This week I developed obsessions with some things since I've had quite a bit of free time on my hands.

This Revlon nail polish is officially my favorite topcoat. It looks real nice on the turquoise, and I imagine it'll look real good on any other color too. I've never really been into sparkly topcoats or any kind of 'confetti' coatings, but this one's a winner.

I was given a leopard pajama set that I can't get over, and I had to photograph it. I've never been one to wear leggings or anything skin tight (I'm about them jeans; I'm always wearing jeans), but these leggings are so comfortable - perfect loungewear, and I never want to take them off.

Wilfred has become a new favorite. I remember when it first came out years ago, but I never gave it a chance. Lately, I've been keeping up to date with Broad City, Girls, It's Always Sunny, and the new show Hindsight - my current tv show lineup. In between new episodes, I've been watching Wilfred and I'm absolutely loving it.

Um, new Blur? I have no words to express my excitement. It's become a known thing that Damon Albarn can't make up his mind. Damon has stated in the past that Blur would never reunite, and then they reunited, and then they recorded a new album, but they said they wouldn't release it, and they would never reunite again, and just the other day they announced a release date for the new album. Great news it's actually happening, and if he follows through with the new Gorillaz album, the next two years will be such an exciting time for music.

This year was off to a rough start. To be truthful, I'm a little disappointed with how the past five months turned out. I was thrown empty promises which I think was the reason for my defeat, and I think it's getting me down even more these days than it did before. I've had a lot of time on my hands recently, so my mind has really been racing, wondering when things went wrong.
I do believe things happen for a reason though, and I believe that I don't think I was quite done with what I needed to do in my home state before leaving. I'm happy to be back, but things aren't quite back to normal. I'm unfortunately still in a rut, applying to jobs to no end. My night classes have been going smoothly though, and I've actually been enjoying school which I never saw coming.

Two weeks in and I'm still unpacking. My bedroom looks like an explosion, but I've definitely made progress (although I'm sure it's not too believable from the photo). Bought new storage containers to better organize all my fabric and art supplies.

I'm slowly getting back to normal, and I'm working on gaining back my creative mojo which has been absent for so many months. First things first, I need to clear up my things to create a positive, clutter free work space. And then I'm sure I'll be back in the crafty game, posting more, getting myself back to normal. I have a few things new I want to try this year, but I'm working on baby steps as of now.

In the meantime, can I comment on the biggest moment of the Grammys this year? I didn't watch it, but of course I've coming across videos, gifs, and articles concerning the Beck & Kanye moment. Beck deserved that award, being a veteran in the industry. He's a hell of a talented guy and has more "artistry" than most mainstream artists these days.
Kanye, go home, you're drunk.

The past two weeks have been slow, but filled with job interviews, freelance jobs, crafty days.
I've also been here for over a month now, and a month from now I'll be flying home for the holidays. I have to say I'm definitely excited for that.

01. Two weeks ago I went to go see Slowdive on their reunion tour. I've listened to them since high school never thinking I'd see them as an active band and it was so amazing that I was able to see them. This is definitely a good time to be around; so many classic bands are reforming and I love being able to see these revivals.
02. What was supposed to be a resume drop-off for a job opening turned into a freelance gig to make a new logo for a local shop. I'm past the sketch/approval stage and am excited to take on this assignment, especially since I really support local.
03. What I find wild is that in the same week, I got offered another freelance job to do an invitation card. Not really sure if I'm able to talk about it too much currently, but I feel so many doors opening that I can't help but share little sneak peaks.
04. I haven't had too much spare time the past two weeks but during downtime I've been making paper mache canvases, and these are a little different from how I usually do. I've been all about palmistry art lately and thought it'd be fun to make some canvas hands art. It's a work in progress for sure.

I've also been trying to get into more somewhat upbeat music. I found this gem on Pandora. Asteroids Galaxy Tour is the band.

Just got through my second week living in Portland. And I realized I haven't done a summary in a month.

