Iterations

I know we’re only a little over the halfway mark, but if I could recommend one book as my “must read” of 2023, it would be Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act: A Way of Seeing, despite the fact that I haven’t actually read it from cover to cover. Let me explain. I started to read it from the beginning but within just a few sentences, I knew it was going to be more of a reference book than a “read it once and move on” kind of book. So I just leave it on my desk and whenever I need a creative boost or a little blast of existential insight, I’ll pick it up and flip to a random page and read for a bit. Sometimes I flip to something new, while other times I end up reading something I’ve read before, which I think is a perfectly reasonable solution given the often-esoteric tone of the wisdom contained within it. My mom used to say, “you’re not ready to hear until you’re ready to hear it,” which is really a variation on the adage “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” That’s exactly what makes this a book t

This is my eighth summer living on the East Coast and aside from the heat, I am still not used to the humidity. Actually, I don’t think I ever will be. I spent the first 48 years of my life living in Southern California and starting when I was about 4 until probably my freshman year in college, I spent most of my summers in Arizona, which was hot but not humid. The landscape and the people left an indelible impression on me and though I can’t see myself ever going back—at least to live—I’ll always be more drawn to and more at home in the desolate beauty of Arizona and the American West.LINKS152° at Persian Gulf International AirportBuckskin Mountain State ParkParker DamParker, ArizonaLake HavasuLondon BridgeThe Spy Who Loved MeWetbike CONNECT WITH MEWebsite: https://jefferysaddoris.com  Twitter: @jefferysaddoris  Instagram: @jefferysaddorisSUBSCRIBESubscribe to Jeffery Saddoris: Almost Everything in your favorite podcast app to get more conversations like this. You can find the full written version of this It

I’m going to try something different, so I really don’t know exactly where this Iteration is going to go. I thought I’d just put on some music and write whatever came to mind. At the moment, Dark Star by Crosby, Stills, and Nashis playing in the background, which I love despite not really being a CSN fan. Adrianne found the album at this little record store in DC a few weeks ago that’s across the street from our favorite ice cream shop.LINKSMy Mixcast 4 long-term updateMy Mixcast 4 initial reviewDavid Carson nucollage, vol. 1 reviewCONNECT WITH MEWebsite: https://jefferysaddoris.com  Twitter: @jefferysaddoris  Instagram: @jefferysaddorisSUBSCRIBESubscribe to Jeffery Saddoris: Almost Everything in your favorite podcast app to get more conversations like this. You can find the full written version of this Iteration on Substack.MUSICMusic For Workplaces by Jeffery Saddoris

This has been sort of a weird week for me. Friday would have been my mom’s 79th birthday and for the past 14 years, not a day has gone by that I don’t think about her. Sometimes only a little, other times, I think about her a lot. I miss our Sunday brunches at Molly’s, though Molly sold the place years ago. I miss her smile, which I can no longer remember without looking at a photograph. Mostly, I miss her optimism and her goodness. I miss her advice and her belief in me and her unwavering faith in something greater than all of us that allowed her to see that people were basically good if we could just get out of our own ways and accept one another for the brilliant beings that she believed us to be. I need that right now.LINKSGrand Theft Auto: https://www.rockstargames.com/gta-vSkyrim: https://elderscrolls.bethesda.net/en/skyrim/Zelda: https://www.zelda.com/Red Dead Redemption 2: https://www.rockstargames.com/games/reddeadredemption2On Taking Pictures: http://www.ontakingpictures.com/CONNECT WITH MEWebsite:

How do you know when it’s time to rethink or refresh your personal brand? It’s something I’ve spent a fair bit of time thinking about lately. But before we dive into that, I think we first need to answer another question and that is what does “personal brand” even mean? According to Gary Vee, “Your personal brand is your reputation.”  Another way he put it was, “Your brand is about how someone feels in the moment when they interact with you or your business.” On the other hand, Harvard Business Review says that your brand is not your reputation, which is based how other people see you, but rather how you want people to see you. Reputation is certainly part of it, but it’s not the whole picture.LINKSGary Vee article: https://garyvaynerchuk.com/5-strategies-for-personal-branding-online/Harvard Business Review article: https://hbr.org/2022/02/whats-the-point-of-a-personal-brandThe Futur: https://thefutur.com/Rethinking My Website: https://jefferysaddoris.substack.com/p/rethinking-my-websiteIt's Not About a

