Draw Everyday!

I've been inspired with Chris' 30 days of drawing, so i'm committing myself to drawing everyday, sometimes i draw just one thing, but other days i'll draw 4-5. Vanja aka SHOOT TAKE IT ripped this old small book (kinda molskine size but 5x thicker) thats has either german or latin written all over it for me to draw in, she's doing the same thing. Its been a blast drawing over small 8pt words, just haveing the background be something diff. then blank white has allowed me to really explore new areas & approach composition anew! I'll be posting them daily i think when i get a scanner, i want to finish the book while i'm in michigan.

Megaphone

I saw this today and it interested me with deep fascination . I've been dwelling on it all day. If you can't read it , it says "God help us if we leave politics to the kind of people that are interested in it"

I wore all black today

will you be with me in the fires i make?
when my fingers are at the itch, my mind the kindling?
when i'm the one thats spent with a smile for a dime
equal in hunger in the mud with the swine
what makes me prodigal bleeding the wound over
with steps in same sequence without you as my partner?


I got enough empty if you still want me

Chris Gray Everybody

Chris Gray is a Brit Illustrator who decided to create 1 decent looking illustration a day for 30 days straight. Each design has a common thread of bold/simple color/clever elements and from what i've read will be put on tshirts! God Save the Queen for the provision of fertile English avenues that brought up this gent! These are some of my favored prints! To check out his other 26 or so prints check out www.theamazingshape.co.uk YUMMY YUM YUM! (oh and for the love of all thats good please, some one, tell me the html for creating links so i can just connect you kids to what i share!! WORD!)

YUMMY VISUALS

ENJOY!

Item Layout

I've seen the birds eye view of layed out items as the current display of ones identity. The wonderful thing about this is that this method has been floating around and popping in numerous scenes from Times magazine, graffiti kids, sneaker geeks, design peeps, target adds, fine art photos etc. I'm not too sure where this started, i'd love too know, but my hunch is that the layout happened to surface with the graffiti kids, examining their necessary tools for accomplishing street hits. It also originates earlier without as much pop back in WWII era where the Airborne troops would layout all that would be carried on them on their shoots and slowly but surely package it on their person. Now this can also be seen in the tidy sterile operating rooms where needles, scalpels, bandages would be laid out next to the nurses and doctors.

I love the math behind layout, composition flourishes the most in layout i think. I'm not dissing on the painters, the sketch kids, the mural artists, personal opinion digs publication & print the most. I dig this! Check it! If anyone has more history behind layout give me a shout!

YUM!

Audible Fondness

I like hearing a warm tube amp making a hollow body glorious, the high notes in the last octave resonate without assistance of the pedal, skateboards on sidewalk cracks, cheers at Wrigley field when the Cubs do something right, the zipper on my hoodie back and forth real fast, the bouncing of a basketball, when the wind whistles, the snapping of a straw when you wind both ends up, kicking up dry leaves, good news, my brothers voices, uncensored laughter, ping pong ball bounces, knuckle cracks, Dwight Nelson podcasts, french being spoken, Phil Selways ride symbol on radiohead records, old men crying when they speak of Jesus, A Horse and His Boy on CD, footsteps on my porch at home, the crackling of records, that i'm loved.

Design Traits

Things are on the next step with my biz partner Mdot! Fruition of our 3-4 months work will soon be visible to a select posse! It's been mad difficult doing this all on the hush hush save several of you kids we've shown views to. Here is a little more of what i can share:

As of last friday we have a domain name so web stuff will be up soon. Some of you may know of Psmoov hip-hop producer/lyricist extraordinaire out of Seattle, he has suited up to assist us with some of his works both in beats & design, so its an honor to have him as a guest.
Shoot Take It has agreed to work with us with her snap genius when the fruition occurs, and Ben Blood has been at the start with this all with his words of counsel/assistance/skill. Those are some of the name drops, we got some more to come but that's still SHHHHHHH... We plan for more exposure to happen in 1 months time, so i'll give some advance warning to know the where abouts of the get down!

Design Elements in my currents:

FONT:Strong type work including tight kerning, mostly filled in sometime outline, & at the moment sans-serif, large fonts next to small fonts, having fonts in your composition horizontal and vertical and occasional 45 degrees sloping up or down. Fonts in my currents:Avant Garde of course, Lietz Lindauhamburg, Makisupa, & Geist Kat (in rare appearance)

COLOUR: Bold solid colors with unusual pairings, no gradients, either 1-2 color process, 3-4 color process, or the sky is the limit, in those pairings do i work. latest in my groove is (mustard yellow, grey, light blue) (light olive green, peach, tomato red) (the primaries baby!) (warm purple, grey, silver) (black, white, harvest yellow) (teal, orange, lavender, gold)

STROKE: dashed lines, heavy strokes next to thin strokes,

COMPOSITION: plenty of negative space, image and type equally sharing focal point, repeating themes either in pattern or image at small scale, hints of symmetry, if on threads
looking for the unusual, if on print wherever the main focal point its having plenty of interesting negative space to either create weight or direction.

