Weekly 5 is a round-up the past week’s creative news, discoveries, and happenings in my world!
Best thing that happened in my world this week:
A 5-year long medical journey has come to a close. Most of my friends and family already know the story. Short version for those who don’t and/or are new – in April 2020, I experienced a branch retinal vein occlusion in my right eye. It’s when a blockage forms in the veins branching off the retina, which can disrupt blood flow. This blockage prevents blood from draining from the retina, leading to fluid and blood leakage, which can cause swelling and vision loss. In my case, it came about suddenly, after a suspected case of Covid in early 2020. The treatment involved injections in my eye (yes, IN the eye itself) almost monthly for 2 and a half years. The first few months after onset were filled with uncertainty – not knowing what the long-term effects would be, and whether my vision would return to normal.
Once the condition was under control, I was following up with my ophthalmologist every few months, with time between visits gradually stretched out by several months. The good news is that I have regained most of the vision in my eye. There is some permanent damage – slightly blurred vision/straight lines appear curved. The final outcome could have been much worse. The better news: this week I saw my doctor after a 7-month stretch. She felt since I’ve had forward progress since my last injection (November 2022) and provided there are no major setbacks or changes in my health, I am now clear to visit once a year!
Five Years in the Making, a MiG-21 Fighter Jet Gets a Glow-Up from Tens of Millions of Glass Beads
From COLASSAL
For the past 12 years, the Los Angeles-based artist [Ralph Ziman] has examined the impacts of the Cold War Era and the global arms trade through a trilogy titled Weapons of Mass Production, motivated by his upbringing in Apartheid-era South Africa. More than half a decade in the making, “The MiG-21 Project” completes the series.
Photo by Mauricio Hoyos.
Artist discovery: Tucker Nichols
His [Nichols] drawings have been published in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, McSweeney’s, and the Op-Ed pages of The New York Times. He is co-author of the books, Crabtree (with Jon Nichols) and This Bridge Will Not Be Gray (with Dave Eggers). Flowers for Things I Don’t Know How to Say was published earlier this year. Mostly Everything: The Art of Tucker Nichols is due out from McSweeney’s in 2025.
Freezing Motion
from James Gurney on Substack
Sketching motion, though demanding, can be mastered with a shift in approach. Forget the traditional method of a static model. Instead, train your eyes to work like a camera. Observe the entire action, select a single, key “snapshot” in your mind, and then quickly transfer that fleeting image onto paper. This “freezing motion” technique allows you to capture the skip of a child, the leap of a horse, or the swift movements of a game.
Playlist of the week:
