After a long eventful weekend hitting up various motorcycle meets and bar after parties, I found myself laying in bed, my eyes seconds from closing. I was thinking to myself,
"You know what would be great right now? Sleep."
It was 6:00pm,Sunday.
"IT'S 6PM!"
What was I doing wasting a weekend day going to bed before my grandparents (including the 1hr. time difference.) Additionally, it was 78 degrees, sun shinning with a cool breeze blowing in from the lake.
"And you're going to sleep?"
No self, I'm not going to sleep. I'm going exploring.
I grabbed the copy of Shop Class as Soulcraft that had been sitting on the floor of my bedroom for the past 5 months, untouched, along with a brand new sketchbook, some pens, my camera and a cold beverage and hopped on the CX.
One thing that's nice about the south side of Chicago is there are a lot of areas that lack people. I was in search of something off the beaten path and a bit secluded. This is usually a difficult destination to ask for in this city, but it turns out there's an industrial park not more then a 1/2 mile from my apartment. The park was massive, unpaved, quiet (besides a semi truck rolling in every 30min or so) and best of all, offered a completely unobstructed view of the Chicago skyline. That's the nice thing about industrial parks, they're flat.
I found an empty trailer to rest on while I sketched the sun setting through the scaffolding and broke the bind on what's turning out to be just the kind of book I need right now.
Lovely pics man.
ReplyDeleteI read that book and the whole time I was thinking
"I get it, you know a lot of big fancy words..."
I'm a pretty educated individual and found it very difficult to get through.
I totally agree. I support his cause, but so many wordy explanations. His original essay used to be able to be found online.
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DeleteMan alive, I've read and reread that book twice in the last couple of months. Along with some of the David Pye stuff about Craft vs production, its incredible..
ReplyDeleteOh - and nice spot to think man.. Jealous.
Al
I finally bought the book earlier this year and read it quickly. As a counselor and former art teacher whose charges tend to be challenged in connecting need for change to actual "doing", the book helped materialize so many ideas I had about action and manipulating our existence. It fit right in with the ideas of mindfulness and active doing that I present to my clients. It helped me to realize the importance of not only doing my own artwork, but the real need for me to get out and start working on my Landcruiser and start looking for an old bike to build. So yeah, I liked it.
ReplyDeleteCan we see some of the sketches? :)
ReplyDeleteThis looks much better than sleeping.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of glasses are those (if you dont mind divulging)?
The glasses are just some cheap safety glasses I got from welding class. All they say on them is Made in China.
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