Frame it Up

In an interview I saw with Dick Dale yesterday at the Experience Music Project, he said that the idea for Pulp Fiction began with Tarantino's obsession with his song Miserlou. Brilliant freakin song, and supposedly the narrative was constructed around it. But that's strange, right? The idea of this reverse creativity, of starting with the soundtrack, struck a note in me. 

Since I got a job at a frame shop, and helping artists and layfolk with framing designs, my creative process has recently been taking a similar backwards approach. There were three beautiful long red frames that I wanted, I wanted so bad! I pictured them in my mind's eye, and in one go, I came up with these three collages. Afterwards, I brought the frames home and I think they work beautifully. 

 In process...

 In frames...

 

A couple of other pieces I stuck in frames.

In my roller coaster world of artistic learning, this is just another lesson: framing is as important as anything else in the creative process. So is photography, which as you can tell, I suck at, but that's a lesson for another day.

These Little Worlds

What I do All Day... Working obsessively on collages... Watch out for the 2012 calendar... Prints will be available on my etsy hopefully soon...

Real Scissors/ Paper Scissors

Adorable

Some of the books I got from St. Vincent De Paul

Brain Container

The fine gentlemen in Monogamy Party asked me to draw their beloved buck skull, named Denise, who had accompanied them in the van on tour, to supplement the album art. I started drawing, from a normal perspective but eventually really messed that up. I decided the right-side-up skulls are boring, so I drew it from underneath. The resulting view looks a little strange, like a creepy smiling mask or something. I hope they like it.

Warmup: initial loose drawing in india ink, this photo was taken before I really messed it up by adding a buttload more ink everywhere.

Cosmo left his footprints my original, so I had to make a carbon copy of the outline on a fresh sheet. I threatened to eat Cosmo for dinner, but I'll give him another chance.

 

final drawing!

Been Diggin Screamin' Jay Hawkins

Pen and Ink, August 2011

 

Rock Paper Scissors

A while ago my friend Katie suggested we both submit pieces to a show with singular prompt of "Rock Paper Scissors." I got super stoked when the idea of making a pop-up book of the people's playing hands popped into my brain. I'd made a semi-pop-up moving hands book a few years earlier. Ever intrigued by the intricate muscles and movement of the hands, I will never get enough looking drawing them. My chubby, bitten fingers are a particular point of embarassment, but it's balanced by how proud I am of what I can do with them. Useful tools are not the prettiest.

So, I had to learn to make a real book. For anyone interested, this is a particularly good site : http://www.mothteeth.com/bookmaking/

As I was sewing and stitching and measuring and gluing, I got to thinking of my friend Brant, who is a book mending apprentice at the library. The process is an intimate and beautiful thing. The grain, the warping, all of the pieces and parts that must go in the correct order, patience (the hardest one for me), and exposed sections you didn't want exposed. You know, like getting dressed in the morning!

Well, I didn't have time to finish the book by the deadline, plus I wasn't excited about paying a $25 submittable fee, so it will not be showing at the show. I thought I'd show you what I came up with so far... Each page is printed with a linoleum block that supposed to look like beach rock, but I don't know if it does. I intend to make it incredibly doper. I'm going to add a story line, some collage, whatever else I want...

Life is Collage

The opening for the show at the Vera Project was so much fun. I am so grateful for all the friends that came out to see it. I feel I should be a better friend and not just be cooped up all day. I'm glad people still like me. I will work on it. But being cooped up is how I'm able to pull some cool stuff off, like these 10 collages that were hanging up on the wall.  I think jumping off the ledge in between two buildings after the show was the best part of that night though. No pictures of that.

See Vera Art Galleries photos of the event.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/verart_gallery/sets/72157627031086429/with/5919310197/

This was my first real grown up show. And I talked to real grown up artists, who gave me some advice. http://jennyfillius.com/home.html I'm more than a quarter century old, I gotta get my stuff together! I made a website. http://jcruz2.otherpeoplespixels.com/home.html It's not quite done, but it will do for now. Soon I will have business cards and will be totally ready to contribute to society the way society tell you you should.

