Welcome back! It’s been a crazy couple weeks of projects over here in the home studio. I don’t know if it’s the warmer weather, the longer hours of sunlight, my change of scenery, or focusing more on myself but WOW. I am overflowing with creative energy! I finally have the time and resources to pursue some projects I’ve had knockin’ around in my brain for months. Kicking off the cobwebs and having the presence of mind makes all the difference.

I said in my last post that I’ve been experimenting with acrylic paint and I continued to do that this week and upped the ante by making a collage on canvas! Also, I’ve wanted to add LEDs or a lighting element to a collage for ages and I finally got my chance. Paint, lights, AND canvas. Even though this didn’t turn out exactly how I pictured in my head, it opens up so many doors for my future work! Check out my Instagram next week for the full reveal…

The Nana anime painting pieces turned out better than I expected. I went into making these by taking a practice minded approach, figuring they might not turn out well but I’d learn a lot in the process. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I learned AND how well they turned out! Win-win. I got some great feedback on Instagram too, so thank you all for taking an interest and supporting me when I step outside my comfort zone to try something new. There will definitely be more painting mixed media collages in the future!

I had time to go through ALL of my magazines, after the move out of my old studio. As far as workable material goes, I prefer magazines to books. I have a stack of about 60-70 vintage LIFE magazines, a pile of roughly 30 Playboys, and a random stack of photography magazines that I go to for material most often. I’ve never sat down and gone through them all before. I flipped through each one and cut out all the pieces and ads that sparked any kind of creative desire in my brain. Now, I have a few nice stacks of images to pull from right off the bat! It’ll be super convenient for when I’m making a quick warm up collage. I’m going to stick to my guns and start applying that lesson I learned from Februllage this year and try to make simpler, less complicated collages that incorporate less elements. This will be good for my perfectionist tendencies and my maximalist inclinations. I’m going to start doing those and posting them on Wednesdays on my Instagram under the hashtag #warmupwednesday (at least, that’s the plan once the rest of my projects get to a workable level. I have a few more to check off the list, first).

Another new thing I tried recently that doesn’t have anything to do with collage at all: Woodworking! I’ve found I know a lot of background knowledge about it, but I’ve never endeavored to try any woodworking projects on my own. Woodworking is one of those heavily “gatekeeped” disciplines that seems extremely difficult, but once you’ve dipped your toes, it’s addicting and fun! I’ve had this brass lamp I thrifted, for about two years now. It originally had a Euro plug that I had to switch out (apparently the lamp was originally from Germany) and I hit it with some Brasso and furniture polish to spruce it up. It’s always been missing the topper, from the previous owners. For two years, there’s just been this weird gaping hole at the top. Well, with some assistance, I was able to turn a piece of walnut on a lathe and make a new topper! Using the lathe was very intimidating to me (I get super gun shy around power tools and anything that’s loud) but with help and encouragement from my partner, Matthew, I was able to finally complete this lamp! It turned out even nicer than I thought. It matches the other wood seamlessly! If you want to see a video of me being brave and using the lathe, I made a reel on Instagram here!

This past weekend, Matthew and I woke up early, had a wonderful homemade breakfast (complete with Dutch Baby), and tilled a field so we can grow a massive vegetable garden this summer. I’ve been getting really into baking, as I said in a previous post. I got Claire Saffitz’s new baking book, Dessert Person, and I’ve made quite a few recipes out of it. I’d never baked anything involving yeast before and I made this glorious Focaccia bread! It was definitely a favorite, out of all of the recipes I’ve baked so far— and it made the house smell AMAZING.

I’ve been able to spend time outside on the deck lately, which has felt indescribably good. It’s finally getting warm enough to spend some time out there, and nothing beats the warmth of spring sunlight on pasty, winter skin! haha I re-potted some plants into planters I had accrued over the winter. I got this awesome face planter by PRINTERROR and I can’t tell you how awesome it looks under the hanging colored lamp I just cleaned up! Quick side note: this planter came with drainage holes!!! I can’t stress enough how fed up I am of finding cute planters and then having to drill the drainage holes myself. The people over at PRINTERROR know what they’re doing! Highly recommend. I try to wait until it gets warmer out to re-pot my plants. I’ve found re-potting plants in winter is extra hard on the plants themselves and it is an absolute pain in the butt to clean up spilled dirt in the house. Getting outside and rooting around in the dirt is my happy place and I am ready for a summer overflowing with plants!

And finally, on a personal note, I’ve been doing a lot better recently. Leaving my studio was beyond difficult, and if we’re being truly honest here, traumatic. Healing from emotional abuse is something I’m still dealing with, but my day to day life has been much improved and I’m feeling remarkably better than when it was all still fresh. I can breathe again. I’ve found that living in the moment is something I had lost. Getting that feeling back and having boundless energy to use on projects makes me feel accomplished in a way that I haven’t felt in over a year. I find myself feeling moments of relief and gratitude mixed with moments of anger and disbelief. I will forever be thankful that I got out when I did. I still have a fulfilling life to lead, full of love and happiness, and I can grow and live an honest life.

But there you go! There’s the roundup! I’ve gotten the opportunity to try lots of new things, even outside of the world of collage. I’m kind of finding that collaging isn’t bringing me that satisfaction that it used to. I’m ready to use it as a jumping off point for different artistic projects. I hope you stick around and tune in to see where I take it from here! See you in the next post!