Month: December 2020

Creative Process

What Value Matters Most?

by Sidewalk Face at Eagle-Crow-Owl3 Comments on What Value Matters Most?
What Value Matters Most?

Kindness.

Essay done.

Okay, that’s true for me personally, but I’m asking in regard to the creative process not human relationships. Here’s why.

Voyage LA magazine did a profile on me in 2018. A few weeks ago, they asked if I wanted to participate in their Shoutout Series by answering one of several questions. Well doesn’t that just sound super up my alley! I would love to, thanks! I select What value or principle matters most? Would you have rather heard the answer to: What’s the end goal? Where do you want to be professionally by the end of your career? The answer to that one is easy; I want to have made an absolute ton of art and I want to die suddenly while doing it. I don’t want to be anywhere professionally, hopefully I will die on my own free time. Not up to me though and I definitely don’t want advance knowledge. I do however, very much want to know the answer to the question I’ve chosen, but what is it?

I sit down to write it out and get this: Repetition. Repetition. Repetition. Cute start but then nothing else comes. I know repetition is important, but it doesn’t seem very inspiring. I move to intuition, much more mysterious. Maybe too mysterious? I need to write something that helps people foster that value and don’t know how one can become more intuitive. Could observation get the job done?

I throw all three out to my Instagram friends. What do they think? Should I write about Repetition, Intuition or Observation? A wealth of thoughtful reponses helped me see all three were related. If for some reason you are a curious weirdo (I know I am so it’s not a slur) you can read their insightful responses here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CIYVPgyHqmh/

The overwhelming consensus was observation. I was leaning that way anyhow so it’s a slam dunk. I am going to write that one. Because it’s for a general audience that doesn’t know about Sidewalk Face, my offering will probably be a bit light so I’ll also attempt a deeper dive here, for you guys, and really try and nail down once and for all how these three skills interact and contribute to the creative process.

Will post more when more has been accomplished!

Food, Humor

What would you do with a quart of sour half and half?

by Sidewalk Face at Eagle-Crow-Owl4 Comments on What would you do with a quart of sour half and half?
What would you do with a quart of sour half and half?

Picture an unopened container, the classic waxed cardboard type, not plastic, that expired several days ago and has been left to sit out on the dish drain unrefrigerated for several days.

Response #1

Slowly pour it down the drain while running water.

Response #2

Place in nearly full garbage can. Then heap additional garbage on top so that the container can no longer be seen. Make sure the topping garbage is threatening to spill out in such a way that no additional garbage can confidently go in. Leave this situation for wife to discover when she is trying to put new garbage into the bin.

This wife has a great technique for creating more space. She compacts the garbage by gently folding the bag’s upper flaps over each other and then stepping on it with all her weight. Normally this gets you another half day of usage before needing to take outside. Normally this does not ruin your Nike sneakers.

It’s like the garbage masturbated on my shoe with spoiled milk. Ewh!

So that’s what that low base pompf sound was.

Creative Process, Striving to Be Better

Tough Year Photo Album – Make the Obstacle the Solution

by Sidewalk Face at Eagle-Crow-Owl2 Comments on Tough Year Photo Album – Make the Obstacle the Solution
Tough Year Photo Album – Make the Obstacle the Solution

We can’t see the grandmothers this year. You know why. You probably have a similar problem. I’ve been trying to figure out what I can do to make it one degree less sucky. I had an idea that we could make them a photo album. I used to do this every year and they loved it. It’s so easy when you have a toddler. Toddlers are adorable. It practically makes itself. We aren’t as cute as we used to be, but I bet the grandmothers won’t care.

I quickly gathered up the mish mash of 2020 and imported to Shutterfly. They do their best to “help” get your book going and immediately I had some spreads to look at. They put the absolute worst photo on the cover. It’s an iPhone selfie of us three all masked up. You can’t see any facial features except eyes and I’m thwarting that with dark sunglasses. Everyone looks awkward and unhappy. This was my Aha! moment. Lean into the awful! Make the obstacle the solution! This stupid photo album would showcase our stupid year. I’ll keep the masks on the cover!

Here’s some of the text that accompanied the spreads:

• 2020 was a tough year

• We had to learn to wear masks

• We were online a lot – so many pictures of us staring into screens. Normally super boring but now thematically on point!

• We also played games and did puzzles. We wish we could have done some of them with you. – Still wishing that.

• We made a lot of treats and watched the first woman become VP – We happened to have a photo of us watching the Biden/Harris acceptance speech with freshly baked cookies on the table. Otherwise those two categories would have stayed separate.

There was other text, but you get the idea. It was actually fun to play up the negative. Black humor is a weapon against bleakness. That’s what creativity is really good for, turning poop into fertilizer. It’s a transformative act that takes the worst and makes it the best. Every tv show and movie is built around conflict. Drama sucks but it’s interesting when filtered through story so take your drama and make it amuse you. I know our grandmas will like it. They are the ones who taught us to view the glass as half full.