one week at a time

[oneweekattime]

3.19.22

For my next art piece I’m going to explore the religious side of death. I’m going to take inspiration from The Creation of Adam and paint the hands as bones. The Creation of Adam is a hugely important piece of art in the Christian and art world. I want to portray it as both the beginning and ending, both birth and death. 

Birth is viewed as a gift, and for many religious people a gift from God, and I want to show death in the same way. Death is not this horrible thing that you try to prevent your whole life, it is simply the next stage of the cycle. Whether you believe in an afterlife or not, I want this piece of art to provided a sense of comfort and wonder.

[oneweekattime]

3.17.22

These are the intaglio prints that I’ve done for my art class.

My fascination with bones and death really began when I had spinal fusion surgery five years ago. Since then I’ve read countless books on anatomy and forensics, and completely fell in love with bones.

My fascination also stems from fear. For as long as I can remember I’ve been terrified of dying. I’m not religious, so for me dying is the end, and that dark nothingness scared me. Learning about what happens to bodies after the life is gone helped me to cope with those unmanageable feelings and opened up a new field of knowledge for me to explore.

[oneweekattime]

3.13.22

Last week I went to New York for spring break. About halfway through my cousin passed away suddenly. I was at the Met when I found out and I noticed that after I kept gravitating toward the paintings and sculptures depicting death and violence. Even the paintings that looked happy and beautiful made me feel sad. This really made me think about how art is a lens with which we view our own lives. Had I not gotten the news about my cousin, I would never have looked at the art in the way that I did. 

[oneweekattime]

2.26.22

I did my first test prints for my bone intaglio and they look so cool! I did one print of a hand and another of a pelvis. They’re both about life size, but the hips are a little smaller. My next set of prints is going to be collar bones and a spine.

[oneweekattime]

2.23.22

I started reading Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers and I gotta say, people were crazy in the 1800s. There was a cadaver shortage at one point so anatomists would pay people to steal bodies from cemeteries. It was called body snatching and it went on for a while. 

[oneweekattime]

2.20.22

I finished reading Beach Read on Friday, and while I really enjoyed the book, I’m having mixed feelings about the two different endings. Obviously people can write books however they want, but the different endings seemed like a cheap way to not decide how to end the book. If it had been many different endings I would feel different, because that is a more artistic choice and could have reflected many of the themes in the book. Especially considering that the whole story is about writing a book and making those hard decisions it seemed a bit off the mark.

[oneweekattime]

2.8.22

I’m debating between reading Frankenstein or Don Quixote after I finish reading Beach Read. Completely different vibes, but that’s how I keep myself interested in reading.

[oneweekattime]

1.28.22

I finally finished Little Women and let me tell you I was sobbing by the end. It so perfectly encapsulates what it’s like to grow up a girl, as well as a sister and a daughter.

[oneweekattime]

1.18.22

I’m painting a pomegranate for my final art project and I really want to also paint Persephone to go along with it, but I don’t think I’m going to have enough time to paint both of them.

[oneweekattime]

1.10.22

I’m super excited because I figured out what I’m going to do for this huge art project I have coming up. There’s this type of printmaking called intaglio where you etch your image on plexiglass or copper and the scratches become the dark parts when you ink and print it. I’m going to do a bunch of intaglio prints of human bones. Bones are so interesting to me because I’ve had surgeries to correct weird bone stuff so I’ve seen x-rays of my bones before. Anyway, I’m so psyched to get started and see where this project takes me!

[oneweekattime]

This is the print I made two years ago that kickstarted my obsession with printmaking. Since then I’ve dived into the world of carving and inking and I fell in love with it all.

[oneweekattime]

1.7.22

Today I finished Monkeewrench by P.J Tracy and I am so pleased that I figured out who the murderer was well before the end of the book. Ever since I was little I have loved reading mystery books, and I’ve gotten pretty good at deducing who the criminal is. My dad says that I’m no fun to watch scary movies with because I guess the ending halfway through the movie. Monkeewrench was actually an assignment for a class, but because I liked it so much I’m going to read the rest of the series. 

Question of the day: What’s your favorite mystery book?