The Pursuit of Creative Happiness: Olive You to Love Me.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Olive You to Love Me.

Over the past week and a half or so I have really started to question who I am and why I do the things that I do. The things that I choose to do with my time started innocently and became mineralized and attached to my being. I wonder sometimes why my dad consistently wakes up at six am, goes golfing on Thursdays, and hates George Clooney with a passion. The fact of the matter is, he has had years and years of life to fall into his preferences and the routine he's accustomed to.

I too, am a creature of habit. I drink coffee every morning (I've switched to decaf), default to Paul Simon "Graceland" when I don't know what else to listen to, and obsess over Valentine's Day. Yeah, you heard me.

By all accounts, it doesn't make sense.

I'm not dating. I'm not looking to date. I'm not bitter (anymore) about past circumstances and experiences that have callused my poor little heart. I have to also add that the callusing isn't just because of others- I've just as often hurt myself because of fear or uncertainty. YIKES. What a mess I am. But I LOVE Valentine's Day, my friends.

I'm not as attached to the idea of romance as I am to the concept of LOVE. Love, Love, Love.

Last Valentine's Day I drew Valentines for my friends that were heart-shaped and either had a robot, David Bowie, a tea cup, or Thoreau's cabin at Walden Pond. Each one had a cheesily-wonderful phrase that tied (however distantly) to Valentine's Day. For example, the Bowie cards said, "Oh! You Pretty Things! Happy Valentine's Day." Cheesy, fun, something I gave to as many friends as I could to let them know that I cared. So, I guess that's what attracts me to Valentine's Day. To paraphrase what was said in the excessively-cast-highly-acclaimed-mainstream-holiday-film "Love Actually"- Christmas is the time to tell people that you love them. So is Valentine's Day, and it's much more straightforward because of all the cupid dyecuts on bulletin boards and cheap milk chocolate candy boxes on the shelves of drugstores. Even my cold un-romantic heart can't deny that I have love for people. All kinds of people.

Back to Valentine cards. This year I took on a new feat: carving linoleum to make a stamp. I had a little too much fun with this. And took a few too many nicks out of my fingers.

If you want one, I can send you one. Just email me your address.

2 comments:

RacheldHurley said...: carving linoleum is one of my favorite pastimes. I'm all too familiar with the nicks and cuts in fingers, too. and I LOVED getting your valentine card.; February 20, 2010 at 1:32 PM
E.Neckers said...: Okay, I want to comment on your blog SO bad, but for some reason because the comment thing is "embedded" in the blog I can't. It only works with a pop out comment screen. Make sense?

Let's carve linoleum this summer. Done and done-er.; February 26, 2010 at 10:53 AM

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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.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Olive You to Love Me.

2 comments:

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Thoreau, the Dreamers, and Me.

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