I painted a piece for a community art exhibition called “Connecting the Dots.” Each participant received an 8-inch circular canvas and randomly chose a card with a color on it to be the dominant color in the piece. I got green.
We could use whatever materials we wanted and interpret the theme however we wanted.
Here’s my finished piece, titled “Subte Life.”
The lines on the canvas are the subway system map in Bueno Aires, Argentina, where I studied abroad in college and used public transportation daily. The subway connects all the parts of the city. Everyone who uses the subway is connected throughout the day.
I wanted shapes to fill the spaces between map lines, and circles were appropriate for the “Connecting the Dots” theme. The smaller circles represent more crowded areas of the city. Larger circles represent areas that are more spread out. (Generally speaking—I didn’t base it on city data.)
Process photos
I painted the whole canvas in pale mint green for the background color.
I used tracing paper to transfer the subway lines to the canvas. Then I traced circle stencils in different sizes.
I painted the dark green circles first, so I could make sure I alternated shades of green between segments.
I ended up doing 3 to 4 coats on the dark green circles. For some reason, the paint was streaky and the background showed through until I painted over each circle multiple times. The lighter green circles only needed 2 to 3 coats.
Exhibition info
The exhibition includes over 60 works. It’s on display in October at curio, a gallery and art supply shop in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
You can see images of the exhibition on curio’s Instagram page. If you’re near Lancaster, go see it in person!
Every year in October, a few art challenges circulate on social media. I did Inktober a few times, but I realized I don’t like the pressure of a daily drawing challenge.
I found out there’s an October challenge to carve a stamp out of a pink eraser every day. I got a set of carving tools earlier this year but haven’t made many stamps. So this is a good opportunity to practice. But I’m still not going to shoot for every day.
I started watching Abstract: The Art of Design on Netflix. It’s a documentary series where each episode focuses on one designer and a different kind of design.
One episode is about Neri Oxman, a professor at MIT Media Lab. She leads a research team in exploring materials informed by nature. (Think: a strong plastic-like material made from proteins found in milk.)
In the episode, she talks about the relationship between art, science, engineering, and design. Usually, we think of them as four separate areas. You work in one domain but not the others. But Neri says, what if, instead, we thought of them as a circle? As a clock, where we shift from one discipline to another over time. Input from one domain becomes the output of another.
Neri uses architecture, design, engineering, and biology in her work, so it makes sense that she talks about interdisciplinary work.
A diagram displays on the screen at this point of the episode, and I paused it to draw it myself. When I see a diagram that clicks for me, I love recreating it as my way of learning.
Here’s the circle, with the disciplines each having their own domain, but now connected.
I’m paraphrasing the explanation from the documentary:
Art is for expression. It looks at cultural behavior, which leads to questioning presumptions about the world. These questions lead into science.
Science is for exploration. We gain information (input from art) and turn it into knowledge (output to engineering).
Engineering is for invention. It takes knowledge and turns it into utility for design.
Design is for communication. We take utility, give it context, and turn it into cultural behavior (which is then expressed as art).
Full circle.
Continuing with the clock analogy, Neri says that at the midnight position, that’s where art meets science, where Picasso meets Einstein.
I love this model because it shows the value of these disciplines working together. Rather than limit work to one domain, you can shift through domains (with a team…no one is an expert in all four areas) to create a full understanding, exploration, use, and expression.
This is the best advice I have read about creative work:
Be boring. (It’s the only way to get work done.)
It’s from Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon, which is an excellent book for anyone interested in creative work. It’s full of practical advice.
Most people have to practice their art for a while before they can make a living off of it, so in the mean time, they need a regular job. Austin says, get a job you can tolerate, pay your bills, and build a routine. When you have regular hours that you work, you know what time you have left, and you can carve out time to write stories, compose music, take photos, draw…whatever it is that you do.
Better yet, Austin points out that if your job doesn’t take a lot of creative energy, you’ll be happy to pour that energy into your hobbies. You take care of yourself, and you keep your mind in the right place to produce art.
This is more useful than the advice I’ve seen that focuses on craft. Other books I’ve read on writing tell me to set a daily word count goal and find a distraction-free space—which is fine, but they don’t connect creative work to the rest of your life.
Steal Like An Artist is the first book I’ve read that blends creative work with the average, day-to-day things. It’s the first time I’ve said, “Yeah, that’s something I can try today.”
Site update: I moved my posts about drawing with Posca markers to kalikambo.com. I backdated them so I can keep the original post date. You can see them in the drawing tag.
Journal Helper - Free software tools to use with physical journals.
Letter Club - “Private group newsletters where the readers are the writers too.” Found via Warren Ellis.
I was away on vacation for two weeks, so I’ve been quiet online. But now I’m back! And mostly back to routine!
I had a few personal projects in progress before I left, so I’m getting back to those. I will have zine stuff to share soon. 😃
Shrimp Zine is a browser-based tool for making zines on your phone. You choose your paper size and number of pages. Add images. Add text. And then you can export the file as a PDF. Very intuitive interface.
I read Essentialism 5 years ago, and I just finished reading it again. It has super helpful advice for how to prioritize things at work and in your personal life. 5/5 ⭐️
Here’s one of my favorite quotes from the book:
But in fact we can easily do two things at the same time: wash the dishes and listen to the radio, eat and talk, clear the clutter on our desk while thinking about where to go for lunch, text message while watching television, and so on.
What we can’t do is concentrate on two things at the same time.
Color swatches for brush pens I got from a local art supply store. ☺️
I officially cancelled my Spotify subscription and closed my account. Now I’m streaming music on Qobuz. I’m planning to write a blog post about migrating from Spotify to Qobuz. If you have any questions about that, let me know.
American Eagle is not on my radar. I would not have known about the Sydney Sweeney ads if I didn’t see social media posts about them.
Some people are criticizing American Eagle. Other people are saying the ads really don’t have deeper meaning. As if this is the debate—does American Eagle know what they’re saying with these ads?
Yeah, they know.
Consider that American Eagle knows exactly what it’s doing for marketing and advertising. The controversy around the Sydney Sweeney ads is the point.
Advertising does not happen by accident. American Eagle’s messaging is intentional. And including racist undertones so that people post reactions to the ads is part of the plan.
For two summers during college, I worked at an amusement park.
I was a photographer. You know the ones who ask if you want your photo taken as soon as you enter the park? That was me. 😉
The photography company was a vendor, so technically photographers were not park employees. But everyone had the same rules when it came to guest interactions.
One of those rules was, “Sunglasses up.”
We worked outside in the summer, so of course a lot of employees wore sunglasses. The rule was that whenever a guest approached you, you had to take your sunglasses off or put them up on your head. Taking your sunglasses off was a sign of politeness, so you could make eye contact with guests.
It didn’t matter if you were talking to a little kid, a teenager, or an adult. Sunglasses up.
It’s been over a decade since I had that job, but I still follow that rule. I take off my sunglasses whenever I’m talking to someone outside. I even do it for something quick, like going through a drive-through.
Is there a habit that you picked up at a job, and it stuck with you?
🍿 Superman (2025)
The new Superman movie is so refreshing for showing Superman as bright and hopeful. I got so tired of the dark and gritty style of the last few Superman movies, because that style doesn’t match Superman’s personality or optimism.
Does anyone use e-ink tablets like reMarkable or Supernote but ALSO love pens and paper notebooks?
Because I see the use case for, get an e-ink tablet and you don’t need a bunch of paper notebooks and pens anymore. But I love my notebooks and pens and do not want to give them up. 😂
So if you have opinions on e-ink tablets, I’d love to hear them.
