A palpable feeling of "good" has overcome me.

There is a spider spinning a web in a corner of a house somewhere, delicately drifting from place to place to make all silken ends meet...

It's building a shelter. A home. A means of hunting. A means of living. A future.

A tulip in a wreath, the delicate curve of a chandelier, the rich wooden moulding of a window frame, all now connected and interrelated by this fastidious little spider's web...

Everything is connected. Everything happens for a reason. Each event that unfolds before us will lead to another event, and in turn this will lead to a series of events located further down on a chain.

I'd always wanted to work at Barnes & Noble. I applied to work there round about the same time I'd applied for a position at the job I'm working at now. Some time passed by and I did eventually hear back from B&N, and their manager offered me a job, but I decided not to take it. I'd had an opportunity to meet everyone I'd be working with where I am currently and I'd decided I like them, they're cool people, and I liked what I would be doing. Something compelled me to stay. So I did.

A woman I work with has family who works for a jewelry store in town. They just so happen to be searching for someone who can repair chains at the moment. I did such in college. I minored in jewelry making, actually... This fantastic woman I work with spoke to several people at the jewelry store and just told me that they're interested in meeting with me. Earlier today I contacted this store and I now have an interview with them on Saturday.

They seem really wonderful - generous, kind, talented... And I couldn't be happier at the moment. I mean, can you believe it?! I could potentially have a job doing what I studied in college! Something that I'm really passionate about!

Cross your fingers for me...

See, although it has always been a deep, keen interest of mine to work in a bookstore, for reasons that were unbeknownst to me, I followed a different path. I took a different chance. I followed a feeling I had about this place. And now look at it: another unbelievable opportunity has presented itself!

On a completely unrelated note (with the exception of the fact that it makes me happy, haha): I had a dream last night that lead to a bunch of fresh ideas for a project I'm working on for a friend.

It's just a fun design thing in which a small group of us are creating music mixes then designing something that is reflective of the music we chose, essentially. We're each creating our own mix and our own piece of art, and when all is said and done we're going to share what we made with each other in a kind of swap.

I've been working on my mix now for a while now. I keep altering it to better reflect my days lately. The current track listing is as follows (an hour from now, it could very well be different):

01. simon & garfunkel/ America

02. the temper trap/ Sweet Disposition

03. sondre lerche I Cannot Let You Go

04. elvis costello/ Beyond Belief

05. the shins/ New Slang

06. the kinks/ Everybody's Gonna Be Happy

07. rilo kiley/ Wires And Waves

08. beach house/ Used To Be

09. freelance whales/ Location

10. silverchair/ Waiting All Day

11. mew/ Repeater Beater

12. regina spektor/ Aching To Pupate

13. velvet underground/ After Hours

14. death cab for cutie/ Your Heart Is An Empty Room

15. the radio dept./ Pulling Our Weight

16. yeah yeah yeahs/ Cheated Hearts

17. the maccabees/ About Your Dress

17. mgmt/ Congratulations

18. local natives/ Who Knows, Who Cares

So that's what I've got so far. I'm still tweaking bits of it here and there, but I have some really great ideas for the design aspect of the project now too.

Sketches to come!

Cover to Cover

In addition to really enjoying design/jewelry/creating in general, another interest of mine, which I may have already talked about briefly, is music. I'm constantly in search of fresh soundscapes as I venture about my days, trying to satiate my thirst for the perfect sound to articulate the ever-evolving events, moods, and themes in my life. Lately I've been on a big Indie kick. It seems that the further I delve into this truly ceaseless musical rabbit hole, the more obscure my findings and interests become.

The more I think about it, the more I really feel like there's a strong relationship between music and design. There's always been a really strong tie there between sound and the visual representation thereof. Not to mention the fact that they are often each considered to be expressions of an ideal, of a feeling, a thought, an emotion...

It's really interesting to see the visual interpretations of an artist or band's work on their album covers. Some of it is really quite interesting - the use of certain materials, the typography, the construction methods, etc. That's why I think it's so important to hold on to them. We are so accustomed to the digital format of the mp3 that I feel like my generation is missing out on a pretty critical part of the entire musical experience. It's the tangible feel and crisp sound of that old LP and record player. It's just downright cool.

But let's face it, even CDs have long been on their way out...

That aside, it's definitely worth noting that record players have made a comeback in recent years due to their impeccable sound quality and our sentimental knack for all things retro (and maybe it's also sort of due to the boom of the nouveau-scenesters and music snobs and their penchant for re-inventing the wheel, but hey, I'm not complaining in this instance. Now, acid wash skinny jeans and day-glow band tees on the other hand - please direct me toward their suggestion box). On second thought, I'd prefer to think it has more to do with oldschool, seasoned record shop owners and music journalists helping the big wigs in the biz come to their senses about sound quality in the music industry these days. REGARDLESS of where this "born-again" interest comes from...

