Thanks for visiting. This site is currently getting redesigned and things are a little messy. If you are looking for something and can’t find it, please email Jason at jason@knowingtrees.com . He’ll do his best to be helpful!
Help a loved one (and/or yourself) start 2023 off with some music!
Contact Jason at 773-369-8268 or jason@knowingtrees to discuss some options. He can work with your budget and schedule!
If you want to play, you’ve got to start somewhere. And there is no better place for you to get started.
Thursday, Aug. 18 – 7:00 to 9:00
Live in Chicago!
Borelli’s (pizza and drinks) 2124 W Lawrence Ave, Chicago, IL 60625
> Single Player or Bring a Friend/Bandmate tickets available. <
What You’ll Receive
Schedule – This 2 hour workshop will be broken up into two sections with a 10 minute break
Cost
Registration and Payment
Please fill out this registration form and then make a payment using one of these payment systems. If these do not work for you, please mention that in the notes and we’ll figure out how a payment can happen. (FYI- my first name is William. I think Zelle and Paypal comes up as William McInnes. That’s me!)
Venmo – @jasonplaystunes
Zelle – jasonplaystunes@gmail.com
PayPal – jasonplaystuens@gmail.com
ApplePay – 773-369-8268
Today, I am honored and humbled to offer for sale pieces from my Listening Wide-Eyed: Limited-Sight Contour Drawings of Musical Instruments series. Between now and early July 10, 2022 you can purchase a piece of one-of-a-kind artwork made specifically for you or a loved one.
The Listening Wide-Eyed series is an outgrowth of my visual art, musical and mindfulness practices. Each one-of-a-kind piece from Listening Wide-Eyed is created through a limited-sight process, where I make a drawing on a sheet of bristol board without taking my eyes off the subject. I don’t look at the board until I am done drawing. Within the messiness, the structural knowledge and spiritual essence of each instruments expands.
Each drawing is a made-to-order, one-of-a-kind piece of visual art. They are created with wax pencil and bristol board. Each purchaser is invited to customize their piece, in regards to which instrument, the use of color and matting. There are also options specific to gifting one of these drawings to a loved one.
This process started as a way to strengthen my visual record abilities. As my practice bloomed, this limited goal fell away and the drawing practice engendered more connections between the parts and the whole of both the instruments and myself. How do we move? Where are we sturdy? Where are we delicate? How do those and other qualities affect our presentation to and relationships with others? Considering these questions allowed me to hold and play each instrument in a more open, inviting way.
We see and hear ourselves, and others, every day. I hope having these drawings in our living space, practice room, or at a family dining table prompt us to notice moments when we are making assumptions about what we know about both ourselves and others. I hope that they can act as a guide to remain open, curious and to foster connections in musical spaces and all other relationships.
This round of sales does end on July 10, 2022.
Order form for Listening Wide-Eyed: Limited-Sight Contour Drawings of Musical Instruments
This fall I published my latest zine, The Sticker Method: Creating a Habit of Practice (available in the store). This is a method for taking a lot of the stress that can come with being a learner/do-er out of our lives. I’ve developed the method over my lifetime as both a teacher and a student
I am a user of The Sticker Method and one of my favorite aspects of it is that the method can be used for anything. If you’ve heard my music, seen my drawings, watched my skateboard videos, or if we’ve talked about developing a habit of going to the gym, then you’ve seen The Sticker Method in action.
What are you going to practice? I’d love to know.