THEMES: Anything thats moving towards uplifting/challenging/activist and when i say activist i don't mean creating something new or building hype about something else, i'm talking keeping hope of no more tears and the promise of life to the fullest by Jesus translated to visual stimulants. Staying away from the following: heart, skull, sex, substances.....i'm done with the overused. EXCEPT for lightning bolts, something about those criss angles gets me everytime.

LATEST INFLUENCES: Anything from the art-deco thru Bauhaus movements with all the mad math genius behind grids/layout/fonts sweeps me. Smoothed out graffiti in transfer from streets to desktop, 123KLAN, TEN HUNDRED, Jambi (she's in my pals!)old record sleeves, ISO 50, In Rainbows, Winter by Jon Foreman, Delta Spirit, Creative Recreation kicks, ADRA, TOMs Shoes, JUSTICE D.A.N.C.E music video, feeling comfy, Hot coco & granola w/vanilla yogurt, cut red grapes, half a banana (how many na's are in this thing?) cut up, dimitri martin, Publications include: Antenna, Graphik, Wild at Heart, W.I.R.E.D (andru gots me hooked!), NYLON for both ladies and gents, Layout Look Book, Dhas iz all!!

I NOW TAG:
BEN BLOOD, SHOOT TAKE IT, HEATHERLY, K BANKS, JAMBI, ROB MASON, JESSE (Dripping panda kid), TRIC, AMMIEL,to write scribbles on their currents in the design field! be creative abouts it! CHEERS :D

Persona & Product

The whole marketing of taking some famous kids face/features/skills and applying it to a product has had this world spun for decades now, ballers and their kicks, models and makeup, musicians and signature stuff, some of that makes sense but then there the stupid side of things like some pitcher saying this drink is the best, this car dealer rocks, this mustache wax is fly. Today i was excited/thrilled at Woodwind & Brasswind because there in the used section was Nick Valensi's signature guitar! He's from one of my top 3 bands called the Strokes, and so of course i wanted to feel/hear the magic. eeeeewwww...i just said magic, so i picked it up, warmed up the tubes on the amp, and played some tunes. DISSAPOINTED. poor sound, poor action, poor tone, twas aweful. I felt the same way about Paul McCartneys guitar as well, whats with cheap end stuff being signature of some famous kid? ugh, i would be offended if something was suppose to have my stamp of approval and it was way crappy. The only thing i've been stoked about are kicks of ballers or designers, those rarely disappoint. This is a rant. I love those Strokes kids. done.

NO THEFT 1ST FONT!

Shoot Take It sent me a great mix a bit back with a sweet d.i.y. tracklist, so i took her words apart and created this font! YUM! 

(check her out in my pals list: FELLOW ROCKER )

Visual Hymn

And He walks with me, and He talks with me,
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.

You're My One Day

it's not too comfortable with this heart on pause

the feelings there but no where to pour

ain't fit to love with this many holes

got to hear your tunes to be sound

your melodies will sew the divided

your mercy will wash the decay

your peace will sustain patience

i want to stop thinking about when

i want to stop thinking possibilities

i want to stop thinking about what i think i need

i want to let you think it all for me

you're the safest place to be this needy

you're the only love i can be fully dependent on

you're the only one that knows me by name

teach me what you see so i can be it

the Lamb and the crooked

Oh let me know
by words or messenger
touch my hip or touch my throat
have you seen me this naked before?

You have caused me to lie down
but the pasture is in a valley
and fear cuts like a cold wind

I'm aware of you like no other time
my rising, my setting, my doing
must we wait and must it be here?

I have no knew song for you
will you stir my heart
and clothe me again?

Direct your loving kindness towards me
let your rod comfort me, even the security
of loved arms and hearts don't have enough
weight to shift these scales

I feel the burn of your fire and the pull of the splinter
as it comes out, don't mind my whimper, i don't want
to miss its presence, i've had these crooked teeth and thoughts
for too long, i'm done with my deformity, ready for your image

hold my hand lamb,
i the wound giver
how lovely your pierced brow
how lovely your surrender
how lovely your compassion
i will live in your sacrifice
i will join you if you will have me
feed me so i can feed your sheep

Contents

$2 dollars, my favorite picture covering my license (its a pear sliced and then stacked back without perfection) CARDS include: Safeway grocery store card, REI membership card, blockbuster card, AAA card, numerous scraps of paper with email addresses/phone numbers of new friends, a receipt of my last breakfast in santa fe TEAR half a chopstick wrapper with cool fish on it, emergency key to the Chateau.

