Change

So I understand that change is hard, sometimes real hard for people. I personally like change in somethings and somethings I would prefer that they stay static. Well guess what, very little stays the same and usually nothing lasts for ever. I like change, it helps with my creativity. Changing personal perspectives involving perceptions and artistic tastes is growth. I’m here to grow 24/7 working 7 days a week makes it reality.

Greetings and salutations

This is my standard greeting to other humans in public, “greetings and salutations” my standard response to how are you is “absolutely fantastic thank you”. Now when both of these incredibly well crafted social interaction phrases are used in conjunction, they almost always elicits more genuine responses from the recipient. Just to make it clear I am 6 foot tall weigh about 175 have short white hair and in public I always have a black bowler hat on and a tie die shirt, hoody. I stick out in public, people remember me, when my bride Ms. Vickie accompanies me in public wearing the company uniform (tie dye) we always get surprised reactions and complements. so stay weird. Peace

thoughts on 4/20

So kids, I make and sell several kinds of weed smoking paraphernalia. Now mind you I have never described my stuff as Tabaco smoking stuff, my stuff is unabashedly used for the consumption of marijuana. This undertaking is completely legal and I sell a ton of stuff at flea markets. I sell bongs made from repurposed glass and ceramic, pipes made from rocks from the Salt river in AZ. stash and caries from copper pipe, bong pokers, and several other items that simplify the weed smoking experience.  I have been doing bongs for 5 years I have priced these devices from stupid high in the past, I sell most of these devices for $20 . I sell Salt river stoned pipes for $20-$30, I sell Wizard pipes for $30.  This cash and carry prices at flea markets.

There are several enterprising folks who do the same thing I do but only sell online typical prices run from $120 all the way up to over $300.  I’m not knocking those people, I just come from a place and time of simple is better and marking stuff up over 500% of cost is excessive and price gouging in my world. I sell local and the collage kids love my prices (i’m somewhat of a thing at ASU).

I have ran into a number of new devices being marketed to the users of weed that purport to making your experience easier faster better. These beautifully manufactured devices will set you back at least $100 or more and usually provide a single benefit. I ran into a Kickstarter joint rolling machine as big as a coffee maker and priced over $100. I can roll a joint with 2 hands and a dollar bill, I have a cone packer also pretty cheap. Again lets complicate an antient ritual with modern devices and high prices, its the American way. Peace 

The battle of the hair

So kids, I’m 68 this year, my hair on my head is grey/white at 30, Thanks mom, but i still have full head of hair. I was in Jr high in 68-69 my hair was fairly long. Back then in sports you had to cut hair and shave face hair, I had both. I managed several colors of hair and lengths in high school but lived by the mantra of "Oh say can you see/ My eyes if you can/Then my hair’s too short!"(Hair).

The immortal words of David Crosby

Almost cut my hair

It happened just the other day

It was gettin' kinda long

I could-a said, it was in my way

But I didn't and I wonder why

I feel like letting my freak flag fly

Yes I feel like I owe it to someone

So here we are 50+ years latter and I can let hair grow anyplace I want and believe me when I say it does. I have gone to shaving my head. Now I have not yet taken a razer to it I do use hair trimers with no guards. Lately my mind has wondered back to hair gone by and the thought starts you can let it grow. Now mind you shaved is like zero upkeep between shaves (yes I shampoo daily). I’m not sure at this time in my life I really want to be one of “those Guys” (thinning hair scraggly beard guys), not a good look.

So in the vain of been there done that long hair is in the past, maybe a razer is the next level. Peace

critical listening to music

So kids, In the late 70’s I purchased a high end set of speakers, it changed my life. I became a critical listener, it is a learned skill that requires concentration at a certain level. Fast forward 50 years, I had not been practicing critical listening for a long time, it is easy to just listen. For the last 5 years I have listened to music 10+ hours a day. I had a great relapse of critical listening after listening to some pod casts about music on YouTube. I bought a pair of cordless over the ear headphones, I have had many headphones Bluetooth is the shit.

