An art mystery!

Internet, I hope you can help a sister out on this one.

Richard received this piece of art that belonged to his Aunt Amanda after her death several years ago. He doesn’t know where it came from or who made it; he just selected it because he liked how it looks. There’s no identifying information on the back, and Richard’s mom has even asked a close friend of Amanda’s to see if she knew more about it. She doesn’t.

I did a reverse Google image search of a photo of the piece and ran it through Google lens to see if it pulled up anything similar, and came up with nothing! But the style of the face feels so familiar to me. And this is almost like a modern and sort of grotesque twist on that familiar style — the strange way the flowers almost look like monstrous mouths. The blue one completely obscures her eye. The jewel tones just blaze in contrast to the porcelain pastel of her face. I want to know more! Is this folk art or a mass-market product based on a classic?

If you’re an art nut or know folks who might be able to lead me in the right direction, I’d love your help!

Some details: The piece is made of glass. It measures about 16 inches wide by 13 inches tall, and is a bit over a quarter inch thick. The back is lined with velour. It’s fairly heavy, as you might imagine, since it’s glass.

Please comment here or email me at theogeo [at] gmail if you have any ideas on how I could track this down, or if it’s completely obvious to you because’s it’s an image on the front of everyone’s eighth grade art textbook. I JUST NEED TO KNOW!!!

Coffin Bell TWO book trailer

I’m working on art and layout for Coffin Bell TWO, an anthology of dark literature. My friend and CB EIC Tamara asked if I could put together a book trailer. I had no idea how or what to do, so I said, “Let me try!”

Behold! I actually really like how it turned out. It’s a love letter to art, writing, books, strangeness, and the vehicle that can pull all of those things together: graphic design.

Pre-order your copy of CB TWO today!

Coffin Bell TWO trailer from Lindsey Turner on Vimeo.

Twenty eighteen in creativity

This year was busy! It’s been a very creative year, I think. It’s funny how from day to day it can feel like nothing’s happening, but when you look in the aggregate, you see that there was indeed a lot going on. What’s that saying — the days are long but the years are short? Jesus, it’s true. It’s the most true cliché there is.

What did I get up to creatively this year?

• I didn’t blog much. (Obviously.) But I did do a nifty one-second-of-video-a-day project to document the year. It turned out great, and I only missed one day (May 25)!

• I started another new job. I’m now a proud denizen of the nonprofit world. Being in communications is different from journalism and art direction, but much of what I learned in my previous career has proven extremely useful in this new venture. I’m learning, I’m growing, and I’m working for an organization that is making a positive impact in the community. Those things are all what I was looking for in a career change. I’m excited to see what the future holds.

• I wrote a lot this year. Not as much as I want to write in 2019, but a significant amount more than in years before. I started several short stories, a couple of kids’ books, and two novels. And I wrote a couple of mediocre poems! Most importantly, I’ve gotten the ol’ brain primed up so that it can more easily generate ideas, which I’m keeping logged. In 2019 I’m hoping to get a first draft of one of the novels done. I’d love to also finish a few short stories.

• I joined the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. I’m trying to find my niche and work out what it is that I want to write. I have a lot of ideas that span multiple genres and I have yet to figure out which ones fit my style and interests best. I’m excited to get better at illustrating (see below) so I can feel more comfortable illustrating my own stories.

• I went to a workshop about writing the weird. I’ve long been drawn to strange and off-kilter stories. I want to learn how to write them better. The workshop was fun but I have a lot more to learn, and need to do a lot more practice.

• I got published. Coffin Bell was kind enough to publish an edited version of my blog post, “The Handoff.” I’m so grateful to editor Tamara for her encouragement and great edits to the piece. You can read it here.

• I joined the masthead of Coffin Bell and helped produce a book! It was a lot of fun to art direct and design the inaugural print anthology of Coffin Bell, and I have enjoyed doing other art/design assignments, like making postcards.

• I rebranded the Eyedot Creative Etsy shop to lean into the weirdness, and made some new art for it. I’ve got more ideas for 2019. (Now to find the time.)

Deadnettle Apothecary Supply did well! I got some decent (organic) traction on Instagram and made more than 50 Etsy sales in 2018, and several of those were large orders, including one custom order of 12 jars of witch nails. I even took Deadnettle wares to a craft fair in November. I didn’t sell much but a lot of people stopped to marvel. Kids especially. Who knew creepy potion ingredients would find a home? In 2019 I’m considering setting up shop at a renaissance fair, to get in front of the fantasy crowd.

• I read books. Sixteen! And I have three or so I’m in the middle of right now. (I tend to have several going at once.) A couple of the ones I finished were outstanding. Little Fires Everywhere, On Writing, Educated, The Power. And I really enjoyed We Know It Was You. In fact, I liked it so much that it inspired me to start a dark YA novel of my own. And to DM the author, Maggie Thrash, on Instagram. She replied and was so nice!

