Re-establishing a cadence of weeknotes.

According to my calendar, I have a bunch of completed tasks that all start with “Cancel…”. Little reminders to log in and deactivate accounts and stop payments for all of those ‘your first month is free’ products that inevitably don’t fit the bill. All of this is in the pursuit of App Zero – a principle that has been wavering as of late.

In the back of my head, I keep thinking that I’d be able to get everything I want to do, done, if only I had the right collection of apps to nudge me in the right direction before it completely takes over the workflow and just does the thing for me. This is the future we were promised, no?

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There is the myth that one will return from their beach vacation totally reinvigorated and ready to tackle the big stuff – it’s why they give us the two weeks’ vacation, right? Even though it has been proven time and again that most employees return to their office feeling more overwhelmed with things than when they left (a good reason to advocate for email bankruptcy – select all, delete, and if someone really needs something from you, they’ll get back to you).

I would say the same goes for those who are self-employed or work on freelance – no one is thrilled to return to the desk. Or, maybe it’s just me? Every day I am re-reminded of the importance of OutWord, my creative consultancy, in this world that feels like it is circling the drain. Yet, every time I sit down to work on the business I feel…listless? Lost? Like something isn’t quite fitting? Like maybe the tone isn’t quite right to enter the conversation that we are all having?

On top of it all: how do I distill the ever-evolving philosophy of OutWord into something others can buy into and use, without it draining me? I am uninterested in creating content for the major platforms that have zero interest in helping small creatives. I want to work with the kind of people who feel solace in the long, winding, slightly complicated ideas presented via text. I want to work with people who knows this is a challenge.

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Maybe related, maybe not: I am working on a proposal to open a business that is a space for all the things that I believe in. The focus is the space – physical space with walls and windows and a door and a place to piss. There are loads of empty spaces around Asheville (thanks, Helene!) and a shortage of places for creative minds to go and just…be.

Ultimately, I want this to be a photo-centric studio – a place to host all of the ideas I have and the people I want to work with. Lights, backdrop, setting, etc. – all the things that get in the way of shooting more, I want a place for it to live. The photo studio would be available for rent, by the hour or the day. I want space for community (I have long since fantasized about a long, heavy table to gather around), a space to host workshops (my own, and others), and to just…be.

I have a rundown of the numbers that I need in order to make this happen. But I also know that a lot of this is predicated on people who are willing to invest to make it happen. More to come.

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Working on rebuilding and establishing a print/ art store on this site (currently, the shop is hosted through Etsy, which is…meh.) Working with WooCommerce to set it up on this server/ domain.

I have a load of really dumb designs that will do just fine as stickers or coffee mugs. I also have a mess of digital collage and prints that I know I need to do a better job of promoting.

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Art: Now that I am in town at the same time the figure drawing sessions are happening, I am back to working in larger formats with messier mediums. Everything uploaded in the gallery below is done in compressed charcoal on 18X24 sheets of newsprint or recycled paper.

Working with these models through this studio has been a wild and eye-opening experience. I’ve met some very cool people who are wildly creative and absolutely passionate about what they are doing. Through the practice I have a greater appreciation of the human body and how wildly different it is from one person to the next. I’ve drawn everyone from college students who are moonlighting for extra cash to 70-year-olds who have been doing this sort of thing their entire life. Even if the outcome of that evening isn’t outstanding, the practice helps keep a lot of other things centered.

For reference, here is something from the first life-drawing session I participated in.

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Currently Reading

Florida – Lauren Groff

Interpreter of Maladies – Jhumpa Lahiri

Both short story collections acquired from the library.

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The wife and I have a handful of shows that we watch together between the stuff that gets updated on the weekly and the backstock of completed seasons. The current rotation: Severance, White Lotus, Adolescence, The Pitt, and Running Point as a palate cleanser. We’re usually pretty good about catching new episodes as they “air” (or get posted to streaming, or whatever it is we’re calling it nowadays) but this weekend she was out of town and that sort of threw a wrench into the mix.

So we watched the Severance Season 2 Finale separately. I’m going to save myself the time of composing some grand think piece about what it all means because I know no one will be talking about it a week from now. When I watch puzzle-box shows like Severance, I’m always looking at the ways the world I am watching was initially imagined. If I had to guess, for Severance:

• Working in an office is like enduring hell.
• I don’t want to talk about my work when I get home. I also really hate it when coworkers bore me with stories about their weekend.
• This company doesn’t pay me enough to get 100% of my brainpower or anything that could be considered “empathy to the cause.”
• Companies that say “we’re a family” are likely led by people who would rather be running a cult.

And thus, Severance was born? Maybe?

White Lotus Sn 3 Ep 5 and of course shit is only getting weirder/ crazier – and is it because the season is set in the “exotic” background of Thailand (exotic to American standards) with a cultural lore that says “anything goes.” People doing things they shouldn’t be doing in a place where no one much cares what you do and any guilt or shame you feel is what you bring with you.

• I really wanted Parker Posey’s character to be the one to talk with the monk/ guru, that would have been hilarious. But, story-wise, I know the father was the one who needed to speak to him.
• Who is dead? My prediction: Saxon out of shame (the only action he gets on the trip to Thailand is from…his brother?) or the mom when she replaces her need for lorazepam with an abundance of booze, gets drunk and trips and drowns. After all, every other death in this series has largely been accidental.

The Pitt – I appreciate these real-time narratives because no one lingers on anything too long. I know it is a challenge to write in flashbacks and character development when the character’s world is in sync with the viewer’s clock. I’m not sure if I could watch them process a mass casualty event in any other way.

Adolescence – short series, only on episode 2. Another real-ish time show where the entire 45ish minute episode is one continuous shot. I’ve been fascinated by the planning of the continuous shot since I saw Russian Ark in my early film-appreciation days.

Running Point – Big celebrity names, silly writing, a half hour of dumb jokes and predictable storylines watched solely to recalibrate the mood after watching stories about disassociation and murder.

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The weather is warming. The rose bushes are starting to blush red. It’s time to prune.