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First Steps

Hello! Nice to meet you, Internet-people! My name is Nick, and I'm here to open up my little world to you. What better way to start than to give a little background about myself and what you should expect to see on my blog?

I'm an artist. Should I blush when i say that? Let me be clear that I don't mean that as a way to differentiate myself from all the people who don't call themselves that -people who might feel that I'm trying to say they're all plebeians who don't know how to appreciate the often incoherent messages modern art has placed into the world- because I'm not that special. When I say I'm an artist, it means that when I'm not at my day job, I'm thinking/breathing/obsessing about making something aesthetically interesting, and sometimes I actually am!

Its been a year since I graduated from college (the University of North Dakota) and since then, there have been many RUDE awakenings that I've had to face about life outside of the warm happy bubble of a University. For starters: "holy shit, I'm broke, and nobody cares!" Money is a big issue, and because I've been a stubborn ass when it came to following my impulses, I left school with a heavy concentration in Arts training, and NOTHING in regards to business/job-skills. OK, I shouldn't be so dramatic, but I'm not going to get a nice cushy office job any time soon with my creds (but maybe I'm exaggerating). That being said, I have a fun and exciting job as a Bulk-foods Buyer at food-coop called Amazing Grains. The work is rewarding, but I'm not completely making ends-meet, so I'm ravenously looking for a way to bust out of this city to relocate to Minneapolis/St Paul to expose myself to better opportunities.

My goal in life is to be a self employed artist: I draw and paint, and I also compose and produce music. At the moment, I'm dedicated to studying mixing and mastering techniques, so I can self-produce an album of old songs, and maybe throw in a few new ones. The process is SLOW and pretty disconcerting, but I have a lot to learn before I can produce records that sound as good as I know they can.

Right now I've been trying to rack my brain about how to get from A to BE -from being in my nice little low-wage job to BEing a self employed, community supported, artist. Luckily, I have a beautiful and inspiring Girlfriend who lent me a book about the topic: Show your work! by Austin Kleon.
Mr Kleon suggested starting a Blog that exposes a bit of the artistic process, to help others get to know and become a fan of the artist. I thought that was a great idea, and since I'm more than slightly self absorbed it would be a great way for me to vent out my often bottled-up ruminations about myself and my goals. Often I've been overly reserved and even slightly self-destructive when it comes to sharing my work and process, so a blog is an easy way to share without too much direct spotlight hitting my blushing cheeks.  So you're currently reading the blog where I'll be sharing snippets of my process, and bits of my life as it happens. Who knows what will become of this project, but I might as well get it started!

What you can expect me to post:

-Books i'm reading, and my thoughts/responses/reviews.

-Snippets of drawings, audio production, and pictures of yours truly doing work (if that floats your boat).

-Upcoming Events, or projects, or shows.

-Questions/conflicts I'd like feedback on.


Please note that this blog is going to SUCK if nobody finds it useful or inspiring or even entertaining, so help me making this thing awesome by giving me some love and commenting or sharing this thing. I'll do my best to give credit where it's due, and hopefully some magical collaborations will ensue!

Thanks
-Nick




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