100th Post! Reboot, and plans for the future.

When I started this blog, it was with the intention of doing 100 self-portraits in 100 days. A bit over 2 years later, (and about 45 self-portraits short) I finally hit the 100 post mark. So I didn't succeed in doing what I originally set out to do, but I'm okay with that to tell you the truth. I think that while the journey was different, the destination ended up being the same. I explored subject matter that has interested me, experimented with different media and styles, looked at the work of people I admired discovering things that I liked or appreciated and have tried to share these things with you all.

Over the past two years I think I have come a long way towards finding my voice, and figuring out where I want to go from here. I would like to thank you all for sharing that journey with me. About a year ago, I decided that I really wanted to change what I was doing here. I knew I wasn't doing the portrait thing anymore (at least not as a regular feature) and I was looking for a new name for the blog. A name needs to be descriptive while at the same time drawing us into the narrative...

My friend, Crystal was telling me a story about when she was a kid, and they used to go to the old mill which had a sort of general store and buy penny candy. Crystal cracks me up when she tells stories, because she gets so... animated. So the story goes that they weren't supposed to go to the mill because there were all kinds of shady characters there, and while she's describing this, she's also showing me how they would buy the candy, hurry out to the grain docks and furtively eat it so they could leave quickly and also not get caught by their parents. This story of polarized elements, the penny candy (innocence) and shady characters (well... shady characters sure do sound sinister), and (again) the narrative... they all sort of gelled into the new name for the blog "Penny Candy & Shady Characters".

Here's a breakdown of how I hope to do this every week. I'll be posting 4 segments (those of you who've been following for awhile know that this won't always happen, but if you promise to forgive me, I'll promise to try) on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

-Sunday: Sunday's a free day, where I get to ramble about my week, and talk about what's going on. Normally I'll also be talking on something that I've either been working on that week, or that I've done in the past and would like to share.

-Monday:Daily Life - Illustrated thoughts, ovservations and memories pulled from my daily interactions with friends and family.

-Wednesday: What'chu Talkin' about? - Featured artists, books, TV shows, etc. Basically just talking about things that I've been looking at and reading that I think are interesting, and that I think you might think are interesting too.

-Friday: One MO Picture - A weekly photo scavenger hunt for images from Missouri. The point is to build a visual lexicon of images to draw from, as well as a broad library of images to pull from on a given project. This project is also to foster a further sense of belonging to the community in which I live.

So these are my ideas for where I would like to see this blog go over the course of the next year. My wife accuses me of spreading myself too thin, with too many projects, and I have to admit that there is some truth to that, but I believe in this (Big) project, and feel like it's a good move forward for all of us. Thank you for reading, and I hope you're looking forward to this year as much as I am. Until next time, take care and be good!

Your friend
Jeffrey