A while ago I started a video project parodying the videos of the activist group Anonymous. Recently I completed it.
We are Synonymous is the manifesto of the apathetic and procrastinators.
Created with Apple’s built in text to speech and iMovie.
procrastination
The art of not getting something done. A theme of the Prospective collection.
How to Profit from Procrastination. Order now!
I’m writing a book about how to profit from procrastination.
“I was procrastinating on Facebook and saw that a friend had recently written and published a self help kind of book.
I reminded myself of my unfinished novel.
I continued on with my procrastination on Facebook.
However, in the deep dark recesses of the back of my mind a seed of an idea was germinating.
Why not write a book about how to make a profit from procrastination.
It started as a joke – make a cover and some chapter outlines. Then presell it.”
For real
My quick research shows that there is not a lot written about the positive effects of procrastination. Most of the literature is about the dangers of procrastination and how to avoid it.
Almost everyone I know, for as long as possible, wants to procrastinate their inevitable death.
There is money to be saved by waiting instead of impulsively buying. Markets and products development can be explored while actively procrastinating on the finished article. And delays can often bring the wisdom of hindsight as others make mistakes you can learn from.
After one month and a day of procrastination, I wrote enough of the book to start selling it. In between procrastinations, I will publish further editions of the book.
You can buy the first edition now on 51 of Apple’s iBook stores [sorry, not available in China or Turkey yet].
Short book coming shortly
“Life is too short to write long things.” — Stanislaw J. Lec
I have been procrastinating on an idea of writing a short book about procrastination for just over a month now.
Social media procrastination die
For indecisive procrastinators, yesterday I created this papercraft social media die:
If you were to use an online tool to randomly choose a social media website to go to, you would save time. But procrastination is not about saving time. Using this manual tool makes your procrastination more effective. First you need to step away from the computer, roll the die (perhaps several times), then manually go to the social media website. Each step provides an opportunity for distraction and further procrastination.
Features logos for:
- Tumblr
- Google+
- YouTube
Waiting for creation
I occasionally try to imagine what it would have been like before everything. Prior to creation, there was no time, no space, no matter. No light. No dark. No past. But all of the future. It is hard to get my head around it. Even harder to express in a work of art.
What was it like waiting for the first sunrise?
I have black wooden desk where I spend most of my time.
It provides a lot of reflection.
It is waiting for creation.
Horror vacui
Horror vacui (physics) : Nature abhors a vacuum.
Horror vacui (art) : The fear of empty space.
Like a sculptor who sees the statue in a block of stone or the potter who sees the pot in the lump of clay, artists see the potential. Their fear of empty space and abhorrence of a vacuum compels them to create and turn their imagination into reality. Motivation to overcome procrastination.
A social media presence is essential and Theo has recently joined a few social networks. Most of them allow for customization of the profile. Often the color scheme, background images and sometimes fonts are changeable to suit the personality of user.
Because Theo has not created a volume of work yet, we needed to produce something quickly for the cover photo on the Facebook page. By default, Facebook has this image for cover photos:
It is rather dull and grey. It cries out “replace me with anything colorful!”.
Producing Horror vacui to answer this cry was rather quick and simple:
- Create an image 851 by 315 pixels in GIMP (OpenSource photo editing software).
- Capture an image of pencils and a paintbrush with my Macbook FaceTime HD camera and Photo Booth.
Original image for Horror vacui - Import the photo into GIMP and use various tools and effects to produce the art.
- Select the objects and move them to a new layer.
- Select the natural highlights and shadows of the background and render clouds/plasma and apply canvas and weave filters.
- Add a filters for coffee stain and torn border
This work, Horror vacui, represents what the artist sees when they look at a blank canvas. The image hidden deep within the fabric is trying to break through the canvas and become visible.
Horror vacui is representative of theme of potential in Theo’s Prospective collection – art which is prophetic or predictive in nature and hints at what could be. Due to the urgency and speed of its creation, this work is not necessarily representative of the quality of the rest of the collection.
I should buy this book someday
How to Procrastinate (Self-Hurt): Knock Knock: 9781601060433: Amazon.com: Books [affiliate link]
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