I think it's just downright cool.

You can hear every nuance, every subdued sound on every track. Not to mention, this is also keeping alive the relationship of design and music.

Album art!

I can remember spending hours on end going through my parent's LP collection in the basement...admiring the music and album artwork from the likes Michael Jackson, Janis Joplin, The Talking Heads, West Side Story (what what, Saul Bass), Queen, David Bowie...

And, yeah, I won't even lie, Xanadu was definitely among my parents' [read: my mom's] collection. And I listened to it. And I liked it. I don't hang my head in shame.

But anyway, it's just exciting to think that albums are making a comback. And thus, so is the beautiful artwork featured on the sleeves.

In celebration of the relationship between music and design, I just wanted to share a few album/CD covers I enjoy. They're kind of all over the place, so be warned.

Monday, monday

I really like this website.

Truly Addicting

I just finished another sketch on odopod.

Here's my "profile" thus far. There will be plenty more to come, I do declare.

odopod

I came across this website while browsing the blog of fashion illustrator, Danny Roberts. I think it may very well become my latest infatuation.

Here's my first quick test sketch:

This is a lot of fun. Whaddya think? :) There will most definitely be more to come. Cowabunga!

You were right.

When I was still in college I roomed with my good friend Whitney for two years in the dorms. We were usually pretty good about keeping our room relatively tidy, but our bedrooms at home were a tale of a different sort. As a result, her dad used to tease us all the time, telling us that he who lives in a cluttered world has a cluttered mind.

We'd laugh. Because beyond the comprehension of the casual observer lied a complex system of controlled, well-organized chaos as far as we were concerned. And I think most people our age would agree with this argument. It's true. Or, at least we used to think so.

Recently, I've found that nearly every time I'm in my bedroom with intentions of creating - whether it be paintings, poster designs, music mixes, blog postings, illustrations, what have you - I usually spend the majority of my time organizing and consolidating my possessions, my overabundance of "stuff," instead.

I have stuff everywhere and every time I turn around it seems as though it reproduces like a family of bunnies. It's crazy. And as a result I can't focus on my original intentions for stepping foot into my room. Instead, I'll spend hours consolidating old hand-outs from classes and art supplies and books and...miscellaneous "stuff." I don't even know what kind of stuff, just stuff. A random abundance of stuff. Before you know it, the afternoon has metamorphosed into evening, or evening has transferred into night, and my drive to create has dwindled because I've just spent my energies tidying my stuff. For instance, I spent two hours this afternoon reorganizing my chest of drawers containing most of my art supplies...and rearranging all of my nicknacks around my room.

Now I'm tired. I just want to throw Forgetting Sarah Marshall in, or turn the Science channel on, and fall asleep. But I won't. I'll continue to write until I feel like I've sufficiently made my point about having too much stuff and then I'll doodle until I fall asleep with my pen still in hand. Around three in the morning. Because that's what I always do.

But I think I've reached a comfortable point where things are consolidated and there is more breathing room in my room. More blank floor space. More empty air. And I feel like peace is starting to infiltrate these areas, areas where there was once "stuff." Papers, clothing, art supplies (predominantly), books, sketches, photographs...They are all seeking shelter in their rightful homes and I feel like I can once again carry about my business of creating.

Finally, thankfully.

It's strange how this transition from taking comfort in an organized mess to feeling an intense desire to have more breathing room has happened over time. I blame the abundance of negative space I often utilize in my design work. The contents of the page need breathing room, what can I say?

And I guess I do too.

I've recently found that it's significantly easier to focus on a task when my surroundings are neater, tidier. Especially if this task is creative in nature. If I'm surrounded by clutter, my ability to work becomes severely hindered.

And regardless of how much stuff I've kept from my various studio classes in college, and how much of this stuff I eventually find the strength to part ways with, I refuse to ever, ever, ever rid my life of the cardboard Jimmy Neutron bust I built in my 3D design class freshman year of college...

We Can Create Our Own World

I was just informed several days ago that an illustration I created for a friend's band is no longer being featured inside their CD booklet. Rather, it is being used for the album's cover art :)

The band is Deadhorse.

The music is instrumental post-rock. And I quite fancy it.

Follow them on Twitter.

Then follow my Twitter too.

In My Solitude.

While exploring the twitterverse earlier, I found this article posted in a tweet by a follower of the Sartorialist (I have a weakness for The Sartorialist blog and all things related to it...) It talks about common habits of creative people and I thought it was pretty interesting:

SOLITUDE.

Then, I found a link to another article that lists ways to harness your creativity. This is PERFECT, and I wish I would have come across it in October '09 when I was working on my self promotional piece for my thesis class. It's short and sweet, but it's really great:

THE LITTLE BUT REALLY USEFUL GUIDE TO CREATIVITY.

Read and enjoy.