The Pursuit of Creative Happiness: I'm Making a Chalkboard Today.

The clouds are foreboding and I'm hiding inside. I'm listening to MewithoutYou and painting my own chalkboard. I was going to buy new plywood but found to my dismay that it has TRIPLED in price since the last time I purchased plywood (I think I paid 5 bucks, whereas now I would have to pay almost 15 for a small sheet!). I took a piece of an old shelf out of the garage, pulled most of the nails out, and painted it. I'm going to paint a border on it too. I hope it turns out nice. I'll show you when it's done. I'm hoping to use it to memorize scripture (write it down and erase it word by word like in VBS). Either that or I'll make some venn diagrams or brainstorms (first regarding what career I should pursue: Glass blower or French translator for a consulate??? Set Design for SNL or Missionary in Southeast Asia (my new diet is most accommodated by rice noodles and Vietnamese delicacies)? Farmer's wife or Jazz Club singer? One by day, one by night?

Thoreau, the Dreamers, and Me.

Welcome to the supplemental blog I have dubbed "(Colorful) Life, (Poetic) Liberty, and the Pursuit of (Creative) Happiness".

Here's where I begin. I got on an artsy-fartsy kick my sophomore year of college. I added an art minor and feverishly began taking art classes alongside my Intercultural Studies major. When I was an RA my junior year, my creativity exploded (maybe even vomited) color and a child-like spirit on the floor I lived on. My floor was called "Base!" because I wanted the girls there to feel like they were in a "safety zone" where they could return to a quasi-childlike state of being in the midst of a college campus. I think it worked. I had a rowdy bunch, but it was an incredible year where most of the girls seemed to feel freed by the environment they were a part of. It was this year that I recognized that I have the ability, through art and design, to change a place, and even a community's state-of-mind.

I graduated in 2008, although I wasn't able to complete the art minor. It didn't really matter, though. Since my junior year I've become somewhat of a paper pack rat, a collaging criminal, a decorating devil- use your own alliteration (mine wasn't very good anyway, but you get the idea). If I could, I would probably live at the Goodwill Outlet. I seldom can justify buying anything full price (unless it's Tom's Shoes). Ever since high school when my friend left a quote by Thoreau on my windshield it's been my mantra (of sorts): "Our lives are frittered away by detail- Simplify! Simplify!" The projects that I work on are inexpensive, and they often incorporate things I find in thrift stores, acquire from others, or already have. Often times, I'm not afraid to tear things apart and put them back together- even what I'm working on turns out to look disgusting the creative process was AWESOME and it certainly didn't break the bank.

This brings me to the purpose of this (additional) blog. I'd like to show off my finds and acquisitions, my creations and alterations. I hope that this blog can aid me in my own creative process, as well as the creative processes of others. I hope people read this and decide give away a bag of junk to the Goodwill, to venture into a Goodwill for the first time. Perhaps this blog will bring to light new possibilities in a simple sheet of paper or some packing popcorn. Maybe my blog will help someone to find a healthy balance between giving up and hanging on to things (there is a very delicate balance). I hope you, the reader, will see trash turned into treasure before your very eyes. Most of all, I hope you will be content with everything you've been given. Thank you for reading my blog.

Monday, April 13, 2009

I'm Making a Chalkboard Today.

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Thoreau, the Dreamers, and Me.

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