REALLY EXCITING I KNOW-> tagged by Loverly Heather

Shepherd Me

I just want to be so pleasing to you
I wonder if you ever look down on anything
I am/have done/ doing and declare it as good
like those first days when we came out of your imagination

Your good sometimes hits me like multi color comic Pows! and Bams!
leaves me tripped and laughing every minute I'm down.
I think "I must be in the green you cause me to lie down in"
My feet want to move to your tunes, my smile wants to only be bigger

Your good sometimes leaves me closed eyes and tears
forgiven with an empty burden, a broken addiction, a contrite spirit

Your good reveals this beauty i'm discovering in patience, waiting,
accepting the future you already know.

You're good, so good to me

While I am waiting

These words and tunes have been in my head for the past 3 months
till i heard a sermon days ago. As the sermon came to a close
in my heart i began to sing the first words of this verse and as i was
finishing the pastor started speaking the words of the first verse to
end his sermon with! i was like, k son, it's time you need to look
up these words. So here they are.


Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
Thou art the potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after thy will,
while I am waiting, yielded and still.

Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way! 
Search me and try me, Savior today!
Wash me just now, Lord, wash me just now,
as in thy presence humbly I bow.

Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me I pray!
Power, all power, surely is thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine!

Have thine own way, Lord! Have thine own way!
Hold o'er my being absolute sway.
Fill with thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me! 

Rejoice with me!

PSALM 66:5

"Come and see what God has done,
how awesome His works in man's behalf!"

I'm relieved friends. Laryngitis is the diagnosis which means i can talk without hurting my vox! I'm still a bit hesitant to sing just after mending, so i'm going to be meeting with bruce's sister for training on how to properly use my voice and to maintain! I be jazzed! Could have been much worse, and God has been so gracious to me! The boys have been singing, and sound better with each performance, its nice seeing them lead out more and hearing their vocal confidence grow after each show.
Also people continue to come to my aid in prayer and encouragement, it has been a tremendous time despite the nasty symptoms! All that was ment for evil has been made for good, thats how our GOD do yo!

I'm in great thanks to God and to you who've upheld me to Him.

My head is lifted.

Catharsis

Sometimes when i'm down the only thing that comforts me is a sad song. Maybe it's not comfort, maybes its that i'm joined in my being down. I hate it now. Some songs i just can't listen to any more or artists for that matter. There's enough to be down about without someone lulling their sorrow into mine.

There is something to be said to what the apostle paul wrote 'mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice'. When someone you love is down, or is hurt by circumstances, that injures you with the same wound too because they are dear to you, you may not feel the full force of the wound, but you feel the sting too. The soar spot of love. When someone has achieved something they've been working for or any measure of success you join them in their joy. The soft spot of love. When you match rejoice to mourn it can be messy. For instance, when someone has died close to you, and all people can say first off is 'hey, you'll see them again when Jesus comes', i'm not dissing on hope, but there is a time of sorrow that must be processed. Jesus wept outside the tomb of Lazarus bam!

Since finding out i can't use my voice for a bit there have been so many people who have come to my comfort and support, their care has also shown me the severity of what's going on more then i was processing it to be. That must be another benefit to having people join you in your time of mourning or rejoicing. Maybe their experience of the similar matter helps you process your way out too. Experience the best teacher and such, it kinda sucks that we can always relate on pain with each other so quickly, BUT it is WAY better then a sad song for a down moment.

Thank you lovely ones for your prayers, words, hugs, smiles, messages.
You are mourning with me, i invite you to rejoice with me soon :D

A Woe

Delta Spirit is so terrific in my book. They quickly are in my top three->Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Strokes, Delta Spirit. These gents are going to be here in seattle this friday, but we'll be in east washington. Tear. I see the doctor wed. morning, my fate shall be decided!

El Sucko

Two mornings ago i awake from a burning pain running the inside of my ear down to the bottom of my throat. I think a hot shower and some hot tea will combat the fire but to no avail. I trace my steps back to think of any logical reason my body would be this angry with me. Nothing comes up. It hurts to speak, it hurts to swallow, it hurts to sing, 3 very important areas to my life, especially with being in the middle of a tour. I call bruces sister to get the skinny on whats going with my vox to see if its vocal damage or something else. She speaks to her peeps in the music posse and gets back to me with alarm. Either i'm bleeding in the throat, i have a viral something or other, or there's vocal strain going on! YIKES! So this is what bruces sister told me to do:

1) Don't speak between shows, only sing at shows
and don't give it the gusto i do while doing so

2) Drink hot tea right before performing

3) After the tour i can't speak or sing for a month

4) Spray this stuff in my throat to help the pain


A bit scary right now. It hurts all the time and its just one more thing on top of all that the devil has been throwing at me in the last 2 months. I'm hard pressed but not forsaken.

KEEP ME IN THE PRAYERS PLEASE!