It’s been a wild ride!
-
It’s been a wild ride!
-
It’s pretty easy to get caught up in where I want to be as opposed to where I am. There are so many amazing watercolorists doing such gorgeous work and imposter syndrome is real. I have it in my professional life, why not my creative life too. 😅😂😭 I recently had 3 months paid leave from my job (read more about Automattic’s paid sabbaticals here) and during that time I focused on painting (almost) every day.
I’ve returned to work now, and I have a new routine of painting every morning, for about an hour before I open up my laptop and get to work. Although admittedly, my home studio space is not as inspiring as painting on the beach, it works pretty well. As part of the exercise to paint every day, I’ve been filling up a sketchbook of quick one-off-don’t-think-about-them-too-hard sketches, just to loosen up my brain in between pieces that take longer to process.
I’m finding that the exercise of just doing a quick pencil sketch and dropping paint off the brush is helpful for how I think about what I’m seeing, trying to keep a sense of depth, and mainly trying to find the style that feels comfortable for me. Well, regarding that last, I’m unconvinced that painting style is a thing one finds, rather it sort of finds you. I paint the way I paint and I’m not sure there’s anything I can or want to do about that. I don’t mean I don’t want to get better 😅 I do! But my style will probably always be what it is. It will just get better and more refined over time. But I digress. Here are some of my recent sketches.
-
We have a debate going on in my house around whether or not it’s ok to write in a book.
For whatever reason I would never write in a novel, but I write ALL OVER non-fiction. In fact, for this reason, I don’t enjoy e-books as much because, while I know I can highlight and make notes in an e-book reading app, it’s just nowhere near as satisfying.
My very bright pink notes in Radical Candor by Kim Scott -
Today is my 14th anniversary of having a WordPress.com account! Feels like yesterday and a million years ago all at the same time.
I think I first got an account so I could connect Akismet to my self-hosted WordPress sites. I knew less than zero about Automattic and WordPress.com and now here I have been working here for almost 10 years!
-
OK. I am an ABBA fan. Always have been. I’m talking deep tracks fan. This goes way beyond Dancing Queen and Gimme Gimme Gimme and Waterloo. We’re talking King Kong Song, Just a Girl, Sitting in a Palm Tree. Back in the dark ages before we could get music on demand, we either had to have songs on tape, an album, or wait for a favorite song to play on the radio. I’m sure I’m not the only one that had a blank tape ready in the tape recorder for that moment when a favorite song came through on the radio. I remember when I was in high school, a local radio station advertised a special night of ABBA. Hours and hours of ABBA, no commercials, it was AMAZING.
Mostly ABBA songs make me smile, but a song that will make me cry Every.Single.Time is My Love, My Life. Seriously. I was a bit annoyed when the lyrics were changed for Mamma Mia 2, but still. Absolute cry fest during that scene. Another tear jerker is Slipping Through my Fingers. I’ve always liked that one, but it took on a new meaning once I became a mom myself.
But I digress. If you have not heard the two new songs, I Still Have Faith in You and Don’t Shut me Down. do it. Do it now. ABBA brilliantly made music decades after their heyday that sounds exactly like them. It’s sure to make you smile. Which is a thing we all desperately need now a days. That said, the video for I Still have Faith is a tear jerker, especially if you’ve been giddy with excitement since you first heard ABBA was coming out with new music, but that’s probably just me 😀
-
I dug into old draft posts on my blog this morning rather than doomscroll social media or play mindless games on my phone and I found this treasured memory. It reminded me of bygone days, a million billion years ago, when we were all fancy free and travelled without a care in the world, so I thought I’d dust it off and publish it today.
The pictures are terrible, but it’s the memory and the captured moments in time that matter. 😀 Read on!
– – – –
I found out, via Atlas Obscura, that there used to be an Embassy of Texas in London. True story. So I went in search and behold!
The plaque was posted on the wall in a sort of alley on the side of a very lovely looking wine shop.
And as far as I can tell, the Kingsman Suit Shop next door is the one from the Kingsman 2nd movie. I recognized the typeface on the window but didn’t make the connection until later.
But on to David Blain and James Cordon. As we wandered the streets back to our hotel we saw a crowd gathered around very bright lights. Wondering what was going on, we joined the crowd. To our delight, David Blain was doing a trick for James Corden’s show. Very cool to see it happening live!
-
I’ve recently decided to stop procrastinating on my desire to be painting. And conveniently, for Mother’s Day, my daughter and my husband got me a carrying case for the painting supplies my daughter gave me for Christmas 2 years ago.
