eventually i find my way to a seat, pour, sip and experience something known, expected, and yet, wholly unique. it catches me out each day, a singular moment in time with a touch of nuance.

art is like this. rather, the process of art is like this. whether putting ink to paper or transforming code to pixel. the process may leverage the same tools day after day, but the outcome, moment to moment and result to result, is ever changing.

this can cause my mind anxiety, the expectation of what will be overshadowing the reality of what is. this feeling is often the very thing i'm looking to take a break from when creating and yet, it finds me time and time again. it sits squarely at the middle of the creative act, waiting to be encountered.

in the first half of my fortieth year (2025) i realized that something was off with my relationship to art. nothing drastic or dramatic, just shifted and more tense. i had a hunch this was related to the cross pollination of art output with social media.

with social engagement i often start with good intentions; choosing to share my process here, posting an art work there. inevitably, i find myself in a familiar territory of too much noise, distraction and well, ick.

around mid-year i found myself headed to british columbia for a van trip holiday and realized along the road north that, for the second year in a row, i had a fizzling desire to create. i’d brought my sketch book and camera as usual, but was too preoccupied with wading through a frazzled headspace to go deep into either. the daily online loop of design work meetings, art social engagement and constant news cycle had worn me back down. my wake up call was my partners reaction to our first 24 hours on the road when i found every opportunity to check my device. we have an agreed “van time is analog time” mantra and i was breaking it.

in 2024 a similar stress state had emerged, it was a bit later in the summer months and i took ~6 weeks away from my non-work day internet routine to reset. during that time i camped, paddled and biked my mind back to a state of calm-ish reality. in retrospect it’s become clear this wasn’t long enough; in 2025 the cracks emerged faster, with less definition. i could feel something wasn't the same, like a light was dimming, but couldn't put a finger on the what, why or how of it.

on the drive to b.c. i made a decision that up til the trip i'd been subconsciously chewing on, but unwilling to let myself fully embody. i wanted more than just “time away” or a “digital detox” — i wanted something that would help my mind take a deep breath.

i decided to take time off from expectation. the expectation that existed in a realm i had full control over, my art.

up til that point my status quo had become creating for the sake of keeping up with expectations i’d created for myself:

• to show up on online, maintaining a productive presence: if they can't see you are you even real?

• to deliver art for my subscribers: meet a deadline every month and deliver on a promise i'd made.

• to keep pushing my own boundaries: learning new methods is time consuming and my time was being eaten by the two former expectations.

each of these were important to me, but also taxing in a world where artists often work full time jobs. in my case, a creative one that pulls on the same fibers used to weave my personal pursuits.

so i did it. i carved out some space and let myself off the hook. the result? i…

created less. read more. started writing again. exercised more. ate better. lost ~20lbs. traveled to some familiar and some new-to-me places. created more intentionally. finished one journal and started another. played with physical processes i love and tried new ones i’ve always been curious about.

the physical outcome of this period is the least volume of finished art i've produced in years.

the energetic outcome of this period is feeling more inspired than i've been in years.

i also realized something obvious in retrospect. i was still creating with expectations. mine. they'd just gotten more realistic. and less muddied by the noise of perceived influences.

thanks for reading, subscribe to receive new posts and support my work.

• i've transitioned my newsletter over to paragraph 📮

• i've set up a hypersub! a hyper what? 👀

• new art was made and an edition airdropped! 🪂

happy march, let's get into it!

feel free to check out my substack archives for previous posts or listen to these posts via apple, spotify, or google.

a note on the newsletter migration

if you're receiving this in your inbox, you may notice that the newsletter looks a bit different. that's because i've migrated to paragraph.xyz. it's native onchain integration is right up my alley and i'd like to leverage more of its features as i grow.

the biggest change for readers is the ability to create an account that correlates an ethereum wallet with your email. this allows you to receive the newsletter in places such as coinbase wallet notifications vs. your inbox. it also means you are able to collect this post. very cool.

i'll be keeping the substack as it is for now, but only sending emails via paragraph. if you want to compare them for yourself, here's a handy feature list.

a little context

when i first dabbled onchain with token based artwork it was actually by way of researching newsletter subscription services. this was in late 2020 and my research lead me to opensea of all places. i was reading posts from xcopy and nerding out on documentation for platforms like foundation. ultimately i would end up getting wholly distracted from newsletter subscriptions while i started connecting the dots on provenance and would end up minting my art on ethereum mainnet in spring 2021. this piece above – breakthrough. – was my genesis.

at that time i’d wished for an onchain art subscription service, something that could combine my desire to have an opt-in mechanism and be art focused. i settled for the ability to mint and have total control over how my art was being distributed.

enter hypersub

now it’s 2024 and the onchain art subscription service i'd hoped for is happening via hypersub. their platform makes it possible for artists (or any creator) to set up a contract on ethereum mainnet or a layer 2 (e.g. base, optimism, zora) which then allows people to mint tokens to which time, or a subscription duration, is tied. Here's how the contract states it...

