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

This is who I am

I see several artists on Instagram and YouTube that attempt to define the term “artist” to those that may not know what it means. I have known for a long time that I was different, I knew I looked at things differently from the other people around me. For me using the title of artist is more about  a way of being. We notice, we feel, we create. It’s who we are. It’s what we do. I have a style, I have visual ques that are repeated, color drives the creation of series for me. I like who I am and what I do as an artist I like the challenges associated with bringing my visions to life. I have a desire to grow as an artist, to challenge my norms while expanding my style, experimenting with processes and materials. I fail, I miss the mark, I make poor material choices, I just cant produce that vision. This is all part of the process of creating and I have found I truly enjoy all of the processes I endure for my style. Peace

The man purse

Been here done this, got my new bag yesterday, started the process of provisioning this bag. Going to make some fundamental changes to the strap and zipper pulls add a bunch o Matt junk on the outside to schlep around on my daily journeys. This bag is big enough to carry my sketch book and journal the journal has some weight, new 5 lb. burden in life. Peace

and another container

I recently acquired a very interesting antique small chest. I am the proud curator and 4th owner of a 115 year old film industry piece. Used in the film industry for 70 years by two gentlemen who would lock up actors personal stuff during filming (glasses, rings, watches). I am presently using this piece as a place to “store” the stuff of my life. You all know dads top drawer with all that “stuff” we collect along the way in this life. I will post more about this piece and what I have planned for it. Peace

Another personal project

Well I lost my billfold, not a traditional giant man ass bump, I gave those up about 20 years ago. It was one of those cards only ones, the issue is I have been wearing sweats and the pockets suck. I have rethought how I transport keys, phone, and wallet. I have gone the man purse route, kinda did it in my old corporate thing. This time it will be different the new bag, and wallet arrive today, Mattize will begin immediately. This will be an ongoing thing as my materials are all in storage and as usual my vision of this bag is epic. Peace