![]() “Go build a fort, ride a bike, read a book, find a dead body” (wait, that last one was the plot of Stand By Me, scratch that one). We are being taught from the very youngest of age to seek moments to play. When we play we are honestly at our most happy. But maybe, just maybe, we were learning something much more important in those neighborhood wiffleball games. I personally always thought my mom was just trying to get me to leave her alone when she asked me to go play outside. It’s even something we are taught as children, “just go play” adults would tell us. While feeling overwhelmed, beaten down and maybe even a little lost, it dawned on me (yes, dawned that was a bad sun pun-get used to them), we as people tend to find joy when we are doing something we love. I sat there still, doing nothing, in the dark and watched the sun rise. Instead, I found myself not moving at all but just gazing out the window like some kind of generic sad boy in a stock photo. I thought I could get a head start on the week and begin revising some work for a client. Tossing and turning for hours, I finally pulled myself out of bed and ventured to my home studio in the darkness of early morning. But how do I get home?Īfter a very long stressful week, one Sunday morning I found myself unable to sleep. It was time to down that last beer, run out the back door and head home before curfew. The cops needed to be called to break it up. I was throwing myself a pity party that had become an epic rager. These feelings affected my work as if a wave of anxiety and doubt was rolling into my creative process like a hurricane. I personally knew that I needed to confront my insecurities and feelings head on (in addition to confiding in people I trusted). I began to feel guilty for feeling this way. All was going great, yet I was not feeling like myself and I didn’t know why exactly. As a human, I was feeling overwhelmed, anxious, depressed, off, all of the emotional catchphrases you can think of, insert them here. In 2015, I found myself struggling and frequently getting down on myself. But, over time, the daily rejection and scrutiny I encountered in a world dictated by economic success can take a toll on a sensitive little artist like myself. We design the type of work I can 100% stand behind and enjoy making. Our studio really does take on the type of work I have always wanted. Was it the 24/7 scrolling culture I was part of? Was it career overload and burnout? Was it the current toxic America I was in no way immune to?Īs a partner of a brand design studio that I co-run with my wife, I can truly say I love very much what we get to do for a living. Why was I evaluating my personal worth against my creative output? I couldn’t understand how I went from being a seemingly confident, self-employed designer of 10+ years to someone who began questioning literally every mark and every move I made. Several years ago, I found myself slowly beginning to doubt my own creative abilities, and honestly, doubt my own self- worth because of it. Maybe it’s not a new iPhone, but a gift nonetheless. ![]() Getting the opportunity to make something for someone and do so everyday for a living is a gift. ![]() ![]() I love the feeling of getting totally lost in the act of creating something that didn’t exist the day before. Truth be told, I have always felt the most at peace with myself when making something. Sunday Suns is the weekly project of American designer Tad Carpenter, who has taken on the simple task of designing, illustrating, sculpting, modelling, making, stitching or creating a sun every Sunday. It is half therapy and half visual journalism – a small way to inject our world with some much needed positivity and light. Each page is positive, uplifting, and entirely positive, proving that when we let our minds play, good things follow suit. In addition, the book offers an insight into his work process and the origins of this stunning project. The result is a book that showcases Tad’s designs, illustrations, sculptures, models, and stitchings representing a sun he freely created on a Sunday. So Tad Carpenter, the co-founder of Carpenter Collective, began an experiment titled Sunday Suns to play and create without guidelines. We can do whatever our minds wish, with no restrictions involved. There’s no denying that when we create with zero rules, we feel free.
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