Getting my head a little bit out of the clouds.

The Things You Do for Love

Drawing by me, design by Malia with help from me.

By me.

I am lucky enough in this life to know Malia Alexander, my "friend and frequent collaborator on creative projects," who started her own record label

http://echolalicrecords.bandcamp.com/album/mercy-ties-grenades-split

(cool as hell, right?) and needed a logo for it. I feel privileged to be associated with the talented friends and acquaintances who share this visual/aural space. Coby, her dog, is one of the best subjects a person can ask for. I obviously have a certain affinity for hairy beasts, including my boyfriend, and the sea lion depicted in the flier below. The flier which, by the way, I have been sending cosmic signals for hopes of receiving the honor of "poster of the week" by the Stranger. If so, that will take care of one my life goals. Ego, I do not deny you.

Sci-Fi Book Cover Commission

I just finished designing a book cover that will be sold as an e-book on Amazon.com. How much fun! Sometimes you just gotta get a little retro. Above is the final product, but I was also fooling around with a more graphic style (below). I think I may become enamored with digital coloring in Photoshop. It's new to me, and soooo addicting. This is obviously a rough sketch.

Being Retro-Productive on my Sick Day

One way to start is to start at the beginning, right? What would be the beginning, anyway? One of my earliest artistic memories is making a pair of sandals out of paper and tape when I was about 4. That was the beginning of my dependence upon Making Stuff.

Another way to start is with the most recent, and then work backward. But I think today I'll start in the middle because I finally feel fully reborn from the The Years I Was a Shitty Asshole (my awkward, late-blooming, prolonged post-adolescence).

It's funny that the act of recording can itself be an act of purging. Today I looked through my old personal sketchbooks, where I had no rules and no qualms and no inhibitions. If I'm gonna start a new one, why not revisit good ol' sketchy memory lane? They remind me that time makes me my own stranger and best partner in commiseration. Not to mention it's always interesting to investigate one's previous approaches to applying things--->paper. Here are some pages I found particularly noteworthy for whatever reason:

Broomdust Caravan Nuevo Mexico

Design for an embroidered patch. 

Broomdust Caravan on Reverb Nation. Sounds real good. 

 (Colored Version)

Tomorrow's Story Not The Same

A recurring theme in my dreams is the tidal wave, or the flood. When I was a kid, these were Armageddon walls of water that always forced me to wake up before they hit. The older I get, the smaller and smaller the waves become, and I become empowered with more speed and endowed with more time to get away from it. Recently, the tsunamis have turned into slow but strong floods. They have developed into more of a spectacle of power and beauty, more visceral and more tactile. I still fear it, but now it doesn't loom over and above me. It pulls me all over with a warm and brutal suction, and I can somehow manage to barely escape it. In my most peaceful dreams, the water is still and everywhere. I swim at night with whales and small fish that glow like stars.

It's probably the Pisces in me. The ocean calls my name with such strong metaphor. "The photic zone, euphotic zone (Greek for "well lit”: εὖ “good” + φῶς “light") is the depth of water in a lake or ocean that is exposed to sufficient sunlight for photosynthesis to occur. The depth of the photic zone can be greatly affected by seasonal turbidity." Thanks, Wikipedia. I feel like a little fishy. But instead of floating aimlessly, I intend to flash my light around. 

Navigator vs. Navigator album art, circa 2009?

It goes against my nature to share a lot about myself and to share what I do creatively. My perpetual self-criticism is anti-productive. So that's why I started this project. In the Euphotic Zone I will receive light and grow. I have resolved to keep a sketchbook (something I haven't done in years) and share the good stuff. I will share my ideas, inspirations, musings, projects, and commissions and invite your commentary. Thank you for looking!