Sugarcane

Yesterday I got to spend some quality time at a new coffee shop about 2 blocks from my house. I was there pretty much the whole day doing graphic design work and getting things ready for out first day of youth meetings for the fall semester.

As I was working, one of the baristas happened to notice the designs on the screen. When I went up a few minutes later to order another latte, he asked me what I was working on. I explained my different projects to him, and he said that he really liked my work and that if I ever wanted to display some of it on the walls of the caffe, I could. After blushing and thanking him, I went back to my table, coffee in hand and contemplated the offer.

I've never actually thought about hanging any of my art up in a caffe, but maybe I should do it. I started thinking of my past projects and how they were so individualized that they wouldn't really be fit to display as a set. So I resolved that I would steadily work on a set that WOULD be fit to display in a caffe. I'm thinking of doing a set that features some of my photos and have each print contain some song lyrics I've written that pose questions or statements concerning love and the quality of life. I'm not sure when I'll have them completed, but I'll probably start working on them tonight while I watch the VMAs!

I'm really curious to see how this project turns out!

Do What You Want, Be Who You Are

Sometime this summer I will be getting my first tattoo . . .

I am equal parts ANXIOUS + EXCITED + SCARED OUTTA MY MIND! I've wanted a tattoo since I was a teenager, but here's a little bit of something that you probably should know about me: i am deathly afraid of needles. Like, REALLY. The last time I got a shot was 2 years ago, and I cried. No lie. I shed tears. I have an incredibly low pain tolerance . . . did I mention that I'm not 5 years old? I'm not. But I still cried. I hate pain. So naturally, you can see why I've waited to get a tattoo. I can't guarantee that when I go to get one that I'm not going to cry. In fact, I'm 99.9% sure I will. Whatever day I get it done, I'm going to request the next day off so that I have plenty of time to cry every freakin' tear in my body because my friends who have gotten tattoos already have been up-front honest with me about the pain. It helps to have friends who can help me prepare. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm still a fraidy cat. Especially after seeing the movie trailer for THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO:



creep me out that has to hurt like no otha'!

I'm still gonna get one though!

I really wanted to have Vanessa (my niece) draw something and then get THAT tattooed on me, but last time I saw her, I asked her to draw something and she drew a creepy stick figure with a pumpkin head . . . and it was angry. So I'm gonna go with a no on that one. However, I go home next week and I get to spend 2 and a half days with her, so I'm gonna go for a do-over. This time I'll have her draw a few things . . . and pick the least creepy one. ;)

But as I've been looking at tattoos and contemplating which one to get, I've discovered others that I've fallen in love with. If I was truly brave, I'd get them—ALL of them (or at least some variation of them):







In fact, lately I've been drawing on myself often with Sharpies when I am waiting for slow computers to load/save/print things. Here are some I've done recently.








As you can see, I kind of like the simple ones, nothing frilly and nothing really Old English or biker style. Just simple, unique, and fun like me :D

As I said, I'd like to get more, but I'm going to stick with one now, and after about 5 years when the pain goes away (jk!) I'll THINK about another. One thing I do know that I want to stick to is having meaning to what I put on my body. Which is why I'm really leaning towards this one as a back up plan. I LOVE the book The Little Prince. I re-read it often. This would be a constant reminder of the lessons I've learned from that wonderful book:



And I'll end the post with an episode of UNDER THE SKIN featuring Andrew McMahon from Jack's Mannequin, because I love his tattoos and the meanings behind them.

Moodswings and Melodies

One of the perks of my job is that from time to time, I get to take breaks and draw! It's so much fun and very therapeutic. Sometimes when the workload is overwhelming, it's good to get in a bit of a disconnect. Anyway, I thought I would share some of my fun drawings with you guys :D








Now QUICK—take a five minute break and just doodle something for FUN!! :D

We Belong

(photo taken at the EMP Taking Aim Interactive Photo Booth)

The Experience Music Project has a new photography exhibit running right now featuring Rock and Roll photography:

EMP|SFM is proud to present Taking Aim: Unforgettable Rock 'n' Roll Photographs Selected by Graham Nash. This dynamic new exhibition, organized by Experience Music Project, showcases some of the most memorable photography in the history of popular music, as chosen by legendary musician Graham Nash of supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash, who is also well-known as a photographer, collector and pioneer in digital imaging and printing.

As guest curator, Graham Nash, brings his rich musical history, keen eye and storytelling skills to an exhibition of 98 rock 'n' roll images taken by 40 of the world's greatest music photographers, including Anton Corbijn, Lynn Goldsmith, Annie Leibovitz, Jim Marshall, Neal Preston, Mick Rock, Francesco Scavullo and Nash himself.

