Rebirth.

I’ve resumed blogging again. It’s something I’ve missed & is something I truly do enjoy. The new website is a fusion of my work, my blog, & my life all in one & in one spot, so if you’re still coming around these parts, please head & set your RSS feeds to

THE PHEENIX

It’s like SparkleShock but new & improved. You’ll love it. I promise.

All Good Things…

…come to an end.

That bit above is the most succinct way I can express what I’m about to say. As many of you (if you’re still around!) know, I made quite a big move earlier this year. I decided to uproot myself & move across the country to pursue my dream of making it as a Costume Designer. When I came to LA, I had NO IDEA how much of my life would change…especially in such a short time. I had planned to come out here & keep up with my creative endeavors…Unfortunately, that didn’t turn out to be the case. I quickly had to learn that I had to prioritize my creative outlets…and as I’m sure you’re aware, Sparkleshock unfortunately became the one that was low on the list.

When I started blogging, I was a recent college graduate who’d moved back home & had nothing but time on her hands. When I got my job at Target, I became a recent college graduate that worked at a job where she made it so that she had time on her hands (ha!). I’m sure I mentioned to you all that I blogged from my desk at work. It became no secret to my cubicle mate that I always had tons of windows open for a reason…& that reason was so that I could blog. In all honesty, I’m not cut out for the cubicle world of corporate America, so I needed something to get me through the monotony of my day…and my blog helped me to do that.

Things are different now, though. I don’t have the time to make time like I used to. Last year, I didn’t have much going on professionally or personally, so SparkleShock was a way to make me feel useful to the creative world. Now, (literally since Jan 1, 2011), my life has been taken over by job hunting, decorating, getting acclimated to LA, working, networking, freelancing…all while finally taking steps to open my own business of designed goods.

The truth is, I don’t have time to blog anymore.

I never understood what people meant when they would tell me that “blogging is a lot of work”. At the time, it wasn’t for me because I was doing it when I was essentially using someone else’s time. Now, the only time I have is my own, and I hate to admit that I have to use my time for other endeavors right now. 90% of the content for The ‘Shock was fueled by my web-surfing. Now, I simply cannot devote 2-4 hours a day editing & sifting though the plethora of sites in which I draw my inspirations. Those 2-4 hours don’t include the time it takes to create the posts (of which, as you may remember, were 3-4 a day). I haven’t checked up on my google reader in months & I have no idea what some of my favorite bloggers are up to…

I’ve written about SparkleShock’s birth…so I suppose it’s only fitting that I write about its passing.

As corny as it sounds, it truly does sadden me to let you guys know that it’s going to be quiet around here for a while. Maybe indefinitely. Even as I write this, I’m not 100% sure what will happen, but I do know that I will only be posting when I absolutely feel the pull to. Churning out over 20 posts a week was exhausting & in all honesty, around Dec/Jan, I was kinda burned out with both of my blogs. It proved to be very time consuming…and my blog was never supposed to be one that became a source of stress for me. I not a blogger that started this blog to fund my livelihood. I started it solely as an outlet, so since it’s become a point of stress, I think it’s best that I stop for the time being.

Now, if you’ve been a follower of my blog, then you know I’m an artist…and the mind of an artist is always in flux. So I wouldn’t tell you to stop coming to Sparkleshock…I don’t think I could ever stop this sort of online visual journal indefinitely…but I do know that it will not be as it was. I will not be posting daily. I may not even be posting weekly. I guess what I’m trying to say is please don’t hold The Shock to any expectations anymore. Until I figure out a way to incorporate more time for SparkleShock in my life, it will be very sporadic around here. I do have plans to rework both Sparkleshock (& Jade Pheenix) because I do like blogging, but I cannot let you know when (or if) that will be. This the best I can offer you for now.

I want to thank all my subscribers & anyone that did/does read my blog on a regular basis. You guys really made me feel special. I mean that. On a personal note, I’m one of those people that struggles at times with feelings of being insignificant. Somehow, though, if I found myself in a moment of feeling down on myself, I would always seem to come across a comment, FB wall post, or tweet that said something good about my blog & my taste in art/design/fashion. It was an instant morale booster & I’m very grateful for those kind words from both strangers & friends.

In the lull that’s coming, I would like to invite you to check out/follow my tumblr. I post there very regularly & it has quickly become the easiest (& quickest!) way for me to somewhat purge myself of creative clutter. It’s quite similar to The Shock, but with less verbiage & more imagery. It’s also a bit more personal as I blog random thoughts and whatnot. And as always, you can always find my randomness & adventures over on Twitter.

SO! Let’s end this on a high note, shall we? Here’s something…for old time’s sake 🙂

I dig these drawings by Louise Despont…

I love how these have an otherworldly quality to them…almost metaphysical. In fact, they actually sort of remind me of the art direction used in the Predator films. A lot of the design in the ships for the aliens kinda had motifs that remind me of Despont’s work. Awesome!

