The bookmaker, the violinist, and the visionary...

Two weeks have passed my friends and I missed you all last week!

I started the week thinking that I could do it all… attend the big 3-day Adobe Max conference, handle my contract work deadlines for the quarterly meeting last Friday, and somehow write my email update to all of you. Something had to give and it was the email. Do you ever do that? Give up “your thing” to do for others? It’s been a constant struggle for me in my life. I tend to put myself last. With age, I’m trying to learn to let my needs come first when possible. It’s definitely a learning process.

The Adobe Max conference was phenomenal! wow! So many great speakers, incredible classes filled to the brim with information and demonstrations, and more exciting knowledge than I can ever download succinctly. Three things that stood out from the conference were:

1. The book maker. I tried so hard to find this woman’s name from the list of speakers at the conference but with over 350 courses and lectures, I could not locate it anywhere. She was a wonderful woman who talked about being a book maker. She builds the books from the ground up. She determines the shape and size of the book itself, the size font that will go inside, how many pages, what type of paper it will be printed on, and what the outer casing will be. I had always thought of books as art but more-so in the art of the cover design. But this woman made the entire shape of a book come to life. She showed off many beautiful books she had made over the years. The white book stood out the most. It was a purely white book. No title, no description, no art, just beautiful, hardbound, almost handmade-paper-looking, white book cover. Only the name of the author sat on the front of the cover near the bottom – nothing else. She talked about having presented it to the author’s agent and marketing team. They essentially told her it could not be done. The author knew and trusted this book maker – she had chosen her after all – and told her “I trust you, let’s do it”. The book went on to be a best seller. She’s an incredible woman making almost unseen art – or at least, art that goes mostly unnoticed.

2. The violinist. The sound that Sumina Struder produced from her violin was enchanting. She lulled us into a trance, rejuvenated our spirits, and somehow wrapped us all in a giant blanket of love.

3. The visionary. Ai Weiwei might come across as crazy at first, but you’d quickly warm up to his lack of concern for the establishment, his openness of sharing his deepest thoughts, and his lighthearted way that he walks through life. My favorite line from this sensei to artists… “A spider makes a web predicting that bugs will fall into it - but sometimes that never happens.”  I took that to mean that we shouldn’t refrain from making beautiful things just because we are worried they might not go anywhere… might not get us a job or a gig or sell the art on a product. We should make art and hope that the flies are drawn to it!

If you’re interested in any of the conference lectures or classes, most of them are still available on Adobe Max’s website for free to review for up to one year. (not sponsored, lol)

I was able to find some time to draw over the last two weeks, thank goodness, because it really has become a practice of zen and happiness for me! I can’t believe I finished EIGHT more flowers for my #30daysofflowers challenge (which I’m now just calling 30 flowers because I couldn’t accomplish them in 30 days - it takes me 2-3 days for each drawing, lol).

If you’re looking for something spooky to watch this week in the spirit of Halloween, I highly recommend Hubie Halloween with Adam Sandler for a fun, silly laughter filled movie and The Haunting of Bly Manor for a more creepy, intense, and exciting jaunt with the best unexpected ending I’ve seen in a long time! Both the movie and series are on Netflix.

I hope that you all have had a wonderful couple of weeks and are getting into the swing of all things cozy for Fall!

*hugs and kisses*

~Blume

I’ll leave you with eight new flower drawings by me below. I hope you enjoy them!