this week i turned 40 and i was very excited to hit that milestone so PLEASE spare me the "there's nothing wrong about turning 40" because you're PROJECTING! and onto this beautiful, perfect creature:
last weekend i told andy i was finally going to buy a scanner after researching and thinking about it since july, and he said "don't!" and the next day his very thoughtful gift to me arrived, a printer and scanner.
not only can i scan my art, i can also make high quality prints, stickers, posters, and other stuff that i'm excited to dive into.
it's been awhile since we've seen this much snow, last year we barely got any. i love the cold, but snow here gets really gross because of all the cars and dogs pissing. finding a snowman that hasn't been pissed on is like finding a shooting star.
i only went to the gym once this week, the day before my birthday, although i've been lifting weights sporadically at home. tomorrow it's back to the grind, jenn nation.
the grocery stores around here are starting to add limits. the multiple snow storms forecasted over the last week hadn't helped. it's kind of funny how i've been making and showing egg candles throughout all of this. make no mistake, though, i am pretty scared of bird flu, especially for pumagreg. he's an inside cat, but we still have to be dilligent to keep us and him safe.
the night of my birthday was jerseyscript. we had a good turnout, good food, and i was able to give lisa her butter candles. she got me a couple of lovely birthday gifts - a candy dish and beeswax candles in the shape of little chicken drumsticks.
i had always thought i'd throw a huge rager for my 40th birthday, and i still can - i can do whatever the fuck i want lol - but when the world feels like it's in crisis i have a hard time planning celebrations. it's like how in 2020 i didn't throw a big karaoke party like i always did because i was anxious about some new virus spreading in china. the vibes are not good my friends.
i'm not letting the bad vibes keep me indoors, though. i've been taking long walks around the city after therapy with my friend vijith, who seems to know where every cookie and public restroom in manhattan is - an envious superpower.
i like not having a plan and just walking through doors and looking at things. is that just tiktok but without a screen? am i crazy for being super underwhelmed by our crumbl™ cookie experience?
this week i locked down what a candle and crafts online shop launch would look like. i've been melting, photographing, printing, ordering more things to melt.
i'm excited and hopeful, and if no one buys a single candle then they're all mine hehehe.
someone at jerseyscript said "get used to feeling pain for no reason" in reaction to me saying it was my birthday - again, don't do that! but i'm feeling pretty good. i can do flips and i'm more flexible and strong than i've ever been. my end-of-week hang-upside-down-like-a-bat sessions at aerial yoga do wonders for my body and brain.
one thing i need to work on is getting more, better sleep. pumagreg is such an inspiration when it comes to that.
things i liked this week
howmanycigarettes.com tracks the number of cigarettes in films. i've never smoked a cigarette in my life as my grandma made me promise to never - and after watching her slow and painful death from emphysema i could never - but i've always been fascinated about its role in art and film, mostly from a conscious yet worried point of view. frustratingly to me, cigarettes are making a comeback in pop music - and i wrote that even before sabrina carpenter lit one up with dolly a couple days ago.
happy valentines day, a good day to share a recent, small labor of love i did for a dear friend of mine. lisa and i went to college and lived on the same floor. when i got a remote job, she helped me find a new place in jersey city and so i've lived within a couple of blocks from her ever since - for over a decade now. if you've been to jerseyscript you may have had the pleasure of meeting her. lisa has a lot of style and her home has a lot of nice things that i like to touch and ooh and ahh at. one of those things is a ceramic piece of toast with a little butter candle by collin garrity.
laws have become a gentlemen's agreement and we are no longer ruled by gentlemen - that's how i'd explain the last week at a higher level with what's going on in america and even on the streets of my own community.
(cw: drawings of nude people with the three holy b's: boobs, butts, bush.) i have been drawing figures on and off for several years but hit a huge bit off off-time since my local art school stopped doing weekly live model figure sessions. last month, i decided to get back into it and wanted to share with you some of my sketches and paintings from january. none of the models were live, so huge shouts out to quickposes and sketchdaily for its expansive library of reference photos and timer resources. i am very rusty but having a lot of fun.
i have written previously about getting back into reading again. when covid quarantine went into effect, one of the things i stopped having the attention and appetite for was reading books. but since fall, i have been chipping away at a pile that had been waiting for me since 5 years ago, and i am intentionally trying to read at least 2 books a month. in january i read fuzz by mary roach, and natural causes by barbara ehrenreich. i'll write about fuzz and my thoughts about and journey in divesting from specieism another time. today i want to talk about natural causes and, especially, barbara ehrenreich's impact on my outlook on death, wellness, and how i have navigated those topics before and going into the trump administration.
a few weeks ago i finished a special sketchbook on stream (ahem, like and subscribe) and have been adding photos of it to my portfolio (which i've been coding on stream hehe). the sketchbook is a letterpress grid watercolor pad from case for making and the paints were gansai tambi which i've really been enjoying.
i was thinking about how i'd like to set some intentions for the new year but have been blocked. i have more time on my hands than ever in my life, so i'm currently working on navigating that without the paralysis that comes from having so many options and ideas, and adhd - a damn hottie disorder. then i realized tonight, while scouring the live laugh blog archive, that i wrote one of these posts when 2024 started, so let's start there.
i've been feeling antsy from not having played around with my candle supplies in awhile. an exception was the weekend after thanksgiving, when a couple of friends came over and each left with their own candle. those were fragranced and poured in recycled jars, though, and i had said almost a year ago how i wanted to go more sculptural. the problem is that i didn't know where to start, which is a common roadblock to my creativity.
my urge to wait until i have sketched designs lead to me not making any for so long, so i decided to try an experiment: fill as many of my variety of polygonal molds over a couple of days with different colors, then then put together those wax building blocks in a way that would make a cohesive collection.
a couple of weeks ago i started spending a lot more time on candle-making, which had me working on a couple of apps to help me, and perhaps other candle-makers, to do their craft.
*that's going to age poorly* is a common refrain that's projected by people - who themselves are probably aging poorly - in the comments of any videos or photos of tattoos. or *you'll regret that* and (my favorite) *what does your mother think of those*. my tattoos are pretty innocent, i only have a handful of them, and they're all on my shoulders and above the elbow so they're often not even visible. i love them and i'll get more.
