dear stranger-friends,
it's been 2 months (or 2+ years) since I've written most of you. at some point in the last 5 years, you signed up for my letters.
I'll reintroduce myself again, and of course, please feel free to unsubscribe, visit my digital house, or write me back.
hello, I'm kening.
I make art of multi-forms (visual, film, words, analog) and guide others to walk the pathless creative journey through creative courses, sharing process & daily practice.
the places i came from
I was born in china, grew up in the american south, lived 9 years in nyc, then left (pre-pandemic, 2 years ago) to travel the world. I lived out of a suitcase and went to 9 countries.
this winter, I moved (decided to settle) in Istanbul.
my life consists of:
one-way tickets; flinging myself into the unknown; making art from the fall and the crash, continual reincarnations, past-life amnesia.
I keep a daily-ish creative journal to digest the life and the worlds I live into art.
I'm a super scorpio who likes to create in dark solitude and hermit under rocks, but air circulation is good for me, so...
this year i'll be writing more.
you can expect a letter every few weeks or so, where I'll share my creations, resources, ideas, fragments, inspirations.
... or, please, don't hesitate to unsubscribe here.
(a sunlit afternoon with pudding cake, at home)
in this letter, I'll share fragments from my last 4 months, including:
- art from my new life in istanbul
- collections of resources on the creative process & wellbeing rituals
- a 119 second film distillation of my 2021
- an animated love poem about sleep
- curated inspiration logs
- the weather in istanbul today
0 | a time-sensitive thing | an 8 day digital-house-building sprint
I'm teaching another round of house on the webs: an 8-day sprint to help kindred spirits build the essentialist 1.0 version of their websites. the process is iterative, generative, intense, but filled with light and play. I will hold your hand along the way. the next challenge starts on monday, and will be at launch price of $350 (normal fee $600).
1 | I moved to istanbul
a few months ago, I lived out of a backpack. now I have an apartment with a lease, furniture, and electrical appliances. this feels right to me. a longer story for later, but you can see how it happened here (january in 35 seconds) or browse entries from my istanbul journal.
all the simit at the bottom of the bosphorous (because people like to feed seagulls)
2 | my 2021 in 119 seconds
this 2 minute film is about dragging myself across six countries, and months lived like waking nightmares, turned into animations. I think it was probably the darkest year my psyche has survived, but I'm grateful because I landed in istanbul.
3 | I animated a love poem: variations on the word sleep by margaret atwood
an high school friend got married (<3 amelia) and though I couldn't come to her wedding, I said 'choose a poem and I'll animate it as a wedding gift for you.' I spent 30 hours over 3 days listening to her read this margaret atwood poem, and creating a (1:22 min) moving world for it. watch the film & see the process here.
4 | I spent autumn alone on the greek islands - on naxos & santorini
I spent two months of solitude on the greek islands -- in autumn -- because I needed a detox for my soul. detox by wind, the sound of crashing waves, and infinite blue. I spent my 30th birthday alone in santorini, and it was the best birthday I've had in my life.
locally grown pomegranates from naxos island. if i were a fruit, i'd definitely be a pomegranate.
5 | I'm organizing 7 years of resources: on wellbeing, creative rituals, & world-building
I started writing about the creative process in 2015, with this post on morning routines. after all these years of alternating structure and total chaos, I'm finally organizing my wild forest into well-marked footpaths for your creative journey. here are three:
my hand-shadow in my istanbul home, which wants to become a bird.
6 | an epilogue of things
- currently reading: alice in wonderland, by lewis carroll (i'm making a personal audiobook) and the delights of learning turkish (the best turkish language resource i've found)
- listening to: EGB by Orquestra Tipica and Deng by Mahya Hamedi
- thinking about: how peace talks are being held in turkey today, the turkish lira, experimental language school i want to build, how money is like water, making tutorials on creative tech, how many digital external brains i have (3).
- creating: a new patrons program, a digital zine about my web house building philosophy, a magic shop of intangible things, new digital collections about istanbul, an experimental travelogue, a secret audio book, a place where you can feed me.
- my istanbul home: will be open for your discovery, soon (digitally).
- today, the weather in istanbul: snowing, 1 C, or 34 F. I think it's the last snow of the winter.
thank you for recieving my origami note in a bottle. i'll send another in a few weeks.
and you
does it feel like spring where you are?
will you miss the cocooning time-freeze of winter?
or are you ready to water all of your intangible seeds?
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wishing you the last
snowflakes of the season
enchanted into doves~~ <3
kening