…P.S. This is a long shot, but I hope someone reading this thought about THIS when you read the title of this posting. It was my *geeky* inspiration 🙂

…In Which I Stay True to My Word

 

You guys giving me the side eye for not posting for two weeks...

(painting by Dawn Dudek)

 

So a week ago I’d mentioned that the unannounced hiatus that I had taken here on Sparkleshock was going to be over…unfortunately, that was not the case because I ended up working on more week on the feature I was working on during the previous week. I apologize for that sort of “girl who cried wolf” moment. The truth of the matter is, I really had a hard time balancing this new gig, and my other job, other creative endeavors, AND writing for this blog. So sadly, the thing that got neglected the most was Sparkleshock.

Luckily for you (and me), I’ve made a few personal & business decisions for the month of April that will allow Sparkleshock (and my life!) to be back on track with how it used to be. I’ve missed this blog & all the fun art, design, fashion, & culture research that comes along with it.

So…If you didn’t get anything else out of that babbling mess, all you need to know is SparkleShock is back! (for real this time :P)

Sorry!

(Via)

A week without posts here at SparkleShock is something that will hopefully never happen again! Usually when things here are neglected, that means that my life is crazy, hectic…and it totally has been. My that doesn’t mean I can manage my time better and make sure that there’s always something fresh here everyday.

So I hope you’ll accept my apology! Come back tomorrow for some awesome new stuff…The Shock is on hiatus no more!

 

Happy Love Day (+ Another Mini Update)

Happy Love Day!

I am totally sorry about not having a Friday Flash post last week. Things just got away from me. I was busy preparing for The Unmasqurade Fashion Show (which I had a few pieces in) and it was my first fashion show in LA! Plus, I’ve been a bit under the weather so I just wasn’t able to post like I usually do. It’s been almost a month & a half since I’ve relocated myself and shifted all my routines and I still get upset that I cannot get into a groove to post here like before. I need to get my studio in order so I feel more inclined to work. That’s exactly what it is. And it shall change. Things will be back to normal around here once again, I promise!

I do have tons of exciting things to share with you all this week though. NYFW is kicking up the pace, so I’ll be doing the usual recaps of my favorite collections, plus I have a couple great artists to share, & some awesome photography of some object explosion still lifes. I am determined to get myself together around these parts so my Valentines Day gift to you is that Sparkleshock will go back to being consistent!

In the meantime, check me out in the other lands of The Pheenix:

Twitter

Tumblr

Jade Pheenix (Project 365)

Facebook

Thanks for continuing to stick around through all these random mini hiatuses…well thank you for just being here in general…I really appreciate you guys!

Ch-Ch-Changes.

Hello Shockers! How is 2011 treating you so far?? I feel as though I should pop in and say that I feel quite awful about being so absent lately. I think this past Januaray has seen the fewest posts from me. With the move, getting settled, going to Sundance, and just being crazy busy, I haven’t had the time to devote to The ‘Shock like I have been. You know, it’s funny that as much as I hated my job back in MN, it allowed me to be able to post daily. Now that I don’t have that sort of routine, it’s been difficult for me to get a posting rhythm going in this new year. I have been saving all the neat things I find…it’s just harder to write posts because I’m not spending 8 hours in front of a computer screen anymore. I’m certainly working on getting things back to normal though. I plan on getting back to at least one post a day…and if I’ve got extra time, then I’ll post more cause there’s tons for me to share!

All that being said, I think I’m going to make some changes around these parts, but I want your help! I’ve had certain features in place here since I started Sparkleshock and I feel it’s about time for a change, so I’ve created a mini poll to run some ideas by you all. After all, you guys stop by to visit The ‘Shock for a reason and I want to make sure you’re getting what you’d like to see!

Ultimately, I created this poll to just see what changes (if any) folks would be cool with. I will certainly take this poll and any comments you may want to make into consideration…but, I will still make sure that SparkleShock continues to reflect me and my interests. That means that regardless of what changes may be made, The ‘Shock will continue to be my mind-purge of awesome design, fashion, and art…and hopefully you will want to continue to be a part of it 🙂

(Oh by the way…check out this neat illustration by Masaaki Hiromura. It combines Japanese Kanji with food symbols. You can read more about it here.)

Hiatus Terminated.

The trip out West was a success! I found a place to live and I’m getting super stoked about the beginning of my “new life”. As scary as things are, I’m super excited about my move…so excited in fact that I was all abuzz with creative energy, so I decided to give SparkleShock a little makeover. It’s the same layout, but isn’t as busy. I really liked how simple I made the layout for my other blog (Jade Pheenix), so I wanted to sort of keep that idea going with the new layout & header for SparkleShock. It still has some “crazy” elements, but is a bit more subdued as to not be a color/pattern overload. Tell me what you guys think…I hope you like!

