⋆｡‧˚ʚ ୨Pierced Ears & Shark Finsৎ ɞ˚‧｡⋆
Happy beginning of Memorial Day weekend, everyone! I hope that means you get a big, fat weekend to enjoy! It feels like everyone has fun plans and we are sitting here like… oh… was this the holiday weekend? Which has me a little FOMO but to be real, we’ve had something to do on the weekends EVERY weekend for over a month, and a breather of downtime sounds kind of nice. Maybe I’ll do some yard work? Maybe I’ll start a fun project? Maybe I’ll do nothing & just sleep and read all weekend? Possibilities. •⩊•
This week consisted of a LOT more painting. Anyone that does a big project knows that sometimes you get to that point where you just WANT TO BE FINISHED. That is where I am with this 5’x13’ fantasy backdrop for our Sculpture Garden Shindig. I’m finishing up the kraken part of the painting and then will have a few more details to button up AND THEN we’ll move on to finding a way to stand it up! This piece will be used in our “picture opportunity” at the small boat that was placed in the sculpture garden by the city manager. The idea being that a person (or a few) can get into the boat, with a few different props to select from, and then get their picture physically printed on FujiFilm mini films which they can take with them! The painting will be the backdrop for this setup! It’s a super cute idea… but it is a lot of free labor on my end! I agreed to this. I deserve this.◝(ᵔᵕᵔ)◜I am thankful to hear that the arts council plans to use this canvas backdrop for another event for the Maritime Festival happening in August. When this piece is finished, I’ll be able to look for more open calls and create a new piece to follow those parameters.
Photo captions- Cover Image: Hubby Wubby bought me a dyed rose for Mother’s Day, the deep color was mesmerizing! Photo 1: The beginning of the kraken! Photo 2: We all got pierced this Monday!! My buddy in town got us all hooked up & blinged out. Jovi finally got her second lobe pierced and can NOW wear a PAIR of earrings (she got her one pierced last August and refused to have the other lobe pierced after the initial shock of the first piercing.) Nova got her second earrings so she has 2 in one ear and was SO dang tough while sitting there! I got my tragus pierced… and I’ll tell you what. Ow. Photo 3: My husband 3D printed some shark fins for the rock river I put in this spring… They are fabulous! Mommy shark, baby shark. Photo 4: My birthday girl! We had a blast at her pool party!
Continuing to stay offline and staying away from alcohol has really been helping my overall mental health and I straight up recommend to everyone to just unplug yourself. I don’t mean for a few hours. I mean put it away. We need to remember that technology is a tool. And if it isn’t aiding in your life, than you are not using it properly. I recently hopped on Facebook (because I’m nosy when I hear sirens and always want to check the area’s scanner group) and I was SO freaked out by the amount of filtered faces I saw. I’m going to go on a bit of a rant here, so buckle up: STOP USING FILTERS. For fuck’s sake, there is nothing wrong with your face. There IS something wrong with not believing that you have beauty without a filter. There IS something wrong with companies designing such freaky realistic filters. I’ll see people post pictures of themselves and I’m just shocked… You do not look like that. And that’s OKAY! You’re BEAUTIFUL. There is something seriously cynical behind the culture of filtered faces and we are seeing it in the CRAZY uptick in popularity of aesthetic surgeries. These industries literally piggyback on top of each other to profit from your insecurities. I believe filters create bigger space for comparison and no healthy person should be comparing their selves to others. By using a filter, you are not only declaring yourself less than what you are, you are also setting yourself up for a lifetime of inadequacy. You WON’T ever look like the filter. You aren’t meant to. Our individual characteristics are what make us who we are, they are a build-up of every person who made YOU possible, they are a testament to our ancestors, and they are components of our lost culture. Erasing them erases a majority of who you are, not only physically but emotionally as well. I recently read a study that viewed human beings recognizing their own reflection as a critical (and negative) shift in human nature. And perhaps that is a very simplified view BUT it is easy to see how, throughout recorded history, human vanity really is the root of all evil. Be proud of what you look like. STOP worrying about it so much. Do some internal maintenance instead! So anyway… thanks for coming to my Ted Talk! ( ദ്ദി ˙ᗜ˙ )
Be good, kids! Careful with your dang fireworks! And crack a brew + roast a vegan marshmallow over the campfire for me!
xxx- Kanda ꫂ❁