01. Still familiarizing myself with the neighborhoods. Found some cool places around with with Mexican folk art. There will also be a parade like thing on Dia De Los Muertos that I totally plan on going to. I'm actually getting excited for Halloween (although I don't have a costume idea yet).
02. I've tackled all the boxes. Opened up every single one. 95% of my stuff are put away. I figured I'm at the point where I can start decorating.
03. Received my first welcome postcard from a family friend of mine! It was the sweetest thing ever to read.
04. Went out and about with the neighbors yesterday. Discovered SCRAP, the most amazing store - it's a crafters paradise. Walked away with paint, binder clips, thumb tacks, fake flowers, fabric, and thread for less than $4. Seriously, it was a win.

I came across a new iPhone app that I decided to give a try called Faded. It's free, the effects are great, and it's super easy to use. I edited my morning view to test it out and I love it. The photos come out amazing. I recommend it!

I've also been getting psyched to see Slowdive in two weeks, so I've been familiarizing myself with their opening band Low. So relaxing.

Almost done unpacking. Areas of the room are forming; it's coming together.

Set up my record player and organized a place to put my records. It's getting cozy, and it's making me more excited to buy records. This is surely the city to go record shopping. And they're reasonably priced if you're on a budget, which I've concluded that I am. I have to be.

I've been playing more music. Made a few new discoveries, which I want to share.

Psyched Up Janis - The Stars Are Out
I started getting into this band that Sune Rose Wagner fronted before The Raveonettes. I love how his voice fits these songs so well, it's kinda like a Raveonettes part II.

Eluvium - Under The Water It Glowed
I made a new friend in this city recently and we of course had a music discussion. I talked about my love for shoegaze and noise and he recommended I listen to this track. It's just droning and I love it. I'm not a big fan of instrumental songs, but this one is great to just doze off to.

Allo Darlin' - Dreaming
This band is more indie/cute but so pleasant to listen to. This song just makes me happy and craving fun nights out like this with friends. Makes me miss my friends back home, but gets me excited for future friendships that may form. I should get out of the house, hah.

I'm just craving new music. I want to go music shopping. I should add that to my list of things to do for the next outing I go on. About that budget...

My final days around these parts are approaching; it's now less than two weeks remaining. I find myself now fitting in my 'lasts'. Just last night I went to see The Raveonettes live, which will be my last show in New York for a while.

I've mentioned them in quite a number of posts. Like, SO many. Out of all music I listen to, I am the happiest that The Raveonettes was my last NY show. They were the best way to go out with a bang as they have been one of my favorite bands for about ten years now.
I almost didn't attend last night's show because of emotional reasons which is just dumb. I talked myself into it especially since I see they aren't playing Portland this tour, or anytime soon it looks like.
Clearly it was a great decision since I walked away with an amazing memorable night.

Videos from the show are slowly surfacing which makes me excited. But in the meantime, here's their newest video which is super cool.

I can't stop expressing my love for this band. They hold a deep place in my heart, and will forever. I really do feel all the emotional bits now since 'lasts' are in discussion. Oi vey.

Gonna take a break from the packing and relocating part of my life right now and talk about other things.

01. I'm excited it's finally autumn. I love sweatah weathah. I felt I started the season off right with candy corn.
02. I took a trip to Lowes and picked up a few paint chips to send over to my landlord. She's going to give my room a fresh coat of paint before I move in. Since I had an option in what color I wanted, I chose a color similar to what my room is now. When I first painted my room, I wanted a raspberry and super light gray. I got the raspberry color I wanted but I went with an 'oops paint' gray which was a super light blue gray. I didn't really like it at first but it grew on me and now I want to carry it onto my new room.
03. I got around to giving myself a manicure and I was so excited to use the OPI My Dogsled Is A Hybrid that I posted about a few days ago. I love it.
04. I ran a few errands the other day with a friend. She really wanted macarons, so we made a stop somewhere in East Village. I tried their red velvet, earl grey, and lemon basil. The lemon basil was DELISH. I also noticed I accidentally chose macarons that were the same colors as my magnets I made back in April. Can't seem to escape those colors it seems.