Earlier in the week, a post came up in my Twitter feed that stopped me in my tracks before sending me down a rabbit hole that I think I may be in for a while. It was a post about a watch—or at least the possibility of a watch—by a designer named Sebastian Stapelfeldt, who publishes under the name Carl Hauser. It’s a terrific 3D render that looks like something out of one of Syd Mead’s sketchbooks, which is one of the reasons it caught my eye. If that reference doesn't mean anything to you, Syd was an industrial designer and illustrator who is probably best known for his work on Blade Runner and Tron. I think first discovered his work in the late 70s, about the same time that I first saw the work of Frank Frazetta. Both of these guys were huge inspirations, though Syd's influence didn't really show up in my work until the mid-90s.LINKSCarl Hauser: https://www.carlhauser.com/Carl Hauser (Twitter): https://twitter.com/crlhsrSyd Mead: https://sydmead.com/Frank Frazetta: https://www.frazettamuseum.c

As an independent creative, I spend the bulk of my time alone, which means I’m typically in one of my studios in the basement of our house. I have two spaces that have been purpose-built and tweaked over the past few years to fit the different aspects of my creative practice. The analog studio is where I do all of my painting and collage work and the digital studio is where I do everything else that doesn’t involve paint, which means research, writing, design, podcasting, and recently a bit of sound design and music. The studios share a common wall that has a double door so I can move quickly from one to the other depending on what I’m working on in the moment. While there are still a few more tweaks to make, I love these spaces, especially since my previous space (if you can even call it that) was a 4-foot section of counter in the laundry room. That said, it’s still a basement and all of the things that can work in its favor can also work against it, depending on the mental space I’m in. If I’m particularly

In this Iteration, I want to talk about things, specifically the things in our lives that take on a particular significance because of what they have come to represent and how difficult it can be when we let them go, either by choice or by circumstance.A few days ago, Adrianne and I bought a new car and to say that it was a challenge would be a bit of an understatement. To be fair, the actual car selection process wasn’t too bad—especially compared to how long it’s taken me in the past (see Iteration 37). But trading in my 2010 Honda Fit proved to be extraordinarily painful—so much so that I had a bit of a meltdown at the dealership and wound up texting Adrianne from the parking lot telling her that I couldn’t go back in and that I just wanted to go home.LINKSIteration 37: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jeffery-saddoris-everything/id1438550795?i=10004223765812010 Honda Fit: https://www.edmunds.com/honda/fit/2010/review/Nikon F2: https://emulsive.org/reviews/camera-reviews/nikon-camera-reviews/the-nikon

I was sitting in my studio the other day, looking at some of the 100+ paintings I’ve done over the past few years and out of the blue I thought to myself, “I hate all of these.” Adrianne walked in a few minutes later and asked what was going on and I said, “I think I hate everything I’ve done.” Adrianne being Adrianne then asked, “Do you really hate it or is it something else?” I didn’t answer immediately, but of course it’s something else, right? It has to be. But that’s how it came out in the moment. To be clear, I don’t love every piece I’ve ever done—I don’t think any artist really does—but I certainly don’t hate every piece either. So what is it that’s really going on?LINKSPicasso: https://www.pablopicasso.org/The New Propaganda: https://projects.jefferysaddoris.com/Grid Variations: https://projects.jefferysaddoris.com/Sean Tucker: https://www.seantucker.photography/Josef Müller-Brockmann: https://www.grapheine.com/en/graphic-design-en/graphic-designer-muller-brockmann-swiss-styleReid Miles: https://www.

This is Iteration number 100 and before we dive in, I want to say that this one is a big deal for me, not because it’s number 100—although, yes, that—but more because it’s about what it’s taken for me to get here and what I’ve learned about consistency and my own creative process.If you’re an artist or maker of some kind and you’re on social media, regardless of the platform, you’ve undoubtedly heard about the importance of consistency. It’s one of the two main things that the algorithm rewards—the other one being time on platform. The problem with platforms is that you either are consistent or you aren’t. There’s typically no space for flux because the algorithm doesn’t care about nuance—it cares about numbers.LINKSIteration 25 On Taking PicturesDeep NatterJerry Seinfeld on Howard SternIteration 97My Substack CONNECT WITH MEWebsite: https://jefferysaddoris.com  Twitter: @jefferysaddoris  Instagram: @jefferysaddorisSUBSCRIBESubscribe to Jeffery Saddoris: Almost Everything in your favorite podcast app to get m

