The Pepper Tree

 

They said this was the worst year ever and I didn't believe them. Sure everyone's hopes and dreams in the whole world were being fed through the wood chipper, but I personally was more well off. I got a little bit of time off work for a while there, which allowed me to work on art projects which was nice. And I've been making more money and working less which is great because it means more time to work on art projects. All in all its been a good (although not great) year for me working on art projects.

Certainly the evils of this year outweigh the good, but for me personally it had been a good year.

And then the neighbors across the street cut down the pepper tree. It was probably a couple hundred years old and it had been there my entire life for me. Every time I looked out the window there was an ocean of flowing green as whatever wind there was flowed through it. But some people, like Mordor Orcs, cannot abide beauty, and there is evil encamped against us. Yesterday it was there and today its just plain gone, they didn't even leave the stump. Its like if you lived in a house by the seaside and one day you woke up and found they'd just packed up the ocean and taken it away somewhere and gotten rid of it. And you'd never be able to see or hear or smell the waves coming in anymore. You'd say that was impossible but that's what happened.

So 2020 did turn out to be the worst year ever for me as well. That was December 30^th when they came in there roaring away all day with their chainsaws and chippers like the unholy nuisances they are, and here I am snagged on the tail end of it and pulled down like Gandalf by the Balrog in Mordor, the way 2019 snagged us all on the tail end of it with its bat virus from China.

That got me thinking about giant trees with regard to hopes and dreams and having everything you live for smashed or destroyed. You can't just plant a two hundred year old tree, not unless you get it from somewhere else, they really don't grow up that way from seed.

So that got me thinking about life as an artist. Like a lot of artists I can never be content unless my work becomes the art equivalent of two or three hundred year old tree – no mere sapling with two or three leaves, growing in a little pot, but a vast and spreading sea of beauty – and it saddens me inconsolably to reflect that in this cruel world I will almost certainly be cut down long before that.

Its easy to say that destroying statues is merely a left wing movement and its just liberals that are trying to destroy America so if we could win all the time everything would be fine. But it isn't just liberals who partake in unspeakable acts in the destruction of beauty. I don't know what the actual political leanings are of the neighbors across the street, but it doesn't matter. As they said that tree was “just a liability” its the sort of thing anyone might do who appreciates “the value of hard work” more than the beauty of nature.

I used to think that everyone had a natural built in appreciation of the beauty of nature, but I guess some people have it more than others and some people are just a bunch of Mordor Orcs.

That tree was like a sea of flowing green feathers, and the wind of the world flowed through it, and now I will never see it again until I am reunited with it in heaven. But the sea of life flows on and I can only give the following advice for 2021 and beyond:

Batten down the hatches, and look out for squalls!

December Update

NaNoWriMo:

Well last month of course was NaNoWriMo, and I finished it with 50,181 words. Gravedigger is part of a trilogy so I will have to do a lot more outlining and write the rough drafts for the other two novels before I even know where everything is.  With that in mind I will end up publishing some other books first, and that means you probably won't see it for another ten years or so.  I'm sorry... long term goals...

December:

I still don't know what to get anyone for Christmas this year, so part of my time will be dedicated to figuring that out.  Also I would like to wish anyone reading this a Merry Christmas!

I will also be working on a children's book, a story about a brontosaurus who goes around inhaling poodles like a vacuum cleaner.  My sister helped me come up with it, and it is true hilarity!

I hope to publish it sometime next year... short term goals!

January:

My new years resolution for next year is to set myself both a writing challenge, and a drawing or painting challenge every month of the year.  These goals will change from one month to the next, and I will adapt according to how things seem to be going, and what I need to practice on, and what I want to come out with.

Also I would like to wish anyone reading this a happy new year!

Don't feel like you have to set goals if you don't want to.  I know I set myself all sorts of creative goals but it seems to work for me, and I feel like I'm having fun, so whatever you do just be sure not to stress out too much.  :)

November Update

Inktober:

Last month was Inktober and I only got four out of thirty-one drawings done, which you can find in my last article:

Inktober 2019!

Which isn't great but at least they're all reasonable quality, and I think I'll do a bunch of sketching and doodling and do a lot better next year.


NaNoWriMo:

This month I'm writing a story about a Gravedigger, and how he lives in the graveyard and every time undead rise up out of their graves he has to kill them with his magic shovel and put them to rest again.  He gradually amasses a band of street urchins, living statues and ghosts, who then set out to save the city from the street gangs and Imperials vying for power in the slums and the reptilian creatures that infest the sewers in a post apocalyptic empire.

The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words so I won't have time for much else this month, but I'll tell you all about it in December.


December:

Well December of course is Christmas, and you might think that would be enough of a challenge for one month.  In addition, I will also have the rough draft to a 50,000 word novel, to contend with.  However, I'm also going to spend some time working on a children's book.  My sister and I came up with a really grand idea for one a couple of months ago and I think it will be great hilarious.  It features a brontosaurus and his mishaps involving a whole lot of poodles.  I think it will be a lot of fun to work on, and of course to read and I expect to get it done in about a year, which is way less time than any of my other projects are projected to take at this point.

New Art Blog!

Now I have a new art blog, where I can share my artwork on tumblr.  Here it is:

jpmorrow.tumblr.com

This may seem pretty redundant because I already have plenty of other places to put stuff up.  But I've been on tumblr for a while, and have some feel for how it works, and probably have my largest following on there, and I have a feeling that if I ever create anything truly exceptional, (I haven't yet but I keep telling myself I'm going to), tumblr is where I'll go viral.  So I figure I've got the social media aspect of this nailed down tight.

So far I have 7 web presences!  The Magnificent 7!  Count em, there's this one, and the other six linked to on the right, (unless you're on mobile).

I won't have to come out with any more for years to come, which means I can now devote more of my time to actually being awesome, and creating artwork like I'm supposed to.

And a big heartfelt thank you to everyone who who follows me on the internet!  <3  :o)