ON/OFF EXPERIMENT

Recently my phone was stolen, forcing me to spend a week off social media for the first time in my life. At first, it was painful—Instagram was my favorite social media app. 

And it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Life without social media healed my soul by giving me the peace of not knowing everything. While it wasn't a groundbreaking experience, it was a catalyst for some of the best things I could ask for: a better relationship with myself, more mindfulness, and a newfound inspiration to create more and consume less.

Here are some things I made while I was unplugged and truly living in reality! 

I painted this piece based on a photograph I took while traveling in Iceland back in March. This photo is actually a highly zoomed-in shot of a geyser, and I was drawn to its abstract nature. I loved capturing the flow and movement of the water, which inspired this painting. For the painting, however, I wanted to evoke a more ethereal and dream-like feeling. To achieve that, I incorporated softer, dreamy colors by adding in more pinks and purples, transforming the original image into something more surreal. 

The process was incredibly therapeutic. As a graphic designer, I haven't used traditional mediums in so long, but I have always enjoyed using gouache. It's funny because, even though I studied art, I never really enjoyed painting— perfect blank canvases intimidate me. It was nice though to create something meaningful once in a while. As I painted, I started thinking about how we collect cherished objects throughout life that represent significant moments and relationships. Whether it's a piece of jewelry, a postcard, or a photograph, each transcends its initial functions and becomes a vessel for memories, emotions, and experiences that bind us to our past, present, and future. Maybe this is just another cherished possession to my memory vault :)

For my other arts and crafts, I wanted to make little air clay models. I've always been a huge fan of Jellycat plushies, so I created miniature models of some of the ones I already own. The purple hippo is called Hippy and the green frog is called Greg (or Greggy).