An NFT contract which allows users to mint time and access token gated content while time remains.

in exchange for this subscription-time-via-token the creator sets a price and outlines what their subscribers are entitled to or will receive. in the case of my art, this enables me to have a running list of people who have queued for artwork, export it and utilize it to send art via airdrop. oh, and get paid for it!

to put it simply, with hypersub, people can pay a monthly rate to subscribe to my art and receive it seamlessly from me via airdrop. so far i've seen subscriptions ranging from 1 month to 2 years with the most common being ~3 months.

i launched my m/branson subscription on feb 27th and started seeing subscribers trickle in immediately. i wanted to get art in their hands quickly, so i got to work prepping my first edition, through line. this week i sent it out as an edition of 35 to my first ever paid subscribers. 🥳

this piece is an intentional call back to my genesis mint. it’s another beginning. one built on the foundation of a collective mindset. in the end we all rely on one another, we all create the whole.

so say you subscribe, what's included?

• monthly subscriber edition airdrops. each month all subscribers will receive a 1/x edition (e.g. the art i mentioned above). the size of the edition will fluctuate with the number of unique subscribers each month and will be targeted to drop in the first half of the month. if that changes due to holiday plans, subscribers will be notified.

• 24hr early access to upcoming mints. subscribers will be notified of future drops and either be pre-sale or reserve allowlisted depending on the platform and mint type (e.g. whether generative or open edition).

• quarterly raffles for 1/1 artwork. 1 unique subscriber* every quarter will receive a 1/1 artwork, minted to my self-titled ethereum erc-721 contract. the first raffle will be held at the end of may 2024. *to be selected at random.

• m/b subscriber group chat. each member will receive optional access to a token gated warpcast group chat. this is done via the token you receive when you sub. if you want to join, just come back and click the link once you're subscribed. so far it's been a great way to meet subscribers and answer questions.

• earn hypersub subscriber rewards. long term subscriptions are incentivized with earnings toward an 8% pool of all subscription fees. this is done through multipliers based on when you subscribe and are halving each month. currently the multiplier is at 64x. 👀 read more about hypersub's subscriber rewards.

that last point is really cool and uniquely hypersub. i did the math on this and for people who subscribe for 13 months during this initial period, the immediate reward is equal to one month. so you effectively get a month (and a piece of art!) for free. nice.

https://hypersub.withfabric.xyz

Subscribe to m/branson on Hypersub

subscribe to m/branson and receive monthly digital art, early access to moar art + entry into raffles for 1/1 art. there will be a group chat, there will ...

when all you want to do is make art for people who enjoy it, this is a dream. i can’t wait to drop future editions and play with additional rewards (print/plot shop discount anyone?). subscribe to get in on it + thanks for being part of this journey!

thank you for reading! if you enjoyed, please subscribe and i’ll see you next time!

m/b ⚫ ️✨

the song playing on my speakers right this very moment...

https://spotify.com

Powder Blue / Cascine Park

Listen to Powder Blue / Cascine Park on Spotify. Yumi Zouma · Song · 2018.

🥧 what motivates creation?
🖼 what is a /frame and why is m/b minting on 🔵 base?
🏰 where is farcaster and how do i get there?

as always, feel free to check out my archives for more content or listen to these posts via apple, spotify, or google.

art is intrinsic.

intrinsic and motivation are often paired together. what’s the definition though, especially in today’s always on, trend and hype driven culture? is it possible to be motivated by something wholly within yourself?

my mind immediately goes to art of course. would i create if not for the possibility of sharing the outcome with someone? my idealism kicks in, responding with a quick yes. i stop and reflect on this a beat longer. what’s my first memory of creating?

it wasn’t art, it was mud.

mud pies to be more clear. after a hard, abrupt desert rain you’d find me in my grandma’s tomato garden. scooping handful after handful of fragrant, warm mud, molding it into a sloppy ball, then patting it down on the plank of wood “sun oven” i had pulled from my grandpa’s scrap pile.

