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clairesgaragezine · 11 months

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CGZ Featured Artist: MJ (Molly Jean)

May 25, 2023

Everyone, I am SO excited!! Please welcome our very first featured artist: MJ, stands for Molly Jean, female, 38 years old in Kansas City, Missouri. No formal art education outside of the 7 art classes she took in highschool. She took two semesters of theater in community college, "that counts for something" she says. She used to have a website but hasn't updated in years, you can go ahead and find her on Instagram @mollyjean.art or over on her Tumblr which is a mish mash of fan girl stuff and whatever else she feels like @yourcoolauntie (for her avatar of Aunt Gayle from Bob's Burgers)

Leviathan, 2012 (Acrylic on canvas, 16x20in)

CGZ: When did you start painting? What’s your earliest memory of painting or of creating art?

MJ: I remember making a little pinch pot in Kindergarten. In first grade we made robots out of different materials, they were flat on paper, it was mixed medium. I used tinfoil and some other stuff. It got hung up at the school district's main office, they tracked me down and gave it back to me in highschool!

CGZ: And where is the robot now?

MJ: I don't know where the robot is, my mom may have it in a box but it may have gotten lost.

Object II, 2020 (Acrylic on canvas, 30x40 in)

CGZ: Has your birthplace or your family background influenced your approach to creating art?

MJ: I wish I had an answer about my culture or my family heritage, but I don't. My dad's side is Irish & English, his family came over well over a hundred years ago. My mom is half Croatian but her grandparents were old by the time she was born, and they all assimilated very thoroughly, so I know little of Slavic culture. So birthplace and heritage…the isolating suburbs of the southern midwest.

Ultimately art has been my constant therapy, so my approach is, I have to do it. Let me try not to trauma dump too much. I grew up in a very dysfunctional home. My mom was the gentler one, my dad was scary. But my folks would take my siblings and I out to museums and around the city to expose us to a bigger world outside our suburb. We grew up poorer than we should have been because my dad was a high functioning addict, with an okay job with the city, but money went to drugs and lawyers. So I'm certain being aware early on of how class works in America shaped me as well. My mom and dad were too different from one another but they both appreciated the world, usually in a very critical and very negative way. My father, troubled, but very smart, always played music, records, he loved movies and anything avant garde and fringe. He had no boundaries and it was a volatile home. So, in a house where one parent was always afraid to speak up because her spouse would explode in a rage and the other never not talking about his every thought and feeling…I never learned to properly communicate mine. So…art. My folks are still alive…I realize I wrote this like they're dead.

CGZ: Who are your biggest artistic influences?

MJ: The dadaists, the surrealists, abstract expressionists, the early abstract guys like Wassily Kandinsky. We watched a documentary in Jr. high about Keith Haring that stuck with me. That's a big leap from Picasso to Haring but this is kinda off the top of my head, I never took any art history courses.

CGZ: How has your art practice changed over time?

MJ: I used to be uncomfortable calling myself an artist, in my early 20s I didn't think I'd earned it because I hadn't sold anything yet. That was real dumb. If you make something that serves absolutely no function other than you created it and now it exists and now it's in the world to be debated, analyzed or just looked at and displayed, congratulations you made an art. That aligns with the old adage of Art for art's sake.

CGZ: What do you like best about your work? What makes you happy when you’re creating?

MJ: I don't think I have a best liked…but I'm generally pleased if I can come close to what I had in my mind before I started.

Labyrinth, 2022 (Acrylic on canvas, 16x20 in)

CGZ: I adored your 2023 International Women’s Day post (self-portraits in a candlelit bath with body-affirming/life-affirming messages). Is there a shared meaning or messaging across your whole art practice? What differs for you between your abstract paintings and your photography projects?

MJ: Thank you so much for saying that. Also, great question. This is actually something I've thought about because I'm scared. It's been years since I've displayed anything and I'm worried if I approach a gallery they will ask me this and I will squeak out a bullshit answer like, let the art speak for itself. I think if there is a thread between all my work, paint, mixed media, photography it's about discovery and exploration, acceptance. I'm a traumatized, depressed, queer so that's easy, right? Looking at the parts of ourselves we'd rather keep hidden because of shame or pain, that we all have a part of ourselves we must excavate. Even folks with happy childhoods. Just don't lose yourself in the ditch in the process. …I'm not sure any of that made sense.

CGZ: What are some of the most memorable responses you’ve received about your work?