Well I watched the bob Dylan movie A complete Unknown over the weekend. Now I am a Dylan fan for a long time, listened to several of his 70’s albums all the time. I have a lot of the early Dylan on best of albums as well as the actual albums. I never sat down and listened to his first 6 albums in there entirety until yesterday. Dylan’s folk period is very compelling due to the nature of folk music in the early 60’s consisting of just Dylan, his guitar and a harmonica. Yeah I’m on a early Dylan binge and I am smiling. Peace

what people don’t see

If you are a maker, and thus you are a seller at some point a prospective buyer will say “I can do this or that”. I create original works, most people cannot create original anything let alone something artistic. My art has many components all requiring attachment to the body of the piece as well as attachment to other components as in a sub system. I have learned which glues to use what cords I like and the “stuff” that will give me the look I want. I have also started things and stopped for any number of reasons, this is how failures teach us about ourselves. I stop working on thigs, mostly because the item is not living up to my expectations of execution. People don’t see the failures or the process that all have to come together for one of my art pieces to live in the wild. I like challenges and creating solutions this is what drives me to create and expand my personal horizons and vision of beauty. Peace

Who are you

Famous words from the past, in the world of social media who are you. Over in Meta worlds, artists can easily pander to the artificial environment with an extremely dynamic set of rules. I feel that being authentic to ones self as an important part of personal growth. As an artist being authentic translates into I will create things that make me smile. Hopefully other people who see my art see that, I have sold several pieces in the last 5 years and I know those people get my art, that makes me smile. Peace

enrichment

A lot going on right now, challenges are present, solutions are in the making. So I was on my daily trek through my tree lined neighborhood on a sunny April morning. My thoughts drifted to the very first time I sold my art at a public market and the emotions surrounding that day. Now I took at least a dozen large pieces (sun and the moon, moon and the stars series) to market. The first thought about selling my stuff was a kind of melancholia in nature, after reconciling with myself I was good to go. The thought that art that I have made is out in the world, not in my possession and hopefully enriching the new owners lives is empowering to me. I have produced a lot of things many are utilitarian in nature people seem to connect to these things. I truly hope they many of them are now some ones favorite utility piece (smoking device). My daily use pieces are my favorites for my experience. Peace

Making things mine matizing

So I love to modify , repaint, reconfigure shit. I pretty much make things easy for me as I do them and most importantly it should look cool. Now my cool look was born in the 50’s, formative years in the 60’s and fledgling adult in the 70’s. I have looks I love, colors I adore, and thought and mindful awareness. Cool is really a bi product of me wanting something and adding to it or removing stuff I will stop when I’m happy with the look. Peace

Kitty update

So kids, If you are following along, Mandy the kitty has made a successful transition from yard cat to house cat. We are waiting for Mandy to have kittens, she is about to pop. very loving little tabby, purrs all the time, makes biscuits and loves her belly rubbed right now. We are now officially cat people, just need the secret hand shake and secret word. Peace

thoughts on Life

So for 25+ years I “suppressed” a creative streak that began in 1968. I was openly creative for over 5 years, then life happened. You gotta pay the bills, you gotta work towards your retirement, you gotta be an adult. I have been thinking about my life during those non-artistically creative years. My unfulfilled need to create must have surfaced in other places, and it did. I probably was not a happy person due to the lack of an open output medium. Mostly I was creating other peoples visions as in I work for you (the man). Now I work for me and others like me, My “people” are special I identify with you we are drawn together by more than chance. We get “it” if you don’t get “it” I’m sorry you probably never will, non creatives are not my people, “creatives” that don’t get “it” are just attempting to copy real creatives works. My lifestyle facilitates my creativity, If your lifestyle includes any sort of cult or multiple cult affiliations you are going to have a very hard time creating anything original. I am original, I am me, try to copy my stuff, you are not me, you are not original or authentic. Peace

