Working together T-shirts

To quote the great Bob Dylan, "You're probably wondering by now, just what this song is all about, but what's got you baffled more is what this thing here is for." Or, in short, I thought some one mentioned T-shirts.

That is, after all, how User Friendly Hardware began. Sitting in the break room with a notepad, sarcastic thoughts running through my head. 'Princess on the inside..." was just the beginning. Money, shoes, makeup, credit, the environment,  jostling  around eager to be shared. But what to do with them?

Clayton knew the way. T-shirts through Cafe Press. Of course, he had his own designs to add as well. Of course, we do our best work as a team. So we started out, his designs, my words.   

                                                

"Gothic heart apparel" were the first time we put words and graphics together. We each share a little piece of our souls in these. What Clayton sees in twists and turns, I hear in words and phrases. 

While not precisely the shirt off our backs, take a piece of our hearts.

Peace,

Theresa

The Papa of all Artists: Deviant Art

So you still aren't convinced that Clayton is User Friendly? I suppose you could say he was trained to be. I wish I could take the credit, but most of his training came in the form of a tiny baby girl. Staying at home and watching her mind unfold, seeing her wonder at the world, everything an adventure, life took a friendlier turn. 

Deviant Art shows the beauty that can only be discovered by slowing the world to the pace of a small child. When you take the time to reflect on every stone, twig, flower and lady bug that is placed in your hand, the creative process takes a twist. That twist is loveliness.  

That is the sum of Clayton, twisted, lovely, friendly. See for your self.

 http://cc-deyapp.deviantart.com/gallery/

From my heart,

Theresa

The Papa of all Artists: Million Masterpiece

Don't let the long hair and bad (ok, grumpy) attitude fool you, Clayton is User Friendly. It's just that chances are your call or visit or existence interrupted his planning. What is he planning, you might ask? The short answer would be things of beauty. The long answer is almost impossible to determine as his inspiration can take many forms.

When we first met, as awkward, shy girl and bored-to-tears-&-destruction boy, the planning took the form of elaborate pen and ink or pencil drawings, that is when he wasn't just planning junior high mischief. By high school, he discovered that mischief just took time away from art, as well as his other love, me. It was in high school that Clayton began to paint. Encouraged by Ms. Judy, who was more art than teacher, he began to seriously push the levels of his ability, allowing his art to take the time it needed.  

At the end of high  school he found his way to a now lost trade school to learn graphic design. It was there, while learning the many tricks of the advertising trade, except how to deal with people, that he started down the path that leads us to the computer painted photos and computer generated graphics. 

Which brings us to today. Clayton found out recently that his submission to the Million Masterpiece was selected to be in this year's calendar. While this is a great honor, seeing the finished piece printed is to lose the most amazing part of his submission. The Million Masterpiece gave artists and anyone else who wanted to submit a chance not just to create and be displayed, but to show the process as well. 

When a piece is created in the Million Masterpiece all of the steps to creating the piece are recorded. In Clayton's work "Well Dug Well", he explores the the myths and legends in New Mexican history that underlie it's quiet, ranch life style. Buried in the memories of the local people, buried in the local ground lies the troubled history most try to forget.

You never know what you might find, if you go digging in New Mexico. I suppose all places have their secrets, some just more than others. The basement of the hotel Clayton grew up in was a burial ground. He knows this because it was his great grandfather who dug the basement and moved the bodies of the faithful. 

Who knows what else lies beneath the surface. The garden we turned was filled with rocks and arrow heads. When the pioneers went out and tamed the land, they missed a spot. 

Peace,

Theresa

User Friendly Hardware

Welcome to User Friendly Hardware. You know, in the beginning it was going to be User Friendly Software, because of the T-shirts, but technically speaking those are Hardware, as Clayton so thoughtfully pointed out. 

So what is User Friendly Hardware? Well, in a household full of artists, this is my attempt to make some sense of the madness. There isn't a room in the house that doesn't show evidence of this. You will even find doodles on the bathroom wall. There are beading supplies in the dining room. By the bed are sketch books, just in case some inspiration comes in the night, or more frequently , these are the last object my husband or myself set down at night. The laundry room has sewing machines, yes machines in the plural. The kitchen displays art work that we find inspiring. A legacy that is being followed. There even is one room, the studio if you will, that is devoted entirely to art in it's many forms.

You see at our house, people paint, draw, sew, crochet, embroider, make pottery, silversmithing, graphic design, photography, digital painting, origami. The only reason that the list ends here is a lack of space and money. In the perfect world, I would add stained glass work and have a large area devoted to creating patterns. 

Instead our little house is a bustle of creation, no piece of paper is safe. It might be drawn on, added to a collage, folded into an animal, decoupaged to a box. Even our youngest member, at 1 1/2 years old, feels compelled to draw on every piece of paper. 

Lacking a paper big enough to express Christmas, we spent this Advent season covering our picture window in a faux stained glass Nativity Scene done in marker straight on the glass.

                                                  

Now with Valentine's Day approaching the debate is on as to whether to do one large heart with swirled interior or cover the window in smaller hearts with many different patterns filling them. I will let you know what we decide.

With best wishes,

Theresa