AVALIIS //The Creative Collective of Leigh Ashlind

I had a professor in college who used to start every day by making us write for the first 10 minutes of class. No rules or guidelines, just throw down the random thoughts that whirled in your head. Spilling ink, making random doodles, and exploring my thoughts, I would often find from this exercise, a whole new spark of creativity... This is my spilled ink.



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//NEW BLOG DESIGN Being that its the new year, which has brought me to make many changes in my every day life, the //AVALIIS structure, and even projects that I am investing my time into.  In the begining of the year I spend some time updating the //AVALIIS website with new small changes to the site, along with uploading a handful of new artwork.  At the time I wanted to redesign the blog as well, but didn’t have time to really commit to doing it…  until now.   Personally, I never really liked the layout of the previous blog, but it worked- and I just didnt want to spend the time re-doing it… After about a year and a half of ‘putting it off’, I finally took the time to re-design the layout..   Completely changing topics.  I sit here listening to Terminal. This CD was the soundtrack to a summer I spent under the trees on the east side of Michigan,  with some of my best friends back in 2003.  I was fresh out of high school and was just discovering the vast number of doors that life had to offer.  I was fearless. Driven. But more importantly, passionate. A time where I was discovering my limits and living my life recklessly and abundant.  I distinctively remember one summer night meeting up with a few friends to go bowling. As the night went on I had a discussion with my friend Josh about how I wanted to just get out of town for bit.  Without second guessing, the two of us jumped in my car at 11pm, bringing only the clothes on our backs, and headed west.  We made it to the west side of the state, but didnt feel as though we were far enough away, so we pressed on..  Driving south and through the night, we landed in Indiana for a few hours of sleep. Waking up, we pressed on..  ending up in Chicago.  At this point, we decided we would make 1 phone call to give a heads up to our parents to let them know we were gona be gone a few days, and then turned our phones off for the remainder of our trip.   Needless to say, our girlfriends at the time were so pissed when we got back.  We spend a handful of days searching the city. roaming. no rules. Two penniless guys being richer then we had ever been. Smoking huge cigars. Eating cheap pizza. Getting clothes for the day at random goodwills. Simply living life abundantly. This was the first moment that I realized the freedom that the road gives.  I sit here typing about this trip, and I realize that after all the tours I have been on, all the traveling, all the moves, this trip- this spontaneous trip we took back when we were untainted dreamers, was my freest of moments. In honor of this memory and yesterday’s blizzard in Chicago, I decided to post this picture. I look at all that snow and do not envy the north in the slightest bit right now.  Suckers.

//NEW BLOG DESIGN

Being that its the new year, which has brought me to make many changes in my every day life, the //AVALIIS structure, and even projects that I am investing my time into.  In the begining of the year I spend some time updating the //AVALIIS website with new small changes to the site, along with uploading a handful of new artwork.  At the time I wanted to redesign the blog as well, but didn’t have time to really commit to doing it…  until now.   Personally, I never really liked the layout of the previous blog, but it worked- and I just didnt want to spend the time re-doing it… After about a year and a half of ‘putting it off’, I finally took the time to re-design the layout..  

Completely changing topics.  I sit here listening to Terminal. This CD was the soundtrack to a summer I spent under the trees on the east side of Michigan,  with some of my best friends back in 2003.  I was fresh out of high school and was just discovering the vast number of doors that life had to offer.  I was fearless. Driven. But more importantly, passionate. A time where I was discovering my limits and living my life recklessly and abundant.  I distinctively remember one summer night meeting up with a few friends to go bowling. As the night went on I had a discussion with my friend Josh about how I wanted to just get out of town for bit.  Without second guessing, the two of us jumped in my car at 11pm, bringing only the clothes on our backs, and headed west.  We made it to the west side of the state, but didnt feel as though we were far enough away, so we pressed on..  Driving south and through the night, we landed in Indiana for a few hours of sleep. Waking up, we pressed on..  ending up in Chicago.  At this point, we decided we would make 1 phone call to give a heads up to our parents to let them know we were gona be gone a few days, and then turned our phones off for the remainder of our trip.   Needless to say, our girlfriends at the time were so pissed when we got back. 

We spend a handful of days searching the city. roaming. no rules. Two penniless guys being richer then we had ever been. Smoking huge cigars. Eating cheap pizza. Getting clothes for the day at random goodwills. Simply living life abundantly.

This was the first moment that I realized the freedom that the road gives.  I sit here typing about this trip, and I realize that after all the tours I have been on, all the traveling, all the moves, this trip- this spontaneous trip we took back when we were untainted dreamers, was my freest of moments.

In honor of this memory and yesterday’s blizzard in Chicago, I decided to post this picture. I look at all that snow and do not envy the north in the slightest bit right now.  Suckers.