One of my favorite things to photograph has always been doors. I am not sure why, but they are always interesting and colorful objects that speak not only for a given culture or place but also for an individual. Here is a collection of my favorite doors from around the world 🙂
Welcome back, everyone! Hope you’re having a great start to the new year. I certainly am – my roommates and I have been trying to watch a lot of new stuff during our downtime. I’m a fan of all sorts of genres, but I’m particularly partial to horror, so we’ve been watching a lot of scary stuff. I’m to a point where horror doesn’t really affect me anymore – I won’t get scared but I will be intrigued – yet for the first time in a long while, I was actually scared watching a horror film. We watched Parker Finn’s “Smile”, a movie that was well known on platforms like TikTok for making users cry in fear. I was always curious about it when it released, but never assumed I would be one of those fearful viewers. But oh my god, this film was insane. It follows a woman who is cursed by a malignant presence, taking the form of any random stranger who just stands there, smiling. I never realized a person simply standing and smiling could be so unnerving, yet once the film ended, I nervously laughed to my roommate – only to be met with a strained response of “Don’t smile at me right now!!” We had to turn all the lights on, turn on a silly cartoon and sit on the floor trying to distract ourselves long after the film ended. It felt like we were little kids at a sleepover. There’s a lot of joy there, despite the discomfort we felt. I missed that feeling of being scared.
Good morning everyone! I hope that you have all had a wonderful start to 2023! To be completely honest, I haven’t touched any of my paintings for about 7 months now. There always seems to be something better that I have to prioritize, something else that I should be doing. In the midst of studying, focusing on classes, and stressing over life, I completely pushed my art to the side. I told myself, “Once this exam is over, once the semester is over, once this small thing is over, then I will reward myself and start a new painting….”
But life never stops!
I realized that I have completely forgone one of the only things that brings me true joy and acts as my cathartic release. However, the thought persists that being able to do my art is the prize, rather than something I should be able to integrate into my every day life, something that will help me to get through all else. One of my biggest goals in 2023 is to get over this mental block. I hope to be able to cultivate a better balance within myself and my life. I have truly learned that pushing away all self care (whatever that may look like for you) in the hopes of devoting all of my attention to studying or my goals, is counterintuitive, and has done more harm than good.
I hope that by the end of the month I will be able to post that I finally started a new painting, the idea of which has been living rent free in my mind for almost a year! This one may be my best one yet! What are your goals for 2023? What changes do you hope to see within yourself? What changes do you hope to see in your life? Is there anything you are trying to get over?
Please let me know if there is anything that you all would like to see from me this new year. If any questions or thoughts arise, please comment or reach out to me via my socials!
Until next week,
Riya
Instagram: @riya_aggarwal.art
Portfolio: https://theindianartist.weebly.com/
Its tip reflected in the sun
And twinkled among shadows
You tantalized me by waving it slowly
Curves painting pictures
When you asked me what I saw
There
Were clouds
Big ones that surrounded you
That made the setting of the sun bleed
Enough to paint the pages of our story
Hey guys!
This week I wanted to draw what my commute to school normally looks like. I feel like I am always carrying a million things! Art school needs a lot of supplies. I live on central campus and have to commute to north campus to go to school, which means I have to take the bus. It feels awful to have to carry a lot of art supplies or your own artwork for everyone to see. The experience is awful especially when it is an art piece I don’t like or aren’t proud of. Have sympathy for us art kids <3 I hope the start of everyone’s semester is going well! All of my artwork in this blog is done in procreate.
Marissa Woods 
