A Year and a Month and a Week and a Day Later...

A couple of months ago, I responded to my sister Hilary’s repeated and loving naggings with the statement that yes, I would get around to posting again on my blog one day, and that the day would probably be the one-year anniversary of my last post. I said this because one year sounded big and round, and it gave me plenty of time to procrastinate and maybe even, if I was lucky, to forget.

Well, I forgot. And then today as I was walking outside, I started to remember this commitment and, subsequently, to reflect (as all thoughtful and responsible people are wont to do now and then). It was in this way that I made the remarkable discovery that: Today it has been one year, one month, one week and one day since I last posted on my blog--and that I would hate myself for the rest of my life if I didn't acknowledge the delightfulness of this coincidental day in my life and times without a blogsome nod of my silly curly head!

So......yep. I'm back. I may even post more faithfully from now on, or at least experience some brief spells of faithfulness in between quiet stretches of not-much-noticed absence. ANYWAY here are a bunch of recent doodles from my various notebooks.

Just Because

Here are some doodles that I drew during English class on Tuesday.

This is after a boy who sits across the room from me. He is actually a pretty good-looking fellow. But whatever. I like to look at a face for reference and then getting loosey goosey with the features.

Her eye-to-lip distance is off the charts! Ah, big noses. How I love you.

On Wednesday, I was waiting for a ride on a bench at the MTC when a cheeky little german Elder, bound for Hungary, came over and looked at my notebook. He pointed at my favorite (the animal in the bottom left) and said, "This one is my favorite. What is it? Is it a reindeer? Maybe a girl reindeer??"

This drawing came out while I was looking at the cover of My Name is Asher Lev that was sitting on my desk.

Some fellow.

Then I drew these at around 1AM last night.

Lastly, I drew this guy during a work meeting today.





And since it always seems to come back to the MTC job, I will share the following:
A buddy of mine at the MTC wrote me a funny rap...

Annie the cashier
She is in the zone
Ringing up products like a telephone

The bookstore gets crazy
There are lots of highs and lows
Especially when your job is selling candy to the gordos (haha)

Making the most of any cards that are dealt her
And her fave thing to say is,
Cash or card, Elder?


The "gordos" bit is referencing a time when he and his companion were practicing bearing their testimonies in Spanish and his comp started his by first talking about how there was so much cheap candy in the store and I was making them all fatties by selling it to them. The rap-writing elder was busting up and I asked afterward why I thought I heard the word "gordos" in his testimony! Good times in the good ol' MTC.

The day before he left, I gave him a final encouraging note that included a rap of my own. To conclude, I will "recite" it for you:

I know a certain hombre
Wears his name by his tie
Elder BLEEP is his nombre
And he's a pretty swell guy

He's been learning his Spanish
He's been studying verse
He's a teaching machine
That doesn't go in reverse

He's keeping it fresh
Ain't ever gonna go stale
Cause he's serving as a mish
In Ft. Lauderdale!!

(It is very satisfying to put a BLEEP in a rap I've written, even if it's for the sake of confidentiality and no actual profanity is involved.)

Wanna See An Envelope?

Well, I have sent out quite a few letters since my last post, but today it finally occurred that: I remembered to scan it before sending it, I had time to do so before the mail came today (I'm too fidgety about mail to wait till tomorrow) and I had access to a scanner (albeit just a weenie little Wilkinson Center one). So here is an example of a more or less typical letter envelope, sent out to my dear friend Tamarra. I didn't have her address, so at this point I had just written what I knew of it. That works out well anyway because I'm not sure how keen anyone is on having the address of their place of residence blogged for all the world (or at least my very limited scope of visitors) to see. So all that this is missing is her address and the red pen spiky blob I drew around it. Anyway. Hooray for delicious, delightsome correspondence! I have to make sure not to post this before she gets it!







Also, today an Elder in the MTC Bookstore accidentally told me that I'm his favorite cash register. I told him I'm just glad I'm somebody's favorite cash register.

That is all.

This post contains: Various Words, Noisy Birds, Magnolias, Wormhole-ias, Screaming Toes and Buffalos.

I am an art major. I really love the Studio art program here at BYU, and I really love art. I have a bit of a problem, though, which is that I have a lot of difficulty producing artwork. Over the past year or two, it's gotten to the point where sitting down to draw something is extremely anxiety-triggering and I usually can't even handle it. Unless it's doodling; I like drawing weird crap out of my head, and it generally involves much less stress and pressure for me. But I want to get to a point where I can love the process of making art, or at least feel like I can function as an artist until the process becomes comfortable enough that I can work through it. Otherwise, what exactly can I claim to be doing here? It is something that I really want to be able to enjoy.


This spring semester, I took a two-week long class that was an art collaboration between BYU faculty and students, and a dozen artists from Liverpool and one from New Zealand. It was so fun! I loved the people I got to meet and the fantastic camping trip we went on together. I knew when I signed up that I would enjoy it. Primarily, though, I enrolled as a challenge to myself. I would have to produce some art by the end of the course, whether I felt capable or not. We went camping in southern UT, and then upon our return we had three days to make pieces for our show that would open that Thursday. It was so hard! I became really sick, too, and only got a few hours of sleep each night. By Wednesday I was kicking myself, thinking, if I can't even make art for fun, what made me think I could make gallery-worthy art in three days with materials and methods I've never used?! I made it, though. And in the end, I was very dissatisfied with my piece; in the making of it I encountered many agonizing little failures, and the result lacked a lot of what I'd hoped to include and was pretty low quality. But I did make it, and I can acknowledge that as a milestone on my road to becoming a artist who makes art. I've decided not to think about that ugly piece shipping over and showing in Liverpool, and just consider it another step taken.


I've got some thoughts about how to get the wheels turning and the juices flowing again. There are some ideas and media that I want to explore. Sometimes I can think more about it without wigging out, and I get this feeling that I'll be able to make things I can love and be proud of down the road.


In the meantime, all I have to show for myself is doodly drawings and lots of photos. I love photography, and I'm very grateful to have that creative outlet in my life. Taking pictures is very engaging and challenging for my eyes and brain, but still relaxing and fun without fears attached.

Here are some things.

I drew the screaming toe freshman year. I was actually drawing a stuffed giraffe I sewed out of polka dot socks, starting with his button eye, when the button got messed up and it turned into a mouth.

This is Ernesta and All Her Ghosties. I drew her two summers ago with Magic Scent Markers on the back of a handout during the 2-week-long, 8-hours-a-day, boring-as-heck training at the Utah State Developmental Center.

I'm quite a bit in love with the magnolia tree on the north side of the HFAC.

Holy crap, that seagull just popped into a wormhole between shots 2 and 3!

Cross-processed film, SupaSampla camera, Cali '09.

A Raucous Raven.

Chukars, chukars, everybody loves chukars!!

That was for you, roomies!

Ok, there weren't any buffalo anywhere in this post.