Whittling
This was a regularly-sized pencil a few months ago:
Just a pencil collecting dust on a shelf in the laundry.
But it could have been any of my stationery from the last few years. Like my charcoal pencil I bought shortly after moving to the US and leaving behind: hardly used, four years later.
Here's how my new, three week old, charcoal pencil is going:
At this rate it'll be done by middle of September.
This is all to say that—although I feel like I've lacked creative momentum lately—rhythms are being maintained. Rhythms that didn't exist until around March.
That felt drop in momentum is likely from the honeymoon period ending; where it becomes just 'work'. Where I usually lose interest and move on to the next thing. When the next novel thing usually takes focus.
Not this time. Thanks for holding me accountable through your involuntary subscription.
Drawn
Like pencils, I've been smashing through notebooks. Here's a slither of what's taking up those pages:
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Blind pencil contour drawings during video calls or movies help 'break' the paper for me. That probably explains the still-continuing obsession with faces.
I can't explain the colour obsession. It might be from having grown up during Ken Done's heyday, or from seeing some of Henri Matisse's work along the way. At least I now know what to call it.
Made
I mentioned earlier that I've been thinking about design's role in the pandemic, particularly for signage in public spaces and transport. Museum of COVID is my stab at preserving this graphic design history, from a 1.5 metre distance.
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Putting something half-baked out into the world is unlike me. It freaks me out. I only took the plunge because I added someone on Instagram whilst accidentally logged into a then-empty, placeholder, @museumofcovid account. Actually starting the project was easier than explaining future aspirations.
We're now two and a half weeks after that premature birth. Friends and strangers are sending in so many pictures that I can't keep up (but do keep sending, please). Similar accounts are uploading pictures from their corners of the world, highlighting foreign customs and approaches that can only be appreciated digitally.
This project is evolving in unexpected ways; evolving my approach to all projects in the process. Getting signal early has saved me from wasting probably dozens (maybe hundreds) of hours making the wrong thing. It's also just more fun to work with friends than it is hoping they react well to a laborious project you're unveiling only at its completion.
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Heard
Stranger Still by Vetiver for workday listening.
St. Cloud by Waxahatchee for bittersweet vibes.
#88 Derek Sivers: Innovation Versus Imitation for podcast wisdom.
Thought
Art is everything that you don't have to do.