RIP Blog.

It's official the blog is dead. The stench of decay has been dealt with.

If you wish keep up with what I am doing please check out my website or facebook page. You can also sign up for my newsletter (sign up form is over there on the right).

Comments have been disabled due to large amounts of spam. If you want to contact me please email abscondituscreations (a) gmail.com

Thanks
Nikki :-)

Resurrection Blogfest

So Mina Lobo's blog Some Dark Romantic turns the fabulous age of one today and she decided to host this blogfest in which we resurrect something from our first year here in the blogosphere.

So here it is. First published on Tuesday 30th August 2011. I believe it was the fifth post ever. Why this one? Well, why not?

What is it without honesty?

An artist has been defined as a neurotic who continually cures himself with his art.  ~ Lee Simonson 

It has to be honest. It doesn’t matter what it is, what label it fits under. As long as you can connect to the humanity in it.

Isn’t it part of the point of this life thing? To connect to someone, or something. To feel like someone out there understands you. Understands that we’re all a bit broken. That as different as we claim we are, we’re all the same. That we love and lose, survive when we’re sure that we can’t.

So how do you make something honest if you don’t put your heart and soul into it? Don’t rip yourself apart and put everything out there. How can I expect you to connect to some paint thrown around if I don’t put a part of me in it? Whether it’s a cutesy little picture with a few select words or something that has destroyed me, it won’t connect if it’s empty.

Isn’t this what an artist is meant to do? Put images, sound, words, movement, to emotions. To try to put those same things to how we see the world. To do it in a way that makes you find something in it, because when it comes down to it, as much as I do this for me I hope that when you see it you find something in it, something that you can relate to.

This is everything for me. How I survive. This is how I connect to myself. And to you, because anyone who really knows me knows how much I fail at connecting with people in the flesh. And it’s hard. And it’s scary. But it’s nowhere near as hard and scary as it is to try and be someone else. Nowhere near as hard as it is to try and function in this world without repeatedly breaking myself apart on canvas.

But is spewing the crap that’s inside my head and heart even art? Or is it just a way to avoid spending thousands on a therapist. I’ve been down the psychiatrist/psychologist/therapist route, had more of them than I can count on one hand and none of them ever helped me as much as picking up a pencil has. So is this art or art therapy?

But if there is a part of me in each piece, actually me and not just what I think you want to see, it's honest. And if it's honest there is a chance that you might connect. That you might find something in it that helps you. But even if it's honest and you connect is it art? Or is that what makes it art?

Welcome to my world.

I have my mojo back! It’s exciting after having misplaced it for the past month. I have all these ideas of what to do for a portfolio to send off to publishers. Now I just have to get the website up and running properly, oh and draw the pictures… minor details.

All sorts of other things to get done as well, I really need to get Goblin Riot finished. Only three spreads to go but it just hasn’t happened.

I want to get the photography thing back up and going again, I miss running around with a black growth at the end of my arm. Talking images of the art I’ve made just isn’t the same.

There is a local art exhibition in July which anyone can hand over some $ for and get a panel at but everything needs to be in by the end of this month. I need to know titles, size, medium. Would be simple if I had done the work in advance but well, I’m me, last minute is more my style so chances are it won’t be done until July. I just need to figure out what to do now so I can get the forms sent in!

I have to make a plushie zombie for Anita! How awesome!! I think I have the pattern sorted so now to make a mock up to check it works then go fabric hunting and making! And talking Anita, a crazy writer girl laptop cover has to be drawn… ohhh and all those other commissions for other friends that I promised I’d get onto asap… where did my list go? (Friends: If you’re reading this and I said I’d do something for you, REMIND ME!)

Eep I didn’t plan to come here to create a list of things I need to do, merely to come and say I GOT MY MOJO BACK! To say HELLO new followers and put up some pics of some of the things I drag around to markets so you can see more than what I did for A to Z. And that there is a whole heap more on facebook if you want to head over there and “Like” it.

So with no more rambling here is some of what I do...

I make bookmarks. They are all handpainted so although similar are all original.

I do a pictures that are 16x21cm (framed). A bunch of these are also available on clothing through Print Mighty.

