15 Facts About Me

Hi there! I've been seeing a lot of meet the artist things going around on Instagram, and I thought it might be fun to share some facts about myself because it is always fun for me to learn about the person behind the art. I tried to share some things that I don't mention too often elsewhere and hopefully they are interesting. Writing this brought me right back to being 14 when Facebook notes were all the rage.

1. My default handwriting is cursive. It hasn’t always been this way, but I started writing in cursive after college as a way to improve my script, and it quickly became the automatic and fastest way for me to write.

2. The weirdest place I have ever gotten my hair cut is at a bar in Berlin.

Here's an embarrassing photo of me being very excited about danishes in Denamrk.

Here's an embarrassing photo of me being very excited about danishes in Denamrk.

3. I studied abroad for a semester in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2013.

4. In high school I took art history instead of a studio art class to fill my art requirement, because I thought I wouldn’t be good at art.

5. I have trouble concentrating or getting work done after 6 PM. I’m not sure if I count as a morning person since I don’t wake up super refreshed and ready to go at 5:30 AM, but in college my most efficient paper writing got done before class, when I sat up in bed, grabbed my laptop and wrote before doing anything else.

6. The books that I have acquired (not from the library) so far in 2017 are Act of God by Jill Ciment, Burial Rites by Hannah Kent, Love and Other Ways of Dying by Michael Paterniti, There Is No Good Card for This by Kelsey Crowe and Emily McDowell, Heads or Tails by Lilli Carre, and Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell. Some new, some used, some for free from the little free library.

7. In high school I was voted most unique. Reasons for this included the fact that I carried the world’s largest neon yellow backpack and I had a formidable collection of colored and patterned tights.

8. I’m not allergic to anything except dust, which makes me sneeze a lot, and breath freshener spray, which gives me hives on my tongue.

9. In middle school I came in second place in an art competition. The theme was “I Wonder Why” and the title of my entry was “I Wonder Why There Has to Be War.” So yeah.

10. I’ve had my ears pierced since I was a toddler, but I can’t wear earrings because all of them hurt my ears.

11. I am left handed.

My original inspiration board.

My original inspiration board.

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12. In my childhood/teenage bedroom I covered my closet doors in collage. In my first college dorm, our room was the only room on the floor with hideous wood paneling, so my roommate and I covered as much of it as possible with posters. I still tape tons of stuff to my wall to this day.

13. My go-to Starbucks order is a chai latte. I don’t drink full-on coffee because it makes me jittery.

14. I have a weird habit of taking photos of pages of books to remember lines that I like, but not recording the title of the book so I have to do some sleuthing to figure out what they’re from.  Here are a few that I found in my photo library if you’re interested.

  • “But whatever, we descendants of the Girl Line may not have wealth and proper windows in our drafty homes but at least we have rage and we will build empires with that, gentlemen.” - Miriam Toews, All My Puny Sorrows
  • “Keep in mind that for most of history people just made things, and they didn’t make such a big freaking deal out of it” - Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic
  • “Like, if I want to eat six Tootsie Pops and a Totino’s for dinner, I’ll also buy a lemon and a bag of baby carrots to show that I am a virtuous and cosmopolitan duchess who just needs to keep her pantry stocked with party pizza in case any Ninja Turtles stop by. The carrots are for me, Belvedere.” - goddess of my heart, Lindy West, Shrill (There are also lots of really thought-provoking and profound things in this book and I highly recommend that you read it, but I picked the passage that makes me laugh out loud to share today).

15. I have three tattoos, a moon, a celtic knot, and a line from Oedipus at Colonus, the ancient Greek play by Sophocles. 

I you had fun reading this!  Please feel free to share some random facts about yourself, I'd love to get to know you better too.

Busting Creative Blocks

Like many people, I've felt like my creative juices have been running a little low recently. Lots of things personally and globally are getting me (and many of us down) and it can be hard to find the motivation to make things. So this week I'm sharing a few strategies that I use to combat block. 

1. Revisit old sketchbooks and journals. If you'e read this blog before you know how much I value looking back at these - I have a whole series about it. When I look back at old work I often find ideas that I want to update. It is also wonderful for self confidence - either you look back on old work that you love and are proud that you made it, or you see how much your work has improved over time.

