Make Me Up Before You Go-Go

Well Reader, it's happening.  Austin Eavesdropper is getting another makeover and, brace yourselves, graduating from Blogspot.

"Wait.  Do you mean to tell me --"  I do.

"You're actually getting a real domain name --" I am.

"So you're redesigning your site!" Hold it right there.

I have slim-to-zero web design skills.  A decent eye ... yes.  The ability to translate that eye into a real-life website, no.

Fortunately, this woman does.

We are chatting on the phone this morning, and we've been emailing madly with design ideas.  See all those pictures above?  Those are items I've been collecting for inspiration.  She, not I (thank God) is redesigning this thing.  It's a new year for Austin Eavesdropper!  Doesn't "2012" just sound like the future?  Ross and I always refer to "the new dimension" now, telling each other what happens there.  In the new dimension, Ross takes Bikram yoga three times a week.  In the new dimension, they don't eat kolaches (I try to tell him).  But he assures me that they do.

Anyway, in the new dimension Austin Eavesdropper is more black and white.  And triangle-y.

Speaking of new beginnings:  thank you  for everything you've been saying about AETV!  We are so thrilled that you dig it.  Thank you too for your guest ideas!  Our next meeting is this weekend and we're going to plan our next shoot.  Here are some of my favorite guest suggestions:

lavanna martin // who paints and sketches strangers at coffee shops.  Lavanna and I go way back, and whoever suggested her is a genius.

chef hoover // suggested by Belle in the comments section.  Again, BRILLIANT.   After decades of serving up chicken fried steak and shrimp grits (totally delicious and shamelessly bad for you), Chef Hoover is on a personal mission to live more healthfully.  Can he do it?

the pc guru // right on!  Cool idea, Deann Armstrong. According to her, the PC Guru "drives an awesome scooter-like thing and has a rockin' waist-length white beard."  Maybe he can finally teach me what "an error has occurred on the script of this page" means.

austin bike guy // not his official name, but how I'm referring to Heather's man (in the comments).  Heather suggested an episode on how to change a flat bike tire, which is definitely useful information, no?

woman at central market westgate who collects her customers' produce stickers // WHOA.  Awesome.  Andrea (who left this comment) explained that this woman has turned all of her stickers into this one, continually expanding, 8 pound ball of stickers.  Didn't Pee Wee Herman used to do this with rubber bands?

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Walking Dead: Dia de Los Muertos.

So I'm in this samba group here in Austin, and on Saturday, we performed a Dia de Los Muertos show at Central Market.  That's Skeletor me, above.

Right before we went on, everyone was running around putting on their finishing makeup touches.  I couldn't stop taking pictures of everyone's faces!:

This is Rendi (left) and me, being serious skeletons.

Happy skeletons!

When I was a kid growing up in San Antonio, I used to see touches of Dia de Los Muertos here and there: Pictures of dancing bride and groom skeletons, carved skeletons in people's houses.  I even had an art teacher once who gave us plastic white skulls to decorate, and having gone through a brief Jem and the Holograms phase, I painted pink eyeshadow on mine and gave her awesome pink earrings with a pipe cleaner.  She still didn't look as pretty as real Jem, but that was only because she lacked ... skin.  A serious handicap.  

But even as Dia de Los Muertos surrounded me, I didn't understand the holiday for a really long time.  As a child, I found it freaky and morbid.

When I learned later what Dia de Los Muertos was all about though, I thought it heartbreakingly beautiful.  And it's funny, you know?  All that exquisite San Antonio culture I took for granted while I was living there.  I'm just now able to appreciate it.  We performed in San Antonio on Sunday too, and I was reminded of the whole "more is more!" ethos of San Antonians.  They LOVE parades and they LOVE bright colors and they LOVED us dressed up as skeletons.  I was telling Ross that I may have to do my makeup like this every day, because you get treated so incredibly well: Smiles, nods, doors held open for you!  People really do respect the dead.

(This is what a skeleton looks like when she's getting ready.)

Return to the living!

here's to your beloved dead, and speaking of spirits ...

happy halloween today, reader!

Friday Link Party!

Happy Friday, world!

I am about to jump up and do the splits, because I finally finished a mondo article I've been working on the past couple of weeks.  And while writing it, I got an idea!

