Just going crazy with it

Hi!

This is my (Jillian's) first real post on Garden Variety, our new ongoing project. I don't plan on writing a ton every time, but figured some sort of intro would be nice.

I was pretty excited when Eleanor asked if I wanted to do a newsletter/blog/whatever with her, Ian, and Lala. The working title was “Xeroxed zine but a newsletter,” if that gives you any indication of direction. The long story short is that posting on social media is depressing – I hardly need to explain why – and we wanted to try engaging with the internet in a way that felt fun again. There is no firm plan for this project, aside from taking turns posting weekly-ish. Comics, sketches, process, talking, interviews (?), guest spots (??), miscellaneous (???)... the shape will emerge organically.

Last year I gave a speech at my former art school's convocation. I actually found the exercise pretty difficult. You don't want to make it All About You or speak in platitudes... but what is there to say to a group of strangers? The only thing we had in common was attending the same art institution. Any practical wisdom I could impart as a commercial artist would only be tenuously applicable to most of the crowd, which included a wide range of practitioners.

In the end, I boiled down my thoughts to two ideas. 1) Your relationships are just as important as your skills and 2) it’s crucial to remain in touch with the pleasure of creation. Most people who pursue art in a serious way as adults began as little kids who liked to draw/make things because it felt good. It's worth trying to keep in touch with that for the sake of your work and longevity. MUCH easier said than done, of course.

Last summer I needed a reset after completing two big projects. I just let myself make whatever I wanted. Apparently my brain wanted extreme repetition – it's what felt good. Today's post includes some of that hyper-repetitive work I've been making since then, some of it on paper, some of it on the iPad.