The Art of Writing

I haven't written much about the mixed-media project I've been working on. I've posted a lot of the completed works, and I introduced the concept back when I started working on it, but the process is something I've wanted to share with you. It's been such an important part of why I've enjoyed working on it so much these past few months. 

Being a visual project, the images are extremely important. It's the biggest visual art project I've worked on it years and I've been loving this new outlet. But the writing aspects are equally important to me. I've been employing a cut-up technique in the writing part. I search though batches of text for a word or string of words that infuse the story portrayed in the image. Sometimes a string of words end up on my "thinking board" and inspires the selection of images that will be pieced together.

I've arranged the text into piles of small, medium and large font. Once I make a word choice, I dig into the corresponding font pile and search for completing pieces until the phrase captures the theme. I never try to force it, and never for look for a particular word (with the exception of a conjunction or article). There have been some times where I've spent as much time on the word puzzles as I did on the picture puzzle.

I use this title as starting point for the stream of consciousness pieces that follow. It's a kind of free writing style that I used to do all the time, and it's been great revisiting it without having to worry about coherency and plot structure. At the same time, there is a plot trajectory within the project as a whole. Each spread or page are pieces designed to borrow from the "hymn" structure of the book I'm altering.

The original book was hymnal and the poems in my project are meant to follow that genre or storytelling. They are little vignettes of a vast fantasy about the evolution of imagination as a magical power in children, and the empire of science and brutality attempting to destroy it. It is the fantasy of the main character in a novel I'm in the early stages of working on. 

I realized early on that I needed to transcribe the words before putting them into the book. Often they become illegible once I incorporated them into the artwork so that the words become part of the visual. There are at least two completed ones that that I don't know for sure what is written. Now I write the stream of words on a piece of a scrap paper, trying not to think too much about them.

Under My Wings

Under My Wings

A

promise

of 

peace

as far as

the shadow of 

my wings can spread

and that all

imaginative 

sins of self-exploration

will be 

           forever

                     blessed.

 

Silent Explorers

 

Silent Explorers

Every you & every me, sitting in a tree.

K - I - S - S -I - N - G                   

                                         games now broadcast on screen for the whole world to see.                     

Spy on your neighbors,

Spy on your friends,      

             Never allow their secrets                          

                            to belong to them.

 The Day of Worrisome Synergy

A habit of learned behavior  accelerates when self-created . . 

and evolutionary war instincts take hold inside

                                                              Magic Creatures.

New Holy wars are born in the conflict . . in which

Angels arrive and Angels die.

Devils always remain the same . . 

    living somewhere out of time.

Time is Coming Apart

 Time is Coming Apart

What happens before will happen again

What is to become will come another way.

There is a split in time,

       a tearing of the pages that reconnect in a series of new unexpected events.

The time has come for time to come apart . . 

    for time to become art . .

    for art to be alive in the form of children with insect eyes . .

Seeing multitudes . .

Seeing the future and the past,

    but the present falters in a haze. 

Autonomous Weapons Systems, Determining How we Relate to Other People

 

Autonomous Weapons Systems, Determining How we Relate to Other People

Assemble your doom: Instructions for Cyborg Control Unit

Annihilator cannons to be placed symmetrically,

    hazardous wiring if mis-aligned.

Hive mind to be installed. 

Dismantling of your dreams, comes with assembling your nightmares.

give in . . give up . .

give them all you can.

Let it rain on anything you've begun to love

and never remember what it means to be loved.

Imagine the Mind of Paper

 

Imagine the Mind of Paper

In the pages of your notebook, 

in the words written is where the tortured find a place to dwell

Where dreams take shape, 

free from the watchful eyes of the cyborg dictators,

free of the judgements of those with small minds.

A place of creative reprise.

But these dreams are built with flimsy trees and washable ink

Paper houses and paper faces are easy to burn,

are easily discerned,

and brought into the harsh existence of days made not of paper

but of dusks and dawns,

of suns and secrets that are not easily kept when the paper is exposed for all.