I managed to do a quick sneaker run yesterday. I realized that I try so hard to not buy shoes that look like other shoes I own. It gives me reason why I should or shouldn't buy something. That's my shopping logic. But actually thinking about all the shoes I own, I don't own a single black pair of sneakers that I can wear all the time. I almost talked myself into buy the red version of these, but I decided on the black and I do not regret that decision at all. And they're super comfy. I love VANS. And these socks are great. I just had to.

I also noticed that it's been a few weeks since I've done a Sunday summary. I wanted to share this sooner but never got around to it. I'm lucky to be working in the David Letterman building because cool things do happen every so often. Knowing that my days are coming to end at my job, I wanted to take advantage of one especially cool thing. I saw Interpol was playing the Letterman show, so I asked the head of security if I could sit in during their set. Instead he let me into their rehearsal. I have to say, it was a cool experience. I love the band, but it was just a rehearsal; they played the same song over and over. Not exactly the most spectacular thing.
I wasn't there for the actual taping, but I'll share it.

Can't believe how fast this week went.

01. Went to the movies with my brother this week. One of the movie theaters near me just got completely revamped. They took out normal seats and replaced them with recliners. Most comfortable theater I've ever been in.
02. Been working on some shirts with this fabric I got printed.
03. Will be making some more shirts with this other fabric I got printed. Been having fun with my Spoonflower fabrics.
04. Just the other day, I also signed up for Pippit, the iPhone app. It seems that it's still in its early stages as an app, but it seems like it could become real cool. If you have the app, you can find me as marsenroute.

Song of the moment is by Young Galaxies. This has been my go to song for a while. And the video is just as fun.

This summer has been an interesting one in a creative sense. I've been experimenting with a lot of materials and methods, and I've been buying so many art supplies. Like a crazy amount. I'm not going to go into that, but here and there I did splurge on other fun stuff.

Last month I finally got a new phone. I got the iPhone 5, which made me want to go phone case shopping. I browsed through Etsy. I really wanted a case with a cover to slip in cards and whatnot. I really wanted to have my train tickets and cards accessible and this cute pineapple case is perfect for that. It really was the exact size I was looking for.

I've taken a mini break from any kind of music buying since I've spent so much on art supplies. But when the new Raveonettes album was unexpectedly dropped, I saw they had a limited edition vinyl and I hardcore splurged. It's the strangest vinyl case but definitely real cool. Fits the album theme pretty well.

I also put in another order into Spoonflower and got more fabric printed. I tried a different fabric this time around. It's a more stretchy jersey kind of feel. I prefer it so much more than the cotton voile as its use is more for what I want in fabric. I love it.

Have you heard new Raveonettes music? They're music always has hints of dark themes, but this album is their darkest for sure. I love it. They never fail me. Check it out for sure!

Lately I've been managing my spare time pretty well in which I've been working on my own personal things. The past two weeks I've started a lot of projects I've been meaning to get on. It's exciting to finally find some time.

01. For the first time in weeks, I finally found a free moment to give myself a manicure. I've discovered a color I love by OPI named Cajun Shrimp. It's my new favorite nail polish color.
02. I've been playing with some decoupage prints. Still in the early stage. It's been a while since I've sat down and completely winged a project which is still in the experimentation phase. These days I usually let things stew until I have a chance to do it. And it usually works out well. I've been spoiled like that, so I kind of feel good having a project not work out as planned right away. It sounds weird when I try to explain it.
03. My spaceman design will soon be available on shirts! I got around to printing some shirts which look really cool. I can't wait to post the final products.
04. Yes, those decoupage prints and this Twin Peaks linocut are related. I'm working on making some fun dancing man linocuts, but as I shared, it's still being worked on. There were some execution flaws from some art supplies used that changed how I would like to print them. I'm hoping to make it work soon.

