Just cleaning up my house and picking up all the books.
Some days it blows me away that I've read them all (not just read them, I've been highlighting, rewriting and memorising them too).
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| Giant mushroom sculptures I made for a festival. Check Youtube link below. |
I never used to be a big reader. I read most of Clive Barker and a bit of science fiction as a young man, but after that there was a long hiatus. But now I'm fairly well read on some topics. It sometimes feels a bit weird getting into long term goals a bit late in life once you start seeing the results.
The past ten or twenty years have past for me just as quickly as for everyone else. It feels like only yesterday I was struggling with drugs and depression with no real life-defining goals.
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| One of my many hand drawn memes. |
It feels good, but when I look at the stack of books it blows me away some days. Same with the art actually. I've done a few decent commercial pieces I can be proud of and loads and loads of drawings, sculptures, 3D and digital work.
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| One of my commercial pieces. A papercraft cake decoration. Got compliments from a famous chef for this one. |
People like to make me feel like I'm a not contributing because I don't have a job. It's so pervasive that I do have trouble not letting it get to me. That's one of the reasons I like to surround myself with my own art (on my walls at home) and books. When I'm feeling that way I can just look around and say quite confidently to myself "how many people can say they've accomplished all that?".
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| Storyboard for a music video 1 |
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| Storyboard for a music video 2 |
I also spend a fair bit of time and money helping out people on the street. Even though I can't make my own ends meet I usually put around $20 a fortnight into suspended coffees so people can get a free coffee and I also give away around $20-$40 worth of tobacco to homeless people (I know many people might not consider that "help", but these guys are picking up butts from the street and it's the one thing they can't get assistance for. In the situation a lot of them are facing, give them a fucking cigarette I reckon).
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| A sculpture I made as a gift for my favourite book shop. |
I also put myself in considerable danger and go to a fair bit of effort to try and make the block of flats where I am more livable. Thanks to my efforts it's a lot more peaceful, a lot cleaner and a lot safer around here than in a lot of housing flats (much to the chagrin of some of my more aggressive neighbors). I also take time to try and assist the mentally ill in my neighboring flats.
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| Cover art I designed for an independent horror movie currently available in Germany. |
I may be getting government assistance, but as far as I'm concerned it doesn't cover a fraction of what the things I contribute are worth.
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| Just for size, this is a collaborative piece i did that got some good comments from David Walsh. It was used for projection mapping. See you tube link below. |
I shouldn't feel guilty about that, but unfortunately the anti-job prejudice all around me is so pervasive it's a hard feeling to shake no matter what I do.
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