MJ: About a decade or so ago a friend made a little film about this shadowbox project I was doing. It was an artist showcase. I was in the film community as a script supervisor…so that's how most knew me. I didn't talk about my art. I can't watch it now because I cringe…but after the viewing, a DP came up to me and he said, "I didn't know you were interesting." Weird backhanded compliment.

Another standout is walking into a pop up gallery I was showing at and meeting a jewelry designer there and she said, "You must be MJ, you look like your art." That was very affirming.

CGZ: What are the “little things” that you notice but no one else does that inspire your work?

MJ: A sunrise, the way light simmers and breaks apart when it shines through a tree canopy. I think people see that stuff, I don't want to pretend I have some profound insight on life that others don't. I suppose it's about priorities and what we choose to register and spend our time on. I have no children or a partner, I'm my own distraction and obstacle. I do prioritize stillness.

CGZ: What are your favorite mediums to create in? Are there any “experimental” or new-to-you mediums that you’re interested in exploring?

MJ: Acrylic is my main bag. I'd love to work with oils. Not very exciting I know. Honestly, I have ideas for sculptures but have no idea where to begin.

CGZ: What is your favorite time of day to create? What’s your “just right” setting? Do you have a favorite drink or mood-setting music? A lucky trinket you keep nearby?

MJ: Some might not say I'm not a true artist because I have a day job and am not starving for my art…but that's the dream right, to be able to eat and shelter yourself and do only art. So, usually midday on a day off. I might smoke some weed, I will definitely be listening to music, through my stereo setup or my headphones.

CGZ: Describe what it feels like when you know a piece is finished. What makes you sit back and go “That’s done.”

MJ: I never have that feeling of "done", it's usually, I have exhausted all effort and I am either satisfied or I'm not. I'm guilty of painting over works. But I have a few pieces I think I'm completely satisfied with. The ones pictured are a few of those.

CGZ: Where do you go for inspiration? What helps refill the well?

MJ: Listening to other artists, and other people speak on their work. Moonage Daydream, the David Bowie documentary I watched the other night for example. I recently watched a piece on Roberta Flack. Music is a big motivator. I live about 10 miles from The Nelson Atkins Museum of art, so going and looking at the Marcel Duchamp or the Van Gogh's helps too.

CGZ: Do you have a favorite art museum? When you go there, where do you beeline to first?

MJ: See previous. Ha.

CGZ: What’s the weirdest or best book you’ve read recently?

MJ: I'm shit at getting around to finishing a book. I have Blood, Sweat and Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max Fury Road next to my bed. Spine not cracked.

CGZ: As the kids say: “I’m in my ___ era.” What era are you in?

MJ: Hermit. My fingernails haven't started to curl yet so there is still hope.

As Above So Below, 2020 (Acrylic on canvas, 16x20 in)

CGZ: What song has been stuck in your head lately?

MJ: Recently, On My Own from Les Mis. The hermit bit aside, I did just go catch the tour that came through town. So…

CGZ: What keeps you going? How do you overcome creative blocks?

MJ: I don't have creative blocks per se. They can happen but mostly I have hurdles. I let my brother move into the room I was using as my studio…so, I haven't been painting as much. But I have to always be creating something. As a kid before I painted I played piano, then got into theater, acting, modeling for a couple years. I once had a webshow with a best friend where we reviewed TV shows and recreated the episode using Barbie dolls. I was 27. Nowadays I write or play with photography, if I can't paint. Recently, some poetry, and about 100,000 words worth of fan fiction. A girl has gotta let it out somehow, no shame.

CGZ: What’s the best piece of artist/creator advice you’ve heard?

MJ: I'm sure I've heard plenty but my memory is crap, so I have no quotes to give you right now. I think in highschool, when my teacher came up over my shoulder and pointed at the heavy outline in my still life (that she'd tried to get me to stop doing) and said, "You just can't help yourself can you? That's just how you paint." Taught me something. We can be taught and told and can imitate and follow instructions and still reveal ourselves through a simple unconscious stroke.

CGZ: Where do you hope to be in five years? Ten? (Wrong answers only.)

MJ: I can't even provide a wrong answer. These kinds of questions addle my sick brain.

CGZ: A parting quote for our readers? (I adored, “I can't wait until I'm dead and all my art is at a thrift store or left beside a dumpster.”)

MJ: I'm glad you appreciated that. I do love the MOBA, museumofbadart.org, and would feel no shame being included there, they do important work, I do believe that.

I feel like I've said too much. I was mentally smoking a cigarette this whole time. So I'm stomping it out now. Just imagine me staring into your eyes like performance artist Marina Abramovic and come up with something.

