I should be receiving my moving boxes and aqua brushes today and I’m pretty excited about that. Mainly excited about the aqua brushes.. but I do have some enthusiasm for the boxes because it’s a relief to get started on the daunting process of packing and moving. 📦
Realizations regarding productivity:
I feel better when I have something to do. Sometimes the more the better, shockingly. I was under the impression that being at complete peace (aka bored out of my mind) was the ideal space to be in order to be productive. I thought I could only have one thing booked at a time and that any amount of extensive work would be too stressful. Turns out that was stupid and wrong. Bad Nef!
I can have a clean and functional workspace that blends with the rest of my living space. That’s probably one of the most important things I learned from having make my bedroom my studio. I was under the impression I needed unappealing utilitarian furniture to house my supplies and that messy = better art. Well, that was completely wrong. It’s not too terrible keeping things clean and separated either. I’ll be able to clean up the studio back home in New Jersey so it’ll be nicer to work in and not an eyesore (sorry, family!)
Other stuff I’m doing today? Looking over an older Photoshop animation tutorial I sent to Delaney by Alex Grigg. It’s apparently still OG and the best out there since it’s still being referenced in other video tutorials that are more recent. Glad I came across it so long ago! I’m attempting to find free assignments and courses we can follow which isn’t proving to be easy. Animating in Photoshop is not uncommon but it’s not an intuitive animation tool so it feels very open source when trying to find resources for it. I’m sure I’ll prove myself wrong the longer I research, though (and I hope I do). Glad I got a sweet homie to take the dive with me, though. It’ll be a great thing to do during the summer. That’s our extended homework before she starts back up with school in the fall. I suppose a more entertaining aspect of this prolonged homework would be looking at animation that resonates with me most so I can have inspiration and guidelines for what I’d like to make.
More tidbits. Nikki told us that Venus is in retrograde apparently. 😱🌘Gasp! Is it funny that actually makes me kind of nervous even though I try very hard not to take astrology too, too seriously (obviously something I enjoy and care about though, alas)? Haha. From what I understand, Venus dictates love, art, and money, and if it’s in retrograde that means it’s going backwards or regressing. Even though that can jack a lot of stuff up it’s supposed to be a time to be introspective and process some unresolved issues of the past. The fear and potential issue is that some of those old problems may rear their head in the present. Yikes! I think I’m pretty safe from that but I’ll try to make this moment in time less painful by thoughtfully analyze those aspects of my life that Venus dictates. What happened in the past that hurt, what worked, and what do I actually want in the future? While I think about those things all the time I can’t help but feel obliged to be smarter about it if the stars are in charge right now. 🌟😉 When I spoke to Rhonda yesterday she suggested I revisit If The Buddha Dated to address my concerns about love and producing a successful relationship in the future and I think that’s a great idea. I forgot I had the book since my library was stuck in my overstuffed closet the past couple of months.
I may attempt a creamy salmon pasta casserole today too.. we’ll see how that goes (if it goes at all).
P.S.
Youtube is popping off again and providing some really interesting and lovely music. This popped up in my feed today:
This is apparently from the 70s despite being published in 2006. This woman’s story is fascinating from the brief bit I gleaned in the comments. Its brevity and lo-fi intimacy reminds me of Karen O’s Crush Songs. Maybe I’ll talk about that in the future. This song expresses something I hope to feel in the future, since I’m sitting here talking about love and whatnot.