Shiny Bits of Life

Jeepneys are the main way people get around in the Philippines. In East Africa, people ride in Matatus. I liked them so much I featured them a fair amount when I lived in Nairobi.

So I came across this photo of a Jeepney in a missionary magazine* – and I was struck by how the artwork was so similar to what could be found on Matatus in downtown Nairobi! It’s just amazing that the influences that shape how artists do their craft are similar, even 6,000 miles (9,500 km) apart!

Not only does matatu art reflect the latest trends in society, it always shows the cutting-edge of young artists’ creativity. (However, some matatu artists are better than others!) Often the several random sayings on one matatu provide a good laugh. One of my fantasies while living in Nairobi was to hire a photographer to take a million photos of matatus – and then I would create a coffee table book out of the best pix. Any angel investors out there willing to chip in?

* (Sorry, there was no credit given to the photographer, or I would have passed that on.)

I had to share her with you. We went on a family hike yesterday near Boulder, Colorado. (That’s about an hour from our home.) I saw this little lady sitting by the edge of the trail. She was begging to be photographed. I obliged.

I was amazed when I saw Rachel doing this the other day – she was tracing the shadows with chalk on our porch. I never would have thought of doing that – but (I thought) it was very creative.

One of the most memorable moments of design school was when the lead professor (Frank Cheatham) said, “If you are here to learn to draw better horses, then you are in the wrong place.”

That always stuck with me. When we enter a learning experience with too strong an idea of what we want to get out of it, we will probably not learn very much.

Somehow I wanted to work that thought around to my next idea, but I couldn’t figure out how. Maybe it’s that the above advice should have been given a long time ago to a young person I know. They are in a program that is just not suited to them. They are so far down the road that it’s too late to do something else. They seem to be happy enough (though the course of study is quite a challenge), but no one has ever given that advice.

They are (proverbially) drawing a lot of horses. Hours and hours, days and days, spent drawing more horses.

I’m a bit ashamed that I did not have the courage to say something.

Would you have said something?

The horse painting – it’s copyright-free from Dover Publications. And the artist must have enjoyed creating it.

This glorious symmetrical juxtaposition of spam subjects was too good to ignore.

I never open these messages, but I do check my spam folders on occasion – inevitably, there is a real email in there from a real friend that I would regret not reading. (But no one I know ever writes about things shown in this random spam art.)

Takeaway: Look for the beauty in unexpected places. (That’s a central part of the Shiny Bits of Life ethos.)

You may remember my post on labels. Well, my friend Lee is now collecting labels to create a work of art from. I’m also collecting for her.

If you would like to send me your labels, I’ll pass them on to Lee. I think I can convince her to let me post a picture of what she creates.

Just leave a comment. I can grab your email address from there, and I’ll send you my physical address. Or send me an email at phmerrill at g mail dot com.

This cougar lives in downtown Boulder, Colorado. He is a very active guy, as fixed sculptures go.

The artist did not consider the whole… the base is very high-tech, while the cougar is very hand-done-showing-the-artist’s-touch.

Takeaway: Consider the frame for what you are presenting. It could distract from your message.

This Subaru lives in our neighborhood.

Maybe its owner has never heard of masking tape? Or maybe it’s a rebellion against coloring within the lines. In any case, I think the owner has seen Napoleon Dynamite one too many times. (That might be the car Napoleon would drive – and the owner secretly wants to be like him. But now I’ve let the cat out of the bag.)

And I guess it just struck me, because it seemed like something Napoleon Dynamite would do to his car if he had a Subaru.

Rachel created this lovely piece of art. My urge was to keep it. Somewhere. Instead, I “kept” it by taking this photo.

When I was a kid, we didn’t create as much art as kids do today. My parents were blessed by not having to face the dilemma of which of the many many pieces of art to hang on to.

By the time we reached child number three (Rachel), we collected even less. That’s one of those unfairness-of-life things. But since she’s the most artistic of our kids, perhaps our rate of collection evened out.

Takeaway? Digitize.

I was amused at this sculpture that lies (sleeps?) in downtown Denver.

The man is lying face down, sipping from the pool he is doing push-ups in.

Happy Monday. Go grab a drink of water – but don’t die doing so.