Musical Inspiration

So, what triggered this post is actually the fact that I've been listening to the same song on repeat now for a couple of days. Thank the gods for headphones, or I think my family might have already slaughtered me by now without them.

While writing what I'm hoping will be an epic story (epic in my own mind due to simply the driving pressure from the characters in my story to get their lives told), I'm driven to epic music. More important than WHAT I'm listening to is the fact that I am. I haven't done any research about others being inspired while obsessively listening to a single song, but I'm fairly certain I can't be the only one.

Music is an incredible thing to me. It has a way, like math, to transcend language and pull at the soul. This is well known, written in history throughout time, quoted about (something about soothing savage beasts? :) ). I feel like it tells a story while I'm working to tell the story of my own that's inside me.

I think maybe that's why there's such a draw to good music while creating. Creating is a process that's telling the story of the muse or genius that is flowing through you, and is essentially expressing a story. The music is doing the same. It's as though you're walking a journey with another soul, walking the story telling path with company. It's inspirational and encouraging at the same time. Helps to make the lulls easier to work through.

Of course, my OCD mind probably likes the soothing repetition of the song on repeat, too. But I'm not 100% positive on that.

The Village of Skye

      The only sight of entrance into the village of Skye was the main gate. From there, one could see the main street, lined on either side with shops. All of the buildings were made one story, and squat, flat roofs and made of sand brick, a mixture that was mostly solidified forms of the dunes themselves. Because of this, the buildings blended into the sand that had hardened under the feet of the villagers and their livestock over the centuries to form the village's roads. It blended in with the dunes that abutted the wall on the north side, always one step away from consuming the town if not for the Watchers going out to move the sands using the Ancient Way. It blended with the expanse of sand that one could see in all directions, making the village seem like a pearl lost in a sea of nearly white waves. If one looked hard enough, he could see the gleam of sunlight off of metal findings that had long been polished by sand and wind into a sharp shine, or off the windows made of thick, dust streaked glass. Within the walls of the village, where the cliffs were not imposing their shadow, nor the dunes threatening to overtake the people, you could see side streets branching off the main street, where homes and shops began to take shape. The sand brick buildings had their own individual touches. Signs above shop doors, desert flowers growing in window boxes, laundry lines hung for the rare days without sand storms.

      The streets were narrow in places, making artificial shadows within the blazing, ceaseless sunlight, however, in other places, they were wide enough for two carts to pass side by side. Throughout the village, in places where the roads intersected, there would be the occasional water well. Guarded and precious beyond imagining, the well houses were made of the strongest brick, and what little stone could be found. Inside was the smell and soothing feeling of dampness and cool shade. It created the pervasive feeling that one was in a haven of life, a place where all things began and ended. The wells were each nearly a sacred place. People timed their lives by when they went to the wells for water. They met their friends there, and had long conversations while waiting in line, or after having pulled up water and covered their buckets with cloth to keep it from evaporating.

The village was blessed, it was said, by water hidden under the ground. It allowed for the food caves that were another blessing. No one knew quite how the village found them, or the water under their feet, but they certainly knew they were there now. Inside the vast cliffs were long expanses of open caverns with openings carefully cut into the ceiling to allow just enough sunlight in to grow food, but not enough to kill it. Here, the water had been brought with diligence and consistence until things would grow and as they did the livestock were fed. This, in turn, created soil to mix with the sand, and allowed for the raising of chickens, which added even more soil, and through a process spanning back as long as anyone in the village new, the people had managed to scratch out the existence of food for the village within the caverns.

      In this way, the people lived for centuries, losing their origins in the folds of time around them. Losing their knowledge of the past, allowing them to be consumed with the smell of the dust in the air that permeated everything. Or the sight of the sun setting on the dunes creating streaks of gold, red, purple, and pink before allowing the sky to return to the blackness that revealed nightfall. The past was lost in the feeling of the grit on everything, the relief of water to wash once a week, the taste of the dirt in their food and water, and the occasional smells of desert flowers. The day to day survival was infused with the sweat of the people and the dusty musk of the animals. Those who lived here were the desert. And for some reason they lived well, and no one thought to question why.

