I carry art supplies the way a writer brings books

When I hung out with Kevin this weekend, I was reminded of one of his habits. When we got back from Long Beach, he unloaded five books from his backpack, which he never pulled out once while we were hanging out. To the average person, packing away five books in your backpack just in case you find yourself idle as you run errands or hang out with friends seems irrational, but I totally get it. I carry a backpack filled with sewing, painting, drawing supplies-up to four different projects!-just in case. It's not that we want to work all the time. It's just that we love our work, & would love to do it all the time.

Our minds are constantly churning ideas for paintings, stories, plays. We see the world through the lens of our craft. Just like the time I went to Baltimore... I kept thinking, Oh! Just like The Wire! I saw the city through the lens of The Wire. Well, perhaps that was a poor comparison but maybe you get it. Anyway, that mode is always on because somewhere down the line, the craft becomes you. It takes a while to get to that point, but I think that once you get there you stop questioning and doubting yourself in the way a fearful, self-immobilizing beginner would.

I've been talking to a lot of people about discipline. I really do believe it's the deal breaker (yeah! Liz Lemon!) between hobby and professional. Time seems to be the most common excuse for why people don't pursue what they love and want. With discipline, you're intentionally setting aside the time. You're allocating the resources and putting your craft first. Discipline is a tricky skill to learn and it works differently for different people. I think it starts with intention, knowing what's important to you and rarely compromising it. It may be challenging and entering you into a whole new world of struggle, but you'll be happy in a way few, if any, can take away from you.

A New Painting Idea...

Looks like scrawl now... just you wait!

Tin Can Paintings on Etsy!

finished & now in the etsy shop

LA I love you and the only thing bringing me down is leaving you, part 5

Bruce posted this picture on his blog. It makes me very happy. We're very happily tired from dancing, eating & being great friends!

Now Available on Etsy...

as an 8x10 print :)

A break from the LA posts

to show you a preview of what is to appear on etsy in print form. Shout out to Mitchell for the scanning/printing party on Sunday. Just like old (nlc) times.

LA I love you and the only thing bringing me down is leaving you, part 4

I woke up Saturday morning to find a response to my inquiry for Hercules & the Love Affair tickets. YES! Not only were the two tickets still available, they were $25 for both instead of each. Bad news bears: I had to fetch them in Long Beach. LONG BEACH. Sooooooo far away.

Afshin & I, hungover like whoa, walked 2 miles to have brunch (yesss... KALE!) and pick up my car (but not before stopping at the heavily tagged Elliot Smith mural).

We then rallied the troops (Kevin & Victo) to see the show at Flockshop. My parents were outside waiting (yay!) and we snacked on the complimentary sodas & cookies. It was sweet seeing the stuff up--it really all looked fabulous.

yay!!

Ooga booga upstairs. Feels like a tie dye wall.

Afterwards, we all parted ways & Kevin accompanied me in the adventure that is Long Beach in exchange for some time spent in a used bookstore. We meet my ticket provider at Starbucks and it immediately seems sketch... they're print out tickets. I don't know about you, but I'm very hesitant to buy print out tickets. Anyway, we do the swap and Kevin & I wander around mysterious Long Beach.

We learn that jazz festivals can be expensive (though not as expensive as the music festivals we tend to frequent), you need a key card to sneak into the dock (or you can just sneak in like we did), and that the used bookstore has been condemned (see below).

After feeling like we got what we could out of Long Beach, we head home to cook dinner. More like I nap and he baked this amazing chicken. We pick up Rachel, head to Bruce's, and diiiine like we never dined before!

Quinoa, corn with lime/tabasco dressing, and baked chicken, spinach, sugar snap pea, enoki salad

Snap that photo Mr. Chan!

The corn was brutal with its kernal remains so we all flossed. It was quite intense! Clearly!

Concert time = dance time. So much dancing. So much shimmy shaking. Oh! And best Craigslist exchange ever... not only did the tickets work just fine, the girl texted me to make sure I got in okay and thanked me for trusting her in a highly sketch situation :). Well doesn't that just make you smile!