Realiz’s Neighborhood

Just a re-blog of today's offerings from bittbox. 

Frequently, I will fall madly in love with a piece of furniture that leaves even my closest friends & allies scratching their heads in confusion. Such was the case with my new desk. When I first showed it to my husband, I could tell he was skeptical, but knew better than to say so...When the glimmer is in my eye, just back away.

It was love at first glance on Craigslist for me: 

Original

So I contacted the owner to arrange a viewing. We had several conversations over the course of a few days while attempting to fit our schedules together and I learned that the desk had belonged to his mother and he had the pity-able task of sorting out her belongings. I told him that I was a furniture maker and would take really good care of it...that I wasn't sure if I would refinish it, or leave it alone, but either way it would be loved. In a small way, I think these exchanges may have been a bit therapeutic for him, as I sensed he was perhaps a bit choked up on the other line.

I should mention, in addition to being incredibly kind, he was also extremely fair with the price ($45 for desk, chair, & mirror) and generously offered to deliver it to me for free.

So yesterday, when he showed up, it was an easy no brainer. I saw it on the truck, knew it was love, handed him the money, and brought it in the house. It was a little dirty from being in storage, but a little simple green & elbow grease was all it took to clean up nicely: 

my work station

While pulling out one of the drawers, my husband discovered hidden treasures had fallen into the back of it. I couldn't believe it - a beautiful desk AND hidden treasure! I had hit the jackpot. The best things we found: an antique bottle opener, stolen from a San Francisco hotel called The Raphael; a porcelain lid to a tiny box (this must have made her CRAZY trying to find it); an old silver swiss army knife? or nail cutter?; and best of all - a tiny gold skeleton key with a #2 on it.

Treasure

Doesn't that just pique your sense of wonder & adventure like crazy???!!!! WHAT on earth does that key open and HOW will I find it?

Well, those questions may have to go unanswered. I plan to call the man today and offer him what I found...but I'm REALLY hoping he doesn't want them back, because I love them so much! I would like to keep them with the desk, either displayed behind my computer or in a shadow box on the wall. Each item has so much history and so many secrets to tell...If I am allowed to keep them, I know they will provide endless inspiration and possibly good luck while spending long hours feverishly writing at this desk.

When I was a desk jockey in San Francisco, I frequently changed my desktop image to something happy and tropical because I was, well - unhappy & cold. Now that I'm back in Hawaii, I wanted to put some images out into the internets, in case anyone out there is searching for warm, flowery, happy, tropical, Hawaii wallpaper:

Well, the last order dates for the holidays have passed, and Santa's final sacks of festive MOOs are filling up fast. We're still taking new orders though, and we'll be shipping them out as fast as we can - so don't hesitate to order thank you cards for all your lovely pressies!

Just so you know, here's our warehouse and customer service closure dates over the holiday season.

Thursday 24th December - LIMITED HOURS: we'll be shipping orders in the morning, but going home in the afternoon to wrap presents.
Friday 25th December - CLOSED : we'll be at home feasting on mince pies and turkey.
Monday 28th December - UK CLOSED: we'll be buying new trousers to fit our expanded waistlines!! (please note this is a UK Holiday only).
Tuesday 29th December - OPEN: business as usual.
Wednesday 30th December - OPEN: business as usual.
Thursday 31st December - OPEN: business as usual.
Friday 1st January - CLOSED : we'll be trying out our New Year resolutions and nursing hangovers.
Monday 4th January - OPEN: that's it, holidays over, back to work!

It's also important to note that our StickerBook turnaround in the UK is severely delayed over the holidays. Any orders placed after the 20th December will not be dispatched until the week of the 4th January.

That's all for now - Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the MOO Warehouse Crew!

Just a re-blog of Media Militia's giveaway for today, Drips and Spray Paint brushes for Photoshop. 

 

Ok so I've had plenty of references to artists I like over the years.  Of course they all have great influences over my own art, just like every artist.  But I thought I'd take a moment today to write about some specific influences that have gotten my creative juices flowing lately (past few months)  Its only fair to give these guys/gals recognition for their wonderful art!  :D 

One artist that I like for obvious reasons, is from Switzerland.  I found his site via Media Militia's periodical "get inspired" posts.  His name is Patrik but goes by the name of 2much as an artist.  You can find his work following the post in the links. 

2much

An online comic book I ended up reading in its entirety in about a week, is called Megatokyo and is by artist and writer Fred Gallagher.  It is a manga-style comic book and I say "manga-style" as it is written and drawn by someone other than an Asian writer and I know that for some that might make it an "impure" manga, but if you ask me, its ever bit as good as a Japanese, Korean or other manga you might find.  The art is very well drawn but although it has the Asian "look", Fred has gone to great lengths apparently in creating his own flair to his art and I admire him very much for it. 

Fredart

Creaturebox is a site by artists Dave Guertin and Greg Baldwin.  Well-established character designers and artists with Insomniac games.   (Insomniac Games is responsible for such huge titles as Ratchet and Clank and Resistance for the Sony Playstation systems.)