A few weeks ago we found a nice fishing spot at a State Park and while the rest of the family fished, I painted. I think I might need to throw a folding chair in the car next time, but it was overall delightful and peaceful and productive.
-
Sometimes I forget some of my equipment at home when I’m at a coworking space and have to improvise.
My neck was starting to lock up so I needed something to raise my laptop. Works pretty great!
-
I’m sure I’m not alone in having found a new obsession/hobby during 2020. Mine has been watching Indian films with my daughter.
Disclaimer: I don’t know anything about the Indian film industry. Just what I’ve learned by watching them. I’m certain I miss or misunderstand cultural elements. I don’t always quite always know the difference between Bollywood, Tollywood, Kollywood. But I’m getting there!
The first Bollywood-esque movie I watched was Bride and Prejudice (I’m also a Jane Austen fan). I came across this Pride and Prejudice adaptation a few years back and love love loved it. I had no idea I was watching a Bollywood movie, to me, it was just simply a movie about Elizabeth, Jane, Bingley, Darcy set in India with elaborate dance numbers. I assumed someone decided India would be a nice setting for an adaptation and turned the whole shebang into a musical. If you like Jane Austen adaptations, you need to watch this one.
Earlier this year, I desperately needed something to take my mind off everything. I came across Bride and Prejudice again and wondered, hey! maybe there are other Jane Austen adaptations in the same style. There are a few, not surprisingly. One thing led to another and I was hooked.
My early ventures into Bollywood movies were light fluffy sweet romances. The first movies I watched were Khoobsurat or The Zoya Factor. With each movie, I’d search for more movies by the actors I liked and following that method I discovered more and more. Eventually I stumbled upon Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, a couple of the biggest names. I don’t think you can watch much Bollywood without running across them!
Obviously I love Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, but Dilwale tops my list.
Right now, anyone who knows anything about Hindi cinema is judging my taste. I am aware that Dilwale did not do well and the reviews were poor. It’s cheesy etc etc. Whatever. I don’t care, it’s cute, silly, romantic, the action scenes are fun, it’s perfect. I thoroughly enjoyed the music and the chemistry between SRK and Kajol. In fact, I’m listening to the theme song as I write this post. And I’ll readily admit to having rewatched it several times.
The main thing I’ve learned is that my impression of movies is usually vastly different from the reviews. And I’m ok with that. I like what I like!
To illustrate the point, another one that I adore and apparently everyone else hated is Daawat-e-Ishq. First, Aditya Roy Kapur and Parineeti Chopra are the cutest. second, the music is super fun. Finally, the plot is delightfully silly and wraps up just exactly as it should. Girl sets out to take revenge on all men via an elaborate dowry revenge scheme and ends up falling in love with her target. Target falls in love, finds out about scheme, sets out to take his revenge. They realize they love each other and all is forgiven. Believable? Nope. But from my limited experience, believable story lines are not particularly a strong suit of Hindi romance movies. And that is 100% ok by me! It’s all about escaping reality for a minute or two or three hours, right?
I’ve also taken a few side tracks to watch more serious films, like Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and dark stuff like Sacred Games. I love Kalki Koechlin. And even adaptations of other classics like Fitoor (based on Great Expectations).
I’m still waiting for more Jane Austen adaptations though. There simply aren’t enough.
-
I finally made ladoos the other day. It’s basically a round sweet dough ball. The recipe I used called for chickpea flour, I have no idea if that’s standard. Disclaimer: I know nothing about Indian food other than what I’ve seen in Bollywood movies or briefly experienced while on a business trip to India. I do know that I’ve never met an Indian dish I didn’t like.
That all said, I’ve wanted to make ladoos for a while, but most of the recipes I came across were a bit daunting. Seriously, apparently it’s expected that you roast the flour or even grind the chickpeas. I agree, that probably results in the best product, but that’s going to be a hard no from me. I finally found a less intimidating recipe so I made the attempt.
I don’t remember eating ladoos in India, everything I know about them I learned while watching English Vinglish, a Hindi movie about a woman who visits the US for her niece’s wedding. Her family looks down on her because her English isn’t super great so she secretly enrolls in English classes. She is the most adorable human you’ve ever seen and happens to also be a fantastic cook. I suppose, when it comes down to it, ladoos she makes are essentially one of the characters in the movie, so I was intrigued.
I’m sure my ladoos were no prize winner, they will likely not inspire you to make them, but if you are at all into Hindi movies, you should definitely watch English Vinglish, you won’t be sorry.
-
Someone likes to sneak into my office space. I think he thinks I can’t see him. 🐈
