Life Lately - 02

How on earth did it get to be Monday already?! This week was chock full of so many good hangs with great friends, I sorta fell behind on my work (oopsie!). Sometimes I need weeks like this though. Spending all my time freelancing and blogging, I can forget to manage my social life, and my sanity as well as my creativity suffers as a result. Thank goodness I have so many awesome friends to pull me out of my anti-social rut.

In An Instant: 1// Had an unintentional denim party. 2// God bless bacon maple donuts. 3// My man being a stud at the county fair. 4// Had an awesome engagement shoot with these lovely friends! 5// And during our shoot, one of the carnies let me get up in the soaker race platform to photograph the couple playing. So much fun! 6// The new Pizza Port across the parking lot from our church just opened and needless to say we packed the place out after Thursday's service. Of course we had to get a few rounds of Big Buck Hunter in as well until closing time.

What I'm Watching: True Blood - My guiltiest of pleasures. The new season just started last night and I unashamedly curled up in bed with some Baileys and ice cream and squealed with excitement for the return of my favorite vampire tv drama. This season is off to a fangtastic (ah, see what I did there) start. They focused on the main happenings while sprinkling in a few minutes of each secondary character's story. I felt like last season kind of dragged on, so I'm glad to see they're finally moving forward with the story. Can't wait til next Sunday! ps. Team Eric Northman ;)

Links I'm Loving:
• Stop Dreaming. 6 Tips to Make it Happen - Creative Marmalade
• Incredible Daenerys Targaryen Makeup Look - Michelle Phan
• Details For This Year's Annual Comic Con Zombiewalk - SD Zombiewalk
• Bitchy Resting Face - Broken People
• Creepy Photos Reveal Personal Items of Asylum Inmates - FEARnet

Words of Wisdom: "Never get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life." - Unknown

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What did you guys keep busy with this week? Any exciting plans for the summer? I still need to make up my summer bucket list, so let me know what fun ideas you have for yours!

Society6 Promo - Free Shipping & 15% Off!

From now until Sunday (Midnight Pacific Time on June 16, 2013), get free shipping on all art pieces in my Society6 store by using this link.

I've also taken 15% off all prints. Mini prints are currently only $15 with free shipping! Once the promo is over, the price will go back up ($18 for minis, $24 for small, etc + shipping costs). So if you've ever wanted to own some of my art or support my work, don't pass up this deal!

CLICK HERE TO GO TO MY SOCIETY6

Good Friends & Fairground Lights

I love love love the county fair. Year after year, I never get sick of giggling at farm animals, eating sinful deep-fried foods, shopping through useless gadgets, judging amateur student photography, and walking all day in the dust and heat until the enchanting lights of the carnival come on.

Yesterday I had an awesome engagement shoot with a couple in the carnival during the day. The photos turned out so fun! I can't wait to share them with you! Afterwards, Dave and I met up with our best friends Nick and Nicole and wandered around the surprisingly empty grounds, watched a ridiculous turkey race in the infield, and ate more sinful foods (giant maple donut covered in bacon, garlic battered artichoke hearts, and a deconstructed cupcake tower in a cup with ice cream and piled on whipped cream).

I've been busy all week with wedding and engagement shoots, so I haven't had any time to queue up the usual blog posts. Just thought I'd share a few snapshots from last night instead!

What do you look forward to at your county fair? Tried any crazy foods?

Life Lately - 01

It has been quite the productive week and I figured now is as good a time as any to bring in a new weekly blog feature I've been hoping to start up! Life Lately will be a simple weekly round-up of my Instagrams, current favorites around the web (blog articles, videos, etc), words that are inspiring me, movies and shows worth mentioning (ones that fall outside of my Friday Flix), and any other interesting tidbits that sum up my week. A while back when I asked what my readers wanted to see more from me, I received several requests for more personal posts. So I hope giving you a little glimpse into my life and my interests will not only be interesting, but inspiring. Let me know what you think! :)

In An Instant: 1// A pretty little atlas bone from the coyote carcass I've been processing. 2// Cleaning up my cluttered bedroom space. 3// Reading my daily devotion from My Utmost For His Highest and admiring this little vase of coyote ribs and babysbreath. 4// Hanging out with Party Horse after shooting this weekend's wedding. 5// Got a new toy! Finally bought the 70-200mm f/2.8 I've been wanting for years and I love this huge thing so much. 6// Absolutely swooning over the new VSCOcam app.

What I'm Watching: The Cabin in the Woods - Finally got around to watching this per recommendation of a reader. It was the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen, in the most absurdly brilliant way possible. Cabin in the Woods is less of a horror film than it is a satire of the cliche horror genre. Although it wasn't necessarily scary, there was plenty of gore, campiness, and laughable kills to satisfy. Dave watched it on his own and said he hated it. But that boy oughta know better than to watch horror movies without me. So I made him watch it again and we both enjoyed it. Then again, I geek out over most horror parodies (e.g. Tucker and Dale, Shawn of the Dead, etc), so my reaction is probably more entertaining than the movie itself…

Links I'm Loving:
• 12 Reasons You Won't "Make It" as a Blogger - IFB
• Whitening Bone Using Hydrogen Peroxide - Bonelust
• The Astounding Private Anatomical Museum of Ryan Matthew Cohn - Morbid Anatomy
• Machete Kills Official Trailer! - YouTube
• 7 Ways You Can Borrow Ideas from Others - IFB

Words of Wisdom: "The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing." - Walt Disney

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This series will continue to develop as I grow into it. But let me know what you think of the features so far and if there's anything you'd like to see more of! Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend and that your Monday is off to a great start!

