LOCKDOWN DIARIES PART 1. MICHAEL McGREGOR
We asked a few friends to give us a peak into their everyday lives during the global lockdown we are all experiencing. Thought its a good way to distract us from the fact that life is on halt and offer inspiration and comfort to our solitude. The first diary comes from LA based and artist and illustrator for Kennedy, Michael McGregor a likeminded sprit that always impresses with his style and wit.
Michael on his walk.
Daily Routine:
I live alone and spend a lot of time alone so my everyday life hasn’t changed too much. If anything, it has become more concentrated. I live in this old theosophical society, so the energy is good and the grounds are beautiful.
This is, more or less, how it goes on any given day:
Wake up early 6:45am-am, lay in bed, go down stairs, make tea, put clothes on, go for a walk, come home, put music on (my friend Niki Nakazawa & I have been making a B2B mix on Spotify during Quarantine. It’s something we do seasonally, but started again during quarantine. Here’s a link ), work on some drawings/paintings while listening to music, make tea, eat oatmeal, read a little bit, draw/paint for a while, go on a walk in the hills, make some sort of rice bowl for dinner, watch some things on Criterion Channel while falling asleep (lately the Columbia Noir collection and the films of Juzo Itami).
Reading:
Carlos Castenada “The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge” and
Toru Takemitsu “Confronting Silence”
Etel Adnan’s Journey to Mount Tamalpais, which I re-read a few times a year. It’s a zen and poetic work about the artists relationship with the mountain, how she found it, or it found her, and how she learned to see it, and with it.
Watching:
Criterion Channel added a lot of Columbia Picture’s Noir catalog and I’ve been working through them. Some favorites, especially Bogart In A Lonely Place and Dead Reckoning, also the Fritz Lang film the Big Heat.
Listening:
Ian Kim Judd’s Fifth World show on NTS has been on loop in my studio. I met Ian years ago at a basketball game in Brooklyn and we hit it off. He has a great ear and digging into his show is a great way to tap into the cosmic myst
Herbie Hancock’s 1971 album Mwandishi
“Auf Engelsflügeln” by Deutsche Wertarbeit came on shuffle the other day on itunes on an old MacBook. Wow, forgot how enchanting this song is. Perfect for moments when things feel scary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdekE4hhdDk
Internet Things:
Been Spending a lot of time in the digital archives of the Met. Yesterday I spent a 5 hours researching the 8,646 bowls in their collection (You can look at them all here: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search#!?q=bowl&perPage=20&searchField=All&showOnly=withImage&sortBy=Relevance&offset=0&pageSize=0)
Books and records.
One day I got bored and solicited people’s bathrooms to draw. I like drawing bathrooms and it felt like a nice way to glimpse into other people’s worlds, and show them a reflection of their slice of life.
Bathroom drawings.
Messy desk.
I had been working on a lot of interior still life pieces, but being locked up had the inverse affect of making me think more about the outdoors and I started working on some landscape paintings highlighting bougainvilleas which really ensconce the Hollywood Hills.