This was really fun and terrifying by the way. Thanks so much Claire 🖤

Communication, 2020 (Acrylic and oil on canvas, 18x24 in)

Hellhound, 2012 (Acrylic on canvas, 16x20 in)

#claire's garage zine #cgz featured artist #mj: molly jean #@yourcoolauntie #cgz spring 2023 #2023-MAY-25 #MAY-25

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shisasan · 11 months

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May 25, 1929 Journals of Anais Nin 1927-1931 [volume 4]

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alonglistofbirds · 1 month

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Round 1 Group 9

American robin - Turdus migratorius

Bald eagle - Haliaeetus leucocephalus

Canada jay - Perisoreus canadensis

Carolina wren - Thryothorus ludovicianus

Common grackle - Quiscalus quiscula

Common nighthawk - Chordeiles minor

Please reblog with the bird you voted for and why!

#i lumped the last of the popular north american birds together for this one #to give the other birds a chance in their own polls #sorry north americans this one may be tough for you #birds #tumblr polls #poll #25% poll #round 1 #non-bird listing #described

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tomboyyyaoi · 6 months

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cutlery

#cutlery is. maybe my fav song ive discovered from proseka its very nice.LOVE the 2dmv #was gnna do miku from it too but im tired n i start a new job tomorrow so maybe later #wish i could draw stuff like this for vamery i think i just need to find time to build up more ideas..#playin around w the idea of illustrating some scenes from kind..........that may be time consuming tho #but i wanna so bad....... im having post trimax vamery withdrawls.....#anyway this is about kanamafu....#proseka #project sekai #pjsk #prsk fa #nightcord at 25:00 #25 ji nightcord de #kanamafu #kanade yoisaki #mafuyu asahina #my silly art

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cypherdecypher · 11 months

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Animal of the Day!

Tasmanian Giant Crab (Pseudocarcinus gigas)

(Photo in Public Domain)

Conservation Status- Unlisted

Habitat- Coastal Southern Australia

Size (Weight/Length)- 17 kg; 46 cm width

Diet- Carrion; Crustaceans; Starfish

Cool Facts- Being one of the heaviest species of crab, the Tasmanian giant crab is the apex of its environment. These crabs live a slow life due to their size. They eat as many bottom dwellers as they can, helping to build up their extremely thick carapace. Despite being relatively slow, they can slam their giant claws with enough force to crack open mussels and other crabs. Once every nine years, Tasmanian giant crabs molt their carapace and can be threatened by large species of sharks and seals. People see the crabs as a delicacy, but their harvest is carefully regulated and only specific sizes can be gathered. When a crab has enough strength to snip off a finger like a carrot, I salute anyone who gets within pinching distance.

Rating- 12/10 (Carcinization at its finest.)

#Animal of the day #Animals #Crabs #Crustacean #carcinization #Thursday #May 25 #Tasmanian giant crab #biology #science #conservation #the more you know

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pjsk-story-summaries · 2 months

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Want to know everything that's ever happened in Project Sekai but don't have time to read all those stories? Guess what! For the low, low price of "it seems fun", I'll be summarizing every single event!

Feel free to request any summaries or card stories you'd like to see summarized. You may also submit your own summaries, if you'd like! Use the forms found in this post to do so :)

If you have a question about any of the stories as well, feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer! (Or just come and say hi :3)

If you'd like to use any of these summaries as part of a project (i.e. video essay, character analysis, etc.), you are more than welcome to! Just please credit this blog when you do so, since I do put a lot of work into each.

Masterpost links below the cut. All summaries will be tagged by unit, character appearances, and special type, if applicable.

Key Stories

Leo/need

MORE! MORE! JUMP!

Vivid BAD SQUAD

Wonderlands x Showtime

Nightcord at 25:00

Mixed Events

Year 1 (Run! Sports Festival Committee Rush! - Scramble Fan Festa)

Year 2 (Time to Hang Out - At this Festival Bathed in Twilight)

Year 3 (Screaming!? Welcome to the Forest of Wolves! - Hello • Good • Day)

Year 4 (The Best Picture Wrap! - Rise as ONE!)

Card Stories

Any event card stories will be linked next to their respective events, as well as within the summary itself. (Initial 3* cards are part of the Main Stories)

Initial 1*/2* (Including 3rd Anniversary)

Birthday Cards

Fes Cards

Collaboration Cards

Card stories for events yet to be summarized

Miscellaneous

April Fools

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m-e-w-666 · 2 years

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hes dead hes dead in a ditch we haven’t heard from jonathan for a week now dracula fucking killed him he killed my friend and drank his blood and now i won’t get any emails from him what will i do if i don’t get emails from my best friend someone go and check on him oh god oh fuck hes fucking dead

#edit: i haven’t read the book and this is the first time i’m reading dracula so as this post gains note i just wanna say pls don’t spoil #or hint at how it’ll end cuz it may not be as subtle as you hope for it to be #dracula #dracula daily #jonathan harker #ddme #may 25

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yourlocalabomination · 2 months

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(Legally) Not A Cult.