There are a bunch of other projects that are in progress currently. I'm hoping to get a nice flow of posts about them as I finish them one by one. I'm anxious to share them.

My song of the moment which I really have been playing non stop this week is Interpol's new song. So good.

This week was a bit of a busy one outside of my home. All I really did was just work a lot and see friends. I'm not one to be out and about on a work night, but I made some exceptions. Needless to say, I was burnt out by the end of the week.

My arts and craft moments ended up happening more towards the weekend.
01. I'm continuing with this book idea - made another illustration and sent it to get printed. This relates to my Blue Velvet drawings if you've seen them in previous posts.
02. I took a trip to Joannes to buy some fabric for some tote bags I want to make.
03. I cleaned up some leather scraps and cut them out for this tote bag idea. Don't know how successful they'll be, but it never hurts to try it out and see.
04. I was asked to make another tank top by my coworker, so I started measuring and cutting. It is currently in the works.

This week I saw a lot of my friend Diana. The other night, we chilled at her house and watched Portlandia. I cuddled big time with her pitbull Jessie. She's precious.

My current band of the moment: Gorillaz. Shocker! Just all kinds of fantastic, I really can't stop listening to them. I've fallen deep for Damon.

This week went by real quick. Sorta got a little sick. I'm blaming it on the weather change. I took it easy this week working on crafty projects.

01. I've been working on this shirt in which I used my printed fabric. I wanted to make this a test shirt to see how the fabric washes and I figured before creating future clothing with printed fabric, I want to see how it works out.
02. At work the other day, my coworker brought in a baby kitten to give to my other coworker. She was precious and I couldn't stop petting her. About her claws though, oh boy were they sharp and painful.
03. After finishing up this shirt I plan on playing around with a few magnet designs. I'm working on a Gwen Stefani one which I'm excited about.
04. I've taken a little wristband making break, but there are a few ideas I have that I plan on creating in between breaks.
I really tend to overdo it with projects on top of projects, don't I. Hmmm.

Aside from the constant Blur listenings, this Radiohead has been making it's way into my playlist every so often. It's currently my favorite Radiohead song.

Went on another mini spending spree within the past two weeks. I've come to the conclusion that I am pretty materialistic and I am not ashamed of it. You hear it first!

So yes, I've been obsessing over everything Damon Albarn recently. I bought his solo album on vinyl. It's amazing; if you haven't heard it yet I recommend you do.
Aside from that, I've taken on a project in which I ordered the first batch through Vistaprint. This illustrated Blue Velvet batch of postcards was a test and I'm very happy with how they came out. I'm excited to get the ball rolling on this project!

I once again ordered more perfume from Smell Bent. I couldn't get enough. I love love love the Chile Vanilli scent.

Damon is precious.

As I mentioned in the previous post, this project was a two parter.
We basically had to assign a project to ourselves and find a working illustrator to be our 'mentor' through the semester. I knew what I wanted to do, but I admit I may have changed the project, or maybe more like narrowed it down to a specific idea. I had some disagreements with my mentor. I saw it as an issue of 'originality'. Now let me say I do believe there is some originality left out there, but I think most of what everyone does is influenced by other people. It's hard to be original. As much as I would like to think of my work as original, I like basing my work on pop culture references. I'm not trying to be original. I like referencing things I know and love as my expression of what I like; basically paying homages to things that make up what I like.

That being said, the three patterns I made were based on songs I like. After interning at a screenprinting shop, I've been all about making images intended for apparel. I created this graphic that was inspired/based on Rock Lobster by the B-52s. I've been about nautical/deep sea divers for a while, so I of course carried it through to this project.

My mentor didn't really seem to like the direction I was going in with this project and believed in taking another route where I didn't use another piece of work as a reference. We lost touch, so I went ahead with the project. This kind of art and reference is my thing, and as much as I wanted to do something more abstract, I had more fun doing it this way instead.