Copy Cat - Morticia Addams (Summer Edition)

Morticia Addams is pretty much my style icon. She's often misassociated with doom and gloom goths, and tacky Halloween fashion. But really Mrs. Addams is the most sophisticated blend of beautiful strangeness – odd and quirky yet feminine and classy.

I thought it would be fun to compile what her hypothetical summer essentials would be. (Sneak Peek: I'll be continuing this character Copy Cat series into Comic Con for all my cosplay enthusiasts.) This peacock crocheted swimsuit just screamed Morticia to me. I imagine her sitting in her gorgeous high-backed peacock chair in the hot summer months at the mansion, shaded from the sun by an elegant lace parasol, cooling herself with an exotically ornate hand fan, and sipping on a Dark and Stormy in her garden of deadly nightshades.

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7

Midweek Muse - Tessa Farmer

Tessa Farmer is a London artist who creates fanciful sculptures and hanging installations from insect carcasses, taxidermy, plant and other scavenged materials. She carefully crafts tiny skeletal fairies from these insect remains and places them in epic battle scenes with other creatures of nature.

See more of Tessa's work at tessafarmer.com

Past Project - Skin & Bones

I realized I never posted the finished product of this charcoal piece I was working on last year. I had just moved into my new place and since our wifi wasn't set up for over a week, I spent my days lying on the floor, covered in charcoal dust, sketching away. Charcoal became sort of an accidental love of mine. I got introduced to it in my general ed drawing courses. As a graphic design major, I felt these sorts of art classes were busy work wastes of time I could have better spent working on my actual field of study. But upon our first charcoal drawing project, I fell completely in love with the messy rawness and hands-on nature of this type of art.

It's so important for graphic artists, especially commercial designers, to have another creative outlet aside from their typical medium or projects. If you're doing the same types of things over and over again, you're going to get burnt out. And exercising your creativity in an alternate form is a great way to keep the creative juices flowing and maintain your sanity.

I developed a sort of reputation in my class for always drawing skulls. I think people thought I had a morbid fascination with death (I do, but that's not why I draw them, haha). I just love the light and dark values featured across the different shapes and grooves and cracks. I always think of this quote I had heard from Georgia O'Keeffe in a documentary about her art and her New Mexico home.

"Bones do not symbolize death to me. They are shapes that I enjoy. It never occurs to me that they have anything to do with death. They are very lively. And I enjoy them." — Georgia O'Keeffe

Without philosophizing this piece way too much, I set out to draw forms I enjoy – skulls and the female figure. I love the way light favors both of these, making them equally sensual and beautiful. The reference image is a photo of myself and one of my skulls.

New Art Print on Society6 - Bloom

Brand new art print now available on Society6! If you'd like to support my work, I'd love it if you snatched up a print. Click here to go to my store!

I haven't taken much time lately to create personal artworks for myself, so it was really creatively therapeutic to be in nature and away from the city this weekend at my parents' house, playing outside and arranging flowers with dead animals. A few months back my dogs killed a skunk, and my mom being as strange as I am, kept the carcass for me near her garden. After leaving it to naturally decompose for a while, I went out to scavenge what was left. Unfortunately a lot of the little bones had been carried off by other critters (such is nature running its course I guess), but I was thankful to find this perfect little skull with all its pearly teeth still in tact waiting for me atop the pile of fur and earth.

In a week or so, I'll post a walkthrough on how I go about processing and cleaning bones. Stay tuned! If you aren't already, make sure to follow my blog on Bloglovin so you don't miss my new posts!

Midweek Muse - Lindsey Carr

Lindsey Carr is a phenomenal artist from Scottland who paints beautiful scenes of flora and fauna reminiscent of Chinese screen paintings and 19th century naturalist illustrations. Her works often feature creatures entangled in florals and bursting with birds and butterflies.

See more of Lindsey's work at pickle-town.typepad.com

Wednesday Wardrobe - Summer Tank Worn Three Ways

Summer is fast approaching, which means I'm about to get real comfortable living in the same tank top every single day. I don't know about you, but I'm overcome with a complete lack of fashion motivation when the heat takes over. If I'm sweating in the morning, the last thing I care to do is riffle through my closet for an outfit. That's why I usually create an arsenal of go-to summer getups I rotate during the weeks. But wearing the same few things over and over again all throughout summer can start to get boring. I know Dave gets tired of seeing me in the same cotton floral dresses, so I trick him into thinking I've changed. ;) By accessorizing! Yep. Here's how I've managed to get away with wearing this tank top three times this week.

Change up your basic pieces with different shoes, accent jewelry, statement pieces like a hat, layering, or alternating bottoms (shorts, pants, or maybe tucked into a skirt). Get creative while staying comfortable during the hot months ahead.

Thrift Tip: Denim vests have been in style for a while, but I'm seeing a lot of them in stores lately like Forever 21. And they're going for about $25 to $40. Maybe you like to spend that kind of unnecessary money, but this thrift vulture does not. Go to a thrift store, buy a cheap denim jacket (I got my GAP one for $10 at Atlantis Attic in Williamsburg), and cut the sleeves off yourself. Tada! And it already comes with that worn "vintage" look for half the price.

Also, I just have to brag about my latest cheap deal on this tank top. This Obey tank typically goes for $48 (currently $34 on sale). Why you would spend that much on a tank top, I have no idea. But I got it new with tags at the swap meet for $15. Boom!

Copy Cat: 1// Heather Charcoal Pocket Tank - Obey 2// Mossimo Cognac Western Boot - Target 3// Cut Off Denim Vest - thrifted 4// Cognac Studded Skinny Belt - Forever 21 5// Brick Red Corduroy Shorts - RVCA