The Card...

It took me a while to actually decide to do this. Then it took me a while to get the design done. Now it's taking me a while to get it printed, but that's alright. The process is allowing me time to know that I truly do want and feel the need for this. It's my business card! woohoo. Now I guess this means that I am legit...hopefully...maybe...

Anyway, the time has come for me to advertise myself as a source of illustrative talents.

Above is the final product (still under construction, but ready for the initial invasion).

Below is some of the progression to this point.

Me as You

Paintings I did for church!

It's to serve as a reminder about community. Christianity, this whole Jesus thing, is not about me and my beliefs. It's more along the lines of a people who are living and learning together what it means to love God, and love people.

And it's about the whole city, not just that building in which you gather.

It's about the city, the people living in it and making it. It's about the homeless man sitting next to you at the bus stop, and the snooty rich man driving his fancy car as he passes you on the wrong side of the road, and that girl that you like, and the neighbor two doors down, and the coworker who couldn't imagine working without, and the 'friend' you would rather not be around, and the boss you may or may not like, and finding Jesus in every one of them.

New glasses...New hair...New me?

So it all began with a girl. Yes, everything is the fault of that darn opposite sex. Anyway, I blame it all on a girl. It occurred to me that I needed to see. This is a revelation that came over the course of a year. I decided that I didn't want to wear my glasses anymore for very specific reasons-of which you should feel free to ask. So for almost a year I went without seeing as well as a 'normal' person would see. In my mind I could see well enough to get by, and that's all that I really needed. As it turns out, not seeing the beauty of God's world is like death.

Me without glasses, but still with long hair.

So I went to Decatur Eye Care on the suggestion of a friend-great people by the way. They filled out my prescription and I tried on a few glasses. My faves were the Arthur glasses (I dubbed them as such). They are thick round frames. SO awesome! The issue with that was a matter of nearly $300. Although I would love to give Decatur Eye Care all of my business, I can't afford that.

After I arrived home I searched the web for glasses online. I came across eyebuydirect.com. They were running a buy one get one free deal, which allowed me to get two pair of glasses for only $40. And directly below you will find the result. Being able to see again is such an amazing blessing.

I think having poor sight is a blessing as well. If you have eyes that see well, then I imagine it is harder to appreciate everything that you see on a daily basis. When I put my glasses on and look at the world that God has created, the world that we all live in, and when I can see the faces of everyone around me, I feel that I am given a new vision of life. I am being blessed with a renewed world.

It's me with long hair and glasses.

I work at a Pizzeria. I have been working there since June of this year, and I do believe that from the very beginning Bryan-my boss- wanted me to cut my hair. It has been more of an issue the last couple of months, and for the last couple of months I have been telling him that it is going to get cut, but alas, it was still long. Can't lie, I really like the long hair, over time it just grew on me (literally and in the figurative).

The tipping point for me was when my speech professor walked to the front of the classroom the other day, started to walk back out, and stopped when she saw me. From here I quote her verbatim, with exasperation in her voice, 'You have a lot of hair, is that a wig?!' Yeah, so, well, I guess that's what really convinced me to get it cut.

It turns out that my friend Ruth is amazing at everything, and I will quote her now, 'Now I ain't braggin' but its understood that everything I do I sure do good.' Just take a look at my hair, she cut it.

Me with glasses, and cut hair.

Now this all begs the question, who am I? Is this a new Matt, or is this the same Matt? Is it possible for someone to be the same after experiencing life? Do people really stay the person they have always been? Is it the glasses or the hair that make the man? Or are those outward expressions a reflection of the change of an inner man? Or is it all the exposure to culture that causes someone to change his person, appearance or otherwise?

Well, here I am for the examining. Hopefully my person can be somewhat revealed in the things that I post, and that you might discover who Matt is (and then you can tell me so I can know).

LOVE Again

There once was a man. There once was a man with a shirt. There once was a man with a green shirt. There once was a man with a green shirt and an idea.

The idea he had was to make a shirt design by hand. He didn't have the resources to do screen printing. So he used acrylic ink and a contact paper stencil.

Then that amazing shirt got wet and the ink bleed all over the place, but he didn't care.

He wore that shirt anyway.

Eventually the paparazzi caught wind of its amazingness...

Love

So I was talking with my friend Evan, the guy for whom I am doing the musketeer shirt design. He was mulling over other shirt ideas, and we were discussing interesting ways of designing more than the image. That being said, he really inspired me to get down and do my own shirt design.

I stole the image that I worked so hard on in the christening of ichLOVEthys. To say I stole it is to say that it wasn't really mine in the first place, in full honesty I only took the initial concept and inspiration and ran with it, really really far. Thus, the image is mine to utilize how I will.

Right after work that evening I bought some acrylic ink from Binders and used the remaining balance from my Associate of the Quarter gift card from HomeGoods to buy a few shirts-one from TJMaxx and two from Marshalls.

On the way back to the apartment I stopped at Publix to purchase some amazingly awesome Sweet Leaf Green Tea with Mint & Honey. It's a must have in any sort of inspirational endeavor.

The remainder of the night, from about 8 in the evening to 1 in the morning- with one stop to eat din with my roomie and view an episode of the Mary Tyler Moore show via Hulu- I worked on the composition and application.

And the result is a truly creepy image of my holding the final product!...more or less.

Here the shirt is being modeled by a very attractive man. I realize that it is probably stepping over some boundaries talking about a man like this, but what can I say, when I see an attractive man I can't hold it back.

Come to find out that I need to find a way to set the ink in the shirt before I wear it. Let me say this without too much laughter... I sweat, I know, crazy right!? anyway, apparently my sweat caused the ink in the arm pit region to bleed into the adjacent shirt area.

I guess that experimenting means that you sometimes make mistakes, even when the overall project turns out great.

A Heavenly Bee...

It came upon me that life is short. Not a new idea by any means, but an idea that holds precious meaning in certain and precious circumstances. It came upon me in mid-afternoon. It wasn't the first time, and it wasn't the last, but it was memorable.

This beast of insignificant size spent most of its time, from what I surmised, buzzing around the front door of my apartment. Every day for a week or so it would be there to greet me and see me off.

It came upon me to record this gentle musician for posterity's sake.

So I grabbed my camera and began the process of capturing the elusive bee. Capturing, mind you, in a purely photographic sense

It danced in the air as if it were posing. But its poses were playful and prancing. There were few moments in which it actually stayed long enough for a decent view.

Slowly it began to disappear. Off into the distance. A soft glow of the afternoon sun enveloping the bee.

As the last moments of its presence waned I sensed that it was not going to be around much longer.

Such a small creature didn't seem to have long to spend buzzing for my enjoyment.

The bee must have had responsibilities to the hive, and many more plans to fill the short time of its existence.

It came upon me that life is short. By all means a new idea to be discovered by everyone.