I created a shirt out of scrap fabric I had, and got it printed at my internship.

My professor and my friends loved it (I printed this image onto shirts for a couple of friends, they loved it so much). So as much as originality would be fun to try and work towards, I didn't want to go in that direction and found this to be successful. And it's more me anyway.

I'm pretty sure I posted this video once before, but I'm going to do it again anyway. Here's the B-52s.

I've been all about patterns last semester. Taking that wallpaper pattern class really changed things for me. I'm still getting the hang of making patterns, but I've been all about mixing illustration and pattern making.
I've spoken about a Mentor class we had to take. Well, the class spanned two semesters, but with different professors and different mentors. The first class was really successful communicating with my mentor. Second time around, not so much. We barely kept in touch and sort of disagreed on some bits of my project, which I'll talk about in my next post. This project sort of separated into two parts for me.

Anyway, I went on with my own thing. I think it's pretty noticeable that I'm influenced by pop culture and a lot of my art shows it. I continued with that for this project. I wanted to make patterns based on songs relating to nautical sort of things which would be intended for apparel use.

The first two images are based on one of my favorite bands, The Raveonettes. The song is Black Satin. I created my image and found a t-shirt template to see what the repeat would look like.

When I sketched out my idea, I drew it in line. I played around a lot in Illustrator and got a lot of textures but wanted to try out a more simple line work too. I ended up liking both so I included them both in my final project.

This pattern was based on The Waves by Tamaryn. Repeated, I liked how it came out like a strange checkerboard pattern.

I was interested in getting them printed onto fabric. A friend told me about the greatness that is Spoonflower. After researching, I went ahead and ordered all three. They came out really cool and I'm currently experimenting with ways of cutting and sewing them into cool shirts and whatnot. Spoonflower is a site I will definitely be ordering more from in the future.

So here's that Raveonettes song I love so much.

Just got back from vacation yesterday and cannot feel happier than I do right now. Well, I'm bummed I'm back home having to get back into routine, but I had such a great time in Portland that I just feel so happy. I'm hoping the next time I go out there will be my official move. We'll just have to play that all by ear as I still have one more month till I graduate! So much excitement.

Anyway, I was excited about Record Store Day this year because I got my first record player for Christmas. I've been buying records left and right lately.

I was pumped to participate this year, especially since it fell during my week in Portland. And Portland is known for their local support and vintage shops. Unfortunately our schedule didn't call for shopping that day and I missed out, but it's no big deal. Our daily trips throughout the city and to the coast was worth missing out on RSD this year.

In the meantime I wanted to share records I bought this year that are perfect for springtime background music.
In clockwise order - Ex Hex, La Luz, She's So Rad, & Keep Shelly In Athens.

But while in Portland, I did manage to pick up one record by The Pretenders in which I was excited about.

I've been on a heavy record buying binge. It's the greatest thing walking into a thrift store and discovering a great find as well as supporting more local bands by buying their records. I've been all about it lately and can't wait to discover more in the spring & summer.

I'll get to editing photos from my trip so I can share them in upcoming posts!

The past two weeks have been a bit on the hectic side, scrambling to get projects done. I can finally sit down and actually write a post.

01. I've been working on this one mini handmade canvas that I plan adding to my Storenvy shop. Features a quote from a Runaways song with a badass chick, hah!
02. One project I scrambled finishing this week was this wallpaper pattern piece. Inspired from mid-century modern era and diners. I made a funny burger pattern (my friends think it's very Jetsons-like)! I'll post about at a future date.
03. Currently working on an animal piece for this other assignment. It's my take on the Space Race!
04. I found some time to sit and relax last night. And so therefore, I watched a movie and made pom-poms for a future garland project!

So many projects are in progress, I wish I had some finished ones to post about!

