Thursday, June 24, 2010

ShirenesArt

Hi everyone!

This is going to be one of my
all-time shortest blogs, because all I want to say
right now is...

www.shirenesart.weebly.com

...In other words, I recently created a website where I have displayed all the artwork I've done in the past several years.
I hope you will enjoy them and that they will somehow inspire you to appreciate the nature and appreciation of art more! :)



Bean out.
P.S. The picture you see here (© Title: Audrey Hepburn, Medium: Charcoal) is a sort of preview for my website. It is also my most recent piece of work, which I did about a week ago.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Reaching Home before the Walk has Even Ended

Today I took pictures for the first time in what felt like forever.
To be exact, at least four months.

And by "taking pictures," I specifically mean in the artistic way...Not counting pictures I might have felt obligated to take during large family gatherings. And not counting pictures that someone else might have taken with my camera.
What I refer to is photography, where you use your eye for a different purpose than what in the daily life.

Other than a brief photography class I took in 8th grade, I never really spent an extensive period of time taking pictures with the artistic eye. This mostly relates to the situation I've been in these past few months, which I wrote about in some previous blogs. But incase you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm referring to how I lately have abandoned my favorite hobbies merely out of my lack of motivation. I've never known the reasons for my laziness, but I've tried really hard to shake it off my shoulders.

But today, I felt some strong tug of encouragement from God knows where, that was powerful enough to have me take pictures of nature almost constantly as I was walking home from my bus stop today.

And as I took each snapshot of the emerald green leaves shimmering in the sunlight, and of the vibrant, spontaneous flowers, a familiar atmosphere began taking over me. It was the familiar notion I used to always get when I picked up a charcoal stick and drew it on blank paper, or whenever I made each brushstroke of an oil painting I was extremely proud of (despite my lack of experience in oil paints!). All of my day-to-day anxieties began melting off of me, because they were being quickly replaced by this sense of warmth and comfort that I hadn't felt for so long.

I was almost overwhelmed because it has been awhile since I used my energy on something other than the basics. For the past few months, all that I did when at home was eat, sleep, watch TV, and eat some more (but don't get me wrong, I still have my passion for food...which must have been totally obvious in my last blog :) ). The only opportunities I had in front of me for expressing myself artistically, were studying art history, visiting art museums (which I only have done twice recently), and chatting with friends at cafes (I think cafes are artistic for some reason...).
But today, I was able to spring myself out of the boring home routines I had gotten accustomed to, and retrace the same journey I always took when working on an art piece.

Though I wasn't actually drawing or painting during this walk home, I was still thinking the same way as with any other art medium--That is, I was thinking about how to portray some everyday object or concept in a way that can take an audience by surprise. I used different angles and distances, as I sometimes let the sun shoot its rays through the frame of the pictures, as I took each photo to become a special memory of mine.

My walk back home has actually brought me to my long-lost home, even before the walk even ended in front of my house. :) , If that makes any sense.
..Oh what the heck you know what I mean! ;)

P.S. Enjoy the sunshine today!



Bean out.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Pancake Pie from Last July

Hello to fellow bloggers or readers or whoever the type of lovely people you may be! :)
I decided to post this blog because I have been thinking about food (big surprise) and how it affects all of us. Some of my other blogs involve the same topic, but of course I like to introduce different aspects or discoveries one might make of it.

I was just eating a dessert I made, which is basically a giant pancake with berry compote on top...There's no fancy name for it, but I guess for now I'll just call it the Pancake Pie.
Anyway, while I was eating this ravishing treat, I thought about the senses I was experiencing when I last ate it--the sounds, smells, tastes (well obviously, it was the same taste), but also what I was feeling at the time. I started diving into some memory that I pulled out of my brain from last year's July, when I made the Pancake Pie for my entire family (my uncle, his lovely wife, their baby and my grandma came over too; my relatives are always the life of the party!). I remember it was a calm (so calm that I wished it would never end) night after an entire bright day of almost suffering from 80 degree sunny weather, so each bite out of that pastry deliciousness cooled every inch of me down to mere satisfaction.

We actually didn't get to finish the Pie together, because 10pm struck and my relatives wanted to go home for their night's rest (perhaps out of being drained from the hot weather...By the way, I think if a person from Florida were typing this blog they wouldn't have emphasized the hotness of the weather the way I am!). My dad, brother and sister decided to hit the sack too, so they bid my mom and I good night and went off to sleep.
My mom, as always, was working on her laptop and refused the idea of going to sleep, the way a person refuses to eat a cookie after a rigorous workout. "Not yet Shirene," she murmurs, after I try to convince her to take her red eyes off the laptop!, "...and I just poured myself a cup of coffee to keep me awake" she slowly and tiredly adds XD. (But don't worry, she has been going to bed a little earlier and isn't on the laptop so much lately.)

