If you follow me on Instagram, you likely have seen these watercolor and ink blob paintings I've been making. I've called them Bloobies jokingly but I kind of like the term so it might stick. I'm not sure what these will manifest in but they've become a really lovely experiment in materials, playful making, and a nice respite from having to make representational work. 

May was a year and June was a rollercoaster! I've shared a bit on IG about some of what I'll be writing about here but I'll expand a bit on some things as this post will be a bit more like a journal than a thing with a clear lesson. I've been making a lot of work recently as I've found a way to play with watercolor and started doing meditative blob/spot/boob paintings and things since May. The inspiration came from my nervous system being totally overloaded after my son had a medical emergency that ended up with us staying a few days in the Pediatric ICU. Everything is fine now but the trauma and lingering anxieties of that kind of experience are what me and my husband are working through right now. In the midst of all of that, I'm also having *~*~deep thoughts*~*~ about my career, where I see my personal practice going and all those fun existential related things that come up when life forces you to see what is most important without your permission. As a result, I've "hunkered down" a bit more and am focusing on me and my family and stopped doing as much yearning/planning for community focused projects as I had. 

In the midst of ALL OF THAT, my work has been stolen and imitated and it's just made me reflect on all of the let downs I've experienced over the years and how to mitigate those into the future. It's also made me simply not want to work with or trust other people beyond what my job requires. My work has been copied or presented without my knowledge or permission a two times this year alone. And it's not AI or some foreign entity profiting off of it -- in both instances my work has been co-opted by people I know and trusted and who didn't take the time to reach out and ask or share their plans with me. I'm not sure why and I have reached out to these individuals and have either not heard anything back OR have had folks gaslight me. 

I've been documenting my preparations for Mr. Baby's birthday! My mom used to (and actually still does!) DIY our birthdays and so I've continued the tradition with these hand drawn and painted storybook characters.

I missed last week! Things have been busy on my end as we spent half the week recovering from a very busy holiday weekend and then ended with accepted student day at F&M. I participated in a networking evening which is a stretch for me as I prefer more organic networking events and generally hate large social gatherings BUT I'm glad I stepped out of my comfort zone! The motivating factor for me was the fact that we often don't have creative professionals present at these kinds of events. My siblings are starting their own college journeys soon and junior/senior year me has been on my mind a lot lately. I remember how I felt simultaneously like I had it all figured out and also I had no clue what I was doing with my life. So in an effort to add some good karmic beans on my scale, I signed up to represent the arts and share my journey with current students at my alma mater. 

Once upon a time not long ago I would sew...almost every day. I was convinced I would be fashion designer and at the time I was deeeeep in a Pentecostal/Baptist/Evangelical church cult (story for another day) so I was also convinced my modest yet fashionable aesthetic would be the key to converting souls for the kingdom. A lot of that has changed but what hasn't changed is the sewing itch that creeps up with a vengeance every couple of years.  As a visual aide: Here is 17year old me in my me-made prom dressed secretly inspired by MCR Helena but make it modest and ****PINK****. I love that version of me and have compassion for her. She was cute. 

I will be showing some new work in the Demuth Invitational coming up soon! Here is the work in progress. It is a watercolor based on one of my favorite photographs of myself just a few days after coming home from having Mr. Baby. I remember being tired, sore from tapering off my post-C-section meds (literally just motrin and tylenol wtf) and simultaneously proud and shocked at what my body just went through. The background is from the stiff baby blankets they wrapped Mr. Baby in that also likely held so many other babies and had been sanitized to be itchy, scratchy welcomes into this world. This is all on top of some gestural sketches of Mr. Baby.

Hello friends!
In 2024 I planned to make more blog posts and be more active in my personal practice. I suppose part of that became a reality in a way! Shortly after my last post, I was greeted with the most exciting news: I was pregnant! 9 long months with the biggest belly and most heartburn ever, I welcomed my little dude whom shall forever be Mr. Baby to the public. We share a birthday and a face (he looks shockingly exactly like little me) and now we also share every meal and nap. Needless to say, I spent 2025 very pregnant and then very tired from labor and raising Mr. Baby. We're almost at a year now and I cannot be happier (or sleepier).

In honor of Latino Heritage Month I'm sharing a series of poems I wrote back in 2019 thinking about my family, my heritage, and identity. I've been writing and rewriting these over the past 5-10 years now and I like to revisit them to see what has changed, what has stayed the same, and what phrases or lines are still echoing in my head all this time later: 

I've been calling this year my year of no. Meaning, I have said no or been forced to say no to opportunities due to health issues, prioritizing mental health or just simply finally feeling comfortable to opt out and reclaim my time. Since I graduated college, I've held multiple jobs and gigs and once was very proud of myself for always being busy. I come from a family of overachievers and hard workers so it is more familiar to me to be busy and work all the time than it is to have leisure. In my year of no, I've rediscovered play in a way that I haven't in a very long time. My day-job/bread-and-butter is being the Assistant Director of the Center for Creative Exploration at PCA&D and I am happy that a good portion of my job is encouraging people to tap into their creative side. Often this means there is space for play and modeling play for creatives and the creatively curious! Just this past Friday, I spent my day working from It's Modern Art as part of the Peep Show with Executive Director of Center for Creative Exploration and long-time creative collaborator Natalie Lascek. We co-created a space that encouraged play as a vehicle to talk about the importance of funding the arts and advocating for the arts.