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• I started drawing again. I got an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil and the experience of drawing on it has been amazing. I’m finding my style and experimenting with the different drawing apps and tools. (Procreate is awesome!) It’s been so much fun. I even doodled on our Christmas card this year.

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• I exhibited a photo at the Gordon JCC’s Valentine’s Day show.

• I got a new camera. It’s an upgrade from my trusty 50D. I’m looking forward to pushing myself to take more photos in 2019, so that I can get back in the habit of having my camera with me more often than not. The photos I’ve taken over the years have truly proven to be gifts that keep on giving.

• I went to a mixed-media collage workshop hosted by one of my favorite artists, Wayne Brezinka. It was super fun and I learned some excellent collage tips. I made one piece I’m proud of and began another that I think will be cool if I ever finish it. It’s based on a painting my grandmother did.

Here’s to continuing to push myself creatively in 2019! I got some resin casting tools and a bottle cutter for Christmas, so I see some new and fun projects in my future.

 

#amwriting #pmwriting #goals

There is apparently a hashtag for writers who are writing — #amwriting. I can’t not read it as “morning writing,” which is the exact fantasy I lust after the hardest.

The picture is this: I wake up naturally, feeling rested, at exactly 7 a.m. I kiss my peacefully sleeping, nonapneic husband on the cheek and make my way to the extremely clean kitchen to the coffee maker, which has been helpfully preloaded and just needs me to press the “start brewing” button because the robots don’t deserve to take ALL the jobs, goddammit. My son is either sleeping over at a friend’s house or sleeping in because he is actually a teenager who sleeps until noon instead of 6 a.m. at the latest, even on weekends.

The coffee maker starts grunting, so I fill up the watering can at the sink and make my rounds to the house plants, giving them their morning sip and pep talk. Once they’re sated and the coffee maker starts gurgling to signal it’s almost done, I can pour a cup for myself — a tiny bit of sugar and a medium bit of flavored creamer — and head over to the computer.

It’s there that my laser-focused and not-at-all distracted brain can pull forth exactly the ideas that had been brewing since the last time I sat at the keyboard, knitting together disparate pieces of the narrative that I had left neatly undone. I recall the twists and turns I envisioned in the shower and on the drive back from the post office and work them in without feeling the need to completely rethink every concept of the story from the ground up or start working on some other project that’s been nagging me in the back of my skull. I do not have to look at the clock because I do not have a job other than writing stories and taking photos and making things with my hands. I get lost in the flow of my own imagination, communing with the electricity of creation. I have no desire to check Twitter or Facebook or Instagram or the Washington Post for the latest update on the trash-can fire du jour.

I watch the light change through the open windows as the sun rises over the trees and I step outside on the deck to breathe in the fresh, free-of-mosquitoes-and-pollen air. I am wearing linen clothing of some sort and I’m perfectly happy with my body and I am definitely not sneezing or coughing or itching anywhere. My hair is mussed but not greasy even though I have given up bathing entirely because what a pain in the ass. Also the grey hairs make me look sophisticated and somehow beautiful, especially in the author photo on the back of my 29 best-sellers.

Aaaaand, scene.

Anyway, I’m writing. I’ve got several things working right now, and two of them are big, big, big. Sprawling and complex and important. I love the ideas, I love the research, I love the worldbuilding. I’m not carving out the kind of time I’d like to (see fantasy above) but I’m doing what I can when I can and trying to push ever forward.

I love how delicious the potential feels. I know the hard part comes later. I will be ready. I am ready.

Art-ing

I’m trying.

It’s never flattering, pushing yourself outside your comfort zone. Opening up your chest and letting people see inside and maybe take a swing at your softest parts, if they want.

I happened to see a last-minute call on Facebook for an open slot for love-themed artwork for the February exhibition at the Gordon JCC‘s art gallery. I emailed the curator my balloons-in-the-trash photo from a few years ago and asked if she’d be interested in it, even though it’s not, ah, all that lovey-dovey. She was more into it than I figured and asked me to bring both the black and white and the color versions. Fast forward to me frantically Googling how to frame/mount photos for gallery display.

When I delivered them — an 11×17 and an 8×10, both framed crisply — she seemed to think they were well priced and might actually sell. Stranger things have happened, probably. So, that’s something to look forward to this month. There’s an exhibition opening on Valentine’s Day, with snacks and wine and such. Pretty neat. Can’t wait to see the other works.

I wrote and submitted a poem to Nashville Review. I’ve got a couple other things I’m working on that I don’t feel are polished enough to submit yet. Truthfully, that one might not have been either but it felt right and the submission deadline clock was ticking and I was having an otherwise very productive day so I felt like “submit a poem for publication” was a reasonable things to want to get ticked off the ol’ to-do list so I just did it. Uncritiqued and everything. Yes, I know how silly and brazen that is. And still. I did it and I lived and I will also live if and when I receive a rejection. It’s the doing the thing that matters, right now.

Next month I’m attending a mixed-media collage-making workshop put on by Wayne Brezinka, who makes such beautiful things. I’m hoping to unblock some creativity. Get some things flowing. Think differently. Lose some fear. So forth and so on.