As I walked by each and every photograph, my love and passion for both photography and rock and roll music was re-awakened. The images were beautiful, painful, inspiring, and each truly evoked more than a thousand words surrounding the day and age they were taken in and what they represented. This photograph taken by Annie Leibovitz, of Emmylou Harris standing by a pond holding her guitar was my favorite:


It's simplicity and beauty just overwhelmed me. The power of one person, living in their element, sharing their dream and their heart with others through such a powerful art form is so stunning to me. All the time and talent and energy that one person can put into making their voice heard, and inspiring others to open up and talk about life with others is such a wonderful part of the arts. I remember seeing Plumb live in concert once and one of my favorite things that Tiffany Arbuckle said was, "Even though a lot of the songs deal with heavy subjects, it's real life. It's real hurts and real struggles that people have, and if all I can do is be a voice that opens up doors for others to talk about real life with someone else, and learn and grow from it, then everything I'm doing here is worth it." That, to me, is music. True music. True talent. True art.

To see more images from the exhibit, CLICK HERE.

You Make It Real

I got to take a small excursion yesterday to West Seattle and came across some amazing art, both at Cupcake Royale and at Skylark, where Owls To Athens played live, along with Jettison Never and Smile For Diamonds. It was a great show, and I really enjoyed all the artwork at Skylark too! It got me thinking about some of my photography heroes—people that I would LOVE to learn photography skills from. So here are my top 5 thus far (you can click on their name to visit their site and see more!):

Audrey Hannah Photo
She's a friend, and a FABULOUS photographer! She specializes in weddings and engagements and I cannot tell you how many times I look at her pics and think, "Man, I need to HURRY UP and get married before her rates go WAY up!" She seriously has mad skills! One of my fave of hers is this one:



Nathaniel Goldberg
(no link available)
This is my guilty pleasure pick. He's got great work published all over the place . . . but my fave of his by far is this sweet little GQ pic of his:

I think we all know why. ;)

Jeremy Cowart
I must admit, I had never heard of Jeremy until Parachute tweeted about doing a photo session with him and so I immediately headed over to his site and was STUNNED by the beautiful artwork he does! His techniques and editing and creative staging is phenomenal!



Jenny Jiménez
She's a local Seattle artist who, much like Cowart, covers a wide range of styles. Her artwork was featured in Skylark and I was just mesmerized by the simple beauty of her photographs.


Chona Kasinger
I stopped by the Cupcake Royale in West Seattle and saw Chona's work featured. It gave me such inspiration! She features mostly photographs taken at live music shows, but also has others in her collection. The ones that I saw at Cupcake Royale were mainly band ones though. They were just so rich and had great angles! I am a new fan!


Seeing all these amazing photographs makes me want to just sell a kidney and buy a super high quality professional camera and just have at it! :D Alas, I will continue to enjoy art in it's finest qualities as a spectator and amateur. :D

Creature Fear

The other night, I stopped over at Cupcake Royale to try out one of their tasty Fall Harvest Cupcakes :D The three new cupcakes they are featuring for fall are Caramel Apple, Pumpkin Maple, and Carrot Cake. I tried the Caramel Apple and it was delish! :D



Go ahead, you can drool. They're worth it.

But while I was there I noticed some beautiful new artwork hanging on the walls. The artist is Weston Jandacka. The artwork so beautiful and detailed. Here are some samples of the artwork there:





Amazing, yeah? I think so. For a moment it made me want to become an artist. But then I realized that I already am an artist. And that I can use my art to speak to others just like Weston does. In the meantime, I'll continue to look at those pictures and admire the beauty that they yield. :D

PS: I chose the title of Bon Iver's Creature Fear for this post, cause if you listen to that song and look at the paintings, they just GO together :D

Bearing Witness

Last night was fun- I got to go see David Bazan play a show Live, in-store at Easy Street Records. I just gotta say, I'm so GRATEFUL that I grew up in the ATX and went to McCallum H.S. Growing up in the Live Music Capitol of the world and going to the Fine Arts Academy in the AISD really taught me a LOT about appreciating music and theater and all the other arts that are out there. I just love being able to have a connection to music and how it speaks and having the ability to connect with others through music. One of my FAVORITE things about going to live shows is meeting cool new friends who share my love for music! Another bonus is seeing other people in the crowd respond to the music . . . seeing them bob their heads, shake their hips, throw up their rock fist and all that other fun stuff. :D

Getting to see David Bazan was really cool too. For those who don't know, David Bazan used to head up a band called Pedro The Lion.

