Thank you

If you’re reading this, thank you. Thank you for still being here after this unexplained lull of the past several months. I’d like to finally explain what I’ve been doing and the state of Think or Smile.

I started blogging as a way to process and share all the things I enjoy. It’s helped me grow tremendously and understand why I loved them in the first place. It’s opened doorways and seeded friendships that I hadn’t foreseen as even possible when this began over 2 years ago.

With growth comes change, you’ve no doubt noticed the slow down in activity. It’s not due to lack of interest but more so a period of hibernation as I refocused and rethought where I fit in the broader art/music/internet community. This began as a collection, I simply curated a space I liked being in. When that wasn’t quite enough I tried my hand at creating for it. That felt right. Not long after, I started collaborating with others, which made even more sense to me.

Through this I met Dave Sutton, who is behind the blog Stadiums & Shrines. We must have crossed paths in a past life. I have no other way of explaining how quickly our friendship developed. We realized early on we shared a vision within the arts and have since been collaborating in various ways behind the scenes, with the eventual goal of working together.

That time has finally come, as we are officially joining together under the S&S banner.

Many months have been spent re-envisioning S&S, visually and conceptually. It builds on the foundation of music set by Dave and puts more of an emphasis on the arts as a whole, exploring the spaces of overlap. Spaces built of collaboration.

One such place is Dreams, a new ongoing feature that brings together image, sound and word. For over a year now, I’ve been working on a series of place specific, black and white collages. We’ll be releasing them one by one as they are scored by artists. Each collage will also be written for as Dave takes them deeper with short prose. I’ll elaborate more on these in the future.

While these collages are static images I couldn’t help but bring them to life as part of their introduction:

Headphones, fullscreen, HD recommended. Sound design: M.Sage

As for the future of Think or Smile, it will certainly continue on but with a new focus. It will no longer be a general arts blog. I feel the time has come for me to focus on creating my own art rather than blogging. That said, I do plan to start sharing more of my work—process, collabs, thought, finished pieces—the stuff I’ve kept relatively private thus far. I plan to make it more personal and less heavy handed.

Some of the features that I’ve started here will find new homes. Musical Eyes will take on a new life as part of the new S&S. The Free Music Collection will find a new home as well, it will be in good hands.

I couldn’t be more excited about the road ahead. I hope you’ll join Dave, Vic and I on our journey as S&S. As well as continue to explore with me here.

Much love,
Nathaniel