Leaves and a Poem

Learn to find the intricate details

that we connect with, unknowingly, everyday.

Find beauty in the small and the fragile,

embrace the smell of nature.

Smile because the colors are changing,

and the wind is blowing.

Enjoy.

Nate Smith: Writer’s Block and the Art of Comedy

Writer’s Block and the Art of Comedy

Hello, my name is Nate Smith, and I write nosesplash.com. My blog is a comedy blog, all original content. I have been performing live comedy (improv/stand up/sketch) since 1999. About 3 years ago I started writing a so called blog simply for the sake forcing myself to write on a daily basis. I had one rule. One funny thing a day. I have now scaled back to one full comedy post a week.

I don’t consider myself someone who creates comedy. I’m more like a pan handler. I sift through life looking for comedy gold. And then once I’ve found it, I polish it up and make it presentable. That’s why I’ll often laugh at my own jokes. Because I’m hearing them for the first time too, and I’m just as pleased with the discovery as you are. Writing a completely new post every week can be challenging. There are a lot of obstacles that get between me and my goal.

My obstacles are:

1. Inspiration
Inspiration may be the most common road block for any creative thinker. You can’t just turn it on like a light switch. You can’t keep it in a drawer somewhere and just grab it when you need it. Rather, inspiration is like a leprechaun popping in and out of your head and always disappearing right before you can grab it.
Great ideas don’t just grow on mental trees. I’ll scan the news looking for topics to attack and see something that just seems like it would be brimming with gems. I’ll sit down and get ready to write and…nothing. It just doesn’t work. At least, not at that point. Sometimes I can leave that idea for a few days and come back and BING! The ideas just start flowing. Conversely, there are times when I get going on an idea and I’ve got a great start and then I run out of time and have to finish it later. When I do come back, I look at what I had started and I hate it and I find that I have lost any and all inspiration for that particular idea. It’s a bitch.
Sometimes I can push my way through these blocks by forcing myself to sit and write anything and everything that I am thinking about on a topic. No editing. No pausing. Just writing. At the end I might have a page of writing and two nuggets that I can use and expand upon. Other times I just end up with a page of crap, 30 minutes of wasted time, and a wife who wants to know why I haven’t done the dishes.
That being said, when I push myself to keep at it and write on a regular basis, much like Stella I eventually get my groove back. All the stars align and I start popping out great one liners like a pez dispenser.

2. Work
Work is something we all have to do. My main goal in life is to be a professional comedian. By that I simply mean I want to make a living from creating and/or performing comedy so that I don’t have spend time working 40 hours a week at another job. I’d be happy to make minimum wage if it was for comedy. But…until I manage to achieve that goal, just like everyone else I’ve got to go to work every day.
I actually like my job. My company asks us not to publicize our employment online, so I can’t tell you about it (it’s nothing clandestine or exciting). But I love my job. That being said, it takes up a lot of my time. Time that I’d rather be spending on hunting down the inspirational leprechaun and his pot of comedy gold.
Back in 2006 when I first starting writing my blog I had a desk job where I did a lot of mindless data entry. This gave me endless hours to think and my lunch breaks were a frenzied 60 minutes of comedic down pour.
But for the last two years I’ve worked retail (there’s a hint, but I’m still not telling!) and I spend 8 hours a day on a sales floor engaging in conversation with customers. The upside to this is I’m not going completely crazy from sitting at a desk 40 hours a week and typing the same pattern of numbers over and over. The downside is I have almost no time at all to think about anything but my job. And when I get home I am both mentally and physically exhausted. This brings me to the next obstacle.

3. Fatigue
I spend 40 hours a week working. And that seems like a lot, right? But you know what I do even more? Sleep. I sleep at least 8 hours a night (on average), 7 days a week. That’s 56 hours. That’s a 1/3 of my week! So there’s that little chunk of time. Of course those luxurious 8 hours of sleep are about to be whittled away by my next obstacle… ahem… bundle of joy.

4. Baby!
That’s right, my wife and I are having a baby! I would never call my first born child a hinderance but…fatherhood definitely going to be a distraction. On the flip side, with all the new adventures I’ll be experiencing I’m sure I’ll have a lot of new inspiration. We’ll just have to see if I can make myself stop playing with the baby long enough to write about it.

