Portrait of Daisy

This summer has been the busiest one for me, that's for sure. It's funny because last summer I was working on my portfolio for my FIT application 24/7 and I thought that would probably be the busiest summer. I guess I didn't anticipate all these things I'd have come up right before moving. I'm trying to do all the things I procrastinated doing over the last few months all at once so I won't have so much to stress about in the Fall, and most of it is boring like filling out paperwork for my allergist and getting a new prescription for my glasses, or hemming pants for my mom's friend. Another thing I've been working on is finishing projects that I started and then left half-way done. I feel like that's a problem literally every artist has to face, but for me it got so excessive that my desk was literally covered by stacks of canvases and other sh*t for months and I FINALLY, mostly, got it organized and I really only have 2 paintings I need to finish and 3 sewing projects. The rest can wait, or just be left how it is haha. It doesn't help that my sketchbook has recently become my best friend. I'm always working on my sketchbook. My new favorite thing is drawing my friends and mixing different mediums. Maybe one day I'll show you guys a little sneak peek of my sketchbook, but that probably won't be for a long time. Honestly, it would be the equivalent of showing you my journal, with all my personal little thoughts and feelings interspersed through its pages.

Anyway, one thing I really wanted to paint before leaving (so as to incorporate it in my apartment decor), is a portrait of my little Daisy Máire! So yesterday, I put on my favorite podcast, NPR's Invisibilia (these three episodes), and I painted my heart away. I'm sure some of you remember, but when I was in high school I exclusively painted cats, so this was a fun little throwback experience for me. It's mostly acrylic, but I also used nail polish both to make the background a little bit more golden and to add some sparkle. It's something I started doing with some of paintings in April, but I haven't posted those portraits yet! Oh and the whiskers were drawn in with a white Polychromos pencil. As I said before, I've been making a lot of mixed-media projects.

Thank you for reading!

Thursday Thoughts

This week was the long exhale after breathing in for a long while. Do you know what I mean? I took a three hour nap two days ago, on accident. It was supposed to be 20 minutes. And it didn't bother me either, not because I didn't have anything better to do, but because I knew I needed it. And yesterday, I wrote an 8-page essay in two hours, which blew me away because usually those long essays take me 3-4 days. I also got to paint this week, so maybe that's why I'm so mellow. It's been lovely though, it really does feel like Spring. I don't know, I just have this strong desire to really live right now, not just stay in my room. I feel like I need to do something insane. I've been planning. I'm going to spend the last of my money on concerts. I'm going to go hiking too. And I really want to make things.

It's just so funny how mellow this week is. Two weeks ago, at this very moment, I was heading back from the natural history museum and I was in a rush so I took the wrong train and then I took the wrong transfer and when I got out I was in TriBeCa instead of the East Village and there was a lady walking by, yelling at her miniature poodle who was without a leash and peeing on the sidewalk in front of the freaking Papyrus. What is that. And now I'm curled up on my perfectly white, ruffled bed with an episode of Girls on pause, blogging. How leisurely. What a freaking contrast. What is this. And on Saturday, I'm going to spend an hour and a half teaching nine year old about feminism. And then after that I'm going to spend two hours teaching kindergarteners how to make a healthy snack and then ironically, we're going to eat cookies. I don't even know what I'm going to do the rest of the weekend. I'm excited though. Here are your links for today:

   - A beautiful essay about how Christianity and feminism go together for this author.
   - Cats playing patty cake. You need to have the audio on, by the way!
   - a short history of the soft bra, because as you know, I love bralettes.
   - Scientists are making little black holes to try to communicate with another dimension. We might all die.
   - A heartbreaking essay that had me in tears at the airport, of all places.

p.s. if you haven't already, I suggest you try the Caramel Flan latte at Starbucks. I'm on one of my intense coffee kicks in which 4-5 cups becomes the norm for a couple weeks and that's one of my favorites, so.

p.s.s. the picture is from Vadim L.