these were summer rains, born of thunderstorms that would spring out of seemingly nowhere; dropping buckets of water on the hard packed dirt, only to pool and puddle in inconvenient pockets around the yard and garden.

while my mud pies would dry out, er…bake, in the desert heat, i’d wander around looking for things to adorn them with. once ready for consumption i’d use the retired spatula my mom had given me to pry them from their oven and plate them on a frisbee to share with my family.

i’d get some smiles and remarks on a bit of pine needle work i may have pulled off particularly well, but for the most part my audience wasn’t too adoring. and, let’s be honest, i was more excited to move onto the part where i’d chuck the pies at the ground and watch them explode, back into the dirt from whence they came.

this, to me, is as intrinsic as it gets. creating for the curiosity, for the process discovery, for the part where you get to ruin it and start over.

the key ingredient in a mud pie is play.

the meaning in it may just have been to answer the question(s) — can i do this? can i actually achieve this thing? at no point was it about other people. in fact, those around me were mostly just happy i was happy.

this is how i want to continue to approach art. and to be fully candid, i don’t always. the extrinsic-ness of it all absolutely steals my attention and clouds my judgement, most always leading me to overthink or pursue something i’m not wholly interested in or even excited about. something that doesn’t spark the curiosity for curiosities sake.

to those things i say, nope. it’s not a mud pie, i don’t want any part of it.

muddy pixel pies.

lately my mud pies have been steaming piles of code. twisted learnings of gloopy instructions, attempting to elicit a pulse from a mere idea. this is how it feels at least.

in reality i’m totally aware that i’m carving something out of nothing. i’m breaking things a little at a time in order to learn and unearth something new.

the results are mixed, though, progressing. i’ve realized that this incremental focus on the things that light me up is why i’m attempting to write algorithms that generate art in the first place. it’s messy and it’s fun.

on the last day of january i released my first token on base. i’ve been eyeing a mint to this ethereum native chain for a few months now and, with the release of frames on farcaster, it was the right time. i took a recent mud pie and threw it into the world.

Farcaster

m/branson on Warpcast

we keep breaking things. [m/base token no. 01] 〰 24hr timed, open edition. created with @manifoldxyz on @base, available to mint via /frames https://farcaster.manifold.xyz/frame/37325040

the artwork i offered as a free mint — we keep breaking things. — ended up being collected by 688 unique wallets. 👀 just bananas. the ability for people to click mint inline with their social feed, and have the piece automagically dropped into their farcaster connected ethereum wallet, was well, powerful. it felt like the future.

now that i have my m/base contract with a decent sized collector base i’m initiating a deflationary concept for an art series. the pieces are out of band works-in-progress from an algorithm i’m calling wkbt, the same that gave us m/base token no. 01, we keep breaking things.

this week, on the week to the day anniversary of the original frame mint, i initiated a burn-to-redeem for a new limited edition artwork. holders of the jan 31st mint could burn their token to redeem an edition of the new token. 5 people chose to and now wkbt 001 lives as an edition of 5.

next week, on weds feb 14th there will be another burn-to-redeem. collectors of either previous token can choose to burn their current for the next. the edition size will be set to 5, first come first served. and so it will go every week for at least a year.

you can see both tokens on opensea, read the overview there or subscribe for drop updates via manifold or deca. (i don’t plan to use this newsletter to announce every drop.)

so what’s farcaster?

it’s a protocol enabling decentralized social networking on top of blockchain tech, specifically ethereum. it’s a growing alternative to corporate social media. here it is in their own words…

You can post messages, follow users and organize into communities called channels. The protocol is open-source and anyone can join or build on top of it today.

their documentation is a great place to dig in and get a better sense of what it’s all about. if you want to get started with an account of your own, use this link to sign up with warpcast (a farcaster client) and we’ll both get 50 warps. need help? let me know, i’m just an email / dm away. also, this write up by Zeneca does a great job communicating the what and especially, why now.

https://paragraph.xyz

Farcaster, Warpcast, Whatcast?

Farcaster is the talk of the crypto town this week. But boy is there a lack of understanding out there about what Farcaster is. I'm here to try to cl...

that was a lot. is your head spinning? mine too. 😂

despite the overwhelm of info, i’ve only got an abundance of energy and desire to keep playing in the digital mud, making art and growing my digital garden. onward with the things that light us all up.

thank you for reading! if you enjoyed, please subscribe.

see you next time!

m/b ⚫ ️✨

my latest mud pie making jam…

https://spotify.com

Surefire

Listen to Surefire on Spotify. Wilderado · Song · 2021.