today i went to el museo del azulejo, where thousands of old tiles were displayed in what must have been in a hundred year old house. i wanted to just move in.
then in the afternoon i stumbled on an incredible bistro and decided right on the spot to make it my local haunt. it has cushions. lounge jazz. chocolate tarts and ice cream. it even has wifi. i’m returning at least once a week, at least.
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ps, if you are looking for something to smile about, please pick up my buddy walt‘s sketchbook called downtown. i promise he will bring you roaring laughter to you right from the pages, and you will be wowed by his drawings.
i hope that in heaven we get to meet all of our heroes. (who are yours?)
☆ no one ever dreamed about the sideshow | colored pencils & paper
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nyc photographer jennifer causey recently asked her blog readers the question:
“i really want to produce more art for art’s sake. it is so hard when i am also trying to make a living. it is a tough balance. any advice or things that work for you?”
recently i’ve found that working in a different medium just for myself is working incredibly well for me. as soon as i divided the painting/drawing from the jewelry making (though they enrich each other) i began to feel so liberated.
you take out the purpose, detach from the audience, and what you are left with is exercising a reliance on your own skill. just for the pleasure of doing so.
the catch about art is that it is all personal, so it always must begin with what is meaningful for you before you let it go to the relationship of those who receive it. honing your sense of art before the spectators decide what is worthy about it helps confidence tremendously. and speaking from miles of experience, i know that confidence can be a fragile thing for us artists.
working without the pressure to show anyone comes with a side order of emotional satisfaction as well. ah, brings me back to the stale condition of the sitting in art classes where i was never truly productive without my own music in my headphones. teachers and fellow students glancing over my shoulder. assignments. a time limit. bah! but as soon as i was in my own room at home, or outside lying on a blanket in the grass, in the sunshine…then i could create without any restraints. for hours. and it allowed for a more honest communication to develop in my making. (and what do you know? i felt ready to share it!)
p.s. if it’s marketing you struggle with, look no further than this guy. if he can create a demand for garbage from the streets of new york city, successfully, then you should have no problemo making a living from your art….right? smile.
acknowledgment: i have an affinity for things that are under the radar. i lived and loved the seattle music scene in the 90s.
so naturally i was skeptical of the snowballing popularity of one my favorite local bands, modest mouse. who i used to go see all the time with friends for just a few bucks. tiny venue audiences of under 50 and stuff. it was our band. having musical superiority as a teenager is a very special club you know.
and since indie rockers pride themselves on being able to say “i knew (said band) before they were famous,” i wasn’t sure how to react when they appeared everywhere. radio, tv shows, even american idol covers? yikes. i wasn’t sure if i was ready to share my band with the likes of mainstream popularity.
but success looks good on modest mouse. proof: they’ve only just made the best music video, like ever.
so when vero emailed me over the weekend and said that her guy dave was up for the making of their new video, i grinned ear to ear and voted for him right away. you can see the 10 sterogum green screen contest participants here, though i can tip you off right away the best one is under alias “hero409.”
and because the song has already been stuck in the heads of the vorwaller household, singing it as we enjoy the glow of our southern hemisphere fireplace…fire it up, baby.
photobooth friday: this is my husband and his beautiful mum, aren’t they sweet?
what i’ve been really impressed with online this past week:
☆ tricia over at bits and bobbins writes about artists and their personal style. in this post she notices the direct correlation between the art of georgia o’keeffe and her elegant sense of fashion. love that. an artist’s work – it all bleeds over into everything.
☆ 18k, a favorite jewelry blog (written in catalan) has just introduced me to the work of yoko shimizu and let’s just say that i am in love. most especially with this light.
☆ danielle from the style files shows us the perfect garden bench that looks like interactive sculpture to me. i love being outside, and gardens…what a perfect marriage of hedge and concrete!
