Love in the Year of the Tiger

"Sometimes you have to pretend that you're happy and just fine until you realize that your pretension has become your strength to move on." - unknown

This was my little cousin's status on his Facebook account. It was a little surprising to see this kind of profundity from him, and without knowing why he posted this quote, I could somehow relate to it.

It's no secret that I had my heart severely broken last year, so my heart just goes out to anyone that's gotten hurt and was able to gather the strength to heal from it. Everyone has their own way of coping. I display the opposite of what is mentioned in this quote. Everyone who knows me knows that I demonstrate all my emotions and I like to be completely aware of them.

So, much to my surprise, I discovered something. I have discovered that missing the ex has become a habit. Yes, sir, YOU have become nothing but a habit that I've kicked. Often times, he would come to mind and automatically, I'd think, "Hmm. I miss him". The other day, when I thought that I missed him, I had to correct myself. "No, I do not miss him". I was in disbelief - I actually did not miss him.

Six months ago, I thought I was going to be miserably in love forever. I'm glad to have realized that this is not my destiny. I guess that's love for you. It's an organic process that grows from friendship, and sadly enough it sometimes dies. When you're lucky, sometimes it regenerates into something new.

So I celebrated Valentine's Day this year with the thought that I am almost healed and maybe someday, love will blossom again. :)

Let's not forget that yesterday was also Chinese New Year and we're entering the year of the tiger. With that, I give you yesterday's Art of the Day.

DAY 45 - February 14, 2010

TITLE: Happy Chinese New Year

MEDIUM: Pastels

Inspired and Determined

I would like to announce that as of Day 43, I exceeded the number of pieces that I created in last year's failed 365 Days of Art. It's not necessarily a big accomplishment since I quit soooo early on last year. I have a little more determination and inspiration this time around. :)

DAY 43 - February 12, 2010
TITLE: The Sun is Watching
MEDIUM: Acrylic

We're covering the Solar System in my Astronomy class and I figured doing a piece on the sun might be appropriate. It just turned out a little creepier than I wanted it to. I guess this is what I get when I try to recreate something that I conjured up while I was drunk.

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DAY 43 - February 12, 2010 TITLE: The Sun is Watching MEDIUM: Acrylic We're covering the Solar System in my Astronomy class and I figured doing a piece on the sun might be appropriate. It just turned out a little creepier than I wanted it to. :P

DAY 44 - February 13, 2010

TITLE: You Look Like a Blue M&M!

MEDIUM: Paper cut outs

Enter, Luke.
DREA: "You're so blue, Luke!"
LUKE: (Mumbles something about the store not having any black hoodies)
NELLA: "You look like the blue M&M!" (insert giggle)

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DAY 44 - February 13, 2010 TITLE: You Look Like a Blue M&M! MEDIUM: Paper cut outs Enter, Luke. DREA: "You're so blue, Luke!" LUKE: (Mumbles something about the store not having any black hoodies) NELLA: "You look like the blue M&M!" (insert giggle)

Add a caption

DAY 44 - February 13, 2010 TITLE: You Look Like a Blue M&M! MEDIUM: Paper cut outs Enter, Luke. DREA: "You're so blue, Luke!" LUKE: (Mumbles something about the store not having any black hoodies) NELLA: "You look like the blue M&M!" (insert giggle)

Busy weekend ahead!

Thank God it's Friday! Not that it makes any difference, since I've put off so many of my readings and a few other items on my things to do for the weekend. Boo. This goes against one of my resolutions, so to compensate, not only am I going to take care of everything I needed to do last week, I am also going to make sure to take care of everything due next week, that I know of. I also did 2-hours of volunteering at the Isla Art Center in order to get those required hours out of the way, while the semester isn't crazy yet.

Speaking of resolutions, my friend told me about this art show that I could join. I wasn't sure if I wanted to do it, but the art show would be a great opportunity to hone my talents, as well as promoting social awareness. By joining this art show, I could be a part of a movement that promotes creativity and expression. On Guam, we definitely need more of that. Although I was still hesitant, I looked into it and found out that it will land on my friend's birthday.

My friend wasn't here for her 21st birthday last year, and we're trying to plan a party for her to make up for the fact that she wasn't able to celebrate with her closest friends. So, it actually bummed me out that I can't do the show, making me realize how much I actually want to do it. Luckily, the show is quarterly. I will definitely look out for the next one and keep you all posted on how it goes.

