Hitting the Reset Button

This summer has been the worst summer of my life. Losing my dad has been this unbelievably painful experience that has left me feeling empty, stuck, and lost. But even in all of tragedy, I've probably learned the most this summer.

Things I learned or realized this summer (not in any order of importance):


 1- I haven't been as active of an artist this year as I have been the past few years.  I think having my art in the Orange County Creatives Gallery in Laguna Beach threw me off a bit.  It is a great honor to have my work there and I feel like it is a goal of any OC artist to get work in a gallery in Laguna Beach.  But I haven't been challenged to keep doing more art the way art walks do.  I haven't massed produced Mizzles or create a series of mizzle paintings for a show in a long time.  To remedy this, I began making more Mizzles this week.  I even bought a massive amount of polyester fiber for motivation!

2- I lost sight of my goals.  I used to be extremely active as an artist attending illustrator meetings and art association meetings every month.  But at the moment, I can't remember the last time I attended either of those meetings.  Partly, I've been doing color runs with friends, which happen to fall on the same days as my illustrator meetings.  Also, I was spending time with my dad.  I don't think this was bad at all.  But I feel stuck now.  And I've realized that some of these meetings are going to continue to be put on hold thanks to a work conference I have to attend the next few months.  I'll just have to focus on other areas until my schedule clears up. 

I did manage to get a few things done this summer:

 A few sketches to keep me sane during a conference I went to.

A drawing for my dad

And I created a "Nap time" Series for my friend, who is expecting twins!!!!  I created a Mizzle Mobile, and some onsies.

And I played with paint

3- Painting makes me happy even if the painting turns out bad.  Sometimes it is just about the act of painting.  My best friends and I began going to a few Paint & Vino Events, where an instructor guides a room full of people to paint one image.  We have had a lot of fun doing these.  Most people would think that it would be boring for someone who is already an artist, but it was nice not having to think during the process. 

For a while, I had wanted to use my garage as a studio.  I couldn't do this until recently... long story I'd rather not get in to.  But the important part is that I FINALLY turned my half of the garage into my painting studio.  After doing a few of the Painting & Vino classes, we agreed that we could do something like that ourselves. So, I had a group of friends over to celebrate the conversion of my garage to studio with our own paint and wine night.  It was so much fun!  I was really proud of my non-artist friends.  And we already have a theme for the month of September!

4- I am blessed to have amazing neighbors!  They have all been a great support group helping me, listening to me, checking in with me at some point, and giving me many hugs!  I love listening to their stories!  And they have such great personalities!  I am always smiling or laughing when I'm hanging out with them. 

5- I discovered that the best and most important family is the one you choose!  Don't get me wrong.  I love some of my blood relatives and they know who they are.  But the family I chose (Lydia, Reena, Jenn, Tracy, Peter... my workout family-Alex, Anthony, Cade, Leslie, Sonny, Lisa)... turned out to be the ones who helped me through this difficult time when family failed to come through.  Even my mom's friends were a better family.  I don't think I've had a chance to tell my friends, but I am unbelievably grateful for all of them...including the ones I haven't mentioned directly in this post.  This is odd to say, but everything seemed to go so smoothly because of them.  And I continue to get through each tough day with their help.

This photo is missing Reena, but she is the one who took the photo... so I feel like she is there in spirit!















And thank you to everyone who sent me text messages and photos of my art at the OC Fair!  I didn't get a chance to go myself, but it cheered me up to receive photos like this one:

6- When life takes something away, it gives something back to you just when you need it.   It is a very surreal feeling to have someone important taken from your life and everything around you remains the same.  Life continues as if nothing has changed.  Then coming to realizations that may have never crossed your mind like how much you miss hearing their voice.  For some reason, I haven't been receiving any of my voicemails.  Yesterday, a bunch of voicemails turned up on my phone going back to April.  I was really sad at the thought of never hearing my dad and then there was a message from my dad on my birthday.  I immediately researched how to save it as an mp3 file, so I can have it forever!  Life, also, introduced me to new people this summer.  I'm not sure what roles they will play in my life, but they were small moments of absolute joy this summer during a painful time.

