look a little closer blog

Anyone that knows me, knows that I love butterflies.

I’ve always loved them, ever since a child. And once I started painting, they were my favorite thing to paint. In Iowa, I used to face paint at town festivals, and I was always known as the “butterfly girl.” When I got my guitar, the first song I wrote was about butterflies. Three chords. (G, C, D)

G                                   C
Butterflies are my friend (x3)

G                                 C                         D
Butterflies are my friend till the end!

I even took one of my senior pictures with me laying down and butterflies were in my hair.
Yes, I was a little obsessed!

Well, this weekend I decided to bring back the butterflies. My friends moved into this awesome apartment with huge white walls and said I could do an installation on their wall. This will be an ongoing project and I plan on filling the wall with paper art (inspired by the local artist, Katie Sokoler)

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Here’s the magic of the butterflies…

These butterflies started on the floor…

Since there was a nice open space, I decided to join them…

Arranging….

They made their way to my hair…

And my nose…

And told me to make a wish…

They even surrounded my friend Dani! (she was the only brave one to be part of my photo shoot!)

The butterflies slowly made their way up the wall…

They finally did.

Now my friends will be greeted with these every day!

Ta da!

Enjoy friends! May love flutter by you every day!

I’m feeling the love and making lots of art!

Things I love lately:

*paintings with ribbons and diamonds…*

*…looming birds, webs of color, and fishes eating the roots of a village*

*a swan with feathers of glitter and a sail boat weathering the storm*

*a golden village above a pink octopus and a beautiful peacock looking at an organ*

*finally finishing this piece! it was on my wall for nearly five months*

*When Lavi gives me her opinions…*

*And decides she wants to help! (no worries, there was no paint in this!)*

*Updating even older art from my walls! (It started off with just the blocked colors as a landscape, no details)*

*bright colors and fireworks of color*

*diamond drips leading to tiny dots*

*finally having a messy art room, even if it’s a shoebox!*

*and messy hair is kind of fun too*

Ahh Monday. I am exhausted. I think we walked 100 blocks, literally.
This weekend, our adventures started in Central Park..

We did a lot of walking and a lot of talking.

In catching up, we realized that we’ve come a long way since the days of chasing cats, sneaking into old “haunted” houses, and climbing mulberry trees.

But, some things never change, like our adventurous spirits and love of looking at pretty things.

Like sparkly chandeliers..

Which I will totally own one of these someday!

As children, we used to believe in magic..and we still do.

I think strangers were a little scared..

In reality, we were just playing with trash.

We connected with my Asian roots..

But I’m still a little confused.. Germasian?

Since my family is always changing, it’s important to take family portraits.

The rest of the night was a little blurry…but I believe we did dancing.

The morning after, I found my earrings on my fan.

AJ got me some coffee..and Lavi gave me kisses.

We sat on the fire escape and saw pretty shadows.

We were both too tired to walk around, so we did lots of sitting.

Enjoyed an interesting dance show…

and found some love in Times Square.

Sadly, this morning he had to leave.

We had a wonderful time and it was just so nice to catch up. I am really lucky to have such a special friend! Life is so chaotic, but I think that at the end of the day, all you really need is love. (hooray Beatles!)

If my life were a painting, it would be very bright. Full of color, and full of life. One of the reasons I love painting is because adding that extra tint of yellow or pink can really make something breathe. Imagine a dull flower and adding a highlight to it. All of a sudden it has life. The people that come in and out of our lives are constantly bring new breath to us.

Haven’t you ever met a person that is like a breath of fresh air?
I have, lots of them.

And I seriously hope that those I’ve met will be there for the next chapter of my life.

But it’s good to know, that I’ll always have someone there to catch me.

xoxoxox

I am in a NYC snow globe!

It’s hard to believe how much it is snowing here, but being from the cornland I don’t mind.

Strangers– “Oh this is the worst snow ever!”
My thoughts– “Snow..psh..this is nothing!”

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I did something stupid/exciting/smart/foolish/but-oh-i-don’t-care-i-am-so-happy-i-know-i-won’t-regret-this-and-i’m-in-a-better-financial-place-anyway last night.

I bought a camera! I was recently inspired by this awesome local artist to get back into photography (well, learning it!). I really love how bright her work is and the fact that she is bringing smiles to random strangers in this city!

I was headed to work the other day when I came across these and I couldn’t help but smile.

Thank you stranger, for writing these words and reminding me that love and peace are still around.

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Lately I am just so excited about making art and just creating. I love, love, looove color and applying it to canvas, journals, scraps of paper, etc. but I also love finding little treasures that are all around me and New York is full of them! I really enjoy sharing what I find with people (hence lots of picture messages), which is why I’m getting back into photography (well trying!). As much as I enjoy my film camera, it can be harder to capture these moments…and you can end up with lots of undeveloped film.

I have a whole box of rolls at home and I have absolutely no idea what is on them! Maybe one day I will find out. Until then, I’m excited to play with my new camera and share how I really see the world.

I am blog famous now thanks to my friend’s super, awesome, creative, tasty cake blog!

btw..the cookies were really tasty, even if they were flat!

Read her blog and adventures on baking cakes and much more!