When I was younger, my dream was to be a playwright. I was in a lot of writing groups in high school, and frequently (like 5 times!) had my stuff performed on stage for the drama club. But off I went to college and my taste for art changed. I no longer wrote for the stage, but concentrated my efforts into the art of backstage work. I got a job at an opera and always was working on a set or a prop and wanted a way to showcase what weird thing I'd be making next!
Then that all changed when I graduated with a business degree and moved off to California. WTF was I supposed to do now? Now my theater background was being wasted. No job without my network of colleagues to rely on. I had to start over... from scratch. You know what that means in theater? That means load-ins and load-outs working terrible hours at a not great pay. I had been a lighting programmer... a nice cushy job indoors with little lifting. I had been on the artistic side and never wanted to go back to grunt work. Spoiled rotten me.
I rejected the thought of joining the union and relied on a little luck that eventually landed me a job in a prop house. I had never really been a painter... Well now that's all I'd be doing. Painting, building, repairing, and overall maintaining props, sets, and furniture.
Finally, a new creative outlet. First it was "Guess what we're working on now?!" As I posted silly things like this:
Look, a bridge made out of candy!
Is that a full size elephant... and a sand castle... and fun house mirrors? Umm... yes.
Okay... you made a space ship.. crash? And purple lava. Huh. WTF? Is that one alien DYING in a LAVA PIT? You jerks! Think of the children! Nice cargo net.
But not all projects were super glamorous. The day to day grind usually consisted of repairing big wooden tables. Not exactly the creative outlet I craved. I needed something more. Something that was all mine... but not all by myself (gotta re-read the first post again...).
In came my boss at the prop house who also lacked a good creative outlet (you know, besides purple lava, candy statues, and a really effing big elephant...). We decided to start an Etsy store to make up lost hours during the prop house's slow season. Though not an instant success, we've done pretty well! Our not very creative name ended up being..SamjenArts. A simple combination of our names. We suck.
So there I have an outlet. Get my random art out into the world! YAY ME! I'm going to be so famous! Dumbass. But I needed something all mine. Nearly a year after starting that wonderful venture, I'm starting a blog. And I'm going to write things. LIKE, ALL THE TIME. Or, you know, whenever I feel like it. Ain't nobody got that much time for this shit.
I'll still post some silly photos from the prop house from time to time (when allowed... you know... client confidentiality and shit.). And I'll update here on all my new paintings. Which happens a lot, actually. I'm working on a whole line of geeky botany. Ya. I said it. GEEK BOTANY. Nirnroot.
So stay tuned if you're still tuned or... you know... want to be tuned. Ya. I'm painting some Mario flowers...
brb.
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