I make furry hats with ears... they go nicely with my gorilla slippers! Made from faux fur and felt, I make a range of colour combinations and ear types.



I was going to put some band photos up now but blogger has decided to crap out on me and the insert  image bit isn't working. Useless! So if you want to see some photos leave a comment and I'll put them up next post.

Now I feel like I need to put a disclaimer up about how it's all copyrighted to me so don't go stealing anything. But if you want to buy I ship worldwide! Yes shameless give me money plug, I'm a broke artist!

Absconhuh?

"And sometimes it is kind of nice to try to hold onto your anonymity."

I keep getting asked what Absco-abscontis-abscondeetis-how the hell do you say it?! What does it mean and where did you find it. So here comes a short lesson and a story.

absconditus

ab-scon-di-tus
Latin

ADJ

hidden, secret, concealed; cover, disguised; abstruse, recondite

Around three years ago a friend decided he was going to make me a website. Come to think about it I may have promised to buy him a Ferrari if I got rich. I’ll have to put that in my will because there’s a rumour out there that you don’t get rich from art until you die, if at all. So far this is proving to be true. Anyway back to the website, he was going to call it nikkiparker.co… but that seemed way too scary and would mean I’d actually have to admit to being behind things.

Off I was on a quest to find a name to hide behind. So I did what anyone would do, I read the dictionary. Yep, was a riveting read that one. But I did come out with a collection of words and decided on recondite. Recondite turned into reconditus because Latin is better than English. Though by this stage my friend had temporarily dropped off the planet and I figured the whole thing was dead.

Fast forward to December 2010 and I’m standing in gallery in Queenstown having one of those life changing moments and I figure if I don’t go off and be a fulltime artist there really isn’t much point in anything. So when I get home I start playing around with Reconditus Art logo type things and figuring out what I’m going to do and what arty farty direction I’m going to go in.

Fail.

I can’t stay doing one thing for 5 minutes let alone try to do the same thing for the rest of ever. So art became Creations. Next I punch reconditus into something online only to find someone else has it as a user name.

Fail times two. I’m not going to use it if someone else does. Now what do I do?

Back to the internet to find similar Latin words to reconditus and up pops absconditus. Absconditus Creations was born. A facebook account was created and it was unofficially official.

My quiet take over of the planet began...

Ears are happily bleeding from: John Butler Trio

Eyes have gone into bad spasms from too much time reading things online.

Because the cool kids did it.

A blog.

Why?

All the cool kids are doing it. Wait I’m not cool. Oh, that’s embarrassing. Following the crowd then, a secret desire to be like everyone else? Nope that doesn’t sound like me either. There must be a reason… everything has a reason, doesn’t it? Maybe? Honestly I don’t have a clue, sometimes I’m sure everything we do is part of some epic plan and if we don’t do whatever we are doing, no matter how mundane it is, everything will fall apart. Other days I think there is no point in any of it. Anyway I’m off the point, not that there was a point to start with. I should mention right now that I ramble. A lot. There is no obligation to read any of this so if you don’t want to read what falls out of my head, click the x. It’s really that simple.

I think that was my non point. The answer to why start a blog. It’s to let things fall out of my head and let people into it. People keep asking how my brain works, how I come up with what I do, in the way I do. Truthfully I don’t really know. Some things just turn up and demand attention, others come from conversations with friends/strangers/cats/hallucinations – never underestimate the creativity that comes from a good cat conversation kiddies – others things come from thieving from others art/music/films, not straight thievery as such but they plant an idea and the idea grows into what it grows into and then there is a new piece of art. (“Art” uggh what is “art”? That might need to be a whole other blog… one that I plagiarise from someone who has that figured out.) Life I guess. It all comes from living. Without living there would be no art. Without art there would be no… I don’t even want to think about that.

So welcome to the asylum, get comfy, strap yourself in, crack open your skull and look sideways at the world because really why would you want to look at it any other way?

I’m even going to do this because it gives me some serious cool points… or not. But I always find it interesting to see what other people listen to and read and such.

Ear rape by: Bon Iver

Eye spasms caused by: My Story by Dave Pelzer