365 just show up: Transform Your Life with Color

 photo by Rosa Phoenix

I am guest blogging on 365 just show up. Please click on the link below for "Transform Your Life with Color"

http://365justshowup.blogspot.com/2010/09/transform-your-life-with-color.html

Analog Girl in a Digital World

 Phoenix Fire

digital image by Rosa Phoenix

I grew up in a mostly analog world. 

I was born around the time that the first personal computers were coming onto the scene, although most people didn't have one at that time. 

My family's first computer was a Commodore Vic 20. You couldn't do much with it, except play some primitive video games like Frogger. I learned how to type on a manual typewriter in my dad's medical office.

When I was a kid, I learned BASIC programming. My brother used it to create a picture of the space shuttle, programming it line by line, pixel by pixel, a slow and arduous process.

In high school I created a zine. I printed out the text on the computer, in columns, and literally cut and pasted them into my pages, and I used the photocopy machine to produce some blurry copies.

I learned photography with real film, and we processed the film in a darkroom, with chemicals. You wouldn't see your image until you saw it emerge in the chemical bath, under the eerie red light of the darkroom.

I moved to New York in the 1990's. When I was 18, I took a summer film class and we filmed with 16 mm black and white film. We edited by literally cutting the film with a blade, and splicing the cuts together with tape.

"When we go to digital, everything will change" the instructors were always saying. 

Everyone in the film industry was looking forward to this magical future age, when everything could be changed with the push of a button.

BookBook MacBook case

by Twelve South

I worked for a publishing house for a little while. 

The people there, editors and publishers, also spoke of the coming digital age. 

They weren't looking forward to it. Publishing was already a dying industry. 

They knew these were the last days of print, that e-books would kill the publishing business. They didn't know how much time they had left, but they knew that it wouldn't be long. Soon their jobs would be obsolete.

Everything about the publishing house was agonizingly slow. Stacks of manuscripts were marked with red pencils, and then they were typed all over again with the corrections. Paper was everywhere. 

Going from manuscript, to galley, to published book, to distribution, could take a year.

Unsolicited submissions came in the mail in big mailbags and bins, and were promptly thrown in the garbage.  

These wanna-be authors didn't know how to get their novel in front of the editors. 

They didn't have an agent, they didn't know the editors, they didn't have the right connections. 

No one had the time to read their words and stories.

digital collage by Rosa Phoenix

Now the digital world is here. Our whole world is changing fast.

There is nostalgia, there are things that I love about analog. 

I prefer the tactile pleasures of painting with paint and brush, to making digital art on the computer. 

But I love my computer too. I love the creative programs like PhotoShop and Illustrator, with its layers, the Undo button, changes that can be made with the click of a button. To me it's magic.

I love books and print, but I don't miss the cultural gatekeepers who determined which stories would be told and shared with the world, and which would never see the light of day.

fire girl image by MISHA
digital collage by Rosa Phoenix

I love self-publishing on my blog and my website.  

I love the democratization of expression that the digital age makes possible. 

 I love reaching people all around the world, who I would never get to meet in person, and share my art and ideas with them. 

I love not having to go through the middlemen--the agents, the editors, the cultural gatekeepers, who have to look out for the bottom line and ask the question "will it sell?" 

That isn't a concern that I have.

I know now that I've been waiting for this day to come, all my life.  

I was born in an analog world, and I am also a part of the digital revolution. 

I love to use my hands and heart to create, and I also love my computer, which is another creative tool, that also allows me to reach the wider world.

P.S. the title of this blog post comes from a song by the fabulous Erykah Badu, who has embraced digital media.

Reflections

Julia Butterfly Hill poem from CoSM TV on Vimeo.

St. Ignatius Church Sketch

 

 crayon and color pencil sketch

by Rosa Phoenix

I keep sketching St. Ignatius Church.  

This view is from Buena Vista Park. 

The foreground shapes suggested sheep, so I went with it. 

I Love Old Books

book by TeoStudio

Now that we have e-books, real books are becoming obsolete. 

I've said farewell to many of my favorite bookstores, where I used to hang out for hours. I loved the soft chairs, the smells of the books and discovering books and authors.

Sadly, these places where I spent happy afternoons have all gone out of business. Sorry, but Amazon.com and the iPad just aren't the same!

I will always love old books. I have some really old ones I've picked up, I even have one that is 100+ years old.

Luckily the art of bookmaking is still alive and well. And there are even some new uses for old books, too.

miniature book by TeoStudio

I discovered TeoStudio on Etsy. This wonderful bookbinder uses worn, vintage leather and antique hardware to create one-of-a-kind blank books.

book by TeoStudio

Another Etsy seller, spoonfulofchocolate recycles old books into cute handbags.

recycled book handbag by spoonfulofchocolate

book handbag by spoonfulofchocolate

For my birthday I got this wonderful case for my MacBook. Made by Twelve South, it's called Book Book.

BookBook by Twelve South

The best part is it smells like an old book.


I also love PaperBlanks line of dayplanners, address books and journals that look like beautiful old books.

PaperBlank dayplanner

Do you cherish old books? What about bookstores? How are you adjusting to the transition to digital media?



LINKS


TeoStudio on Etsy

TeoStudio Vintage Journals Blog (please take a look if you are interested in the book-making process...it's fascinating!)

Spoonful of Chocolate on Etsy

Twelve South

PaperBlanks

New Blog! Cole Valley Art Blog

Cole Valley House by Rosa Phoenix

I made a new blog! It's a blog for the artists of Cole Valley (my neighborhood in San Francisco). Cole Valley seems to be a magnet for artists and creative people. So I thought that a blog would be a nice way to showcase the wonderful work that is made right in our local area.

Check it out, and more artwork coming soon!

http://www.colevalleyart.blogspot.com/

Keep on climbing

photo by Rosa Phoenix