This Iteration was originally going to be a story that bordered on a rant about trying to buy a new mouse from Amazon that went a little sideways. I’ll share some of the details in a bit, but the short version is that it took three attempts to get it right and I’m still not totally convinced that there isn’t some shady merchandise being sold as “real” by the world’s largest retailer. The best part of the thing was the title—I was going to call it “The Tale of the Mouse.” Clever, right? But as I’ve been thinking about it for the past few days, I think it’s really about something bigger and I think it’s something that nearly all of us can relate to—and that is how and why we buy the things we do.LINKSMusgrave PencilsLogitech MX MasterLogitech M720Logitech M720 (Best Buy)KeychronCONNECT WITH MEWebsite: https://jefferysaddoris.com  Twitter: @jefferysaddoris  Instagram: @jefferysaddorisSUBSCRIBESubscribe to Jeffery Saddoris: Almost Everything in your favorite podcast app to get more conversations like this. You ca

In this episode, without knowing it, Sean and I each posted something about AI this week and we thought it might be fun to sit down and compare notes. We also talk about the growing problem of loneliness that exists on both sides of the Atlantic and a few of the things we’ve each been thinking about to help deal with it.LINKSPhotography and the Rise of AIPrompt. View. Repeat.Mali Davies PhotographyLet’s Create - The Photography ShowBowling AloneSeattle Coffee CompanyCONNECT WITH SEANWebsite: http://seantucker.photography  Twitter: @seantuck  Instagram: @seantuck  YouTube: @seantuckCONNECT WITH JEFFERYWebsite: https://jefferysaddoris.com  Twitter: @jefferysaddoris  Instagram: @jefferysaddorisYouTube: @jefferysaddorisSUBSCRIBESubscribe to Jeffery Saddoris: Almost Everything in your favorite podcast app to get more conversations like this.SUPPORTLeave a review or a rating wherever you listen, or you can share the episode on social media.MUSICHigh Line by DuffmusiqMusic featured in this episode is licensed from A

You don’t have to look far to know that AI is everywhere and it doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. It’s in the news and on social media. It’s what your colleagues are talking about when you’re at work and what your friends are talking about when you’re not. And no matter what you do for a living or for recreation, it seems like AI is going to either disrupt it completely or at least affect it somehow.I’ve been following the development of some of the more popular AI platforms from the wings for a while now. I’ve tried ChatGPT, and I recently did an experiment with Midjourney and Stable Diffusion to see how they would handle prototyping ideas for a personal project I’m working on. Even though the results weren’t exactly what I wanted, they got me thinking about what I did want in a different way and ultimately gave me some new things to think about and iterate on in my sketchbook. While I can absolutely see the potential power of AI, I can also see some of the potential cost—and that’s what concerns m

In 2018 I released a book called Photography by the Letter. It took three years of research, writing, re-writing, designing, and re-designing, and while it wasn’t as financially successful as I had hoped, it was one of the most satisfying projects I’ve ever done. After shopping it around to a number of publishers—all of whom passed on it—we self-published a limited print run and released it simultaneously as an eBook. Opening up the first box of books from the printer and seeing those three years represented as actual objects was a very emotional experience. I sent a copy to Ted Waitt at Rocky Nook, who had been incredibly helpful and supportive while I was writing it. He responded with a lovely email that read, “It is really quite beautifully designed and very well printed. I honestly cannot think of a self-published book that I have seen better production values on. Nicely done!” The book has gotten hundreds of glowing reviews like this, and none of them are wasted on me. As proud as I am of what we accompl

A little over a year ago, after getting a very disturbing email from my then web host saying that they were closing shop—without including an end date, mind you—I decided to try an experiment with my website. Rather than simply move my existing Wordpress installation to another web host, I built a new site using a platform called Carrd (affiliate link) which, according to the website, is perfect for building “simple, free, fully responsive one-page sites for pretty much anything.” And while that’s mostly true, there are features that allow you to fake displaying multiple pages on a single page and paid features that can add even more functionality. You can also set up subdomains to stand in for additional pages—which is what I’ve done to display multiple bodies of work—and for the past year or so, it’s done exactly what I’ve needed it to do.LINKSCarrd (affiliate link)CONNECT WITH MEWebsite: https://jefferysaddoris.com  Twitter: @jefferysaddoris  Instagram: @jefferysaddorisSUBSCRIBESubscribe to Jeffery Saddori