New house member

So the automatic cat distribution system delivered us a cute little tabby cat, just a little pregnant. She is converting to an indoor cat quite well. she is named Mandy, short for Amanda as the wife called her Mz Kitty all the time. Peace

WHAT i’M WORKING ON RIGHT NOW

I'm , currently working on my mindful awareness, my curiosity, and most importantly working on GROWTH, personally and artistically . Please people never stop growing aka, death. I prefer to grow and change as needed it seems to make me very happy with life. Peace

Let your work speak for you

A large number of artists on IG have expressed recently their collective frustration with who and how people are allowed to see their content by Meta. Well folks guess what social media is not going make your art famous, you are by producing “stuff”. I’m a creative, not a magician and chasing a mythical beast (followers) in Metas very own sand box that has extremely volatile “rules” changes. If you have tied your monetary health to any social network, remember it can all go away almost overnight and what is your “plan B”. I have not tied my success as an artist to any social media platform as famous in that environment is just that FB, IG famous today with todays rules. Meta roles the dice and your people cant even see your posts game over for you my friend. Peace

Creating an enviroment to facilitate creativity

So I listen to music at least 80% of my day, and to that I have purchased some wireless over the ear headphones. Bluetooth is wonderful I can work and listen unincumbered for over 2 days on a charge. You don’t need those trendy high priced headphones, these are bitchn for under $50 and get the color you want, thanks Amazon. Music is kind of my secret sauce and what I listen to affects what I produce. I mentally associate albums to the period I first heard the music, those emotions are easily recalled and enjoyed over and over. The other side of my creativity is fueled by visual stimulus, I will be using one of the extra flat screens to set up a visually dynamic presentation, art for me stuff. Hey that’s how I create, I want it I make it. The results may or may not lead directly to a series of the original for all my people to enjoy thru monetary renumeration. Peace

Something you probably don’t know about me

I have had music in my life for a long time, I’m talking recorded music. I have owned a collection of over 1100 record albums, 1000 singles, and over 5000 CD’s. I parted way with the physical media over 10 years ago (a let me free moment). I currently have curated over 22,000 albums, which represents over 2000 artist in several standard audio formats. I do a lot of listening to music across a wide variety of styles and genres. My wife loves my playlists in the truck, ask her about it. Peace

Is anybody out there

OK so here I am just hanging out in my own small portion of the internet and I think why. Why am I here doing this (blogging), Maybe blogging is so over, don’t know don’t care. The act of placing some of my thoughts into writing is for me, a type of therapy or intense introspection on my part. Is anyone following me here right now, it dosen’t matter right now. People are free to look at my history of posts it is easy in this environment vs the social media hell scape. I will always attempt to give you the real Matt Houston and not some social media contrived character of who I am. Peace

My exact sentiments

“People need art in their houses. They don’t need Bed Bath and Beyond dentist -office art. They need weird stuff.” Ezra Croft

The bag AKA manpurse

Well I have transformed that little blue bag into my very own urban survival bag. You gotta have stuff with you sometimes. I’m not 27 when some cash and maybe a set of keys was all you carried. I got baggage now at 68 and I want it with me thank you very much. I still gotta do some straps , and I do mean more than one. It seems a lot of people use very asymmetrical mixed corded materials incorporating macramé (those are all kind of things I do). Peace

Things I learned selling my art

The first time I sold my art I had been creating pieces for about a year and had amassed more than 10 and less than a thousand individually unique pieces. The reactions to my art were almost overwhelming to me. I had created these pieces right before the pandemic and during it, kind of in a vacuum. I instantly connected to the people who get what I am doing. I also learned that some people who are drawn to my work have problems with being visually overwhelmed with my style. In other words, some people just don’t get it and that is fine (you ain’t my people). When my people react to my creations it is a true response of delight and wonder, which creates a lot of questions. If you want to know something ask, I’m an open person and my processes are old as time. I share a lot. Peace