5.10.26
Studio Vibes
Watching: Challengers; Sense8; The Quarry play-throughs
Reading: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin
Listening: Lazy Days in ATX (my playlist); Good Faith by Madeon; Imaginal Disk by Magdalena Bay
This post was delayed a bit more than a few days, but to be honest, I wanted more time to make work because I’m in a creative mood. However, that brings me to my next point, which is: do the things you want to do! Don’t wait for the perfect time, materials, or person - if you want to go on a picnic in the park, do it! If you want to go camping for your birthday with your closest friends, do it! If you want to take a spontaneous trip to Ireland in two months, do it! If you want to make a painting for shiggles, do it!
Going camping for my cousin’s birthday was a good reminder to not wait for the perfect time to do something. As someone who struggles with the desire/undying need to be perfect, pushing through the paralyzation and going for what I want to do is extremely satisfying. That’s the whole reason I started writing this blog - it was a way for me to push through the paralyzation of perfection and make art.
In Progress
Once again, I find myself making individual collage pieces. However, if these are the vibes of the paintings, these are the vibes of the paintings. I’m feeling myself getting excited to work on these paintings. I see the vision in my head, and I want to put it down on paper.
The hand mirror in the painting is actually based on a mirror I have in real life. I’ve had the mirror since I was a kid, and I ended up breaking the mirror when I was a kid (intentionally, because I didn’t like it, but now I’m like, why). However, the broken mirror pieces feel like the perfect accompaniment to this painting.
Making painted collage pieces is very tedious, but extremely rewarding.
When I went camping for my cousin’s birthday, we, of course, made a ton of campfires. I got some great shots of the embers that I wanted to paint. I had planned to paint while I was camping, but the most downtime I had was reading (highly recommend The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin, thanks Tyrell for the rec). This will be some great practice painting light, specifically glows.
Photos of embers for some small paintings/studies.
Creative Endeavors
My fabric for my matching sets came in! I cut out the patterns for the halter top and the midi skirt, and knocked out the halter top last night. It took me about 3 hours in total (cutting the pattern and putting it together). The most tedious part of this top was the straps and hand-sewing the loops. However, the fact that I was able to sew this in about 2 hours shows that my sewing skills are improving. I need to start working on the skirt, but I’m still missing some notions. I think I’ll begin working on cutting out the fabric pieces, though.
A completed halter top!
The skort and the vest require a little bit more work for their patterns. One thing I want to improve on is combining different pattern sizes. For the skort, I will need to combine two sizes, and I think this should be a fairly straightforward process. The vest is 100% going to require a mock-up - this will be one of the most complicated designs I’ve worked on. However, after working on my dress earlier this year, I think I can do it.
I brought my camera along for the camping trip and took a ton of pictures. I brought my handy-dandy tripod, which was perfect for group shots, especially at night. Sadly, I did not get any Milky Way or night shot photos. The first night (this is truly a “my steak is too juicy, lobster too buttery” situation), the moon was so bright, it basically blocked out everything. The moon was gorgeous, but I woke up at 3 am thinking that it was 6 am because of how bright the moon was. The second night, it rained, so the sky was cloudy (also tequila betrayed me, again). The final night, it was 28 degrees outside, and I hate the cold. I did get amazing daytime shots, though!
Other Shenanigans
I keep bringing up my cousin’s camping trip and not actually doing a recap. For her 33rd birthday, my cousin Netah wanted to go camping, and she made it happen. We were at Big Meadows campground in Shenandoah, specifically in the tent-only section. Despite some bodily shenanigans the first two nights, I had an absolutely amazing time. It’s funny because on Saturday, I thought that 3 nights camping was enough for me. However, once I came back to work on Monday, I thought, “I want to be camping right now.” We went on about 4 hikes, made plenty of campfires, and enjoyed watching all the little creatures that came by (including influencers in the wild).
This camping trip also scratched a camping itch I’ve had since 2020. I originally wanted to go camping for my birthday in 2020 with my ex-boyfriend, but we broke up the week before. I also didn’t have the confidence to go camping by myself, so it’s been camping purgatory until this weekend. The last time I went camping was as a kid (with Netah), so it felt serendipitous that my first time camping as an adult was with my cousin again.
This trip also solidified how much I love hiking (even when it tries to kill me because my endurance is garbage). I love being able to stop and take in the views, whether it’s a grandiose landscape or finding the tiniest white flowers. I truly do need to go on more hikes, and I would love to explore more national and state parks around the country. I also want to do more hikes when traveling internationally. Brian and I basically hiked the entire island of Inisheer, and I loved it. All this tells me is that I need to spend more time in the outdoors and go on more hikes.
Yesterday, I spent most of the day traversing Embassy Row for the EU Open House. Despite living in the DMV for almost three years (my third anniversary is later this month), I have never gone to an Embassy Day in DC (EU and non-EU). With a final step count of 14,315 (part of that was also the farmer’s market and grocery store), I got to learn about Cyprus, Ireland, Finland, and Denmark. My favorite embassy was Finland, followed by Ireland. Finland’s embassy had a modern-style architecture, with lots of windows so natural light came in. It’s also built into the trees, so it felt like a sleek, metal treehouse. I learned a lot about sauna culture in Finland and got a 7 oz. bag of black licorice, for free! At Ireland’s embassy, they had Irish riverdancers and a table on Irish Gaelic (a language that continues to bewilder me), and free cups of Guinness. Cyprus was the first embassy I went to, and now I may want to plan a trip there. There’s a lot of ancient history, especially ancient art history, that I would love to explore. Plus, the food is right up my alley (the embassy had rose water and halloumi cheese samples), and there are some gorgeous hiking spots in the country.
Highlights from EU Embassy Day.
Overall, it was a great time and a reminder that DC has a ton of amazing events, especially cultural and art events. If you don’t live in DC, just a reminder that the DC you hear on the news (especially conservative outlets) is not true – the DMV is such a beautiful place with all these different cultures and histories coming together. It’s not without its faults, but it’s one of my favorite places.
Anyways, an update in two weeks.