Daily Practice

Artistic Accounting Week 10

Another week has gone by, and according to the Year Progress Twitter account, 19% of the year is completed. What did I do this week? I got some good progress on the Model of Picasso at the Lapin Agile for Ann’s lighting class. It was fun to make the painters elevation in PhotoSHop. I feel like it wasn’t too bad and a doable thing to do for a regular scene design (as in for a real show). Whipped up some simple model furniture pieces. They are printing.

I was able to get father along on my new office furniture as well. Got two pieces cut out on the CNC, not just to fit them together. I think I will just do a clear coat, but they might look good with a bit of color mixed in, to make each stand out. I also bought the Plywood for the table. So I just need to double check the drawers and then I could cut that out too.I have also drawn out the stackable boxes that will fit inside each box. I think they will work out great. and I can get 9 out of one sheet of Luan. This might be something, that if it works out, that could be worth selling the digital files for. I think it would have a draw.

I also got some research done on my Taliesin West theater/dance article. Just need to compare some more images and figure out the best way of comparing the different sketches from the book. It would be great to get a lot of that article done before the summer. then I could work on a new article over the summer and front load the next thing.

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Write your own sequel- Austin Kleon

Saw Austin Kleon’s post called ‘Write your own sequel’. It is real good advice for some creative artists. That if you see something and want more of it, then start making it. That advice makes a lot of sense when you are a musician, or writer. But when you are an interpretive artist like a theater designer, how does that fit in? We always are reacting to a previously made work, like a play or musical. So Don’t we have to wait for our next play to land in our laps?

What can I do now to not wait? I have article ideas and a online course idea. But now after Shawn Paul’s suggestion, I think I have a new play I want to direct.

I think I answered my own question…

Bit of the ordinary

Artistic Accounting Week 9

It has been yet another busy week. But not too bad. Got some more done of the Tetris inspired boxes. Now ready to make the V-Carve files and buy some wood. Got a FLW book thru interlibrary loan, Taschen’s Volume 3 of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Complete Works. Has a lot of great images in there on the works towards the end of his life. Didn’t have anything about the Music Pavilion at Taliesin West though. But it will be great to compare the various designs of theaters throughout the years. Some good closeups of Furniture draftings. Including the Origami Chair. Even made a scale paper model of it. I think I can adapt it for CNC manufacturing. I wonder how much FLW would have agreed with digital fabrication. He was focused on bespoke, custom work most of the time. Which was equated with hand crafting in his lifetime. But at the same time the onset of power tools made things a lot easier. In fact the Shops at Taliesin West were some of the first things finished.

Another bit of work done this week was combing thru the Taliesin West Preservation Master Plan. Which has a great detailed history of the different buildings and their various iterations. There are also some great appendices at the end with images. Draftings of the various stages of the major buildings, which includes the Music Pavilion. Interesting to see.

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Daring Fireball: F*** Facebook

Treat Facebook as the private walled garden that it is. If you want something to be publicly accessible, post it to a real blog on any platform that embraces the real web, the open one.

This is a good point, one repeated by others. If you are dependent on the web for your work, maintain an independent website. And everything you post in FB is locked in there and relies on their whims to access.

Source: Daring Fireball: Fuck Facebook

Daily Practice

Artistic Accounting Week 7 & 8

This is another double post, since last week I was bringing students to Chicago for the annual #WLUthtrbinge. So each day was leading students around to meet people and see shows. It was a pretty great trip. I wa pretty nervous about it at first. On the 16th, Jemma said she might have the flu and not be able to make it. The Idea of being in charge of 10 students on an itinerary I did not make (she arranged all the meals/locations) in a city I haven’t navigated by mass transit in forever, well it seemed quite daunting. But in the grand scheme of things it wasn’t that bad. Google maps helps you figure out which ‘L’ line to use and how to get to them. And Jemma pushed thru the sickness with some medicine. It made me think that leading a bunch of students around London next year won’t be too bad.

Art wise, I did a loose sketch of the Chicago skyline and mailed to Dick Sessoms, the fund for the trip is in his honor, but he couldn’t make it this year. And I worked on my carrying box for LittleBits, but I realized that I need to change it all. The minimum size I want it to be is slightly =bigger than the 1/8″ material I was planning on using. So I have to redraw it in Luan. Which means changing all the thicknesses and since the pieces interlock, that means redrawing the whole thing.

So I put that to the side and worked on my Tetris inspired shelves/storage units. I have done two of the shapes, and am thinking if I want them all to have doors. I am starting with the easy ones to have doors. I saw on OpenDesk a door hinge idea that uses no hardware, and just carefully placed pockets. We will see if it is feasible to do it on the others. It might look cleaner if I can ‘close’ them. You know, look less visually cluttered? Anyway, Should they be wood toned or painted?

This week will be the real test of getting work done. If I can keep on track it will be good. And not just dither away my time. It can be hard to focus sometimes you know?

the Blog of Owen Collins