I've been following Katie Can Draw for a few months now, watching her get better and more imaginative over time. It's awesome watching an artist poke away at things, experiment and sccribble and whatnot. Her latest is "desk art":

This is so completely what I'm stumbling about with here at Scratch Factory. Just working with what you got, accepting constraints because there's ALWAYS constraints. And if I recognize and accept my constraints, then I can really make the best of what's around me, since I'm not wishing (or worse, believing) I have resources I don't.

I mean look at that! It's made with LIQUID PAPER, for crying out loud! And a gold felt pen! I'm so in love with that I don't know what to say.

But I'll think of something.

Sometimes, of course, not accepting one's constraints is a good thing. I recall a conversation long ago when Dan started describing all the things his perfect operating system would -- how it wouldn't be anything like Windows or Mac OS or anything, and in listening to him talk I realised that I just didn't think like that.

If you give me a nail and a board and a rock, I'll sit there all day trying to get that lumpy rock to drive that nail into that board. Wouldn't EVER occur to me that maybe I should go look for a hammer. I'll just keep restraightening that poor old nail and trying again.

Which is great if you just need a nail in a board and don't need either to be in very good condition when they're done. Great when you don't want to spend the $$$ to buy a hammer. But not so great if you need a thousand nails in a thousand boards by the end of the day. Or if you need the nail straight and strong and the board smooth and unmarked.

Which is pretty Scratch Factory, too.

Anyway, I thought that geisha girl was pretty awesome.

Labels: Unspecified Coolness