I use a to-do list (Google Keep) where you can drag list items up or down the list in order of priority. When I scan down the list, I often see something (i.e., “update blog”) that I really need/want to do, so I drag it up to the top. But then I continue to drag other items (get groceries to eat, do taxes, fulfill crow/raven orders) above it until it is so far down it looks impossible to ever get to it. Right now as I type this, it’s first thing on a Sunday morning and I’m purposely not looking to see where “update blog” falls on my to-do list while I try to steal enough time to jot these quick notes! (An analogy of trying to stack a couple dozen croquet balls onto a dinner plate springs to mind when thinking of prioritizing my to-do list…)
A LOT has been happening since my last entry…I’ve been crazy busy, but have gotten a lot done! (I’ve come to the conclusion that if I weren’t this busy, I’d probably just keep adding more things until I was!)
My last entry was in early November 2017. From then through mid January was frantic crow/raven production & sales…definitely a new record! The Real Mother Goose Gallery’s downtown location has for years topped my crow/raven sales chart, but they had to close that location (city closed the building for year-long repairs) and don’t plan to re-open it, so they had a huge sale — and it was a challenge to keep up with the demand for my crows/ravens…one last blast.
I also revamped this entire site, steveeichenberger.com, with a new look, much more content, and upgraded my plan to include basic e-commerce capability (see “Available Work“).
A major reason I haven’t written here for awhile is because I finally took the plunge and opened an Instagram account in November. I begrudge the extra time it takes to post to it, especially since they do not allow you to post from a desktop computer, forcing me to dink with my phone (grr) to upload photos, type descriptions, and type in hashtags. Bleh. But I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how much I’ve found it inspiring to follow other artists’ IG feeds…a virtually endless flow of curated (by me) artwork…more than I have time to look at. A DIY art magazine. It inspires me to up my game.
The sculpture in my last post is already finished and sold. I also sold a couple rockets, and a couple or three “Murder of Crows” 11-piece collections.
Time is yelling at me…so I’m going to just upload a bunch of photos and get back to the top to-do for today: casting crows/ravens. I’m trying to fill up my crow boxes (a “should”) so I can feel okay about taking time to “play” with drawing…digital and/or traditional…because a new venue, Boys Fort in downtown Portland, has racks of small posters/quotes/maps etc where I can place some 2D work if I want…a nice opportunity! Now to claw out some time to do so…
“Jasper” (sold)
Completed a bigger size rocket, 32″
To show size of 32″ version compared to the two previous sizes
Larger fuselage was a challenge, but I like challenges…chosen ones, anyway!
Pencil sketch on scratch paper (result of resolution to “draw more” in 2018)
Finished wall sculpture from “Cosmic Zoo” series
Another finished wall sculpture from my “Cosmic Zoo” series…I could write several more paragraphs explaining the series (to do with time, space and infinity), but time’s up for today!
Thanks for sharing these. Your process is always fascinating, so I’d love pictures of you working on things and explanations of series, etc. I know it takes time to write, so wanted to let you know how much I appreciate it!
Hey Janelle, thanks for the follow and comment!
I hope to write a more succinct explanation of the impetus for my “Cosmic Zoo” series, but until I do, here’s a quickie jab at it I posted on Instagram the other day:
“Jester” is the newest addition to my “Cosmic Zoo” series. Handbuilt ceramic, hammer formed aluminum and copper, one of a kind. 10″ h x 12″ w x 10″ d, wall mount. Series is meant to celebrate sentience/intelligence arising ubiquitously throughout the infinite cosmos…of which humans are but one instance…an instance I am very happy to be a part of!
A notion has crept into my psyche that I’m not the first, only, or last artist in the cosmos to imagine my extraterrestrial counterparts coming to the same realizations and conclusions I have — namely, that time has always been and always will be, and that space extends in all directions without end…and that there have been, are now, and always will be an infinite number of sentient civilizations throughout spacetime. Some contemporary physicists go so far as to say we each have innumerable duplicates “out there.” I’ve recently been imagining these innumerable former, present and future “me’s” pursuing this exact same train of thought, and that we all had/have/will have this supra-cosmic idea: To host a perpetual intergalactic art show on the topic! (And they’re thinking about me thinking about them thinking about me thinking about them making artwork for this ongoing show…) It adds a whole new dimension to my experience; an existential camaraderie of infinite proportions. This inner thought experiment/experience has been changing my inner personal identity for some time now — away from “human/me,” toward “self-aware intelligence/cosmos”… Leading me to conclude, not just intellectually, but viscerally: “We are the universe, observing itself.”