Breathe
A short update, hello July
Hello my friends
Today the wind is howling, pummelling the side of our flat while the rain beats against the windows. You would be forgiven to think it is always raining here, given my updates and the description of the weather. It’s not like that though, I mean, Ireland is a country of rain, but as we welcome July, we can reflect back on an absolutely beautiful June. The sun was near constant, burning down as I hastily applied then reapplied my suncream. I have always had a healthy fear of the sun. We are a tiny country of dramatic skies and coastlines, and taking the time to breathe that in can be more joyful than most.
I am pleased to report I have been making a lot of work. Mostly, it has been oil paintings - and I made my first *proper* piece of fanart in many years. Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower, from Bloodborne, oil painted on an A5 canvas board. I haven’t gotten a good scan of her yet, but please enjoy this photo from right after she was completed. It’s a very simple little piece, but it made me happy, and with everything I have been struggling with lately in my own work, that is all I want. To feel joy in what I make.
I also on a whim decided to get back to some gouache work. Here is a little peak of the very early stages of what I am working on now, tape and all.
Sometimes I worry that my ways of working are too disparate. My gouache paintings are much more stylised while my oils are more in the realm of realism. But I’m slowly learning that it doesn’t matter. I have far too many interests and loves to let it go, to crush myself into a box that serves only algorithms and capitalist functions. I am not just an oil painter, but I am a gouache illustrator, a comics artist, a storyteller, and, a shaky writer and poet still finding their feet. And we all should find the thing we are passionate about, and grab it with both hands. I am a maker of things. What are you?
Before I go, some things that brought me joy:
I have been revisiting the wonderful work of Lily Seika Jones. No matter how many years pass, I find myself back here, in awe of her delicate painting.
I have been watching a lot of youtube “desk tours/setups” for inspiration on fixing up my studio room. It’s fallen into quite a mess over the last year as my mental health deteriorated, but I am in a space now where I am ready to tackle it and make it beautiful and cosy for me again.
I found a very cool pomodoro youtube channel which is lovely to work to
I got my tattoo finished - a tribute to Bear. My lovely artist posted it on her instagram. Thank you Laura! You did an incredible job (and now that the swelling has gone down it looks even more beautiful!)
A Thank You:
To my beautiful friends; Stevie, Wes, Clare, Amelia, Sami, and Sammu
I cannot thank you all enough for everything you’ve done for me both as friends and in this last month. You are truly all amazing people and I am beyond lucky to have you all in my life. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Why write this at the end of the letter? Because endings are what people remember, and I want today’s to be about you all. Love you! <3