We All Dream of Human Hybrid Mutations

 

"We all Dream of Human Hybrid Mutations"

 

Iridescent fins sweep the sea . . create the waves

and spread the disease of imaginary beings.

We are better than pure in our new forms . .

we are free . . through the act of creation

we reproduce and get dirty

creating a new race of alterations.

Some Heavenly Theme of angels with butterfly wings . . 

of boys with horse half things and girls with scaly fins . .

of cyborgs and other contolling beings.

 

Rejoice!

 

But know you've done a very seriously bad thing.

You dared to dream.

You dared to dream.

You dared to dream.

You dared to dream...

Hymns for the Living...

 

 

 

I've been working on a book alteration project over the last few weeks. It's been therapeutic to work on a creative project that isn't just writing. But that's not to say it isn't writing. I conceived this piece as a scrapbook of ideas that the main character of a project I'm working on might create. 

 

The themes are themes that run through the manuscript. Hymns for the Living. Hymns for the Dead is his view of the world as he descends into the madness of his own imagination. I hope to share more of these over time, but wanted this to serve as an introducion.

 

 

Gone, but not Forgotten

Twenty four years ago, I found myself in Munich, Germany...drinking heavily at the famed Munich Putsch beer hall as any reasonable 18 year old would. Upon returning to the hotel that night, I got off the elevator on my floor and was greeted by a friend who told me that Kurt Cobain had been found dead. My reaction at that time was not one of shock or utter grief. Though I was saddened, it didn't strike me as unexpected. After all, the prior months had been a cycle of attempted suicide, rehab, and illustrated a general downward spiral that seemed destined for the same end result. 

Over the next year, Kurt's music would make a profound impact on my life. It already had prior to his death, but it grew afterwards. Nirvana had been a favorite band of mine, but it was the following year in college when I suffered my first real intense period of depression, and during that time, Kurt's music was a comfort. It was from him that I truly learned to turn many of my darkest thoughts into artistic expression as a form of coping. 

To this day, his music still sounds fresh to me, despite having listened to everything he ever recorded so many times that I know every note, it remains impactful. That is the thing about art, it survives even after the artist doesn't. It's how we achieve immortality. Though for those close, it does little to ease the pain of loss, something I've learned in these 24 years since.

Fiction Friday (56)

As I mentioned in the last Fiction Friday, I recently began reading James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake and it's just about as impenetrable as I expected. While I'm continuing to read it, very slowly, I took a quick break and spent the other day reading a children's graphic novel that I bought when it came out. It sat on my shelf for years, and little did I know that in the meantime, it has become kind of a phenomenon. After reading it, I can see why.

Zita the Spacegirl: Book One Far from Home by Ben Hatke
(First Second, 2010)

Some of my favorite stories are ones where children accidentally find themselves in middle of a chaotic situation only to discover that they are the hero the story has been searching for. When a mysterious device transports Zita to another world on the brink of disaster, she must rely on her own instincts and courage to rescue her friend. 

Despite the obvious peril looming over this strange new place, Zita remains determined to save her friend who has been captured by a group of aliens who believe the little boy is destined to save the planet. Her kind spirit wins over other outcasts like herself, and with a bit of luck and a lot of grit, the reader is never in doubt of her ability to succeed. But that's not to say the action isn't any less enthralling.

This is easily one of the best graphic novels targeted to children that I've encountered. Unlike much of the releases in recent years, this was obviously conceived of as a graphic novel and relies on the interplay between the art and the text to tell a deeper, more complicated story, which is what graphic novels do best. The story is adventurous, suspenseful, and witty...three perfect ingredients for a children's book. Though the main character is the clear star, each of the major characters are well developed and lovable. Superb storytelling in every way!

Little Red

Little Red by Beatriz Martin Vidal
(Logos, 2012)

I recently received this absolutely stunning wordless picture book that tells the tale of Little Red Riding Hood in all of its darkness. Beatriz Martin Vidal is one of the artists that I've been enamored with over the past few years, and this books reminds just why I've been so blown away. The paintings are intense, the fear and mystery is palpable. And the altered ending creates a story where Red triumphs on her own, destroying the wolf simply by the pureness of her being. Breathtaking and beautiful. 