See, I love it whenever other bloggers do a weekly "link round-up." And since I read so many blogs myself, I thought it might be interesting for you all to see the other corners of the Internet where I hang out.

Besides other Austin blogs, I actually spend the majority of my time on art / craft / visual inspiration blogs.  And because the story I was working on last week focused on the Austin art scene, I made one completely rad, eyes-bugging-out-in-cartoon-like-fashion, discovery:

ALYSON FOX

These photographs are by the multi-talented Austin artist, Alyson Fox, who also did these color study designs, below.

... and these illustrations.

Alyson Fox does it all, folks.  

She draws.  She designs jewelry.  She takes pictures.  She makes this flatware.  She is probably doing something right now that the art world hasn't even invented yet.

I had heard of her before, but how did it take me so long to discover the Alyson full monty?  I could get lost in her website, and I love her big, bold use of negative space.  She used to be an Anthropologie visual display designer, just like my little sister-in-law.  

Here are links to more of my favorite spots on the Internet:

*August Empress*

Walls that will blow your freaking mind. Seriously!  Go look, then come back and let's talk about it.  How badly do you want one of those walls?

*Here's Looking at Me, Kid*

Cheap date night activities, from one of my favorite funny bloggers.  Mandi is a gifted designer, and part of the Freckled Nest collective (who I hired to redesign this blog).

*The Flowerchild Dwelling*

The Beatles, in watercolor.  Kelly Ann, who writes that blog, is the artist who designed Austin Eavesdropper!

*I Just Might Explode*

Vintage inspiration from "Sew-It-Yourself."  I want to curl on up in those grainy photographs, and wake up to sun-drenched '70s mornings.

***

I hope you enjoyed your first Friday Link Party as much as I did.  Let's do it every week!

have a great weekend.

Eavesdropper Interview & Giveaway: Brandi Strickland.

Top o' the morning to you, friend!  

Today I'm interviewing an artist I have followed and admired for a very long time, and I am so excited to share her with you.

Her name is Brandi Strickland, and I discovered her work a couple of years ago at Design Crisis.  Brandi is a mixed media artist, who paints and collages canvases in the most unusual, dreamy way.

I don't know what it is about Brandi, but her art straight up SPEAKS to me.  I've always been drawn to collage-y pieces, but when I got into Brandi's stuff back in 2009, I noticed how each of her pictures seemed to place human characters in these wild, fantastical scenarios.  Sometimes, groups of tiny people rejoice by the ocean; other times, children are walking alone across a pyramid-accented stretch of desert ... or possibly the moon.

One of Brandi's pieces has a phrase scrawled on it that I obsessed over for the longest time:

"Learn to teach yourself."

It's in one of the pieces below, and for me, that phrase sums up everything I think about blogging, writing, the creative process.  That learning a skill is important, but learning to be a student of skills is more so.  I find this concept oddly comforting / anchoring each time I sit down to write a blog post, or try a new trick on aerial silks, or take a photograph ... because it's ok if I don't get it exactly right the first time.

 I suppose you could call Brandi's work surreal, but that label doesn't fully capture her wisdom.  Besides her undeniable artistic talent, she's also just a balanced, cool person.  (And just 25 years old!  I was still ridiculous at age 25!)  

Below I chat with Brandi, who is also generously giving away a prize from her art shop to Austin Eavesdropper readers.  Details at the bottom.

Without further ado, here's Brandi Strickland!

1. Welcome to Austin Eavesdropper, Brandi! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Thank you for inviting me, Tolly!  I'm 25 and I live in Richmond, Virginia with my love, Robert.  I spend my time making artwork, documenting/sharing the artwork, doing research, and cooking lots of food.

2. I am dazzled by your mixed media work. Where do you gather materials? What is your creative process as you put each one together?

I collect books, magazines, bit of paper, photographs, etc... I like materials from all time periods, for all ages and audiences. Rare items and weird stuff excites me.  I buy nearly all of my collage materials in thrift stores, although once I scored the mother-load of National Geographic magazines via Craigslist.

