Day 6. Eyes Closed. Mirror Self Portrait?
painting Jackson Swaby painting Jackson Swaby

Day 6. Eyes Closed. Mirror Self Portrait?

Day 6. In yesterday's portrait session, I mentioned exploring more of the non-physical aspects of this process. I first stared into the mirror until the physical world began to shift. I have bumped into 'mirror scrying' before, but it's not something I've explored properly. The first two are with my eyes closed after looking, and the last I maintained my blurring focus and did my best to draw the experience. This has been a very different experience to the others so far.

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Day 5. Lay Down Double Look. Mirror Self Portrait
painting Jackson Swaby painting Jackson Swaby

Day 5. Lay Down Double Look. Mirror Self Portrait

Day 5. I think I was a little harsh on these in retrospect, but I think expressing my immediate response is good. I didn't feel fulfilled from my first, so I decided to do another to see if that time of looking at myself would affect the second. I don't feel it did. I felt a lack of focus on the physical and non-physical. Lead me to the idea of testing doing these with my eyes closed.

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Day 7. Exploring Loss of Focus With Candle Light and Mirror. Mirror Self Portrait
painting Jackson Swaby painting Jackson Swaby

Day 7. Exploring Loss of Focus With Candle Light and Mirror. Mirror Self Portrait

Day 7. This turned into a very strange experience. I stared into one eye in the mirror and watched myself and the world shift and move. I aimed to capture these movements without 'drawing' accuracy getting in the way. The result was a portrait that I do not aesthetically like, but the experience was a freeing one that later impacted the following portraits.

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How Long Should I Sit on Music For?
Creative, Music Jackson Swaby Creative, Music Jackson Swaby

How Long Should I Sit on Music For?

This is the first time I've sat on an album for this long, maybe around 5 months. The music has been finished all this time, I have been working on the album movie, which now feels of equal weight as the music. What are my thoughts about waiting to release on reflection?

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The Benefits of Using Your Real Name As Your Artist Name
Creative Jackson Swaby Creative Jackson Swaby

The Benefits of Using Your Real Name As Your Artist Name

There’s something powerful about making art that enters the world as yourself. Once again, I found this through music. I think if I had begun making and releasing under an alias, I would never have connected with creation in a meaningful manner. I feel it’s a threshold I passed and can now manifest it in other mediums.

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