My newsletter looks a bit different this time around. After ~10 months of learning to navigate and utilize Mailchimp, I've jumped ship for Substack. You'll still receive my ramblings each month, but in a more clean and simple format. I think this is better suited for my intentions with this newsletter, which was never to sell prints or drive traffic to my website (though I'm always happy if any art directors or clients get the idea to work together via this transmission!) but as a space to share my thoughts and ideas on illustration and creativity, especially as it relates to mindfulness, awareness, and self-actualization.
When I sit down to write these emails, I'm often overcome with frustration. I don't know what to write, or rather I do, but I convince myself that it's outside the realm of why people signed up for these mailings. I want to share practical advice about being a freelance illustrator, and I want to share my work, but I also want to provide thoughtful notes on process and expression, notes that will spur deeper engagement and contemplation for both myself and you, the reader.
Julien Posture recently wrote about the definition of an illustrator in his newsletter, Seizing the Means of Illustration.
Defining is power. And I wish to see more and more illustrators grabbing that power and defining their roles in their own terms. There can be as many definitions of illustration as there are illustrators, but we need each definition to come from the people whose lives are going to be the most affected by it. Defining the terms we use everyday is crucial. It's a way to spot and resist abusive practices and discourses, a way to reclaim agency, a way to chose what you want to be.
It's been an ongoing attempt to define my voice via this newsletter, and I do feel I'm coming closer to accomplishing what I have in mind for it, one month at a time. As always, I thank you all for following along with me.
What is your vision of the universe?
My sophomore year of college I took a world religion class and a geology class in the same semester. They had no relation to one another, aside from both fulfilling prerequisites for a BFA and both being classes I entered into with general indifference - obligations to be met before I could move onto classes I felt more enthusiasm for.
I was already a lapsing Catholic, and the world religion class did nothing to remedy that situation. Learning about the motivations and actions taken in the name of religion throughout history left me with an overwhelming sense that it was all bullshit - God, a higher order, a greater meaning to things. Religion was just something we cooked up as a means of structure and control, a narrative to justify war and violence and oppression. I felt no awe or wonder, no larger meaning or purpose in any of it. I came away from each class disillusioned and increasingly nihilistic.
The geology class, something I assumed I would find dry and rigid - lessons on rocks and weather patterns and plate tectonics - invoked a powerful feeling of connectedness within me. Learning about our planet - our little spinning rock that exists just close enough to the sun for us to feel its warmth but not so close as to fry us, with air that we can breath, water we can drink, and regenerating sustenance for us to consume - felt as though it could only be explained via the existence of a higher order, of some greater force at work that conspired to, against all odds, produce us. I recently rewatched Contact (always a favorite and hello young Matthew Mcconaughey) and Jodie Foster's character captures this sentiment quite well -
"I was given something wonderful, something that changed me forever. A vision of the universe, that tells us, undeniably, how tiny, and insignificant… and how rare, and precious we all are. A vision that tells us that we belong to something that is greater than ourselves, that we are not…that none of us are alone.”
I wrote in an earlier newsletter about the importance of observation, both as an artist and as a human being. We're always being given visions, though we typically don't regard them as such. There is truth and power in mundane moments, in classes you aren't excited about, in topics you think you dislike, in moments that feel like filler between the Real Events of life. Being an artists means we're able to redefine those experiences. That we can engage with life's contrasts and complexities and repurpose them into something new and relevant to share.
My contrasting experience with the religion class and geology class is one vision that resonates in the artwork I make today. Themes of interconnectedness, unseen order, inherent loneliness, and tacit truth are fundamental to my artwork.
What similar experience have you had? What situations have you entered with disregard, only to come out the other side with complex ideas or new insights? What observations have you made that you can translate into something new for your viewer - something to relate to them, challenge them, comfort them, provoke them? What is your vision of the universe?
I recently put together a fall playlist for Bridge & Burn, a Portland-based clothing company rooted in and inspired by the Pacific Northwest.
Fall is associated with a pleasant tension for me. There’s the urge to be outside amongst friends, making the most of nice weather before the rainy season fully sets in. There's also the desire to settle inward, to slow down and become more solitary after all the excitement that summer can bring. The result is a contented agitation, a unique contradiction of feelings and wants that transitional seasons bring forth. This playlist aims to capture that interference of emotions - hope you enjoy.
If you dig the artwork, it’s also available as a print on my Society6 shop.
Florida: The Sunshine State
As Tumblr taught us, it does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. I carry that sentiment with me as I slowly but surely make progress on my 50 States project.
The 9th state was lovingly described by Michael Scott as a “a colorful, lawless swamp” - yep, it’s Florida! (No one can get mad at me for that! I spent my high school and college years in Florida, so I’m allowed to poke a little fun).
I actually had a lot of fun working on this one, and felt a little nostalgic for hot beach days and afternoon thunderstorms.
Prints are now available on my Society6!
Reading, Watching, Listening, Enjoying
Reading:
The Woman in the Window by AJ Finn
The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are by Alan Watts
Watching:
The Vow (HBO) (also WTF)
The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix) (was worried it’d be boring but it’s great!)
Kajillionaire (streaming rental) (<3 Old Dolio)
Listening:
Angel Olsen - Whole New Mess
Misha Panfilov Sound Combo - Days as Echoes
The Pitch (podcast by Gimlet Media)
Enjoying:
Cheesy Chicken Fritters
The ongoing saga of this 3D house tour on Blue Lick Rd.
The artwork of Taku Bannai