Mini Zines & Portraits

Here's one of the zines for your entertainment (I hope):


Front Cover


Pages 1 & 2


Pages 3 & 4


Pages 5 & 6


Back cover

Here's Kleon's blog article of those 30 zines he's made. Click on each link in his article to view each zine in its entirety. They're seriously inspiring if you have any creative urge and time on your hands (I suspect you have both!)

And here's an hour-long Creative Live session where Austin makes a zine from scratch.

And the contact print I made of Andrea:



This portrait/printing session was taken after I'd finished the latest changes to the Dark Box Camera, described in this video:

Austin Kleon's Top 100 of 2019

If you're interested in creativity like I am, you probably have a few "go-to" kinds of people, whose Interwebz presence inspires you to keep pressing forward, don't look backwards. Austin Kleon is one of those people for me. I first became aware of him with his book Steal Like an Artist. I then discovered his blog, which has been a rich resource of creativity-provoking thoughts.

His blog is full of the outflow from a creative private life, which he freely shares with us, his readers. I enjoy his updates as he daily creates art with his young boys, who seem to have inherited some creative gene, as evidenced by their talent.

Kleon's work inspires me to be more spontaneous, less self-judgmental, with my own private work. And so I was fascinated to read his review article of the 100 things that made his year 2019. This article is full of hyperlinks to a treasure trove of this lasts year's creative output, which you would do well to explore. I was even thrilled when this popped up in his list as number 15: "The color of the sky in Albuquerque, New Mexico."

That's it, short and sweet. If you need inspiration, check out Austin Kleon. And don't be so hard on yourself because you don't think you can be creative.

Grab-&-Go Typing

Post-Script: This search for the ideal meeting venue is not unique to our fledgling typewriter society. Kevin belongs to a British car club and they, too, struggle with finding the right place for their meetings. I'd like to keep our society dues-free as much as possible, so paying for a meeting place is not the way I want to go. Hopefully our current choice, at Rust is Gold, will be workable for us.



I posted a short video today about the value of books, in particular as they relate to my various arcane interests, and how purchasing used copies of out-of-print editions can be a satisfying way to retain access to these invaluable sources, that are often removed from libraries once they become too worn. I've recently made online purchases of several such special-interest books:

Games Calculators Play, by Wallace Judd

The History of the Abacus, by J.M. Pullan

Narrowcast: Poetry and Audio Research, by Lytle Shaw

Love is Meat, by David W. Pedersen

At the cigar store this week I had a great conversation with a pipe smoker who happened to share an interest in pens, especially fountain pens and mechanical pencils. We had a great time, and it reminded me of the need to take some pens and notebooks with me, to share my interests with fellow aficionados.

Finally, I'd like to mention once again the blog of Austin Kleon. If you are a creative in need of recharging, you need to visit his blog every day. And be sure to follow the many resource links he provides, as you'll soon find yourself falling down the rabbit hole of creative exploration.