Analog

This was not at all what I had planned to write. In fact, I had composed an entirely different blog, but this has been burning beneath the surface, so here we go. Have you seen this meme yet?

This stirred up something in me beyond nostalgia for simpler times and wrinkle-free skin. I watched it a few times, and the part that sticks with me the most was “…where time doesn’t race, it breathes.”

That was a whopper for me.

Around the time this came out, my friend Jenny, whom I met in junior high, was sending me videos of the watercolors she was working on, and I could hear some funk music playing in the background — a shared love of ours. Something started to tug at me.

The Digital World Is Loud… and It’s Taking Too Much

This digital world that we live in now, something we didn’t deal with then, is omnipresent. It is with us everywhere we go, no matter what we do. It’s on our wrists, it’s in our pockets, it’s in our ears. It’s exhausting and depleting us under the guise of making us more efficient.

It’s not.

What it’s doing is keeping us from breathing.

The tug I feel is toward the analog, and apparently, I’m not alone. There is a whole movement, an undertow if you will, pulling people toward living less digitally, and I’m so here for it. We’ll never turn back from the conveniences of what we have, but I am eager for…no. Nope…I need, my creative spirit is clamoring for, the calm of less digital, which creates space for what’s real.

I want to listen to funk and paint too, dammit!

Unplugging on Purpose

It’s time to unplug and October…okay, November, is the perfect time to do it.

I want to have real experiences with real people in person (small numbers, I’m still an introvert). I want to write with a pen on paper so I can actually retain what I wrote and also have a great excuse to go into a stationary store and wander around to find the perfect journal.

I want to print my photos! I have approximately 65 billion pictures…but not one, NOT ONE recent printed photo of anything that resembles a special moment.

I want to put a CD in or play a record and listen to the whole damn thing, then flip it over and listen to the other side while I either do nothing but lay there with headphones on or while I do something creative. I don’t want anything near me that will send a text or an email or that will call me and send my mind back to reality.

I know this will make me sleep better, think better, and be more focused at work because I won’t be as wound up and cortisol-soaked as I am now.

Who’s in!? Join me!

Getting Crafty Again

One of the ways I am getting back in touch with my creative side is to decorate like I used to.

I used to be crafty. Fun fact, I realized upon my college graduation that with one more class, I could’ve had a minor in crafts. I’m as puzzled as you are. Who even majors in crafts? My apologies to anyone that I just offended, but please do reach out and let me know who you are, because clearly we are birds of a feather. 😂

Becoming “The Creepy Crow House”

Speaking of birds, while feeling sorry for myself due to a migraine and having some rare downtime, I let my mind wander, and before I knew it, about 50 “realistic” crows of various sizes showed up on our front porch, along with “realistic” flame lights for our plastic pumpkins and “flame” bulbs for our porch lights.

I had lost my ever-loving mind and was giddy about it.

A branch found on a walk was the perfect solution to how to install these birds because I had no earthly idea how that was going to happen until we saw said branch laying in the street. Jeff brought the branch home and “harvested” more from our neighbors' feral parking strip. My sister, Jenny (lots of awesome Jennys in my world), and her husband Mike happened to be in town and helped us too, and bada-bing-bada-boom!

We are the creepy crow house!

Finding Inspiration in Real Life Again

Other analog inspo came from meeting artists, seeing them at work, and having conversations with not only them but also other art lovers in and around Portland. There was laughter. Lots of laughter and lots of deliberation over what to buy.

Jeff and I do this Portland Open Studios tour annually with the aforementioned sister Jenny and brother-in-law, Mike, which makes it extra, extra special. Talking them into spending money on art is SO FUN!

Gesine Kratzner is a go-to for us. Her stuff is just so damn fun!

Here is what is in her garden on the approach to the studio:

Here’s what ended up on my mantle from this artist:

Not everything can be taken seriously 🙂:

Here are the other artists that we visited and bought art from:
Anne Jennings Paris
Erica Gibson
Lisa Laser

Filling Back Up

So, in summary, I’m depleted. I need to do something to fill back up, and I am going to bring you along on the journey. I will share with you the things that I find that help, with the hope that they help you too. My journey and what fills me up will look completely different from what you need…refer back to the crows as evidence…But I hope it inspires you to bring what’s real into your world.

What we need is what is real. We need time. We need time to ourselves. We need time with people who we love being around. We need time in nature. We need to express ourselves creatively whatever that looks like. And at the end of the day, we need to lay our heads down and be grateful for all of it.

I need to go now so I can sit next to my amazing husband and pet my cute dog.

As always, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

’til next time
Arlene