7- Sometimes you just need to hit the reset button! 

I know it looks like I've done a lot this summer.  In a way, I have.  But it just hasn't felt the same.  I feel like a lot of this was just me going through the motions trying to feel like my normal self.  In all honesty, I have felt lost this summer.  I feel like I got stuck somewhere in life without realizing it.  The last time I felt stuck in life I moved to Huntington Beach, which was the greatest decision I ever made.  This time moving is not going to be the answer.  This stuck feeling is something a bit deeper emotionally.  I have to figure out what that is exactly, but I do know if I learned anything from my dad, it was to always dream and to keep moving forward. So, for the time being I'm just going to hit the reset button and place my focus back on some original goals.  I feel like this week has been very productive!  I worked on pages for my book, made mizzles, and began working on a few ideas for upcoming shows.  I've also decided I want to get back to my daily drawings.

Friends and tons of color

Life has an interesting way of giving you exactly what you need.  I have always had lots of friends, but never a group of friends who spent a lot of time doing things together.  Also, in the past, I've had more guy friends than female friends.  That has seemed to have changed.  Life has decided to put my two best friends and me closer together, which means a lot more activities together.  We are so used to seeing each other every four months, but now we get to see each other almost weekly.  It's been healing to have them around more in life... and I think its safe to say that statement is true for all of us. 

It's crazy to think we've know each other for 20 years!

 This year our group has been growing with more strong, passionate, goal-oriented females, which has added to the great dynamic and support system we have.  In the past, participating in the color runs, and any other fun 5k, was just something Lydia and I would do.  This year was the first time we had a group of people joining us.  I have to say this was the BEST color run so far.

As you can see, we had a successful color run.  We immediately went to In n Out afterwards and had protein style burgers.  There was blue everywhere.  And our showers looked like smurf crime scenes. Hopefully, we can out do ourselves at the June 21st Color Run! 

 

 



The McEvoy Collection

About 4 years ago, my friend asked if I could make one of the Mizzles as a golf club cover.  I was a little hesitant because I wouldn't be able to stuff it, but I liked the challenge.  What began as one cover turned into many.  Each year I have made him a new cover.  And each year, I create a new master piece that I fall in love with.  As a result, I have named this collection of golf club covers "The McEvoy Collection," after my friend. 

Where do I start?
It usually begins with a theme or idea he's been thinking about or we brainstorm a few things either from jokes amongst our group.  Then I begin to build from there.  The first few have had their errors.  And over the years, he has helped me figure out solutions to make them better than before. 




#1

#2 and 3

#5

#4



#6

#7

#8 two sides

#8 side 2

#8 side 1

They have been so much fun to create.  They each have had such great personalities.  This year I was given the theme Elvis. This makes my 9th Mizzle Golf Club Cover. I feel that Elvis Mizzle is one of my best creations.  It was really hard to part with him.





 

 

 

Before Elvis made it to his new home, he spent some time at the beach in the sun.

 

  I'm looking forward to the next year's theme.  It will be a challenge to out do myself next year.

Frida-like self-portrait

In January, my best friends and I went to see The Complete Frida Kahlo exhibit in San Diego (which is now extended to June 8th!)  It is an exhibit which shows 123 replicas of her work in the exact sizes and style.  I have to warn you.  It is a lot of art to look at.  I spent almost 4 hours there.  I love Frida Kahlo's work because she freely and openly told the world about her life and pain through her art.  Her portraits hold so much meaning and heart.  I left there absolutely overwhelmed and inspired.  But I didn't know how to take what I saw and incorporate it into my own art.  That is when my best friend, Lydia, gave me the idea to do a series of self-portraits in the same style and poses of Frida, and replace her pets with my Mizzles.  I loved this idea.

It kind of worked out for me that my Intermediate/ Advanced Students were about to begin a colored pencil self-portrait.  This was the perfect opportunity for me to create this artwork while creating an example for my students.  It has been a few years since I've created anything in colored pencil.  I forgot how much I love to blend and burnish. 