Here are DAY 41 and 42 of 365 Days of Art:

DAY 41 - February 10, 2010
TITLE: Memo Dream
MEDIUM: Computerized graphic

This one is inspired by something I found on on "I WroteThis For You" (http://pleasefindthis.blogspot.com/). It totally appealed to the Human Resources major in me. At my previous job, I used to call memos "love letters". :)

DAY 42 - February 11, 2010
TITLE: Happy Birthday, Lola!
MEDIUM: Mixed - acrylic, water color, marker, and puff paint

My grandmother turned 86 years old yesterday! This is a little something sweet and simple to remind her that she is loved and means a lot to me. I thought this quote was perfect for the relationship I have with her. Also, she's a teacher!

Raining Cats and Dogs

My friend Tessa took a really cute picture of her cat Raul. I was inspired to do a mixed-media piece of the photo. My interpretation looks nothing like the photo. :-/

DAY 39 - February 08, 2010
TITLE: Raul, Unjustified
MEDIUM: Mixed - water color, charcoal, pastels, and acrylic

After a while, my piece on Raul started growing on me. I realize it wasn't so bad, it just wasn't exactly how I wanted it to turn out. I have to stop being so hard on myself, especially when I'm trying new things. To make myself feel better, the next day, I decided to do a piece on my darling doggy.

DAY 40 - February 09, 2010
TITLE: Nami Love
MEDIUM: Pastels

I was really happy about how this turned out because I'm seeing an improvement in my pastels. :)

Day 37&38

My brother and I were debating about my project. He thinks that 365 days of art means that I have to produce 365 pieces. I, in the other hand, just think that that's INSANE. As much as I would love that, it's a little too ambitious. Some pieces take days to finish and I don't want to rush anything or produce crap just to fullfill my mission. I sat on it for a little bit and thought about what would be fair for this project. I thought about all the different components that get tied together as one piece, or the layers involved in a painting. Since what I wanted to come out of this project is to create art, practice techniques, and express myself daily, I figured that as long as I keep everything documented, then the project is in its course.

A few days later, I was working on a piece that just did not seem to be working out. I wasn't feeling very inspired either and I decided to call it quits before I end up hating the piece completely. This is where I stopped:

DAY 37 - February 06, 2010

TITLE: None yet

MEDIUM: Acrylic

It was a good thing that I stopped when I did. I totally changed direction and was inspired to try something different! I continued the next day.

DAY 38 - February 07, 2010

TITLE: Forgiven

MEDIUM: Acrylic

I was at an art show a few days ago and was really into this piece that had so much texture in it. So, with my newfound inspiration, I used a puffpaint bottle to squirt out some swirlies. Here is a close-up:

♥♥♥

Kawaii Nails

DAY 36 - February 05, 2010

TITLE: Kawaii Nails

MEDIUM: Nail Polish and rhinestones

I had an insomniac moment yesterday and decided to do my nails around midnight. By the time I finished, it was 2AM and I was so sleepy, but I had to wait for the nail polish to dry. It took forever to do this because I had exactly 20 rhinestones to use and everytime I put needed to use one, it would fall and I had to look for it. I couldn't find one of them, so I just had to settle for just 19 stones.

Baby Star

"Until you change the way you look at things, the things you look at will not change" - Pat Riley

My professor shared this quote in class yesterday and I thought it would be appropriate for a blog about resolutions and change. This quote somewhat defines that moment when I decided I could juse a few improvements in my life. I saw that I could be a better person, therefore I decided to work on being a better person.

Resolution check: I recently found some cousins of mine on Facebook. Although they added me on their list, I was a little disappointed to find that they were not as eager to correspond with me. They're obviously active on their account, so it was a little disheartening that they do not respond to my comments on their photos or whatever else. I guess it has been so long since we've seen each other that we're practically strangers. So, here I am reminding myself not to take things to heart and just to accept peole for being different. It is just such a pity considering we are family, after all, and I'm the type of person that loves to stay connected to all my relatives regardless of how closely related we are or how long we haven't seen each other. Oh well.

365 Time!

DAY 34: February 03, 2010
TITLE: Baby Star
MEDIUM: Pens and Markers

This was a little doodle I made in Astronomy while my professor read a poem that had the phrase "baby star" in it. Oh, imagination! :)

DAY 35: February 04, 2010
TITLE: Isaac
MEDIUM: Vector Graphic

My cousin John requested that I do a vectorized graphic of him, but for some reason, it just couldn't work out. When he started to look like Mr. Clean, I decided to call it quits. While I was working on it, I couldn't resist doing another piece for a replacement - his adooorable son Isaac. :) Since he is waaaay cuter, it worked out better. Hehe.