. . . Can Never Die

creaturexlll: Part III

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 02:24:34 -0500

Part III

Straylight Run with Jesse Lacey | Play Crack The Sky This...

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 16:50:11 -0500

Straylight Run with Jesse Lacey | Play Crack The Sky

This story’s old but it goes on and on until we disappear,
(This is the calm)
Calm me and let me taste the salt you breathed while you were underneath,
(We are the risen)
I am the one who haunts your dreams of mountains sunk below the sea,
(After the storm)
I spoke the words but never gave a thought of what they all could mean,
(Rest in the deep)
I know that this is what you want, a funeral keeps both of us apart.
(Washed up on the beach)
You know that you are not alone, I need you like water in my lungs.

scottlava: GREATEST SHOWDOWN HITS of 2012 Thanks for a great...

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 23:08:49 -0500

scottlava:

GREATEST SHOWDOWN HITS of 2012

Thanks for a great year, everyone. It has been fun making these showdowns for you. Let us look upon the showdowns that seem to have been the most popular this past year and reminisce!

Seriously, thank you for all the support with these little guys. Good times, my friends. Good times.

signed,

Scott C.

jessica-paradise: Lemony Snicket’s short letters for his dead...

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 23:43:06 -0500

jessica-paradise:

Lemony Snicket’s short letters for his dead ex-fiancee written in his books “A Series of Unfortunate Events”

spicyshimmy: from mountains to the deep. dragon age 3 concept...

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 19:14:32 -0500

spicyshimmy:

from mountains to the deep. dragon age 3 concept art. source.

Photo

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 12:55:35 -0500

Photo

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 15:15:20 -0500

austinkleon: The end of James Kochalka’s American Elf In case...

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 20:02:08 -0500

austinkleon:

The end of James Kochalka’s American Elf

In case you hadn’t heard, James Kochalka is quitting American Elf at the end of 2012. He gave his first interview about it to his local paper:

“‘Elf’ has so consumed my mind for 14 years, I’ve hardly thought about anything else… These 14 years, it’s been the great joy of my life, but it’s also been incredibly painful.”

[…] Kochalka says he’s sad about quitting, but notes, “I felt like I had to make some decision; [‘Elf’] wasn’t meant to be a life sentence. I just wanted to learn something about what it meant to be a human being.”

And did he? “I’ve been so busy drawing it, I’m not sure,” Kochalka admits with a laugh.

This bit reminded me of a commencement speech I read by Nick Flynn, where he talks about the idea of catharsis:

Aristotle, in his Poetics, never promised catharsis for the makers of art, only for the audience. The makers, on the other hand, have to find a way to become the person who can write the poem they need to write (Stanley Kunitz said that). This could be cathartic, or it could destroy you. But you can’t go into it hoping for catharsis.

In the original Greek the sense of the word catharsis was as a daily practice, that we woke up each day with who we were, and each day we had to find a way to carry ourselves through it. This contrasts with our more contemporary idea of catharsis (which I blame on a misreading of Freud) as a one-time event, a revelation, a light coming on in an empty room. In this version, once we find the switch to turn that light on, we then get to see clearly what it was in our pasts (mom, is that you?) that causes us to act the way we do, and then we are able to integrate it (her) into our lives, and we are healed.

And finally, that artists shouldn’t necessarily expect anything from their work:

Don’t expect to get anything from your own work. The [carrot at the end of the stick] is an illusion at best, but more than likely it is a cage. Feel what you feel as you make it, whatever that feeling is. Track it. Trust that you might bring some small cathartic moment to another human being. It might only be one other human being, or it might be a handful. And it might not be now, it might not be for a hundred years. Or ever. Even this has to be enough.

We’ve been given a great gift by James. (In a sense, if you count up all the fans and all the hours we’ve spent reading the strips, we’ve might have gotten way more out of it than he has.) So no more fretting about the end of American Elf. Let’s celebrate it. I’m gonna read my volumes of the books, admire my tiny painting, and be glad for the work James has done, and the work he’s still to do.

Thanks, James.

Photo

Sun, 16 Dec 2012 22:35:43 -0500

Sometimes it makes sense why Van Gogh killed himself.He was such...

