February 2023 News: A Message From the Artist

Happy Year of the Rabbit! It's now been over a year since moving home from Oman and while I don't think that such monumental transitions can be neatly contained within a paper calendar, I am feeling cautiously optimistic about how it's going.

I have been busy renovating my grandparents' old house, in part because it needed updating, but mostly—if I'm being honest with myself—because as a visuospatial person, I can't feel at home in a space if I haven't claimed it visually. Greys and beiges have been replaced with royal blue, kelly green, pale apricot, and a light, buttery yellow; it's giving German Expressionism and I'm absolutely here for it. Currently I'm learning how to paint old furniture with oil-based primer and latex paint. Have also gotten some artwork hung up, some of mine, and some from family and friends. I even finished an old canvas that I'd left on pause back in the Before Times and it's now found a home in the living room. This allowed an opportunity to reflect on an older approach to art-making and how I've grappled with some of the same creative problems over the years, using different solutions.

From the Paper Dolls series. Remind me to do a post about this technique.

Still not done with this; shame, shame!

Grad school interviews are currently underway. I received some advice from a professor that felt valuable and very affirming; a great conversation whether or not I get accepted, though of course I hope I do. Oh, and I'm completing onboarding for a new education position that begins at the end of the month!

In slightly soggier news, my cat has now puked on my sketchbook twice, and last night she spilled paint water all over it and wrecked some of the references I'm using for Death / Rebirth and The Three Graces (both working titles). Feels like a gut punch to have worked so meticulously and to see that careful record-keeping bleeding out in red and magenta. Worse than babies, these cats. At least when it's ballpoint pen on a finished work, I know how to remove it without lasting damage.