A Story Heard and Seen

My approach to writing has always been a multi-media experience. It's not uncommon to ask a writer what his or her favorite book is, or which writers have influenced them. While these are valuable questions, they will never give readers a full picture of the writer's craft, at least not for me. That's because books are not the most inspirational art form when it comes to the way I approach writing. Literature was crucial in my early development of style and structure, but so was music and images.

Whenever I start a project, part of my note taking process includes collecting images that will inspire me. It's not unusual for me to translate an image into words and insert my characters among the chaos they depict. My imagination is very visual, and for me a picture is literally worth more than a thousand words. I always aim to create a story that the reader will be able to see clearly.

Music has always been the way I set tone. When I'm working, I chose albums that generate a similar mood within me that I hope to project into the work. For me, it's important that a piece of literature cause the reader to share the same emotions that the character is feeling. The rhythm of the words, the language that is used, all this helps achieve these ends. I wouldn't be able to do this with the sounds that steer me through the pages.

Writing like any other art is one that borrows from all sources. It's not something created in a vacuum of the imagination. It everything around the artist filtered through the imagination.

The Movie Game

The other day I went to the movies and saw Kingsman. Going into it, I didn't know much about it, only that it was based on a graphic novel which I hadn't read and directed by the same person who did Kick Ass, a movie which I'd seen and found to be entertaining. As it turned out, this movie was also entertaining. The action scenes were done well, the story had enough traction and there were enough tongue in cheek quips about its own cliche elements to let the viewer know it wasn't taking itself so seriously. However, that's kind of the problem. 

This film, like many I've seen over the past few years, felt very much like watching a video game. There were action scenes, which were the game play, and then exposition or plot advancement scenes, which would be the prerecorded elements in a game. Everything took place on the surface. The characters didn't have any hidden motives. There was no subtle interactions. It was all right out in front of the viewer. There weren't even underlying themes to the movie. It was simply two hours of entertainment to be absorbed and then dismissed.

Kingsman is another in a long, long line of Hollywood type of movies made for instant gratification, meant to be forgotten hours after leaving the theater. It seems in recent years that blockbuster movies are made to be disposable. One of the previews before the movie highlighted that very point. Coming this year is Fantastic Four, essentially a remake of a movie that was made only ten years ago. Not a sequel. Not a new chapter. It's the same damned thing, thus making the first one disposable.

One could say that the idea of blockbusters has always been that way, but I don't think that's true. Looking back on films from my childhood, movies like RoboCop, Back to the Future, even Top Gun, there were other elements going one. The films were made to be remembered. I honestly believe that this idea of appealing to the video game culture is hurting movies. As video games become more like movies, there is no reason to make the movies more like games. It's just not good film making.

The World of Animal Children

Over the past two months, I've started drawing and painting again. I used to do a lot of drawing, but in the last few years I haven't made the time, focusing instead on digital collage and a few basic character sketches. What I forgot in that time was how much the artistic process can inspire my writing process. By working on an art piece, it leads my mind in different directions and invites stories to be born.

I've recently finished a series of half-animal, half-children illustrations titled The World of Animal Children. It's a theme that's always intrigued me. I wrote an entire chapter book series on the premise after all. (Of course, CatKid was included.) Currently I have a renewed conviction that artists must have multiple outlets in order to keep their imagination fresh.

Fun in Philly

It's that time of year again...the Art Star Craft Bazaar is happening this weekend at Penn's Landing in Philadelphia. The Missus will have a booth there, selling her wonderful clothes (You can see them here). Beyond clothes, there are many amazing things to see here. It's like a museum, but you can touch the stuff and actually bring it home if you like. (Here's some of the cool things I found last year.)

If you're in Philly, definitely come by. And I'll be hanging out in booth #62 if you want to swing by and say hey.