I’m also trying to fit some writing workshops and meet-ups into my schedule, although this part is a little more daunting to me than the actual writing stuff. My introversion wants to take over and tell me that I cannot possibly mix it up with strangers and show them my work or get anything useful from them — or offer anything useful to them — from them in return. But I know this is not true and that I must. And I will. It will get easier.

I’m doing a Project 365, but this one uses one second of video from every day of your year to make an end-of-year 365-second video. There’s an app to help, of course, and yeah yeah I have already missed one day, but who’s counting?

And then the biggie: I’m working on a novel. Two, actually, but the one I started the year working on has taken a back seat to the one based on this horrifying story from my hometown, which I have written about in passing before. I think about that story from time to time and mentioned it to my friend Olivia, who co-hosts a true-crime podcast that specializes in obscure and local true-crime stories. She did some digging in old news clips and put together an episode about the case. She and her co-host Thashana were kind enough to invite me on Something’s Not Right to talk about the murders from my perspective as a then-17-year-old high school senior. (Click here and select episode 33 to listen.) I hope it goes without saying that my contributions are unscientific and purely speculative, based on innuendo and rumor, so don’t @ me.

Anyway, that story has haunted me through my adult life and I’ve always wanted to write something based on it. So I finally am. I am basing my story loosely on the true events but with purely fictional twists. I started out thinking it’s a YA novel but the deeper I get into it, the less sure I am that that is the right fit, based on how depraved and dark it is going to be. It might be NA or maybe just plain old fiction for whatever age wants to dive into this kind of story.

I’m not ruling out some day trying to write a nonfiction retelling of the real story, but that will require taking time off to do proper research on site in Hardin County, and I haven’t been able to commit the time to that. I want to, though. I feel like a sabbatical from work to write a book is a rite of passage that I would like to experience some day.

This thing I’m doing called Eyedot Creative

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Have you checked out Eyedot Creative’s blog or Etsy shop lately? I’m designing up a storm. Ideating and celebrating. Taking custom orders left and right. Heading up projects for friends and loved ones. Having an awesome time.

This year my goal is to do some craft/street fairs in Nashville. I had a blast (and worked really, really hard) at the Cooper-Young Festival and East Buntyn Art Walk back in Memphis before I left, and I want to repeat those awesome experiences here.

Nashvillians, what festivals/fairs should I try to be a part of? I am applying for the Porter Flea Market’s June event as we speak. But there are so many, it can be hard to stay on top of it. So, I’m trying to get ahead of the game. What should I not miss? Where would I fit in best?

2013 is a blink away from over, somehow

heading home

I spent a lot of time this year working on a project that more or less fizzled out when I realized it was not going to make it. It was one of those projects that took over everything in my head, one where I thought, “Yeah, this is the one. This is going to change everything.” And then it’s not the one and it doesn’t change everything, and that’s okay. It stings a little to have to take my lumps and move on, and it means I lost a lot of months to a thought process that ended up not getting me where I thought I needed to be, but that’s how life works and that’s how we big-brained monkeys learn and it’s evolution, baby. I learned things and I think I’m better for it in several ways, although I’m still not where I want to be and I’ve got a lot more grey hairs sprouting like tiny fireworks from my scalp than I did this time last year. (I stood in front of the mirror the other day and tried to pluck the ones I could see, and then I found a patch, a whole village of them, living together, and had to stop plucking or risk a bald spot. That is a corner turned.)

In some ways I feel ancient and world-weary and in other ways I feel like I have another life that’s incubating just below the surface and waiting to hatch when conditions are perfect. I’ve been super productive for a few weeks now, with little bursts of creativity here and there that have surprised and delighted me. I’m also quite exhausted and, in strong lighting, I look like a nightmare. I should get more sleep and drink more water. But there aren’t enough hours, are there?

In a couple of weeks I will turn 32, which is an age that is respectable and boring. I feel 32 in every possible way. I’m not complaining, necessarily.

Light therapy

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I’ve been meaning to get out and see the Bruce Munro installation at Cheekwood since May. My brain was having sort of a bad day yesterday so I decided to go ahead and get that done in the hopes that it would cheer me up. It worked. The little spheres of light cover the grass and undulate, passing their colors around in waves. At times you get the feeling like you’re looking at a huge, fiber-optic tulip field in Holland, and at other times it’s like something out of Fern Gully, where the plants glow with life.

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You can view the whole set here or watch this lovely slideshow. But photos don’t really do it justice. You just sort of have to go see it and find a good bench on which to sit in the cool autumn air and take it in.

A plug for a cool kid’s book

Bob Logan books are pure art

Jason and Alana gave Holden Bob Logan’s “Rocket Town” for Christmas last year. We’ve read it a hundred times and I never get tired of looking at the beautiful illustrations. Each page is art that I would happily frame.

If you have a young ‘un and are on the lookout for cool board books that have simple story lines and incredible illustrations, or need a nice shower/birthday/holiday gift, you can’t go wrong with Logan.