December Updates

Drawing

I tried to write another draft of this newsletter, but I think that it went horribly wrong. I tried to write about femininity and the election and trad wives, but now I’m looking back at that draft, and it just sounds like word vomit, so I’m going to keep that to myself on Google Docs.

Anyway, I’ve decided to return to drawing in a more meaningful way. I never stopped drawing, but I’m not in the mood to make textiles right now. I’m realizing that drawing helps me with generating ideas. I often return to markers and paint pens. There’s something about working with these media that feels…Childlike? Free? Immediate? Drawing (and journaling) always seem to help me out of my ruts, so I’m turning towards the aspects of my creative practice that feel a bit less intimidating. (Painting is scary.) (Writing is scary.)

I’m sure that I’m not the only artist who feels this way (or has felt this way in the past), but I was going through somewhat of a creative block/ crisis of values. Yesterday, I read an article in Dazed called “Do you need to be hot to make it as an artist now?” which claims that TikTok and Instagram are changing the ways that artists present themselves to the public and online. My immediate response was duh. But I also questioned whether or not this was a new development. I’m listening to this Joan Didion and Eve Babitz biography, and it certainly seems like they were the hot girls—excuse me, hot women—of Los Angeles at the time. And if we want to talk about visual artists, this also seems historically true (Basquiat, Georgia O’Keefe, etc.), so I’m wondering why people keep writing these think pieces. Yes, social media has changed the ways that we’ve engaged with the arts, but I don’t think it’s going anywhere soon, so I’m tired of hearing people recycle the same critiques. But I’m going to play devil’s advocate for a second and say that being more conscious of my social media usage has helped me to become more generative.

The last thing I’ll mention is the holidays. I keep listening to the soundtrack from Charlie Brown Christmas. I’ve also been watching The Nutcracker on YouTube. The holidays are bittersweet. As a child, they used to feel so fun and festive, but now they appear tinged with a sense of loss and the passage of time. Taking December to reflect on this and make some things that help me to ponder the past.

Things I’ve Been Consuming

• “Mothers” by Nikki Giovanni

• Didion and Babitz by Lili Anolik

• Slow Days, Fast Company by Eve Babitz

• This Sugarplum Fairy Variation

• Vince Guaraldi’s Charlie Brown Christmas

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