Life is But a Dream...(Teaser 3)

- In the center of my collage is a black-and-white photograph of a mother and young daughter hugging in the snow at night. They are wearing heavy winter coats and ribbons in their hair because the picture is supposed to be of a scene in the 1800s and that was the way most girls and women wore their hair, I suppose. Around the photography, I glued pictures of flowers I'd cut from the stacks of magazines Mrs. Weaver set out for us to use. The flowers are bright and colorful against the black-and-white snow. I painted the sky with watercolors, I used dark purples and blues and painted them really wet so that the colors ran together in interesting shapes. I used a little bit of pink paint on the girl's cheeks. - Life is But a Dream pages 71-72

It's now only two short months before my novel comes out. I'm still very excited about it. It seems most readers are responding positively. I enjoy that. It's not so much about wanting something you write to be adored, it's more about knowing that people out there really got what you trying to say. So far, I'm pretty happy about that.

One of the big subplots in the book is the main character's struggle to separate art from reality. In a way it mirrors my own struggle of doing that during my teenage years. That's a theme that runs throughout my books, this idea that we dream so hard for what we imagine that sometimes we get lost in what is truly around us.

* The quoted passage was inspired by a photo still of Meet me in St. Louis which I manipulated to look like the above picture.

Old Habits Are Hard to Make

I mentioned before how with this new project I'm working on, I decided to write a little more freely, allowing the characters and story to dictate where it was going. So far, it's been working out great. The opening fifty pages or so really blossomed into a world far more interesting than I ever could have planned. Many small details emerged just in passing that have become key elements to the story. This isn't exactly new for me. The same thing happened quite a bit when writing Life is But a Dream (out in just several months now). But with that book, they were within a more rigid plan that I had to begin with. I had only a basic plan here.

Of course, after writing sixty pages and having all of these elements beginning to take shape, I couldn't resist falling into old habits. I needed to spend a day figuring out what all of these elements meant. I knew they were all working together, but it was important for me to figure how before I messed it all up. I'm glad to say I did. And the story--it goes on.

(ARTWORK by Chen Ke: an amazing Chinese artist whose work I saw on exhibit in Switzerland)

The Strange Places That I Visit

I've been writing about an interesting world in the new project I'm working on. It takes place in an limbo-like afterlife, giving me a lot of space for invention. When I first starting taking notes on this project last month, a lot of the pre-work was making sure I figured out this place and all its oddity. One of the things that influenced my vision of this world was an exhibit I saw in Switzerland of Chinese artists. The work of Yang Yongliang in particular caught my attention. It was so in line with the idea I was trying to formulate. It's been a big influence in the shape the project has taken.

ArtStar Craft Bizarre

A few weekends ago, I spent the days in Philly helping the missus at her booth for the ArtStar Craft Bizarre--a two day event featuring over a hundred vendors of materials ranging from clothes to pottery to artwork to toys, mostly all handmade and all original. In a world where the same junk is sold on the streets of NYC as in the shops of Dubai, there's very little to get excited about. It's the same crap everywhere. That's what I love about these kind of places. You can find some really unique things. I thought I'd share some of my favorites from the events.

Horrible Adorables: These creations were amazing. Felted stuffed animal heads mounted on plaques. There was a fox that was incredible. Check out her stuff online here. (Postcard at the top of the page).

Marlo the Loyal Dog: These were great prints and postcards featuring a really great looking dog in really striking places. Check out the website here, there's a new Marlo comic on the blog every week.

Miss Millie Porcelain Wares and Wearables: This is some of my favorite stuff ever. I already have one of the porcelain heads, a bowl and a vase. I still need a mug. Check out this amazing stuff at her etsy store here.

Kerri Conrad: Some really interesting fine arts pieces. I really enjoyed the style of the line drawings and how they worked with the more fantastical mixed media set pieces. Check out her site here.

Phil Barbato: I've always been a stuffed animal nut ever since I was a kid and these might be some of most original I've seen in years. These monsters are really appealing, clever, but yet remain cute (Kids were gobbling these up at the fair). Check them out here.

Meerwiibli - Saving the best for last, my wife's stunning handmade clothing. Check all her creations here.