 I took it to my Huntington Beach Art League meeting and entered it into the drawing category.  I am happy to report that it received an Honorable Mention.

 

Instead of posting all of the progression photos I took, I thought it might be nice to watch them in a video slide show.  The song is called Beautiful Things by Gungor.  It is one of my favorite songs at the moment.

 

This has definitely been one of my most favorite projects.  I already have an idea of my next portrait, but it will have to wait a bit.  I have to get back to working on my book.

Mizzles for TLC

Every year my school does a school-wide fundraiser called Pennies for TLC. TLC, True Lasting Connections, is an organization who provides medical, dental, clothes, etc. to families in our community who are in need.  For the past 5 years, I have been making a batch of Mizzles to auction off for this cause.  I usually make about 10-14 Mizzles for this event, but this year there will only be 7.  With Mizzles selling at the Orange County Creatives Gallery and an upcoming art show in about 3 weeks, I seem to be on constant Mizzle making mode.

Since I limited the amount I made for the TLC auction, I decided to go all out.  Sometimes I add costumes to one or two, but this year... I gave them ALL costumes.  This year's theme: Mizzle Superheroes!  Yes, you heard right.  So, let me introduce to you the Mizzle for TLC:

Poe/ The Book Worm

By Day

Name: Poe

Poe is a poet and a romantic at heart. He spends his days whittling away time by writing poetry of all kinds: free verse, haikus, sonnets, you name it. He has even mastered iambic pentameter. Here is a haiku he wrote just last week about something that greatly inspires him:

Sandwiches taste good

I like mine with bananas

Please go make me one

When he’s not writing poetry he enjoys going to Costco in search of awesome samples.

By night

Name:  The Book Worm

The Book Worm is always looking for criminals of the biggest kind: ones who don’t read. When no one’s looking he replaces peoples’ phones and other electronic devices with books. This has caused many, many problems, however, nobody can call the police because you can’t call the police with a book. Even though a lot of problems have arisen because of this, some good has come from it. There has been an increase in reading and Harry Potter fan clubs. However, the Hunger Games fan club has been getting out of hand with their reenactments…

Arble/ Imagine Wagon

By day

Name: Arble

Arble is a daydreamer. She always has her head in the clouds. People often mistake this as anti-social, but she really does enjoy having company over. When she does have people over she treats them to tea and cookies. Sadly, her usual company includes her two imaginary friends Herald the Llama and Roger the Capybara. She does love their company, however Herald and Roger never really get along. They always argue whether or not carrots can really make your skin orange. Herald thinks it can but Roger disagrees. One time Herald ate carrots until he was sick just to prove his point… neither of them realized that they both had fur so it would be hard to tell if it made their skin orange.

By night

Name:  Imagine Wagon

Imagine Wagon is more of a team name since it consists of Arble, Roger, and Herald (don’t tell anyone though, it’s a secret). They always try helping out with anything they can: getting a cat out of a tree, bank robbery, or a local dine-and-dash. Usually, in the middle of helping out, Roger and Herald will find something to argue about and Arble tries to break it up… The problem with this is that only Arble can see them. So not only does the crime go unresolved, but people are left confused.




Lena/ Candy Commander

By day

Name: Lena

Lena has this huge thing for sweets. Lollipops, chocolate, sugar-coated grasshoppers, and even jawbreakers! She even tries making her own candy. So far her flavors include: Very Cherry, Poppin’ Bubblegum, and Awesome Avocado… honestly though, they all taste like mashed potatoes. Whenever she has time she enjoys sitting down and reading picture books to nearby guinea pigs. She reads The Hungry Hungry Caterpillar every Tuesday as requested by popular demand.

By night

Name: Candy Commander

Anyone in need of candy? The Candy Commander is here to help! She always looks for people in need of candy: the mayor, a child, or just your average everyday Joe… but not Nelson… average everyday Nelsons don’t get candy except if the Candy Commander is feeling generous. Anyways, she will give candy to anyone she feels is in need of a little happiness. The only downside is, once she gives the person candy she realizes how much she loves candy and snatches it right back from them and gives them something she won’t miss; like a stalk of celery.