2. Try and entirely different medium. One of the oldest tricks in the book. Working with different materials can lead to thinking in new ways and coming up with creative solutions. The new medium I've been trying recently is digital collage with the help of a mini course from Crystal Moody's Year of Creative Habits (Crystal has also written a ton about creativity and beating creative blocks on her blog, and I definitely recommend checking it out). 

creative block notes

3. Take notes. A lot of looking for inspiration is passively scrolling through Instagram or Pinterest or even flipping through books, and I find that it can wash right over me. I find that writing down what I like about different pieces as I look at them helps me internalize it more. Taking notes helps me to see what interests me over time. I highly recommend it.

creative block collage

4. Commit to making work. Another thing you know if you read this blog is that I'm a lover of the art challenge. Committing to making something, once a week, once a day, or whenever is obviously a good way to make things. And sometimes when you're not inspired and are just trying to fulfill your obligation you hit on something wonderful that you want to continue. I have lots of posts about creative challenges and making every day if you care to read on.

What are your tips for overcoming art blocks? I could use them these days.

All Are Welcome Here

Like so many people around the country, I'm extremely distressed by what has been happening in America this past week, especially the executive orders that have been signed. 

In one part of my family, I am in the second generation of children born in America. I grew up learning that my grandfather was so grateful to be able to come to this country from Ireland and so proud to be an American. This kind of opportunity should be available to everyone, not just those of us who are white or of a certain religion. It is my responsibility to make it so. I will speak out against the Muslim ban, the wall, and whatever other injustices come out of this administration. 

I made this little lettering piece as a small act of resistance and change, and I made it into a digital download so you can use it too. 

One printable has two 4x6 postcard-sized pieces - perfect to send to your your legislators and governors, either to encourage them to speak out against the ban, or to express your support for them if they already have. Here is the link to a handy spreadsheet with a list of senators, governors, their positions, and their contact information. If you do write postcards, please remember to call as well.

The other printable is a full page print version to hang up in your home or wherever you'd like.

Click here to view and download the printables.

Both downloads are 8.5x11 pages, the only thing you should need to do is press print, but please let me know if you have an issues and I will be sure to fix. 

Of course, these downloads are for personal use only, please don't sell them!

Happening Now

It has been quite a while since I did a post like this, so I thought I would share a little roundup of what I've been up to lately, places that you can find me on the internet, and things that I'm loving these days. Here we go:

Website: You may notice some things are different around here. Recently, I gave this site a bit of a face lift and added some new pages.  I hope you like the new look and will enjoy clicking around! 

Activism:

Along with millions of other people, I attended a Woman's March last Saturday, January 21. Marching in LA was an incredible experience that I will never forget (check out these aerial photos of just how many people were marching in DC, Chicago,and LA). I wrote a little bit about it this week on Reclaim the Rhetoric, the feminist art project that I co-created. (Sidenote, I haven't mentioned Reclaim the Rhetoric very much on this blog, but please check it out if you have any interest in feminism, rhetoric, seeing more of my artwork, or any combination of those. I'm really proud of the work we're doing there.) 

As many other people are, I'm extremely motivated to continue to take political action after the march. If you feel the same way, Salon has a handy list of resources to help you resist and back progressive legislation. I would also add that the feminist movement needs to be an intersectional one, and showing up for other marginalized groups is an extremely important aspect of that, so I'm looking forward to increasing my support for Black Lives Matter, immigrants rights, LGBT rights, and more. Let's support each other.

Reading: As I've mentioned on Instagram, I am currently dealing with some back problems, which is a huge bummer, but has given me lots of time to read. I'm on track to have read more books this month than in any month of 2015, which is pretty cool. Here are a few of the things that I've been reading and enjoying:

- Shelter by Jung Yun - This book made me think more than any other book so far this month. It explores so many different themes, including growing up in a Korean-American family, dealing with abuse, forgiveness, and faith. This was definitely an eye-opener for me.

- Lumberjanes created by Noelle Stevenson, Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, and Brooke A. Allen - These comics are so much fun! They follow a diverse group of girls at a summer camp where weird and mystical things keep happening. Wonderful female friendships. I highly recommend that you get all 5 published trades and binge-read them.

- The Sun Is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon - Young Adult love stories are not typically my thing (but there are a few that I truly love), but I enjoyed this one and it was perfect for my mood at the time. What really grabbed me is the way this book was written - extremely short chapters that alternate between the two main characters' points of view, interspersed with short sections that tie into the story about science, history, or secondary characters. 

- I'm currently reading Long Division by Kiese Laymon. This book promises to be super weird and has already made me laugh out loud multiple times. So far, I'm loving it. 

Watching: Mozart in the Jungle. I wasn't very interested in this show because I'm definitely not a classical music buff, but when a friend showed it to me, I got hooked. The characters are ridiculous in the best way and I feel like it has excellent potential to become a great cheer-up show for me. If you have Amazon Prime I recommend you check it out. 

Thanks for checking out this post! And please let me know if there is anything you're doing or enjoying especially lately, I'd love to hear about it!