       Here, the wind and sand shaped creation. It was a never ending torment of particles against whatever the particles met that seemed to create something from an original form that was much softer, much less efficient, and didn't know it had previously been flawed. Once one was in the dunes, immersed in the sand and the village, they became shaped. Scoured clean of their vulnerabilities and made bare of all things that were anything other than essential. People used smaller sentences, drank less water, tended only to what tasks they needed. It was land of minimalism under the heat and glaring sun. The desert shaped the man, not the other way around, and all things that came to the village were recreated in the village's image, and those born there were born into the shadow of what the village had already created. Stark landscapes, brutal sand storms, crisp mornings and frigid nights were the instruments of that transformation, and there was no way to fight it. The people of the village knew this, and while they might not embrace it, there was a sense of inevitability that hung in the air like a cloud of smoke or dust. The knowledge settled on everything, infusing the idea into all it touched, coating it, and permeating all that was left out. This was the truth that simply was. It was the never spoken, but always known undercurrent of the people in the village.

Stepping Back Into Frame

It has been nearly two years since my last post. After posting about my family emergency, I had to live through it. My father passed away in January 2013. I write that not as a way to evoke sympathy, but more as a way to mark the time that I was away. Sympathy is something you need right after the event of losing someone. Not neccessarily this long afterward. Yes, I still have days where I miss him, and especially poignant are the days when I really wish I could debate something with him, or talk about music or politics. But mostly, I live my life, and hope that, if there is a continuation of the sentience that was my dad, that he's happy, or content, or even better, at peace.

I moved to Washington after he passed, using money from my 401k (so long retirement) and from his life insurance. I dabbled at starting a freelance art business, and realized that people don't really have that much money for art nowadays. I had a blog during that time, but it's long gone, now. My web hosting expired, and I never renewed it.

I got a full time job with a retailer that I quickly came to dispise, and eventually got my own place, and moved my mom to Washington, along with my brother. I quit my piece of shit job in the full expectation that a place that I did very well at during an interview would be calling me back in no time. It never happened.

I'm currently three weeks unemployed, but I have a great prospect coming up. In the meantime, I've decided to start working on the endeavors that I wanted to and that drove me to quit my awful last employer: writing and art. To that end, I've returned to my blog.

Pause

I hate to do this, but I want to be upfront. I had a grand plan to get my blog up and going, and keep up with it, and I was doing well for a month there. However, we've had a huge set back in the form of a family emergency. I will be taking a break during this. I'm not sure how long I will be gone. Please, check back from time to time, or subscribe and you'll get updated when I return.

Thank you.

My Non-Illustrated Attempt at Incense

Normally, I like to have at least one image to post with my updates. However, my images, while looking AMAZING, are not currently accessible, and I don't want to wait to post them. Also, while they look awesome, my first attempts at incense: not so awesome.

I read a lot about incense making before I tried it. Got all the suggested materials, and I decided I was going to try two types: self igniting powder incense, and honey incense.

Firstly, the self igniting powder. While this sounds like it could be potentially bad (and it may still have that potential) for me, it turned out to be as dangerous as a newborn kitten. I lit my self igniting powder, and watched it slowly turn into a still mass of non-lit powder, and then just a still mass without any smoke. Bummer. Though, when placed on a charcoal disk, it DOES smell very nice, the whole point of being self igniting is to get AWAY from the disk. <sigh>

Secondly, the honey incense. No, this doesn't mean honey smelling incense. It means incense made with honey as the binder. Apparently, this is a Middle Eastern technique (also, sometimes used are figs or raisins), but when I tried it, I got solid-ish chunks of incense smelling honey that melted when lit, and bubbled like honey-created lava. I was disappointed.

So, the experimenting continues! I will keep you posted. I want to start making all SORTS of stuff for bartering, so you'll probably see more here, and then even more. :)

-Me

Desk Organization Update!

So, let's just start with "I thought I was going to have a lot more time this month!" However, I was able to get some BIG CHANGES to my desk, even though it's far from complete.

The biggest changes came in an increase in space in my home. I now have my art "studio" in my bedroom, freeing up my desk for more academic pursuits, and (gasp) displaying of the photos of family and friends that I've been meaning to put up. I was also able to bring out my DVDs, which have somehow multiplied in spite of my greatest efforts. I was also excited that I could move my repurposing things into a spot in my room as well. This clears a tremendous weight from my desk!

