Into The Light

I took this photo with just one of the small lights of my Tabletop Photo Studio. Shining the spotlight on Billy Corgan, as it were.

The Smashing Pumpkins have apparently gone through a bunch of internal angst, kinda like their fans. As Jeff noted, Iha left and worked with A Perfect Circle and has recently put out a second solo album. Corgan magnanimously reformed the band, but with only the recovering heroin addict drummer, who had previously been fired after an overdose, from the original lineup. I guess it fits with the music.

And that's what it's about, authenticity. Being oneself. Something you don't try, you just do, be.

Do I be?

Peace.

Out Of The Dark

Yesterday, we were surprised by the early arrival of family. So now I've got my neice next to me playing LPS with her new friend Blueberry. Not quite sure what that is...

Also, yesterday I got that Jerry Garcia commission and one for the Smashing Pumpkins. Here's James Iha to start. Who's next?

The trip to the record store for those two was very exciting. I also picked up a bunch of Tom Waits, which you don't generally run into, an Iggy Pop, which I've gotten a couple requests for, and several other cool finds. All from cleverly positioned boxes, right under the front counter. I love it.

Peace.

In The Dark

Do you like surprises?

Jenn and the girls are here! Jason's family showed up for the wrong holiday! They're here from Texas for Thanksgiving and then they'll be here again for Christmas. Woohoo!

It's hard to focus on my art on a day like this, but I've got commissions! This Jerry is a gift from a woman to her husband for Christmas. He's a Deadhead who'll flip over this and she wanted to make sure it'll be a surprise.

My wife and I are terrible at keeping things like gifts secret. We just end up telling each other way beforehand or even giving each other the gifts right when we get them. I don't know what it is about secrets like that, but I've never liked them much. It's more fun just to give the present for me.

Can you keep secrets?

Peace.

SOLD - Jerry Garcia 11/24/08

Like Blogger, Only Different

Evan Williams, the creator of Blogger, the host of this blog, went on to also create Twitter. I just joined. That's right, I'm a-tweetin'.

I was anxious at first, like back then. It's another new thing. New language, conventions, tricks, etiquette. New people. Or, well, so far, old people more instantly. Which is helping me feel at ease already. See, the cool thing about Twitter is that it's more interactive than blogging. Called micro-blogging, it's basically the same thing, but with a couple really cool differences.

ProBlogger's Rowse compared it to a dinner party conversation. You can whisper (send direct messages), chat with one person more openly so people can listen in (send @ messages), or you can just talk and see who's listening (send straight updates). The last one is the closest to regular blogging and is the basis for the site. You can use up to 140 characters to say what you're doing, ask a question, share a link, yell at the world, whatever. People who follow you will see those updates. They can then respond either by starting a conversation using @ messages or by sending you basically an instant message.

Then if a bunch of people are on at the same time, group conversations can develop. Technologically, a neat thing about Twitter is that you can receive and send tweets from a cell phone. So people can be anywhere doing anything and still be involved. It's like text messaging, but more public. Of course you can keep your updates private too, so only people you know can see them.

Part of Twitter's importance lies in its ability to integrate with other social networking sites. Facebook, blogs, and others can be tied to a Twitter profile, both sending and receiving updates. I haven't even begun to explore how it all can work together, but it will be cool. The fluidity of the update timeline and the amount of people following people means a much faster and wider spreading of information.

Also, you can search the tweet timeline. So you can catch up with someone's updates, follow past conversations, or look for other people interested in what you are too. Or you can find out if anybody's tweeting about you (or me, in this case).

It's a little overwhelming, and I'm not sure how it'll work into what I do online to promote my art or how I'm going to figure out how much time to devote to it. For now, it's wide open though, and I'm excited to reach out to people in a new way and hopefully bring them into the fold here.

One thing, it's gonna force me to be more concise. 140 characters! Can he do it?

Peace.

SOLD - Eric Clapton 11/21/08

From Green Day To Green Week

Has anybody else noticed the green logos on NBC stations this week?

Yesterday I painted Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day. Turns out that the band is quite active environmentally.

It also turns out that Moby, who's recorded with Debbie Harry, is outspoken about the environment as well. Both he and I recycle as a means to create our art. He samples recordings and I paint on them.

Do you think about how your actions will impact the future of humanity? Before or after you act?

Peace.

Moby 11/20/08