Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Creative Activism!

Creative Activists:
individuals who use the power of media and the arts
to create positive change in the world.


A page in my sketchbook inspired by a trip I took to Kenya a couple years back. As well as the organization Faceless International. I love the way they put it... giving a face to the faceless. It's so true that we live in a place where we're spared seeing these kinds of things on a day to day basis, but that does not mean they don't exist. This organization has given me some rather big dreams. Things that I'd love to make a reality eventually...

I also signed up to follow this group, Creative Visions. It's headed by Kathy Eldon, Dan Eldon's mother, and Amy Eldon, his sister. (See a few posts down...) I really like where they're headed and would not mind getting involved with that sometime in the future.

Just a few more pictures that I love from my trip to Africa and I'll leave you alone...
I hope all is well. <3 style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDidKpAN_dsNmgGR3SEspQNd8vU9kCkkEWenuSxsFKb0Br8g5IWJKuFTTyGpFAlw1E2P7j37i1AtUNb45yrM18g9fuPscMHVOU_GppRP-QrCfWzmAVFaX4BXlnftiW9ROBCXKz0P0lkfTa/s320/Africa+2006+014.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329954974085594562" border="0">

Thursday, April 23, 2009

"Art is Hard"
















"Cut it out, your self-inflicted pain is getting too routine
The crowds are catching on to the self-afflicted song
Well, here we go again, the art of acting weak
Fall in love to fail, to boost your CD sales
and that CD sells. Yeah what a hit. You got to repeat it
You gotta sink to swim

First you don't, you don't succeed
You gotta recreate your misery
Cause we all know art is hard
Young artists have gotta starve
Try and fail and try again
The comforts of repetition
Keep churnin' out those hits
Till its all the same old shit

Oh, a second verse
Well color me fatigued
I'm hiding in the leaves
In the CD jacket sleeves
Tired of entertaining
Some double-dipped meaning
A soft served analogy
Those drunken angry slur
In 31 flavors
You gotta sink gotta sink gotta sink to swim
Immerse yourself in rejection
Regurgitate some sorry tale
About a boy who sells his love affairs

Gotta fake (fake) fake (fake) fake the pain
Gotta make (make) make (make) make a scene
Gotta break (break) break (break) break a leg
When you get on stage and they scream your name
Oh cursive is so cool!

You gotta sink gotta sink gotta sink to swim
Impersonate greater persons
Cause we all know art is hard
When we don't know who we are"

-Cursive, Art is Hard ([link] )

* * * * *













I love that...
"We all know art is hard, when we don't know who we are."

I worry about that... when I'm happy again - will my art stop. It has before. There are HUGE gaps. I guess that's the difference between an artist and someone who uses art as a cure. A crutch. I don't think I could make it in the art field - doing art on demand for money. At least, I don't think I could rely on my art to support myself.

Honest art is always better than pretty art.

"You've got to sink to swim" (Cursive)
"Nobody gets to where they are without a fight" (The Hedrons)

Destinations are nice, but detours are exciting!

This is the work of Dan Eldon.

I was in high school when a friend of mine introduced me to his work. She said she had found my soul mate, but that he was already dead. : /

But his work has definitely inspired me to be more proactive. Art can change the work. We just have to figure out how to use it properly.

[link]

I can only dream of the things he would accomplish if he were still alive today.

He passed at 22 - had done amazing social work in Africa as well as other countries, and finished 17 sketchbooks.

(I'm 24 with 4 and a half. heh.)
Anyway - I'm smitten.

Art is the Cure!




I've come across a couple non-profits that are interesting to me.

1. [link] Love Your Body! I'll be doing a page inspired by them shortly.

2. [link] and Art is the Cure! - I'm loving this. (not sure yet if they're an actual factual non-prof, but I'm liking the message.) I e-mailed the guy a few questions I had. I wouldn't mind getting involved with this. It especially calls to the part of me that wants to go into Art Therapy.

Also doing a bit of copyright research. (being a collage artist and all this probably should have come a good deal sooner.)

First - lots of research on copyright. And most of it depr
essing for someone who's used so many images that aren't mine. I'm in the process of going through and giving proper credit and listing materials and also - giving the pages titles as well as numbers.

For any questions on copyright check this out: [link]

She's an artist - not a lawyer, so while she's not the "law" she puts things in terms that are actually understandable.

What I've pulled from it - Basically, don't use anything that's not yours.
I still have a few questionable things... (ex. stamps (are the designs copy righted?), fonts, the wrappers from packages, using certain images as ref
erences to draw from, bible verses - any advice on these I'd appreciate.)

I'd always heard the... as long as you change the images enough... but I think that's bull now. I've resorted to public domain images (like this site: [link] ) for things now, as well as using more of my own and taking my own. Needless to say, things are moving much slower now.

It's weird. I'm having to change the way I work entirely. I'm so spontaneous... now I have to actually plan what I want. It's weird... not sure if I'm a fan. I guess we'll s
ee how the art turns out and go from there.

I secretly want a job at Kinko's so I can hang out there all day and photo copy images to use in my books. I think I might look into it. Seriously.

And a new page...

Something for me to remember...

Just something to remember, and a new page.

"Change will never happen when people lack the ability and courage to see themselves for who they are."

1000 Journals


I was introduced to the 1000 journals project by someone on DeviantArt.

And while I was visiting my friend in CT, she just happened to own the book. So I read it. And it was lovely. But the amazing part is it's not over!

You can go to www.1001journals.com and request to have a journal sent to you. OR make your own journal to release into the world. OR go to a place where a stationary journal is and work in it. It's a pretty amazing project that I'll definitely be taking an interest in. I'm thinking of maybe releasing a journal of my own into the world. Maybe like a long distance game of telephone... except with art, and music, and writing, ... Now to find the free time to get it started and get people interested. heh.

Art Journals


This is the second page of the new book. And a bit of a theme for it.

Also - I've been doing a bit of research on what it is I do, these sketchbook things, and apparently they are actually called "Art Journals".
And... the best part, there are TONS of people that do them.

I've spent a good deal of the last couple days going through other people's journals mainly on youtube:

SuziBlu - she's amazing! Wonderfully crazy if you will and I highly recommend her if you wish to start art journaling and are having difficulty finding inspiration. She gives lovely little prompts.

[link]

And this lady... SamanthaKira who is wonderful at sharing fun things to do in your journal, as well as a pretty epic supply list. For the most part I'd say she's right on with what I use. (I really need to check out those pens she talks about.)

[link]

It's kind of nice to have an art category to fit into. I'm a mixed media collage artist who likes to do art journals. It's funny because I never really thought anything would come of my journals. They have always been something I just did, because I had to, because I needed to.


New Moleskine: Little Black Butterflies.

So I started a new journal. The Cross Book was getting to difficult to open, despite the numerous empty pages in the back. (I ended up gluing these together and making a box in the back. Not sure what to stash in it yet...) And I'm trying out a moleskine for the first time. I can't believe it's taken me so long to try one out. (So far, I'm pretty pleased.) I accidentally bought the lined one for a writing journal, but I'm going to give it a shot. Maybe spend a few pages just writing. We'll see. So here's the first page.

I think that the secret to wonderful art is giving just enough information. And I believe this goes for all forms. (Fine art, preforming, writing, music...)


Giving enough information that the view can relate. But not too many details or specifics - too many reminds the view that it's your story. You have to leave some holes. Some openings so that your audience can fill in the blanks and read their story in your work.

It's all about communication and relating to others. In the end, I think we all just want to be comforted and told that we're not alone.