Church Notes 2

The night before church and I got the karaoke bug, so I went and sang from 12:00am untill 4:30am, went home, slept for a couple hours and then went to church at 8:30...
The fight to stay awake was so real. Before service started my roommate and I went to the nearby shopping mall for breakfast and I got a sketchbook to aid in the struggle. It worked! I managed to stay awake the whole time.
And here are the notes:

There's Something in the Water.

Last night I was slumming around and talking to my roommate about how tired I was. The meanwhile I drew this. 

I thought out loud, "Why do I always draw scary things?"

Eri said to me, because you draw to relive your stress right? You're just expressing that stress. 

(In Japanese)

Oh, duh. *facepalm*

Reunions

 

Today I got to hang out with my old friend from college. We had a great time catching up, talking art and even had a little painting party. 

It was good to see ya Alex!

My little brother made his first painting, a knife sharpener that he modeled in Minecraft.

 

Alex painted me. 

This is what I drew. It started out as a little hedgehog but turned into a hell-dog.

It was really fun.

My Church Notes

Something about singing worship songs with my congregation and listening to a good message from my pastor just puts me in the creative zone for drawing. Usually at that time the only paper I have on hand is my church notes. Oh well, here's the picture I drew.

Launchpad (dejavu)

So, I've started a new website! http://www.parapearl.com/
I really want to connect in the art circles of Japan and one thing that everybody has and needs here to connect... business cards.
That's right, I made the website to put on my business cards. Laughable, I know, but the experience of re-designing the site, thinking about my statement and image, as well as revisiting my portfolio and art documents really was a good thing.
Having finished my first comic, Oh Israel, I went into the frenzy of thinking, "What's next?!"
...
Well, I've taken a step. We'll see what the next one is together.

Expectations

It's easier to get along with people when you don't expect anything from them. It's easier to not be hurt or angry at them when you never expected them to act otherwise. I was thinking of that in regards to my latest drawings. In the Dog Rose drawing above t's easy to see that my own expectations were low. This was just play. I wasn't trying to create anything spectacular. 

I set my expectations high for the Blue Hobbit drawing, however, and though it took more time, effort and energy. It turned out significantly better.

So, maybe that principle can be applied back to people. The people we have high expectations for, may make us hurt, angry, sad or upset when they let us down, but if we put the time, effort and energy into the relationships with them, they will end up ultimately better than those relationships with low expectations. 

Starting fresh

Soon my life is going to change a lot.
I finished my first short story comic this week, Oh Israel. Now as I sit, revisiting my goals and talking to my future husband I'm faced with that realization.
He's going to be here with me soon. I feel like to possibilities are opening up immensely. I feel like this next chapter of my life is going to be amazing. Different... really different.

I've learned a lot living on my own. I've learned a lot through this last project. Now I'm ready to tackle what comes next.