What’s up freaknation!!!! (that’s what I’m calling you guys now)
Would you believe this is my LAST NEWSLETTER OF 2022?! What a year it has been. I’m going to give y’all a (non exhaustive) smorgasbord of a list of my favorite things that I’ve seen/heard/watched/discovered this year. Buckle up! But first a quick announcey-
I still have a stack of physical, IRL, collage kits! They are 25% off right now with code GOOGOOGAGA. This code will be active until…I decide it isn’t :-) Prints are still available too and are 10% off with code BUTTER until 1/7 (code inspired by my butter print. LOL how am I allowed to do this)
If you don’t wanna wait for something to ship, digital collage kits are still here for $15 for your collaging pleasure…
My Fav Things of 2022
OK let’s go- here are a few of my favorite things that I watched/absorbed/learned/thought about this year. My 2022 personal gestalt, if you will! I made the initial list while exhausted in the airport…so expect a little bit of brain mush…
Going lightly viral on TikTok
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This is new for me LOL- I posted this TikTok of me making an incredibly simple, incredibly stupid Nicki Minaj Christmas ornament and it…blew up? I’m glad to know that there’s an audience for lobotomy crafts (my specialty!) so I’m plotting and planning more for 2023. There are Barbs fighting in the comments! On a video that is largely about PIPE CLEANERS! What a fun development for me.
iSpy artist Walter Wick’s Instagram
A while ago, I stumbled across the Instagram account of Walter Wick, the photo-illustrator who is responsible for iSpy. iSpy is forever seared into my brain in the best possible way and seeing BTS of how he created some of the images (on 8x10 film nonetheless!!!) is so special and inspiring. Read the comments on this post :’)
…or just generally crafting with your friends. The way I did it was this- everyone brings a craft supply (and possibly a snack), I make a deranged playlist, we craft and hang out until…whenever. It yielded a lot of really cool supplies *I* never would’ve thought to buy and thus a lot of really fun/new/silly crafts.
The Watermelon Woman (1996)
Get this…a ROMCOM…directed and starring…a lesbian…and NO ONE DIES! A revelation! And it’s really, really great! News to basically just me as it came out in 1996. IMdb synopsis is: “A young black lesbian filmmaker probes into the life of The Watermelon Woman, a 1930s black actress who played 'mammy' archetypes.” It’s essentially a movie about a woman making a movie. And is the first feature film directed by a black lesbian. Couldn’t recommend enough!
Rose Gardens
I entered my California era this year and was GOBSMACKED by the insane roses during the spring- every color! I never cared about roses until seeing the insane rose garden at the Huntington Gardens! Shoutout to the Barbra Streisand rose! And “John Waterer”! !!!!!!
Rediscovering Mark Ryden
I saw the insane Mark Ryden x Barbie show in LA and it reminded me why I love his surreal, macabre, detailed paintings so, so much. I just got a copy of his book, Anima Animal, and it is inspiring the hell out of me.
The Righteous Gemstones (TV)
One of the funniest shows I’ve seen in my entire life- all about a wildly dysfunctional family that runs a megachurch. Highly recommend if you’re 1. from the South, 2. grew up deeply Christian, and/or 3. like disgustingly funny TV with absolutely zero likable characters.
This post from photographer Aundre Larrow
…about how to negotiate fair rates for your work. I know I shared this recently but it bears repeating- I highly recommend all artists take a look at this. Every year I learn more and more what my work is worth and resources like this support me in a MAJOR way.
Maximalist album covers
Thinking a lot this year about how listening to music on small phone screens demands graphic, recognizable, and somewhat simple album art. It makes me yearn to be able to make the complete opposite- nonsensically maximalist DIY’d bullshit ala the above Rolling Stones cover, The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (these two were interestingly shot by the same photographer, who tells stories here about the iconic rock legends on the floor of his studio hot gluing props, if I recall). Also will always love Michael Jackson’s Dangerous cover, painted by Mark Ryden :’) His sketches are beautiful and can be seen here.
This Amy Sedaris quote
“I believe that visual chaos promotes intellectual growth.”
Learning how to interact with people you admire
As a teenager I would meet members of indie bands that I loved and have NO idea what to do with myself- I would freeze. Also true for cool people from the internet, writers, other artists I admired. The older I get, the more I realize how silly this is because: 1. my dad always tells me about a clip from an REM documentary I have yet to find in which Michael Stipe is surrounded by hysterical fans, looks at one of them, and says, essentially, “Why are you crying? I shit just like you do.” brutal but true!! and 2. if someone’s work really means something to you, why not just mention that and get on with it? Get over yourself and tell them that you’re grateful for their work and move on!!! I can’t imagine a world in which I get tired of polite people respectfully telling me that what I do is special to them- it bolsters me and reminds me that people care. This all spurred from my experience at a David Sedaris book signing in June and instead of saying to him, “Hello you are one of my favorite writers and I keep your books on my nightstand to read when I wake up from especially horrible nightmares so thank you for that!!!” I said, “umm…hi…nice to meet you…thanks for signing my book….bye” and then spiraled about it and had a come to J*sus moment about how I want to interact/be interacted with in this capacity. And then I weirdly met St. Vincent in the g*ddamn airport the other day and got to tell her a simple “your music is special to me, thank you for making it!” and she was REALLY, REALLY, nice to me about it. And it felt good! Growth!!! Art and artists are special and make my life infinitely better and I need to tell them that once in a while if/when the situation is right. No one tells you this stuff. OK end TedTalk.
Lynda Barry
Lynda Barry is a new fav- she’s a comic artist/illustrator/professor/literal MacArthur Genius…
Her teaching centers around making drawing accessible and non-scary. I love this quote from her NPR interview. I want to draw for the first time in a LONG time and I think I owe that impulse to her book, Syllabus. More drawing in 2023!!!!
LOL this ended up so long and meandering- forgive my end of year mushy brain. Fun new things to come in January- if you get a paid subscription ($7/month or $70/year), you’ll get extra fun stuff from me each month, and the joy of knowing you’re a BEHIND THE PAYWALL VIP PATRON OF THE ARTS.
bye + happy new year!!!