My process is very intuitive and varies somewhat, but I usually start by drawing or painting on a board or sheet of paper, then begin building up my collage elements.  I generally work with acrylics, so the process itself is quite direct and everything dries quickly, but often my pieces take weeks or months to finish.

I think this happens because at some point while I'm working I get to a place where everything is almost right. It's really hard to even touch an artwork that's 'almost there'---because it's so easy ruin (alas, no undo button!). I hang them up and meditate on what exactly it needs, and eventually I finish them.

3. Your artwork seems to tell little stories ... about myth, spirituality, people.  What tales do your pieces tell?

Since I work intuitively, I feel like I unravel the story in much the same way the viewer does. I don't illustrate ideas as much as I just keep pushing paper and paint around until an idea presents itself. Lately, the ideas seem to be related to growing up, learning to teach myself, the power of love, helping and allowing myself to be helped, acknowledging the unseen, washing my brain, embracing what's really real, and simplifying.

4. Tell us about the artistic collective you belong to, WAFA ... I love what the acronym stands for.

WAFA is a small international community of artists. Keywords are: collaboration, sharing, friendship, and support. Recently, we entered the 21st century and had our first Skype chat. I got to hear everyone's voice for the first time. It was pure magic.

5. Favorite childhood book?

Hmm, that's hard, I read so much when I was a kid. Some favorites at the top of my mind: The Giver, King of the Wind, From the Mixed Up Files of Basil E. Frankwiler, The Egypt Game, the Redwall series.... I could go on and on.

6. Personal icon / role model in life? 

I think that changes all the time. Right now I have a lot of admiration for Ruth Stout, Dan Winter, Neil Young, Ani Difranco, John Anthony West... There are so many inspiring people, this would be a long list too!

7. What is the secret to living a creative life?

Ha! If you find out, tell me...I need all the help I can get! But seriously, that's probably very individual.  On a fundamental level, love.  Love gives me the confidence to express myself, without that expression needing to have value or validation.  

Also, when things get really busy or complicated, I don't feel creative.  So (for me) a creative life is quiet and simple and full of love.

thank you for stopping by austin eavesdropper, brandi!

***

Special to Austin Eavesdropper readers, Brandi is giving away a $35 coupon for her artwork: Enough to buy a whole small print, and a significant discount on her large prints.  I encourage you to stop by her Facebook page, and also peruse her shop!  Which room would look that much more fabulous with Brandi on the wall?  Answer: YOUR room.

To enter, just:

1. Like Austin Eavesdropper on Facebook.

2. Follow Austin Eavesdropper (i.e. me) on Twitter.

3. Enter your name and email address below.

I will choose a winner on Tuesday, August 2, so get your entries in before then.

good luck!

To do the math and at the same time, dream.

 

Some photos my camera has collected in the past few days, paired with the poetry of one of my favorites: Austin Kleon.

A blurry me (top).

My sleepy cat (middle).

A beautiful friend (Kim) and her grandma, whom we went to go visit in San Antonio on Saturday (bottom).

Austin and I met during a food trailer adventure, and we became friends.  The next week, we chatted here.

Sun in the sky, you know how I feel.

Aesthetically-speaking, I'm going through a certain something right now.

Maybe it's the new place.  The books I've been reading.  Or the simple fact that it's summer, a time when our busy brains give in a little, and trade our Very Important Ideas for swimming holes and superhero movies.  I'm open to new ideas.

Whatever it is, I'm craving crazy visuals.  In the house department, the clothing department; I'm day-dreaming of trading my current red hair for slightly trashy bleach blonde.  

But until I rush out the door to the nearest punk salon or tattoo parlor, I think I'll just show you some art I've been eyeing lately.

Our poor blank walls are begging for decoration -- "Help us!  We are naked!" -- so I am hurriedly dressing them up.  The pieces below are high on my list of purchase possibilities.

Bow down to the majesty of mixed media artist, Brandi Strickland.

I've blogged Brandi''s art before, and Tweeted her yesterday.  Which presented Reason #503234 why I love Twitter: Austin artist (and one of my past interviews) Erin Hanson immediately Tweeted right back, also a fan of Brandi!  

Yay supportive artist community! Yay Internet!  

(Just for kicks, let's appreciate some of Erin's art.)

Yay Popsicles.