(Achieve Tinlightenment here) Athem 🙏

#GO PLEDGE TO THE KICKSTARTER GUYS #they gave brian his insta password twice guys we gotta make this kickstarter happen #the fact I have a graphic design diploma really showed it face here huh #fun fact: I was backer 166 #a holy number if I may say so myself #anyway if you notice the kerning on the text is off no you don’t (I refuse to pay for the font I was using a screenshot of the typography-)#(the font is called Makawao btw and it’s $25- Corey deserves to use comic sans for paying that)#tin can bros #tin can brothers #tinlightenment #tcb #joey richter #brian rosenthal #corey lubowich #fanart #my art

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emry-stars-art · 12 days

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I remain as predictable as ever

#i was gonna say you might be able to guess the scene just from this #but theres actually like at LEAST three parts where people grab his face huh #and i love all of them #so maybe you can guess but only bc statistically theres like a 33 or 25% chance you get it #or. i am just that predictable #we'll find out #wip #aftg #tsc spoilers #tsc #the sunshine court #jean moreau #and to keep you guessing i will not tag the second set of hands 💕#hmm. this may be easier to guess than i thought now that i think of it lmao

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chipper-smol · 8 months

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In terms of IRL years

bonus question: how does their IRL age relate to their canon age?

#g muses #polls #mypolls #myocs #my oldest oc is Messenger and hes 10 years old this year #turned 10 on May 18th!#but Messenger is like usually in the 18-25 range #in canonical age

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iamhereinthebg · 3 months

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Seeing Akane reacts so strongly seeing Kako being destroyed was already a big shot at my heart but Mirai and Akane protecting each other absolutely annihilated me in the last chapter.

Akane is a character who is really blunt about his opinion and stands his ground, he said right away in his introduction chapter how strongly he hates the clock keepers, and insists on how much he isn't like them.

In this new arc, he is forced to face this part of him he doesn't want to acknowledge since the beginning, he has been forced to do it a lot since the grim reaper arc (and I think it's really starting to get to him but this is for another day)

Aoi Akane, the human forced to be a supernatural who hates his contract and the clock keepers so much he wants nothing to do with them. But what does he do when fighting Tsukasa? He keeps the latter's attention on him so the threat can't get to Mirai.

Akane is mortal and human. The only mortal clock keepers and supernatural, and he still risks his life to protect Mirai. The yorishiro of the clock keepers yes, but mostly Mirai.

He shifts his attention from Tsukasa to her because he knows what she represents for the clock keepers and he waits for the moment to let her free, even if it results in him getting hurt.

Akane is the character of the cast who shows the most how he loves life, he definitely doesn't want to die. We can see it in how he defends himself, his last movement in this fight being one of protection (and fear). Something he has been doing more since coming back a second time from the far shore. Even if he doesn't want to die, he is still at his core a nice person. He is distressed at the idea of death, disappearing for good, no matter who it may concern in the end. Finding a way to protect Mirai (and the yorishiro) goes before his own safety.

And then Mirai gets the blow for him. She knows it means Tsukasa will get the yorishiro. Kako has been the mystery the most alarmed about the yorishiros being destroyed by Hanako. But Mirai, n°1, who knows how dangerous it is for another yorishiro to be destroyed for the land, sacrifices their seat number, herself and what is supposely the most important thing to them, for Akane.

Akane is a proactive character who rarely stops in his actions. Even when Aoi was "dead" he was activaly searching for a way to bring her back and when he learned she was gone he was quick to try to find a way to go where she was. When he stops, it's because he is physically unable to move. But here, even if he is still concsious and has Time's power he doesn't do anything, like he is the one being stopped in time, unable to move on from Mirai's body.

Mirai may be made of gears but it's been clear since the beginning that she has a real attachement to Akane. Wearing the name he gave her like a medal, jumping on him whenever she can, having a personality where she clearly has fun when he is present, and actually being the one noticing him on his first day at school.

And what does it mean after all for a yorishiro to be sacrified to protect something else? That maybe Akane is in the end more important than what the yorishiro represents for the clock keepers.

