4.19.26

Studio Vibes

Watching: The Pitt, Crash Landing on You (rewatch), and Premier League (RIP Spurs, you’ve definitely secured your relegation)

Reading:  Wolf Worm by T.K. Kingfisher, El Paso: Five Families and One Hundred Years of Blood, Migration, Race, and Memory by Jazmine Ulloa

Listening:  A Matter of Time: The Final Hour by Laufey, Dear Insanity by DPR Ian

I’ve been thinking a lot about humanity and love these past couple of weeks (what an opening sentence). The topics have been popping into my brain on both a large and personal scale. At work, I was looking through our DAM for a photograph (working on a project), and I came across an image that made me physically horrified. I’ve been at the museum for almost 3 years now, and I’ve gotten relatively used to seeing Holocaust photos, but there are a few images that are so incredibly sobering and disturbing that it makes me think about who we are as humans. Humanity can be so incredibly cruel and vile (waves hand at current events) that it makes you wonder if there’s any hope to be had in this world. 

However,  you have the Artemis II launch, which was nothing but pure joy and elation. The astronauts woke up to Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan (with the song being cut off right before the chorus). They kept making Project Hail Mary references. There was an Artemis plush in mission control, and one of the NASA employees was wearing a Sailor Moon lanyard. It’s a reminder that we’re these complex, strange beings on this tiny blue planet, and even with all the bad, there’s still a lot of good.

Humans are weird, man, idk.

Coming down from a macro scale to a micro one, I’ve been thinking a lot about love (not necessarily romantic). I had a dream where I asked my friends what it feels like to be loved by me, so then I asked them that in real life. I’ve also been thinking about the ways I show love and trying to remind myself that people show love in different ways. Baking cookies to send to friends as care packages, saving articles and videos that I think someone would enjoy, driving 4 ½ hours to my dad to do his taxes, reading to friends’ kids before bedtime – I’m definitely someone who shows love through acts of service and gifts. However, I think I forgot what love shown to me looks like. It’s friends thinking about me when they think about designing hypothetical book covers or sending me words of encouragement and love. It’s also a reminder that I deserve love. 

Love is weird, man, idk.

In Progress

I’ve been chugging along on these paintings. I finally finished up my self-portrait, and I’m not going to lie, I was like, “I hate this.” However, once I put it against the mirror painting and layered the leaves over the top, I realized I have something here. I think it’s a reminder that my work cannot be based on an in-progress individual element - wait until it’s on the artwork before making decisions.

My self-portrait painting is slowly coming along.

The hands in this painting, I wanted to do it very loosely. With the portrait, I felt like I I got very much into the details, but with the hands, I was slapping down brushstrokes onto the paper. I forgot how much I love just putting down paint and watching something come to life. It reminds me of how my undergrad thesis work went: my first painting was extremely detailed, with lots of layers and tiny, detailed brushstrokes. My last painting was the complete opposite - I made that painting in about a day and a half. I was putting paint onto the panel without overthinking it. I need to figure out how to approach the water (and the face in the water) - approaching the acrylic gouache like water color, with lots of layers, may be the way to go.

Knocked out these hands in about 45 minutes.

I also put the base color down for this painting. Finally, I’m thinking of making some smaller collages to either use as inspo for larger paintings or treat them as paintings in their own right. I was researching 1960s makeup ads on Pinterest and saw this ad - I love the layering effect with collage and it got my brain working.

Top/Left Photo: A third painting that is in progress
Bottom/Right Photo: An old makeup advertisement I found on Pinterest that I liked

Creative Endeavors

Last post, I said I hadn’t gone full force into sewing yet. This past week, I’ve decided on making four pieces (two “matching” sets) and began a rabbit hole into Mood Fabrics. These are the four patterns I’m planning on making:

Originally, for set A, I was planning on grabbing a gingham or pinstripe pattern. Then, I saw Toile de Jouy, and I was like that’s what I want. For set B, I wanted a dark blue linen so that the blouse and the skirt would be breathable. You know what everyone else wants? Dark blue linen! So, I may have to go with denim, but I’m a little worried about how hot that’s going to get. I ordered samples of both fabrics (I want the Toile de Jouy to be more cream than stark white), so hopefully they’ll be better than I expect!

Sets A and B - do you see the vision?

  • Top/Left: Set A with patterns from Sorry Dad Patterns and AllisPatterns (vintage pattern)

  • Bottom/Right: Set B with patterns from Coraline Street and Kiana Bonello

My cousin is having a birthday camping trip, so I’ll be up in Shenandoah at the end of the month. I’m bringing my camera because Shenandoah is an amazing place for stargazing, and I want night shots of the Milky Way. I hope the weather holds out at least one of the nights, so I can grab those photos! I also haven’t been camping since I was a kid, so I’m very excited to go (and eat bougie s’mores with Haribo marshmallows [from the German store] and Ghirardelli chocolate).

Other Shenanigans

I’m back in my Premier League shenanigans. I spent a good chunk of yesterday at an Irish Pub in Arlington watching Premier League games with some friends. I witnessed Tottenham basically secure their relegation, and now have a new favorite player: Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton). I also finished an entire pint of Smithwick’s. If you know me, you know I hate beer, so the fact that: 

  1. I drank a beer in the morning

  2. I drank a beer at all

  3. I finished said beer is truly shocking

Smithwick’s is a red ale, not super hoppy with a nice malty flavor - I would choose it again. I didn’t go for the Guinness because once you have Guinness on draft in Dublin, I don’t think it can compare anywhere else. Today, I caught up on a couple of other games, and the Aston Villa vs Sunderland game was so good! Sunderland scored two goals within 56 seconds of each other.

Saturday morning at the pub with friends.

With the weather getting nicer (I love you, spring), I’ve been refusing to go to the gym (no windows) and just spending all of my time walking outside. I love living in NoVA/DC because of how walkable it is. I can hop on WMATA, get off at a stop, and just walk wherever. It’s amazing, and good public transportation should be a requirement everywhere across the country. 

Due to the camping trip, my next update may be slightly delayed, but an update in two and a half weeks!