But I decided to stay up too, though not for as good of a reason as my mom...I stayed up late to watch TV (specifically, to watch a new episode of one of my favorite shows, Being Erica). And because no one finished the Pancake Pie, I felt free and careless enough about my diet to grab the pan and eat the entire rest of the dessert! ...It was nothing but gratification because no thoughts of any nauseousness or excruciating guilt I might feel the next morning entered my mind--All that my brain cells concentrated on was the bursts of flavor that came out of each chew I had of the berries and the fluffy texture-y pancake. :)

Mmmmm, now I feel like grabbing another slice of my newly-made Pie that's sitting next to me!

This entire memory was what I thought of for literally 10 minutes, as I was eating today's Pancake Pie and my family and I were listening to the Mamma Mia! soundtrack (the one from the new movie version by the way ;) ...I'm a big Amanda Seyfried and Meryl Streep fan!). And while remembering the smells of the deep night summer air that swiftly entered the living room from the open window; and as I recalled the dim lights spreading throughout the dark room (save for the brightness of the TV) and illuminating my devoured Pancake Pie at different yet striking angles, the sounds of the soundtrack music and my family's chatter drained out of my ears and seemed almost nonexistent. I felt like I was being transported back in time, all because of taking bites out of my dessert.

Until now, I never really thought about the impacts (in this case, the emotional ones) of eating a food that reminds you of memories of the past. Whether those memories may be uplifting or disturbing, the food can act so powerfully that you can never look at it the same again after you have realized its potential.

In this case, I was able to re-experience one of the most relaxed and fulfilling (not just because of how full and satisfied I felt by eating the dessert...It was of course also because of the talks and laughs I had with my family while sitting around the dinner table eating our meal together :) ) times of my life.

I almost hoped that I would go through the same exact memory again sometime this summer, but that's just asking for someone to press the repeat button. It would actually be boring, for if it happened, I'd miss out on all the other exciting, food-related memories I could create in the future.

Today (or tomorrow, if you end up reading this blog late at night or if you have already brushed your teeth!), eat a food that reminds you of a happy time in your life, a food that makes you want to go through that image all over again. But then also think of a way you could use that same food to make a new and equally wonderful memory with (like inviting your friends over for dinner for example). :)



Bean out.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

1 minute...

Here we go, I literally only have 9 minutes to type this blog, since my laptop's running out of charge and I'm too lazy to get up and connect it to the charger...Plus it gives me a little thrill that I have to type my blog this quickly! :)

Summer has (almost) officially begun for me, and it barely even feels like summer! I took my last final exam yesterday, and even though I don't have to go back to campus for awhile now, I still have one assignment left where I have to send in 5 edited essays for English class by this coming Friday at midnight...

So that's why I said "almost officially" instead of "officially," but I'm not going to let that one assignment get to me because I want to enjoy this first week of SUMMERRR! :D

Some of the things I hope to accomplish this summer are: spend as much time with friends as possible, especially those who won't be in town for most of the summer or who are moving, write many more blogs than I've written during this school year, read, paint and draw more, cook more, eat more (just kidding! :))....Basically, do everything more than usual.
I've barely had any motivation this year to do what I usually have loved doing, so hopefully this next few months of having nothing to do will get me to actually walk up to an empty canvas and start making something, anything!

Okay so I have 7 minutes left...That's strange, I think the timing on this laptop is much slower than how quickly time actually moves...Oh well.

I've read in a magazine recently that a way you can end up having a fulfilling and enjoyable summer is to write down all the things you want to do, regardless of how realistic they may be. This is because even though you may end up not being able to cross off all those things by the time summer's over, you're still left with the satisfying memories of what you did accomplish.
So after I write this blog and after I finish my cup of green tea (which I unfortunately abandoned in order to start typing this blog...I can't multitask in typing and drinking at the same time), I'm going to grab my paper and pen and jot down everything and anything that comes in my head. These may include and not be limited to...

(Oh god, 4 minutes left, I have to hurry now!!)
Stalking Johnny Depp (huh, I wish!), going to France, watch all the movies I missed out on while they were in theaters (including Avatar; yes, it's true, I still haven't seen that movie, not even once), learn to cook more instead of baking the same cakes over and over, and reading all books by Jane Austen. (I started reading Emma just a few days ago, which makes this my second Jane Austen book (after reading Pride & Prejudice three times)).

Okay, now I have 2 minutes left...Now I shall bring up the inevitable question:
What do YOU plan to do during the summer? :)
What are YOUR goals these next few months?

Okay, less than one minute; then I'll just say,

Here it goes!!


Bean out.
p.s. have a great summer! ;)