Thetter Nate Ben Lever / by zach knapp

I’m not sure anyone reads this, but that’s ok; anyone who journals or blogs really does it for themselves first. Looking back I was pretty good this year - I stuck to what I said about one blog post per month. Until somewhere between February and March when life just got out of hand and all my good-boy, gold-star, pat-yourself-on-the-back-energy dried up. I was in the midst of doing a residency and gallery show at Redux, working full-time at my day(night)-job, finishing up and starting new personal work, doing commission work, and also my other day(day)-job - also I got sick again. I’m sure I could rant and ramble, but that’s really it.

just to bring it back to the present moment for a sec, I just took down my show at Redux; having that opportunity was awesome! I got connected with a bunch of people and just became more involed with the community at Redux. I got to talk with Tyrone Geter a bunch about his life and his work - really amazing guy and his work is great.

This is it. This is what I wanted. To be in demand, and have stuff going on to the point where my schedule was full and I didn’t have so much free time that I was just going to sit around and durdle. Well here it is. It does just feel like right now I’m finally getting a come-down from the past 3-ish months, which is why I am here now. There will probably be another burst of activity and producing in the next couple weeks that will run another few months long. To anyone who does read this who happens to be subscribed to my newsletter etc; apologies. I will be pushing in the next few weeks to catch up and clear the board of the work I am behind on. More specifically that means I will have (by June) sent out the 5 sets of postcards, stickers and cards I am late on. I got a fair bit done across the board, but somehow in my head during the months of February and March, the prospect of doing an EXTRA 100 drawings and paintings for my Redux residency didn’t trigger alarm bells or warnings about how much actual work that would be, and I thought everything would just be business as normal. Well, business as normal now means that the work I should have shipped for February/March/April/May and now June, will be done by next month. Alright… still feels like I’m playing pity party, so let’s just reframe here and I will try to remember all the things that I did since February…

  • My first ever table set-up selling at a convention at Asheville AnimeFest! Then I had the shits for a week!

  • 6 Weeks @ Redux Lightning Residency, created ~ 100 drawings, paintings, and digital illustrations, while collaborating with a dozen other people, which also involved tracking people down and getting photo reference

  • Did a large handpainted mural @ Freehouse Brewery over the course of a week; picked up, set up scaffolding, projected overnight, etc.

  • Handpainted lettering on glass window for signage at Poogan’s Porch (while suffering the flu) over the course of a week

  • 2 fully hand painted lettering projects on Community Supported Grocery’s Delivery vans, 3-5 days each

  • Assisted Connor in hand painting and installing 2 new signs at Poogan’s Smokehouse and Poogan’s Courtyard, about a week

  • Took a trip to Austin for last week of April for CROP conference and sightseeing/inspo

  • Started teaching an Intro to Acrylic Painting class this month

  • Had a table and showed at second AnimeFest in North Charleston in April - had to hire someone to run my table while I was in Austin, sold a few prints. (My 2nd convention ever!)

  • Got commissoned for a gig poster, did photography and worked on more of a graphic design type project.

  • Got hired on full-time as a junior designer with SEVEN!

  • Applied with SCAC for the Emerging Artist Grant.

  • (Almost Forgot an entire week of work lol) My first ever animation completed for SEVEN as rough draft for client review with College of Charleston.

I actually remembered some things I had forgotten doing this, and I’m sure I forgot some other things too, but that feels better to see it like that. Maybe you’re doing more or less than me, but just so you know, even after reading this, I still feel like I’m lazy and not doing enough, that I have more in me. Ridiculous bullshit, but that last part is a good thing, that I have more in me, but I know I need to take a beat and just acknowledge that I have made real progress…

hope all you beautiful beings can find some peace amidst your work as well.

Z