Welcome to my first official post on my now-live website! My goal with this blog is to post monthly updates on what I've been working on with my art. Partly for friends and family who are wondering what I’ve been up to while holed up in my apartment, but mostly as a kind of accountability partner for myself, to make sure I'm always creating something.
Let’s start with the essentials: my top priority after settling into my new place was scoping out the local thrift stores. Naturally. Major scores at all three. I snagged Ikea lowball glasses (immediately shattered one in my sink—RIP), a missing piece to my beloved Corelle "Spring Blossom" collection, an almost new oil pastel set, and a gorgina patchwork leather bag.
The change in thrift scenery has been the highlight of this move tbh. That, and visiting Magic Gardens during the first week we got here. I can’t get it out of my head. Every time I walk around the city and see Zagar's work sprinkled into walls and corners, it's like a little jolt of inspiration. I’ve been collecting random bits of "garbage" for years—jars full of odds and ends that I knew would come in handy one day. Seeing Zagar’s mosaics has reignited my obsession with building with junk.
One man’s trash is another man’s tesserae, right?
I’ve got this growing urge to dive into more (and bigger) mixed-media work, but honestly, the ideas are swimming around in my head faster than I can act on them.
I’ve also picked back up studying Catholic relics. There’s something about those grand, macabre sculptures made to house tiny bone fragments or scraps of bloody cloth that really fascinates me. It’s wild how these intricate structures were built around such small, eerie objects, yet they hold so much weight and significance. I’ve been thinking about how I can pull some of that energy into my work—though I'm not quite sure how yet.
Right now, I’m still trying to figure out how to balance all of these ideas and get myself into a rhythm. I’m hoping that starting my new job this week will give me the routine I need to carve out more meaningful time to create. I'm excited to keep sharing little bits of my process and work, and I hope someone out there enjoys viewing it.
Thanks for looking and welcome to snothurl !
Can’t wait to read monthly updates! You’re inspiring me too, to make time for creativity! -maddie