (or pause in sound) much like a letter or character represents a sound or syllable. As a musician, I am often frustrated by how artists and graphic designers abuse this language. And don't even get me started on the fictional instruments that populate clip art and canvas alike! I'll save that last point for another entry, for now, let's take a minute to discuss theabuse of musical notation in art.

Here are some basic note and rest values:

Without going into music theory, the above representations are correct in every way! If one were to turn the notes (not the rests) upside down, they would still be correct. The dots are always skewed as they are above, and the flags on the eighth and sixteenth notes always fly to the right:

Notes with flags ALWAYS have solid dots, or have x's instead of dots in the case of percussion.

The above notations are a far cry from this:

What is this? This is musical gibberish. Representations like this are about as ridiculous as making a bunch of random brush strokes on a piece of paper and calling it Chinese. Are those dots without stems and flags whole notes? Why are they all crammed on the page haphazardly? Why are some of the ledger lines purple, combined with their adjacent notes, and others yellow? As a musician, I have no idea. As an artist, I still have no idea.

Here's another example:

This one also falls under the category of fictitious instruments. Is it a clarinet? An oboe? A soprano sax? It has the attributes of all of them! But look at the notes... The first one checks out, but the one on the right is what I was talking about when I mentioned the fake Chinese earlier. It's gibberish, it means nothing. Obviously it was a sloppy attempt at an eighth note, but really? Some very BASIC research would have fixed this problem.

How about this:

Now, I'll admit that I don't know much about the musical notation associated with percussion, but I have never seen this note before! This is what I got when I googled "eighth note clip art". Unless I was asleep during the entire 14 years I was in school for music, I'm pretty sure this note doesn't exist! It's not a half note, and it's not an eighth note. The only way it could be worse is if it had a dot right after it and the flag was flying the wrong way. I'd describe this as a "half eighth note"... And "half eighth notes" do not exist.

In fact, here's a list of musical notation unique to percussion (click to see the whole thing):

I see no "half-eighth notes" here...

Graphic design is all about communication through imagery. Graphic designers who make unreadable images don't get work. Why, then, do so many designers and artists butcher musical notation? I'll grant that some artists will claim artistic license as a defense for their incorrect musical notation, and graffiti artists often distort text beyond the point of recognition. I respect artistic license and I have a deep love and respect for graffiti art, but even graffiti is readable. And if no artist in their right mind would butcher the beautiful characters of the Chinese language, why should they overlook the equally beautiful language of music?

I'm not saying that artists need to be 100% accurate with their musical notation, but please, one google search is all it takes to keep from embarrassing yourself in front of all of your musically inclined clients. Get a clue, folks. You wouldn't butcher the multitude of Asian, Ancient, Greek, or Cyrillic scripts, so stop making fools out of yourselves and learn what an eighth note looks like.

BTW, UA Presents... You might want to run your program artwork through a College of Music filter next year. Not to diss the artist, but this is EXACTLY what I'm talking about.

Insulin > Internet

Posts will continue to be few and far between for a while. I don't think I'm going to be able to afford internet for quite some time, but I'll try to update when I can.

I now work at The Print Raven in Flagstaff. I'll be doing graphic design and print production for them. I LOVE IT! Seriously, it's way fun and I actually don't wince at the idea of a normal schedule with this job. My bosses literally have to kick me out at closing time because I get so absorbed that I forget to check the clock! Totally digging it.

As far as my personal work, I'm just now getting unpacked to the point of starting work again. I'll write about it as it happens. Flagstaff is very inspiring, and I'll be talking to galleries about displaying my work soon. "First Fridays" is this week and there'll be gallery openings. Hopefully I'll be able to network a little.

My computer battery sucks, gotta go now. : )