Creaturebox

Robin Mitchell is another great artist that has had an impact on my art lately.  His blog is usually kept pretty full of updates.  He is an illustrator and from what his site says, for most of his career, a concept artist.  There are plenty of sketches on his site to gain inspiration from. 

RMitchell

So those are some of the biggest influences on my art lately.  Check their sites out, I'm sure they'd love the hits!
 

• Megatokyo
• 2Much
• Creaturebox
• Robin Mitchell

Enjoy! 

As the pipe clamp blisters began to pop and heal on my hands, I knew I was in a race against myself to find my next gig in woodworking. I had just quit my job after I was put on a mandatory 72-hour work week schedule, which was neither safe nor necessary in the warehouse where I was a full time furniture maker. From my first taste of sawdust, I was hooked. I loved everything about it, especially the aches & pains associated with putting in a hard day of manual labor.

I had moved thousands of miles from my industrial Michigan factory roots, only to go to college and decide the blue collar life is what I wanted. I quit my job, only when it was obvious that it would either kill or permanently injure me...but it was still one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make. Besides the fact that I love it, I realize now how wrapped up I was in the identity of being just one thing...In my working life, I have always had to have at least three side hustles going on and I've done everything from nude modeling, to being a maid, a well-paid executive assistant, an extra in movies, a make-up artist, to an apprentice sander in a woodshop.

When I call home to update my family, typically, whatever it is I describe is met with unconditional love & acceptance, even if there is a tinge of it not necessarily being understood. As a woodworker, I was finally able to align myself with an identity - one thing that I loved being and doing...and it was so much easier to explain that!

Predictably, when the job fell apart, I scrambled for any paying gig I could find on craigslist. As it turns out, it was a good time to be involved with film making and I even signed up for acting classes. Being involved in the process is as exciting as it seems like it would be - even the long hours of waiting, while being completely dressed to the nines for a 6:00 a.m. call time, shouldn't be exciting, but it still is.

Around this time I also found work as a fit model, working for a local design house. It's a job that pays very well but the work is inconsistent. Still, I am extremely thankful to have it, even if it is a bit weird for me to use it as an identifier at the dentist's office and have the receptionist squeal and ask me a bunch of questions about the job. That's a rock star moment, I'm not going to lie, but it's completely foreign to me to identify myself as "model" in any capacity...especially when "factory rat" was a closer signifier just weeks ago.

I'm not sure if all the discomfort in lacking a fixed occupation or identity squarely rests on my shoulders, or if I am reacting to other people's confusion when I try to explain, "Well, I'm actually a furniture maker, but I'm out of work, so I'm doing the acting and modeling thing, while looking for another woodworking gig." Who does that? I'm not sure if I even understand myself anymore.

In the long run, it's probably a good thing that I am so versatile & adaptable - I always have something relevent for any type of resume I'm creating for myself (and I have at least 3); but I long for the day when I have a short answer to the question, "So what do you do?" 

Ok I'll admit I've been out of it for awhile when it comes to the toy scene and I've had a bit of a sour taste in my mouth about the whole deal.  Because of the over-saturation of artists and the many of the companies becoming so close to mainstream (IMO)... I just have been bored with it for the most part.

DSCN0351

DSCN0352

Ok so when I first read about something called Generative Art in Wired magazine many months ago I was mildly interested but only til the end of that article.  I never thought to try my hand at it or find out more about how it works. Well I've been following articles on a pretty cool blog:  Media Militia* lately and most recently one of the authors wrote about generative art.  With a little free time, I toyed with a couple of the different programs that are available for Windows (since that's what I'm stuck with right now, lol) and found that it was more fun than I had thought.  Of course, I might add that I do some (not complex) web programming using vb.net so I enjoy a bit of coding anyway.  (That's a warning to the non-programmer graphic designers, in case you hate numbers.. ) 

If you're interested in seeing some of the programs listed on Media Militia's site, follow the link afterward.  For this image I used a program called context free, and this is only a sample, using their tutorial with my own embellishments to the program (how I got the curvature in the tree).  Nothing complicated! 

RandomTree

Here is the simple program:

startshape trunk

rule trunk
{
     SQUARE{}
     trunk{  rotate .25 y .4 size .99 brightness .005}
}

rule trunk .01
{
    SQUARE{}
    branch { rotate 25  }
    trunk{ y .4 s .99 brightness .005 }
}

rule trunk .03
{
    SQUARE{}
    branch{ rotate -25 }
    trunk{ y .4 s .99 brightness .005 |hue 40 |sat .5  }
}

rule branch
{
    SQUARE{}
    trunk {y .4 s .99 brightness .005 }
}

Here is the article that got me started, at Media Militia and the programs I've tried:

• Processing
• Structure Synth
• and of course Context Free

Ohgosh, I just have to show this to those in my 'hood who may have missed this when Kirk posted this yesterday.

Unbeaaaaaarable cutenesses!!! -