Check out the top of the hutch? HUGE DIFFERENCE!

The bottom, not AS much of a difference, though there are some good changes.

I'm not posting a photo of the bottom of the desk because it's still a disaster zone! 

Normally, I would take a moment to promote another blog (in this case, having to do with organization), however.... I'm sure it's pretty clear that I haven't really been researching organization...

What? -sheepish look-

What I HAVE been researching, you might ask?

Herbal holistic information, how to make my own beauty care products, and other awesome home created things that I might be able to use to start a bartering system! Yay! 

I know, I know, "bartering system, M? Isn't that called money?" Yeah, yeah, so call me a little nutty, but if I can save money by trading stuff I already make for stuff that I would normally buy, wouldn't that be awesome? Am I the only one who's totally geeked out about this? C'mon guys! This is cool!

So, I have been looking at my favorite growing online herbal company, http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/ and I'm eagerly awaiting my new, awesome, incense supplies! Check out their blog here! They're a company who specializes in lowering their footprint on the planet, AND providing high quality organic and non-organic herbs for folks just like me and my mom.

Okay, enough about my favorite herbal company. Let me share with you the newest recipe I came across for spoiling oneself in the bath. :)

Posted by Be Beautiful (another pretty awesome blog in the 'sphere), I bring you, DIY Lavender and Chamomile Bath Melts.

And if you're allergic to either ingredient, or just need some change, Be Beautiful points out,

"Feel free to adapt this recipe to suit your own personal preference and tastes. Other great combinations include lemon and orange with grated lemon zest or shredded rose petals and geranium essential oil."

I'm excited to give it a shot. If you beat me to it, feel free to leave me a comment on how they turn out. Any tips and tricks as well.

Well, that's all I have for now. Off to work. Hi-Ho!

-Me

Artist Review: Todd Lockwood

As an up and coming artist, you draw inspiration from many different sources. My first was my mom. She was able to capture the world in art, and that was a fascinating concept to me. I wanted to do the same: to create a physical memory of something that didn't require camera or film. She showed me my first taste of professional fantasy art in the form of the Hildebrandt Brothers, whom I will be reviewing at a later date.

When I started tabletop roleplaying at around 11, my own art grew out of the need to give a visual representation of the characters I was making. They had personality, histories, and stories, but no visual reference. I knew that fantasy art existed in my games, but it was a sort of periphery experience. The Brothers, and my mom were really still the only influences as I began bumbling my way through learning anatomy.

I began playing D&D in earnest in 1995 with some buddies in high school. They had actual D&D books, and suddenly, the monsters were illustrated, the races were comparable. With the advent of D&D version 3.0 and 3.5 in 2000 and 2003 I began noticing one artist above the rest. I began developing a "favorite".

How could he not be my favorite after this?

What totally drew me in about Lockwood's art is his ability to capture light. It excites me in a way that makes me want to TYPE EVERYTHING LIKE THIS!!!

Especially in acrylic medium, I am very challenged by capturing light, and yet his art seems to glow! It absolutely fascinates me. Most of what I see shows me that light capturing talent, and it's amazing to me.

In addition to capturing light, Lockwood has a tremendous talent for grasping the conceived anatomies of animals and creatures that .... well ... don't exist. How do you know what a dragon looks like? You don't. So to make it believable, to bring it into the realm of possible, you have to make it appear like it might actually work. That's a talent in an of itself.

A little bit of info on Todd: He's about the same age as my mom, and went to school for art at the Art Institute of Colorado (which is partially owned by Goldman Sachs, but I'll forgive Lockwood for that.. :) ). He graduated and was doing art for some mediocre companies before he finally started building his fantasy art portfolio. 

From there, he was eventually hired on at TSR, which became Wizards of the Coast, and he's been propelled into the fantasy art genre ever since.

Thank you, Todd, for being amazing, and inspiring. He works on book covers, roleplaying tabletop game as well as roleplaying card games.

Here is his website. Grab a cup of coffee or tea, and just allow yourself to enjoy his rich colours, shades, and the grasp on the surreal that he has: http://www.toddlockwood.com/

He's also got a blog! Yay! http://www.tolo.biz/

I'll leave you with an awesome last piece of his, an oil painting. Look at the shades and light!!

-Me