i'd be curious to hear how and when you like to make things (music, fine arts, knitting, whatever)

last night i got a nice buzz on and did some drawing at the bar.

i enjoy drawing in public for many reasons. i think people are watching me and i tend to step up my intensity because of the perceived audience. I enjoy listening to snippets of other peoples conversation mixed with the jukebox. This has the opposite effect of me thinking people are watching. It makes me think less about the drawing and just enjoy the act of mindless drawing. Sometimes their conversations give me ideas. And finally, because I'm alone i feel weird unless I'm doing something and so i tend to focus and get more done than if i was sitting in my apartment with all it's countless distractions.


this is certainly not the only way i draw, but i like using it to get out of a rut.

I do the same thing with writing - when I'm waiting to meet up with friends at the bar, I often jot down ideas, small pieces of dialog or plot ideas. Partly because I feel like less of a loser sitting in a bar alone if I have something to do, but also because the atmosphere is slightly inspiring, if only because it is so different from where I usually write - alone in a quiet room.

Sometimes I'm almost disappointed when my friends show up, because I have to put the pen down and start socializing. Almost.

what kind of writing do you do?

hmmm thats an interesting thing to think about... but i can't put my finger on it

i do a lot of creating regardless if i feel like creating or not

the best stuff comes out when i should be doing something else

and BTW when i say "should be doing something else"
i actually mean "something else" that would that benefit
maybe me financially
or maybe benefit other people financially
or emotionally...
like maybe it would be beneficial to my employer
or maybe its unethical for me to act like im working when im not....
or maybe i shouldn't put everything off until the last second...
or maybe it would benefit myself physically to eat right or exercise
instead of making something...

but its not necessarily actually what i "should" be doing
because i probably always do what i think i should

Most of my writing is done after exposure to other work that really blows me away. After watching a certain movie or finishing a graphic novel, I'll have an idea of my own and sit down at the computer and start typing and next thing I know it's six hours later and I've got twelve pages of ideas and brainstorming done.

Then I'll go back to it the next day, decide I don't like it or don't know how to pick up where I left off, and scrap the whole thing.

I can't write, I wish I could but (fortunately for the world) know I can't.
I come from a family of artists but missed the gene. I do have a neat trick for poetry though, and can spit out a poem in a sec

I create things all day long. As a matter of fact, I felt relieved when I saw this post about The Design Disease. I've started to make a better effort at carrying my camera around so that I can capture interesting (or awful) examples of type and color and things that just catch my eye for one reason or another.

A couple weeks back, my boss was going off about how it was obvious one of the other departments was obviously not concerned with hiring designers with any training or background. Of course, I had to remind him that I haven't taken a single art class since 10th grade sculpture, and that I have no college degree—nor a desire to go back and get one.

He shot back, "but you live this stuff. You read and research all sorts of things. You probably have more training and insight than a lot of the people who do have degrees." I don't disagree.

I picked up a copy of Le Monde the other day, just to see how the French are doing it. Thanks to eBay, thrift shops and dirt malls, I've bought old postcards, magazines, records, stereo equipment, books and political memorabilia (I have a "Fritz & Tits in '84: 2 Biggest Boobs in America" button on my desk, right now).

I will browse www.gigposters.com for far too long at one sitting. I was checking out what Hatch Show Print has for sale just a couple days ago. I read some blogs that I like. I pick up the Wall Street Journal to see what's going on there. I just picked up a book of nothing but sleeves for 45s from the 1950s to 1990s. I love my Cuisinart coffee maker because it has one of those little electronics toggle switch thingys rather than a push button. I got up at 5:30 on Saturday morning to take pictures in the godawful freezing cold for a few hours.

I love this stuff. I would like to begin creating more for art/exprsssion's sake, but even right now I feel that I can adequately express myself and still do right by my clients. It's so much fun, plus there are endless possibilities. And it pays my bills and gives me plenty of walking around money.

Fu, and others... have you guys seen this?

http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/

The blogger's identity is quite secret, although I have a theory it might be an old teacher of mine. Maybe not. Anyway...enjoy. I can spend hours on that site.

That yo mama, Chris? I really dig the stuff she's got posted on her site. I'll bet she hangs with G.E. Mullan. My mother-in-law is pretty tight with that dude.

Take out ANY SEMBLANCE OF FOLLOW THROUGH ABILITY and this is me.

<-------Great "Ideas" guy

That's my aunt Janny, my other aunt retired from Texas Monthly a few years ago, she was art director ther for years, my grandmother's work is in homes all over Texas still.

Awesome! I remember going on a vacation with my best friend back in like 9th or 10th grade to his Grandma's swamp trailer in Luzianne, and his dad stopping at a joint en route that was decorated on the inside with the largest single collection of the most John Birchest buttons and bumper stickers I've ever seen in my life. There was literally an entire wing dedicated to Chappaquiddick bumper stickers ("Dick 'Em, Dine 'Em and Dunk 'Em," etc.).

Simultaneously cool and creepy.

i wish i still had Fu's passion for design, particularly today.

Just please, promise me you won't turn into that dude that does painting to Jimi Hendrix songs...

http://www.dennydent.com/

design and i had a huge falling out for about 8 years but we've finally managed to piece it all back together and we're more in love than ever. 30 years and the sight of a lower case caslon 540 "a" is as sexy as ever.

i have to admit though, i'd chuck it all if i could draw/paint for the rest of my life.

i'm almost always putting my own art before my design job ... i like how designing improves my fine art skills... if i couldn't think of anything to draw or paint... then i'd really have more passion for design.

me? i have to make a living.

the power of positive thinking

beer makes me creative

Beer makes me drunk.

But I THINK I'm creative.

i have good ideas for bars

*Please see Tuesday night drinking thread*