Garrett/ El Malentendido

By day

Name: Garrett

Garret is a superhero movie fanatic. However, he found out he enjoys them more when he watches them in Spanish. This is probably because he only knows a few words in Spanish (or as he likes to say “Es-pon-yool”) giving him room to improvise the rest of the words. This makes a much more interesting plot. In his spare time he enjoys going to cafes and drawing the people around him as muppets.

By night

Name: El Malentendido

Whenever a Spanish-English translator is needed, El Malentendido is there in a flash! He comes ready with his broken Spanish and good intentions. He has been the cause of 7 injuries, 4 divorces, and 9.36 allergic reactions just by mistaking the phrase “I need help” with “I need waffles”. This is probably because “ayuda” and “waffle” are so similar; it could happen to anyone, right? The cops have been after him for half a year, but the mask and cape always throw them off.

Romeo/ The Super Amazing Prince of Awesome

By day

Name: Romeo

Romeo lives up to his name. He is definitely a romantic. Long walks in the park, serenades, and cheesy pick-up lines. Even if this is so, his cat, Nana, is his main priority. This doesn’t stop him from trying with the ladies though… for some odd reason he’s attracted to dog people; it doesn’t usually work after the first date… or first thirty minutes to be honest. This doesn’t bring him down, actually, his ego is pretty high to the point of narcissism. His Facebook page is full of selfies. On the weekends he enjoys seeing how many Skittles he can fit in different containers. He’s also not bad at badminton.

By night

Name: The Super Amazing Prince of Awesome

The Super Amazing Prince of Awesome is always in search of a damsel in distress. Whenever he hears a (female) cry for help he’s there to help! No matter the problem he always starts the rescuing with an acoustic serenade of songs ranging from Come on Get Higher by Matt Nathanson to Enter Sandman by Metallica. He usually gets really into them, then gets distracted by a nearby reflection of himself and starts serenading the reflection. This is both unattractive and counterproductive. Once he realizes he hasn’t saved the damsel, the damsel has already been saved by a more humble man.

Daryl/ Dangerous Danger

By day

Name: Daryl

Daryl is extremely optimistic. He sees the good in everyone and everything. He’s very supportive of his friends and is humble about his own accomplishments. He makes sure to take each failure as a learning experience. On the rare occasion he does get a little flustered he does yoga while listening to Metallica; it calms him. He also enjoys adding syrup to his pizza.

By night

Name: Dangerous Danger

Dangerous Danger is always on the prowl for criminals. He searches high and low to find people up to no good. No criminal can escape his clutches! However, Dangerous Danger has a bad habit of finding the good in everyone. Because of this, instead of turning them into the police, he engages the villain in an invigorating conversation about pizza, exchanges e-mails, and sets them free. This doesn’t really help the crime rate, but on the Brightside, now Dangerous Danger has 4 pizza dates coming up… he’s going to be in costume of course.

Sammi/ Sammy

By day
Name: Sammi

Sammi is a balloon enthusiast. She loves making balloon animals. So far she’s mastered how to make snakes, caterpillars, eels, and sticks. At the moment she’s trying to get down how to make a worm. This is the most challenging because you have to get the expression just right. When she’s not making balloon animals she enjoys catching snails, naming them, painting their shells, and then releasing them back into the wild. She hopes that they’ll remember her and come to visit for tea and (salt-free) crackers sometime.

By night

Name: Sammy (with a “y”)

Whenever somebody is in a bad mood Sammy is there with a balloon and a smile. When someone is in despair she makes one of her balloon animals for them. However, because of her lack of variety this usually adds to their depression causing a craving for chocolate and chick-flicks. Even though the rate of overall sadness has gone up, the number of swashbuckling pirates has decreased… whether or not these two statistics are related is still being studied.




And I need to give credit to a very important person. When it comes to my Mizzles, sometimes I'm under a time crunch and need an assistant who helps me name and give each Mizzle a small story.  Her name is Kimberly Vance.  She has given these Mizzles their unique stories. She is definitely my Mizzle hero and I would be lost without her!