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 14:50:52 -0500

Sometimes it makes sense why Van Gogh killed himself.
He was such an amazing painter, but no one around him believed it.

nesses: “My love, I’ve been searching for my Afterman.If he’s...

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 21:15:31 -0500

nesses:

“My love, I’ve been searching for my Afterman.
If he’s not here then where?”

I’ve been listening to the latest Coheed and Cambria CD way too often lately, I love the entire concept of it and the idea of now following Sirius Amory’s story.
The song that really sticks out to me on it is the title track, The Afterman, which is weird because I usually like their rowdier songs. I couldn’t shake this image from my mind so naturally I had to put it down on paper.
Decided I should get some digital painting practice in as well! I really learned a lot on this piece. It’s fun to experiment for the sake of experimenting.

I got some cool stuff going on at my art blog!! Check it!

Photo

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 19:46:59 -0500

queenofsunspear: The Secret of Kells

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 00:30:34 -0500

queenofsunspear:

The Secret of Kells

arkhane: How to Train Your Dragon fan art: Lovin’—Thank You,...

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 00:28:54 -0500

arkhane:

How to Train Your Dragon fan art: Lovin’—Thank You, Matching Parts, Well, Most of him- and Recovery

Art by toerning

Photo

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 18:16:16 -0500

Akira

Akira - Detail

psshaw: killapede: to hell with finals Oh my...

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 13:42:59 -0500

psshaw:

killapede:

to hell with finals

Oh my GOODHDHOGOOHOFFFFDDDDDHSHHHH.

Photo

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 13:40:50 -0500

Photo

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 13:24:38 -0500

uknohaooo: celinatheasian: HOLY SIHT OMG GFDSKFSKDJFHKSDJHF...

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 21:25:09 -0500

uknohaooo:

celinatheasian:

HOLY SIHT OMG GFDSKFSKDJFHKSDJHF LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.,

prancer gpoy

Everything about this

showslow: Is there a way of ensuring that a work of art or...

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 11:24:52 -0500

showslow:

Is there a way of ensuring that a work of art or literature won’t survive? Shelley Jackson thinks there is, and is out to prove it with SKIN, a project she calls A mortal work of art.

In the summer of 2003 Jackson put out a quiet call for volunteers. Each volunteer would agree to have a word from her 2095-word story tattooed somewhere on his or her body. The story is a closely guarded secret and the volunteers are able to read it only after they’ve been inked.

Jackson encourages potential volunteers to read her other works, especially her short stories, but if she has her way, the complete text of SKIN will never be made publicly available, in print or online.

The first tattooed word (SKIN, the story’s title) is on Jackson’s own wrist and subsequent words are slowly being issued in story order, based upon applications Jackson feels speak to her.

Over 10,000 volunteers for her project have poured in from all around the world. Mothers and daughters have requested words together as a bonding experience and groups of friends have asked for words in sequence to form a sentence. Thus far, Jackson has accepted 1875 applications, has received a total of almost 22,000 emails and has proof of 553 inked words.

Once a word has been tattooed, the person then “becomes” the word and Jackson refers to her “words” as someone else might speak of their own children.

Jackson isn’t fussy about the final incarnation of her work. She says if she doesn’t find enough participants, the incomplete version will be considered definitive. If she hadn’t received any volunteers at all, the call itself would have been the work.

To attempt to define exactly what her work is begs some interesting questions. Is it literary? If this story were printed on paper it would certainly be called a literary work and not a work of art, but conversely “words” do not usually have jobs and paint their nails and do the washing up.

From that perspective it’s easy to see a whimsical element of performance art, and it cannot be denied that this project is far more visually interesting than the average novella.

The most fascinating element of SKIN, be it literary or artistic, is its transient nature. The story may never be fully realised, as it seems possible that before the last word has been “born” one of the others may have died.

And the author is quite aware that many of her words could outlive her. But this seems to be part of her grand design, an integral part of her artistic vision: “As words die the story will change; when the last word dies the story will also have died. The author will make every effort to attend the funerals of her words.”

(Via).