I’ll be back to some regular posts tomorrow (well somewhat regular…things are still crazy), but until then, check out these vintage travel posters that I found…

The posters above were designed by David Klein back in the 50’s for then popular airline TWA. I LOVE the colors and I love how each one depicts the destination in such an interesting way. He now does ads for Orbitz, so you may recognize some of his illustration. Be sure to check out Klein’s site for more of his awesome travel art.

Oh! And just a friendly reminder you can…

…Follow the randomness of my mind over at Twitter.

…Follow the creative randomness of my mind at my Tumblr

…Delve into my lifestyle blog (and see some of my work!) at Jade Pheenix

…email me (to chat, suggest post ideas , or just to say hi!) at ksmason1@hotmail.com

…and friend me on the “Facespace” (what my mom calls Facebook, haha)

Hope to see you guys in one of those places…I want to meet all my fellow readers!!

I May Be…

…M.I.A. all week…I am training in the new guy that will be taking over for me come end of December, so I have no time to write (i.e. sneak posts at my desk 😉 I will try super hard to get some posts written up so that you guys can have some distraction from work, school, or whatever you need distracting from though!

In the meantime check out these neat collages by Marek Haiduk…

Ya’ll know I love stuff like this!

A Moment of Your Time, Please :)…

Before we get started on today’s Friday Flash, I wanted to just take a moment to reflect on the past year of sharing all the things that spark my interest here on Sparkleshock. I missed commemorating my 1 year blogoversary (which was sometime around Sept 17th) and I had planned on doing some big celebration blog post, but it just didn’t end up that way due to many reasons (other projects, time, life in general). When I first started this blog, it was over at Blogspot. In fact I think I actually started that one earlier in 2009, but I never really had much drive in posting on it since it I figured nobody was reading it anyway. That was mistake #1 I made when beginning to blog – worrying about readership. After awhile, that blog (which was actually called Complex Supernova and had a grand total of 4 posts) was completely neglected due to my over inflated blogging ego and I decided to just give up on blogging in general.

Towards Fall of 2009, I was back living at home after freshly graduating from college and I was bored out of my mind when the idea about blogging popped back into my head. At this particular time, I had A LOT (too much in fact) of free time, so I spent a lot of time surfing the net which led to me having far too many bookmarks and inspiration folders. Granted, I’d always been a web surfer, but at this particular time, all the cool things I wanted to share was starting to pile up considerably. So it was during that time that I decided to give blogging another chance. I moved over to WordPress (cause it tracked stats – the blogging ego was still sort of in effect) and after going through several names (Sheree Sparkle, ShereeFashion, Wonder World, Hype Planet – ew!) SparkleShock was born. I knew this blog would be different the moment I thought of the name. It just had so much pizaazz and combined two of my favorite words. On top of that, I started to care less about readership and began to have way too much fun posting about a neat artist I found or a funky piece of jewelry I was digging. It became fun to find things and write my views about them.

The funny part about all this is that the moment I decided to stop focusing on blog view stats and just post because I just wanted to share cool things, that was the moment that my readership began to grow steadily and confidently. Today, I truly feel like my blog is an accurate extension of how I view the world and what makes me happy. I think it’s an awesome balance of personality while still not being entirely “all about me” (that’s what Jade Pheenix is for of course! 😉 I’ve also discovered TONS of other amazing blogs and I’ve even interacted with some pretty cool people, some of whom I consider “blogging friends”.

My hope for Sparkleshock is that I continue to have just as much fun and excitement in posting as I do now – even a year after blogging. If you know me personally, then you know that I’m quite artistically scatterbrained – it’s very hard for me to only have one or two projects going on at any given time. Knowing that makes me proud of myself for sticking with this blog as long as I have. As of right now, I have no plans of ending my blog and even though I go through periods of  “blogger PMS”, I know that it’s temporary and the desire to spread awesome art, culture, and design to others will be back in due time. That being said though, I’m always thinking about change, so I do have some ideas in mind that I hope to get started in the next coming months…so please do, stay tuned!

I think the best way to end this is to say THANK YOU to all the people that visit Sparkleshock on a regular basis and THANK YOU to the people that may only visit it occasionally. THANK YOU to the subscribers. THANK YOU for leaving comments and THANK YOU for sharing things with me that you’re digging as well. As long as there’s awesome creativity to share, then SparkleShock will be the one-stop destination for it 🙂

[All artwork via Shan Jiang]

Just a Teeny Reminder….

I have another blog – Jade Pheenix

I also have a Tumblr – Sparkle Pheenix

I am on Twitter – @MissPheenix

I just opened a Flickr account (where I plan on housing my photography escapades)

I just wanted to remind you guys where you can find me because I do want to work on connecting with my readers, so please feel free to visit the various Lands of the Pheenix 🙂