5. Guest writing
While I am struggling to find the time and inspiration to write for my own blog I will apparently jump at the chance to write an indulgent post about myself on this lovely blog here. But I’m not complaining. In fact I’m really grateful. Thank you very much to Kendra for giving me this opportunity.

So can I overcome all these obstacles? Come find out each week at nosesplash.com.

Journal Prompts 3

My third page of Journal Prompts

Journal Prompts 1
Journal Prompts 2

Books, Relaxation and Making Connections

Every once in a while I indulge in my obsession of words and paper, take a few hours to myself and I venture to the bookstore.
I select a few books to browse before picking, grab some art books, art magazines and sit in a big comfy chair with my grande mocha and relax in the comfort that engulfs me when I’m in the presence of so many books.

Since I’ve started being an active blogger, I’ve discovered magazines by SomerSet Studio (stampington and company), specifically their magazine called Artful Blogging.
It offers great inspiration for new art (not really technique based at all, but it has great images from other artists and bloggers), new artists to find and inspiration for my blog and things to do with my blog as an artist.
I wrote this post in one of my journals that I carry in my purse while sitting in the aforementioned chair. I was flipping through the latest edition of Artful Blogging and, while this is something that is always on my mind, a quote from a blogger jumped out at me.

The best part of blogging to me is the interaction with other bloggers from around the world.

This quote is from Carol Kagemann.

One of the reasons I decided to become an active blogger was to interact with other artists, to teach those who are new how to journal, how to create for them and love making art. While I have some followers and some who comment off and on (I love all of you and really appreciate even just a page view now and again and hope you get inspired to go create for yourself.), I would love to connect more, to have that interaction with other artists and with other bloggers. I follow other blogs (I think I must have well over 50 in my bookmarks right at this moment), I comment when I feel I can contribute something or when another blogger truly inspires me.

The bloggers featured in this magazine talk constantly about the connections they have made, the friends they have found, the artists they have admired who are now inspired by them.

Do I sound like I’m whining? I’m not really, I’m just curious how this happens? I network as I can, I let people know I blog, I link to my blog, I comment on others. Where are my artist friends? Are there better networks out there, hidden to me right now, that connect these bloggers. Does anyone know?

Perhaps I haven’t been around long enough, many of the bloggers in Artful Blogger have been blogging for several years, maybe I just need to keep at it?
I had hoped that my offer to let others be Guest Authors on my blog would help, but so far I have only had 2 offers. I, personally, would jump on an offer like that. It’s a good way to get new viewers to your own blog, make connections with people, spread your own creativity a little farther.

Any thoughts? Suggestions? Comments?

For now, I will keep on keepin’ on as best, and as often, as I can.

Guest Authors for my blog??

I’m leaving Sunday morning to go to PA and visit my boyfriend for a week. I will have access to a computer and the internet but won’t have any way to post any of my own art. I can do some features, and some info blog posts but after that I will be leaving on the 31st for Boston and will be without my computer/internet/scanner/all my art until about the 6th or 7th.
Sooo…

Anyone want to be a guest author on my blog? I think it would be fun to have some guest writers/artists
You don’t necessarily have to be a visual artists, writers are welcome, any kind of creative people are welcome. Not really any restrictions on what you can post either

Let me know, I would love to get at least 3 guest authors, 5 or 6 would be ideal please comment and enter your email or some other way I can contact you (and so I can see your art/writings too!) so we can talk

Pennsylvania

Massachusetts

New Printer

I needed a printer. I really wanted something a bit more…quality but I bought too much little other stuff for my apartment so after shopping around at 3 stores, I finally picked one from OfficeMax. I knew what I wanted, or more specifically what I didn’t want. I didn’t want an All-In-One printer, I hate those, with a passion. They suck. For people that want to save money and are not using it to print or scan anything amazing, sure…go for it. But, All-In-One printers generally have lower quality, because they have so much packed into one thing, that nothing is amazing on there. So. Apparently they’re sooo damn popular right now that literally out of 3 stores, I could only find ONE! printer that was just a printer. How insane is that.