If this follows the pattern of a lot of mysteries it may mean that Mirai and Kako have strong regrets/resentment towards the story/person behind their yorishiro.

It's kind of beautiful in the end to see Mirai sacrifiying their past and future to focus on the one representing the present.

#toilet bound hanako kun #mirai #aoi akane #this is just me being delulu and putting tons of images #some glimps on Akane's character there is SO MUCH strange stuff happening with him since he's back from the far shore he doesn't seem ok lo #I won't go into the 'yes but t's strange how much they don't care about the yorishiro'#'it's maybe because it's not the real one'#'Mirai may not be the one noticing him in chap 25' etc #just to focus on what we have for now even if I am wrong because I get to be delulu about them and I think it's great like this #not an analysis or something just my thoughts and some hcs tbh #I am weak for them #the three clock keepers #jibaku shonen hanako kun #jshk #tbhk #tbhk spoilers #jshk 110 #tbhk 110 #jibaku shounen hanako kun #ramblings #I don't wanna get my hopes too high tbh (I assume next chapter will be the Yugi twins)#but I really hope we will have some answers about his duty and the clock keepers at one point #if it's still relevant and not just something said for nothing before the joke that is chap 109 #I wrote this late for reasons too just wanted to post it before chap 111

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stickyspeckledlight · 4 days

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VERY short drabble based on @harmonysanreads recent brainrot-quick thought whatever you call it post, of sunday singing lullabies

you used to think sunday to be a kind man, but recently, he's revealed his true colors; which leaves you here, tossing and turning.

at his betrayal and from your stress and hate, you transmitted your unbridled rage toward him. from one halovian to another, nothing so out of the ordinary (though, the brutality of those emotions was another matter entirely).

perhaps sunday wasn't completely shaken (for how else could he have remained as head of the Oak Family?), but it certainly had an effect. he didn't notice that one of his lapels fell slightly askew for three minutes, in fact. it was a sweet victory, but if you bite the hand that feeds you, why should you expect to have kept eating from it?

it must've been hours ago, but those waves of emotions he sent to you still run through you. you can't decipher them, when you're so overwhelmed---

love, obsession, love, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, love, worship, my dove my creed---

you scream into your pillow. your migraine may have degraded into a headache, and the agony may not be so intense, but its still the same flavor. it's acrid and cracking on your tongue. every time you think you've spat it out or rinsed it out, it grows back into an arid patch on your tongue.

you can't sleep. you want to sleep for a reprieve, yet if you do...

what else would sunday send to you, in your dreams?

"you're awake," the door opens, greeting you with that awful voice, "at this hour?" there is a particularly way sunday speaks, when he thinks you unruly, but not enough to properly punish. it's infantilizing, chiding, antagonizing, yet also warm. it reminds you of a mother, one who couldn't bear to let her children go, to let them step out of the lines she set. "i understand that you are still in the process of transitioning, but bear in mind that you---"

"what makes you think I can even relax, after that?" you hiss, "that...that..." you take a sharp inhale when a pang of agony hits.

sunday hums dismissively. "merely the consequences of your actions. do not worry. so long as you don't step out of line, I will ensure you only the best, as a valued member of the Family...and a 'dove.'"

you hiss with frustration. your mind is far too occupied trying to not collapse and break down, and there's no retort you can offer sunday. you close your eyes, and wrap your blankets tighter, till you are trapped in a coil.

the bed dips, and a glove hand runs through your hair. you know who it belongs to, but the touch is warm, kind, and you can fool yourself into thinking it to be loving. it is a relief from the weight of the past hours.

and comes a calm, harmonious, melodious hum. you nearly jolt from as the agonizing weight in your mind gets replaced with the kind warmth of a fire, the sweetness of soulglad, and the security you find within sunday's arms---huh? wha---the softness of sunday's lips, the beauty of his smile, his enthralling gaze, his downy feathers which accompany wonderfully silken hair.

gloved fingers encourage your eyes to shut, and you abide, wrapped in this soothing, blissful melody, and let yourself be carried away into a dream.

#speckled word vomits #yandere hsr #yandere #yandere sunday x reader #yandere honkai star rail #sunday x reader #yandere sunday #yandere x you #yandere x reader #awwwwwwwww how sweet he brainwashes you 🥺🥺#kfc my beloved #you may have permanently traumatized me because you KILLED ME #but i forgive you #you'll be suffering plenty in 2.2 anyway--#honkai star rail #wrote this in like 25-30 minute so nobody gets to shoot me for any glaring grammar issues #or continunity issues #(my assignment is staring at me from the corner with only 300 words help)

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