In this episode, Maarten Rots joins me from the Netherlands for a terrific conversation talking about a recent salon group show he was in and the importance of saying yes to putting our work out into the world. Plus, I pitch him an idea for a potential new zine project and we even talk a little bit about AI…just a little.LINKSKristopher MathesonEverything’s a Remix on AIBrian Eno biography (via Amazon)John Cage biography (via Amazon)CONNECT WITH MAARTENWebsite: https://www.maartenrots.nlInstagram: @maartenrotsMarch & Rock magazine: https://marchandrock.comCONNECT WITH JEFFERYWebsite: https://jefferysaddoris.com  Substack: https://jefferysaddoris.substack.com  Instagram: @jefferysaddorisSUBSCRIBESubscribe to Jeffery Saddoris: Almost Everything in your favorite podcast app to get more conversations like this.SUPPORTLeave a review or a rating wherever you listen, or you can share the episode on social media.MUSICJeffery Saddoris

For years I’ve wanted to do some sort of legacy project that would allow me to explore and somehow acknowledge and maybe even come to terms with my family history. As many of you know, I come from a family of railroad workers. In fact, I’m the first and to my knowledge the only male in three generations of my family not to work for the railroad. At the beginning of 2019, I started laying the groundwork for a project that would not only allow me to lean into my family history but that I could also use as a starting point for something much bigger that could end up being the legacy project that I had been looking for. Unfortunately, COVID shut the world down and because the project really had to be done in person, most of the connections I made up to that point and permissions I had secured became moot. I got really upset about it because I loved the idea and it had taken me a long time to get there. But how I wanted to do it was completely disrupted and since at the time nobody had any idea how long the lockdo

Last month, we lost Ryuichi Sakamoto, who was an absolute monster of an artist and since hearing the news I’ve been going back and listening to a bunch of his catalog, which is not only massive, but it’s also incredibly diverse.There are certain artists whose work allows you to see the world differently. If they’re really good, they might even allow you to feel it differently. Ryuichi Sakamoto was one of those artists. He worked across multiple musical genres and he was able to tap into and even affect different aspects of the human experience. I think the first piece of Ryuichi’s music I heard was Forbidden Colors, which is a vocal version of the theme to a film he scored and acted in alongside David Bowie called Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. It was also the first of what would be decades of brilliant collaborations with former Japan frontman David Sylvian. A friend in college had reintroduced me to David, who I was familiar with from Japan, but it was his solo record Secrets of the Beehive, which featured

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I’m a big fan of trains and have been since I was a kid. My dad was a railroad man for the Southern Pacific, as were his two brothers, my grandfather, and his father before him. So you might say that trains are in my blood. I remember my dad sometimes taking me to work with him and I would get to ride on the caboose while he did his shift. Of course this was back when trains still had cabooses, which they phased out in the early 80s. My dad really wanted me to go into the family business and he even set up an interview where basically all I had to do was sign some papers and I would have been in. But when I got to the interview, I couldn’t get out of my car. I could see the trajectory of the life that would mean and it just wasn’t the life I wanted. When I told my dad about it, he was furious with me. And understandably so. He took my response to mean that I thought I was too good for the life that was good enough for three generations of the men in our f

In the last Iteration, I talked about how seeing the Philip Guston show at the National Gallery left me feeling a little envious of such a strong personal story, something that my own work just didn’t have. I talked to Sean about it over the weekend and shared some of what I had been feeling and he was quick to disagree saying that he thought my work was very personal. He said that in his opinion, my work is a reflection of how I see and experience the world. To him, all of my anxieties, my fears, even some of my childhood traumas are all right there on the canvas. “I know you don’t see it,” he said, “but what could be more personal than that?”CONNECT WITH MEWebsite: https://jefferysaddoris.com  Twitter: @jefferysaddoris  Instagram: @jefferysaddorisSUBSCRIBESubscribe to Jeffery Saddoris: Almost Everything in your favorite podcast app to get more conversations like this. You can also find a written version of Iterations on Substack.MUSICMusic For Workplaces by Jeffery Saddoris