A Look and a Hello
It’s been a minute since my last post and I thought of giving you all a nice little introduction. Okay, I don’t know about little because I typically have a lot to say. Did you see my introduction on Instagram? When I was writing that out, I actually hit the end of the word count! I was kind of embarrassed by that! So I’ma expound on that introduction here.
If I weren’t Latter-day Saint (oh, btw I’m LDS) I’d be full on punk. This is as punk as I can get without breaking the tattoo commandment. I’m being cheeky but I often am when I speak of my faith’s culture. Sorry not sorry for the irreverence. I was pretty punk as a teen and my look also included a mullet. Sometimes I think of doing that hairstyle again, but I remember how much I’m enjoying my curls, something I’ve never been able to do until now in my 30s.
For how punk my heart is, I do love that millennial pink. Especially when it comes in velvet. That pink chair used to be in my living room, but I moved it in here when I happened to need some “lock myself in my studio to get away from the kids” me time. This change unknowingly completed my studio haven! This is where I sip my matcha latte, journal, and formulate creative ideas. All at the crisp hour of 6 am.⠀
I love plants and I currently have 32 green babies! This Fiddle Leaf Fig plant is one that I propagated from its mother FLF two years ago. It has been flourishing since then, but most recently I just saved it from a spider mite infestation. I was freaking out when one baby leaf fell off and another newer baby leaf turned black! It’s back on the mend with two new leaves and I feel all sorts of victorious that I saved it!⠀
Under the stool that holds up my FLFl is a library book I had before quarantine. The book is Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters. Before quarantine is an understatement because I actually had it way back in the Fall before Little Women was released. So two things – I am a fanatic about analyzing any creative work and also, all my library books will always be overdue. Covid just exacerbated that problem! Underneath that book is a stack of magazines with articles bookmarked to add to my list of things I need to analyze for subjects I want to write on. For example:
American Prophet: The gifts of Frederick Doulas by Adam Gopnik for The New Yorker
Misjudged: How Justice Ginsburg overcame the distrust of feminists by Jill Lepore for The New Yorker
A National Geographic issue on Picasso
Who Gets to be American? By Viet Thanh Nguyen for Time
And last but not least, an Entertainment Weekly with a Timothee Chalamet and Saoirse Ronan interview because well, I’m one of those dorks that’s obsessed with them!
And then under those magazines is the cutest vintage briefcase my sister got me for Christmas one year. And just like this layer on layers of stuff, I am both a deep person and a very cluttered person. I am currently doing a decluttering challenge via the Fabulous app.
Lastly, I’m an illustrator. I have up on my wall my current favorite pieces to guide me. And what I mean by that is that I often get this weird anxiety just before I start a piece. As if I’ve forgotten how to draw or paint. I overthink my process. So this collage of work reminds me of those moments where I was in the zone. On my easel is a photo of Frida (a gift from the same sister who got me the briefcase...I think she’s trying to make up for all the fights we had when we were kids) to remind me that if she, despite the life she was given, can make art, then I can make art. There’s a necklace with two charms that reminds me of my two miscarriages and how I overcame that heartbreak. Another connection to Frida’s endurance! Then there’s the sketch of my latest commission of some pretty brilliant people throughout history. I look at it and I’m like hells yeah to ambition and to perseverance! Can you tell what themes I gravitate towards?!
Thank you for being here and I’m looking forward to you being apart of this community