Following the demise of Christian indie rockers Pedro the Lion, the project's brain trust, David Bazan, pursued a solo career that's so far culminated in the Fewer Moving Parts EP and now Curse Your Branches, his debut full-length as a solo artist. The changes between this work and his former band are many. The moral parables that were central to his previous band have been replaced with frank lyrics about Bazan's struggle with alcoholism and his newfound agnosticism. Musically, Pedro the Lion's simple but sturdy guitars have been replaced with sterilizing studio tinkering, resulting, at times, in too many ideas at once. For post-Christians 30somethings looking for mediocre indie pop and heart-on-sleeve theologizing, this is a doozy of an album. (by Josiah Hughes for Exclaim!)

There's been a lot of controversy around David Bazan in the Christian sphere, mainly because he was a Christian music artist back in the day, but is now leaning more towards agnosticism. I think it's a silly controversy. I think that people should do their research, be informed, and realize that even though he is not in the Christian music scene anymore, it doesn't discredit him as an artist or as a person just because he has real questions to real issues. It doesn't make him any less of a person and it doesn't mean that he should just be ignored. His questions should not be ignored, but should be answered by each person personally. Questions should be asked—of ourselves and of others. I think that we should respect the journey of faith.

I love that I have friends and people in my life who believe different things than me. It helps me grab a hold of what I REALLY believe and why. And not just about religion, but about society, and human behavior, and government, and pop culture. I think that the fact that our current culture has brought the lines of religion into EVERYTHING they say and do proves that there is a genuine need for answers . . . we're ALL searching for answers. We all have to KNOW what's real and what's right and what's truth. We just do. And I'm really glad that I spent most of my childhood growing up with a more agnostic approach to life. Because I feel like it's made my journey of faith more meaningful. It's made my personal relationships more meaningful. It helps bring me perspective to different situations I'm faced with in life. I've had my questions. I've found my answers. I've searched out what I believe and why, and it means so much more to me because of that.

As a person who leans more towards the creative side, I write a lot of things. I write songs. I write screenplays. I write blog entries. I write letters. I think of crazy things ALL the time. And every time I do, I come under a microscope. Sometimes it's my OWN microscope- I am TRULY my worst critic. Other times it comes from microscopes that my friends look at me through and sometimes it's the microscope of leaders and mentors past, and other times it's everyday people I meet on the street. But no matter who it is, the microscopes are all the same. It's the microscope that points out where you went wrong, where you could have done better, and where you should be, in the grand scheme of what each person's view of "success" is.

There's a new song by Paramore on their upcoming album, BRAND NEW EYES called PLAYING GOD. You can hear it here:

And it's actually one of my favorite songs from their upcoming album. Because it's so open and real and honest. Her lyrics . . . >

If God's the game that you're playing
Well, we must get more acquainted
Because it has to be so lonely
To be the only one who's holy

It's just my humble opinion
But it's one that I believe in
You don't deserve a point of view
If the only thing you see is you

You don't have to believe me
But the way I, way I see it
Next time you point a finger
I might have to bend it back
Or break it, break it off
Next time you point a finger
I'll point you to the mirror

. . . really points it out. Everyone is a critic. Everyone has an opinion. Some are valid, but most are just white noise. The song is about a riff she had with someone in her life who had been playing the "holier than thou" card and it really got to her and caused some serious issues for her as an artist.

I only hope that as I continue to express myself in art, in life and in love, I will constantly look in the mirror, and allow others to point me to the mirror as well. And that I would be able to call this journey of life my own, but allow others to be amazing landmarks along the way. :D

Swim

If you are as much of a Jack's Mannequin Fan as I am, head over to their website and submit artwork for their new music video for the song SWIM off of their album THE GLASS PASSENGER! So many of their songs have inspired me and I can't wait to get home tonight and design something!
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LINK TO THEIR SITE HERE
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Brief overview:

WE WANT YOUR ARTWORK IN THE NEXT JACK’S MANNEQUIN VIDEO!

We are creating a music video for the powerful song “Swim” by Jack’s Mannequin. And need your help in creating artwork around the song! The lyrics, music and video are about keeping HOPE alive and growing in these difficult times that the world is now facing. The video is designed to INSPIRE strength, courage and perseverance in the face of all obstacles. It’s about creating an atmosphere of UNITY amongst the citizens of this planet, so important to overcoming the challenges we all face. It’s about letting people know they are NOT ALONE. If we collectively keep our eyes on the horizon, and help our fellow man, woman, girls and boys, we’ll make it through together.

We will be shooting a music video for “Swim” in June and want your artwork in the video. The majority of people in the video will be holding pieces of “artwork” to camera. Within the context of the song, the word “Swim” is used as a metaphor for “hope, perseverance, courage, determination and strength.” We are asking members of the fan community to create pieces of artwork that feature the word “Swim”. These pieces of art should illustrate, in any way chosen, the meaning behind the word (hope, perseverance, courage, determination and strength). They can be represented in an abstract or representational manner…any way the artist sees fit, in any medium the artist chooses.