My video of the moment is by Ex Hex, Mary Timony's new band. I almost saw them on Friday, but my friend forgot her ID and the bouncer was a jerk about it. So we walked around the downtown NYC, got ice cream, and ate our feelings.

My schedule has been a bit rough this semester. I find myself with little time to post during the week, starting random projects for myself during the weekend leaving them lingering unfinished, and homework assignments are put on priority... It's just been a bit crazy.
Between school, my internship, and my trip in January, there were a few things I wanted to post about but never got around to. So I figured as I'm finishing up current projects, I'll share what I meant to share much earlier than now.

•••

Senior year of the BFA for Illustration, there's a required class in which we have to find a 'mentor' - a working illustrator that assigns us a project and is there to see it through to the end. There are a couple of exchanges in communication in which we send them ideas, sketches, work-in progress photos, and a finished piece. Can be either in person or through e-mail.
Through the internet, I found Ola Volo - an illustrator from Vancouver. I loved her details and pattern work in her art, and so I wanted to work with her. She found time in her busy schedule to help me, and we even met in person while she was in NY! She assigned me a portrait series - two portraits to be exact. Didn't have to be anyone specific, and it didn't have to be literal portraits, which I liked.

After a few sketches and exchange in ideas, I came up with a sun and moon portrait idea. Opposites: night and day.
I wanted to work larger than usual, and I wanted wood again. I painted the background in acrylic (yes I used glitter!), and worked on paper with colored pencils and glued it all down.

I only was able to photograph one really well. I still have yet to photograph and edit the second, but I plan on doing so real soon to get it up on my portfolio site with the first.

I was influenced by Helen Marnie from Ladytron. I remember getting e-mail updates about her recording her solo album through kickstarter at the time. If you can see it, the sun portrait somewhat resembles her…hmm.

I got a record player for Christmas and I've become all about collecting records. I've even gone through my parents record collection and "borrowed" quite a number of them. I've noticed that they own a lot of 7" records that have no sleeves. It makes me feel a little uneasy leaving them hanging like that, so I made a record sleeve for the 7" Chicago record I "borrowed".

I wasn't sure of what I wanted to make the sleeve out of, so I went through my recycling bin and found a cereal box (I find super thin cardboard like that is perfect) which fit the dimensions I needed. The other supplies are pretty standard: ruler, scissor, pencil, tape.

I measured everything out and left the length a little bit longer than the width.

Depending on the size cardboard you find, you may have to play around with dimensions. I found that 7 inches wide is of course a tight squeeze for the 7 inch vinyl (oops). To fix that mistake, I cut strips of paper that loosely hugged the edges, and taped around the sides to leave a little extra room for the vinyl to slide in and out comfortably.

I used masking tape, but didn't want that to be visible, so I used fun washi tape to cover up the masking tape.

The graphics on the inside of the cereal box left a fun effect, but I still wanted to make a little label. So I roughly drew the Chicago logo and blocked it in with pen. I drew squiggles with marker, and taped it up with more washi tape.

And so, here's one of my favorite Chicago songs.

I'm finding this semester I'm having difficulty keeping myself organized. Art supplies, fabric, projects, EVERYTHING is just sprawled out all over my room.
I'm taking baby steps to get myself more organized. I'm starting with small things working my way to the bigger picture. I singled out my bookbinding class.
I've been buying a lot of supplies for that class, but they're all small tools. So I made a pouch for my bookbinding supplies to keep them altogether.

I cut out a stencil for the labeling. I went to my recycling bin and found scrap cardboard box.

I then gathered scrap fabric. Found good sized denim, and sewed scraps of fabric to decorate, and found a purple zipper to match the scraps.

After sewing everything, I laid the stencil down, and used fabric paint to paint the letters.

It didn't feel finished, so I outlined the letters with gold fabric paint. And bam. A bookbinding supply pouch.

If you make a bookbinding pouch, listen to this Phil Collins song at the same time. It's fantastic. This has officially become my favorite Phil Collins song.