☆ and lastly, a heavy dose of the unexpected for you. a group of graffiti artists from brazil are decking out the side of a medieval castle in rural scotland! even though i’m quite used to south american street art after seeing it everyday for the past seven months, it’s still pretty wow. i like the idea of taking it out of the urban scene too.
and isn’t it every budding artist’s dream to go decorate a castle from 1200 AD? i mean, c’mon, that’s pretty incredible. i really loved the mural work i’ve done in the past, but if given the chance, i would probably do something different…see a timelapse video of the first three days at kelburn castle on the official website.
and have a wonderful weekend!
comrades. help me. i’ve started seeing things. call it…jewelry vision.
like this morning? i was flipping through a really outdated magazine from spain and i spy this beautiful shirt dress. it’s cute, no? but i think it needs something…
ah! now that’s better. a paper mask turned into an over sized bear brooch. rawr! quite fun. (even though it’s made out of paper.)
and then. walking on the beach i spied these pretty shells underfoot and i couldn’t help myself and made a little necklace. i wonder if anyone found it…
one more thing before i go, you’ll love this! incidentally, in that same old magazine i was collaging with, i noticed an article about lovely stories to read. and in the corner of the page was a tiny photo of a wonderful edition of hans christian andersen books. behold the most gorgeous illustrations:
i squinted my eyes as best as i could at the teensy print on the covers (nearly impossible to make out) and did what any person would do. i googled the illustrator’s name. and look at this stunning portfolio i found! the artist, carmen segovia, also has a blog.
and my goodness, the icing on the cake is this painting with our very same black herbie! okay, gushing over and out…
“i went to the woods because i wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if i could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when i came to die, to discover that i had not lived.
i did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did i wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary.
i wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and to be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.”
mmm….cheers to that, mr. thoreau, i hear you.
say YES! to:
suspending judgment on others (remembering when you were wrongfully judged)
exposing the myth of being offended (no one can offend you, unless you let them)
having as many friends as you can (cliques are for silly grade schoolers)
being happy for each other (there’s unlimited supplies of success to go around)
making your friends your family (and your family, your very best of friends)
genuinely crying together (knowing you will laugh really hard together afterwards)
aw yeah.
one facet of living creatively is learning how to listen. to really, really listen. what do i mean by this? well, it’s easier than you might think. to me, the root of *everyday creativity is stemmed from seeing beauty (your very own perception of it, of course) in things around you. it’s finding art in life, but more specifically, the life you are living.
in other words, listening is simply another form of appreciation.
in my little orbit, appreciation is seeing the details. noticing the forms and lines in buildings as i drive past them, squinting my eyes at a plot of flowers and seeing them in paint. it’s the way that i feel like i’m in a favorite movie when my husband looks at me while we walk along the shore, hand in hand. it’s lots of things, it’s little things, some change everyday. it’s seeing the music in my life. it’s just the stopping and taking note, saying, now that is beautiful.
on the other end of the spectrum, you might find yourself stuck in a place where you find the arts as some kind of “extracurricular activity” or something of little importance. you might even find yourself being annoyed by the beauty that is surrounding your life. you might even walk right past it. how sad. don’t think this place exists? watch this experiment in context, perception and priorities and then honestly ask yourself, would you have stopped to listen?
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In his 2003 book, Timeless Beauty: In the Arts and Everyday Life, British author John Lane writes about the loss of the appreciation for beauty in the modern world. The experiment at L’Enfant Plaza may be symptomatic of that, he said — not because people didn’t have the capacity to understand beauty, but because it was irrelevant to them.
p.s. i think you would have stopped.
*everyday creativity – not the actual creative act itself, but the practice of introspection and awareness that can lead the possibilities wide open for solutions to be able to present themselves. artful living, mindfulness, gratitude.
meanwhile, back here in montevideo…i’ve been curling up in front of a roaring fire every single night. reading, listening to music, contemplating and planning more adventures.
i wanted to thank you for indulging me as i’ve shared photos from my travels. i have many more pictures (say yes to extra memory cards) which i’m sure will probably show up around here later. but next week i’ll resume with regular posting.
um wait, what is that exactly?
hmm. i guess the focus of my blog has been on my mind lately. just what is it that gets me fired up to share things online, on a regular basis, with friends and strangers alike?
i think i’ve got it. i like writing about why i believe life is beautiful. and how it can be beautiful. the subject may not be as popular as the hottest design craze, or how to craft that perfect japanese toy or cute apron, or the latest tech news, etc…but it’s what gets me wanting to blog. i hope you find something from this place too. without you, it simply wouldn’t exist!
so i’ll see you next week with that in mind…
besitos, j.
