This is the space for our members to discuss and share their creative projects, ranging from written works to drawings, photography, and even craft projects such as knitting and woodworking. Self promotion is welcome (websites where we can view and/or purchase your work). Please do continue to preface if content is NSFW and be sure to properly spoiler/link such content.
Gearing up for work to get busier this weekend (the undergrads are moving back and football season starts soon) and am, if things work out, presently riding my bike around Detroit. Trying as always to square my artistic ambitions with the physical and mental (don’t laugh) demands of my restaurant job and wondering, too, whether I’m aiming to do too much. One of my big resolutions at the start of 2020 was to slow down my output a bit as I felt like I’d been making up for lost time with trying to be prolific. The next couple of years made that a little ridiculous for obvious reasons, but it feels like I’m at a point again where it might be a good idea, at least when it comes to painting (and my reliance on sketching has cut into the finished work at any rate).
Another resolution (from earlier) was to look into joining some kind of local artistic organization or community. The nearest and most obvious local option felt a little off for various reasons (I was less bothered about its super-“bougie” affect than I was that none of the other local artists I knew or liked were part of it), and that was before it mysteriously folded for nebulous “administrative” reasons a year or so back. Another, the Scarab Club in Detroit, felt far more up my alley (a suspicion confirmed last Wednesday after visiting their Plein Air Challenge exhibition, something that’s become a beloved annual tradition of mine), but I’ve been hesitant to try and join given the murky cultural politics (that I imagine I personally exaggerate) surrounding the Detroit art world, whether professional or amateur.
One potential halfway option is the Ypsilanti Fine Arts Club, partially based on the Detroit Fine Arts Club (famed for their evening “breakfasts”), which meets twice a month for public showings and discussion. I came within a hair of going last time, but chickened out at the last minute. They’re showing again tomorrow, and I’ll hopefully make a point of following through this time (this also gives me a great excuse to just dick around Ypsi for the day, something I haven’t done in maybe years). A lot going on, and it’s a good thing in a weird way (and reflective of how good-weird this year has been) that I’ve kind of missed my traditional “quiet August.” Septembers have really shaped up for me the past couple of years; maybe October’ll surprise me this time.
Header image this week is a painting! Watercolor and gouache on paper, and still untitled, but it’s part of a small crop I’ve got underway that’ll hopefully see me steadily to year’s end.
How’s your work going?