So as I was saying, I’m pretty much out of money to buy things, so it was $39.99 (originally $69.99) but it’s an Epson. I knew I wanted Epson. They have great photo printers. I got the Epson Workforce 30. Feels rather flimsy but at this point I was just looking for something that would print documents and not that great quality for photos. I wasn’t expecting much, cheap, flimsy.

Surprisingly, makes good prints. Only one test so far, I wanted to make sure it would all work and function before I move cause I’m really not sure where I would find an OfficeMax in Boston.

The colors are accurate, it’s not pixel-y, sharp. All around pretty good.

Good news? I can use it to make prints to sell on Etsy! And…prints can be made faster since I will have to outsource a lot less.

(please excuse the preceding crappy photos)

Red Bubble

My Etsy page will be a few more weeks coming. With my move, it’s too hard to have to update and network and handle the sales right now.

In the meantime, I started a Red Bubble page, they offer fine art prints and greeting cards and it’s free to sign up and sell, no work for me but to upload some work.

My page is here

A few images that are currently up for sale (click the image to go to the page on Red Bubble)

What works of mine would you like to see up there? Let me know

Messenger bag, by me!

Since I’m going to college this year, I decided I needed a new bag for all my books and such. And I didn’t feel like going to a million stores to find the perfect thing so I decided to make one!

I did 3 different screen printings on the bag, designed it, picked the fabric and sewed it (okay that part I got a little help from my mom, but some of it was a little tricky and she’s been sewing for 50 years so…she helped).

Front, with screen printed camera

Inside flap with screen printed film (it’s upside down I know)

Snap closures and 3 smaller pockets on the outside (there is one more large pocket on the front and one large pocket on the back of the inside)

Straps…

…they are adjustable!

View from the front with flap open

We put snaps on the sides to make it smaller if I need it to be, its actually a really really large bag lol

Pockets and side. I love the fabric I picked for the accent/lining

The back with the screen printed quote

It is now done and ready for action

anyone interested in their own custom bag? (you could pick the fabric and the pictures you want screen printed.) Talk to me

Abstract Oil Paintings – a photo story

Have you ever seen those abstract paintings that have at Walmart and Target and such? They have texture and colors and squares and circles. Well I think they’re pretty.
I need some art for my new living room so… seeing as I have about a million (okay maybe 8 at most) already stretched canvases lying in my art room, a bucket full of various oil paint, and don’t have $15 per painting to buy 5 of them. I decided to paint my own! Yay!

I haven’t done any real paintings in a while, and I certainly haven’t worked with oils in a while, which is sad because I absolutely adore oil paint.

Lots of Pictures ahead!

There are 5 paintings
Not sure about the dimensions but once they dry and are in my apt I’ll take new photos and measurements.

(and sorry if some of the photos aren’t great, I was covered in oil paint at the time and trying desperately not to get it on my Baby (my camera). Also please ignore any mess seen in the background of the photos, my art room is a wreck right now.)

So I got my supplies ready…

Oil paint

Brushes

Odorless Turpentine

Blank Canvas

Before I started actually painting, I did a quick “sketch” using a brown paint and turpentine to water it down to see where I wanted to place the colors and the circles

Then PAINT!

I let them sit overnight so they were at least a little dry before adding the final touches.
But first I gesso-ed and painted 2 more canvases (I did 3 yesterday so now I have 5)

Finishing touches on the first 3

3 of the 5 canvases together

I know I’m always too hasty and post my projects before they are finished but I’m loving my paintings and wanted to show them off! I will put up photos once them are up on my walls in Boston

Journal Prompts 2

I’ve been busy packing and buying stuff for my new apartment so I haven’t done any journals or art in a few days and probably won’t do much again until September (very sad). So for now here’s the second page of Journal Prompts I’ve written up.

Use them for your art journal, an art project, something to write on/about, inspiration in anyway.
Just Use them and be creative! Go! Now!

First page of Journal Prompts

Have you gotten any inspiration from my prompts? Did you create a journal page, draw a sketch, write a short story or poem? Please share it with me and I’ll put it up in my blog!