View this email in your browser

Happy March! 🌻March is such a great time of potential. The days are finally going to be luxuriously long again and the temps are heating up. Spring in San Diego is hard to beat. Beautiful azure clear skies and bright sun. Not too hot yet, no June gloom yet, locals only at the beach. It’s my favorite time of year! I don’t know about you but this winter felt extremely long, dark, cold, arduous, 0/10 all around. I’m setting my sights on warmer weather and pinker skies and long, long hours in the sun. I always find spring the most inspiring.

Creatively, I’m feeling EXPERIMENTAL. Artist as Researcher vibes. Kinda doing everything and anything and seeing what is worth pursuing further. Even though I kissed the ‘Gram goodbye, I still find myself in old modes of thinking like “I got to make something IMPORTANT. I got to make something VALUABLE. I got to make something people are gonna LIKE and say WOW over and potentially BUY. I gotta make HEAP BIG ART.” So I’m trying to experiment with making ugly stuff, making stuff just for me, making stuff that might lead to other stuff and might not, making stuff for the experience and not the potential for it to be something other than that. It’s tough and it at times feels STUPID and DUMB and POINTLESS but I make on. Diamonds are rare and you have to dig around in a big, dark hole just for the chance you might find one but also other rocks are pretty and swinging my little pickax at shit is kinda fun, for the sounds and for the sparks. I hope you are enjoying this extended metaphor as much as I am ‘cause I can go all day.

I’ve also been thinking a lot about how long life is and how I don’t want my life to suck even a little because there could be the possibility that my life will then suck for a long, long time. So every time I can, I have to notice where the suck is showing up in my life and do my best to get rid of it. Because sucking for one hour can lead to sucking for one day, one week, one month, one year, or forever if you’re not careful.

Which brings me to the subject line of this email. I have lived a lot of my life by a Y.O.L.O., You Only Live Once, principle. Doing impulsive things because I was telling myself a story about how I’m only going to live one time. Lately I’ve been experimenting with the inverse of this idea which I call Y.O.L.E.D. or You Only Live Every Day. I have discovered that actually, I’m not only going to live one time but rather, I have to live every day. YOLO life is staying up late, consuming too much alcohol or crappy food, running up the credit card, and always rushing in a constant state of adrenaline. YOLED is more chill like taking time to stretch, fill up my water bottle, eat breakfast, and setting the freakin’ mood.

I even apply YOLED to my art life. Instead of YOLO thinking “I better hurry up and make a masterpiece” which inadvertently leads me to actually making nothing because it’s way too much pressure. YOLED art making is more “let me do a little bit every day, because life is long and being an artist is what I do every day and a little bit every day is better than nothing, even if it’s stupid and I hate it.” YOLED assures me that opportunities will arise again so it’s cool to let something that’s less than ideal pass me by, assures me that I will have more than one chance to do what I want to do so it’s cool if I don’t get it on the first try, assures me that there are many people and relationships out there so I can let ones that aren’t for me go on their way. It’s been a nice change of pace and allowed me to loosen my grip a bit and get into the living of life rather than the rushing of life.

However, I will say that I don’t want to get in a mode of thinking that YOLO is bad and YOLED is good. Both have their pros and cons. Spontaneity keeps life interesting and rituals and routines keep life grounded. YOLO and YOLED are both self care, a whole yin yang approach. If this concept resonates with you, journal about it a bit this month. Experiment with where you can YOLED more in your life, what that looks like on a day to day basis. You might even want to journal about YOLO vs. YOLED and how you can take advantage of each one. One of my favorite YOLED rituals right now is when I get in the car, taking time to get comfortable, set up a playlist and my drink before I drive off. Noticing where I’m rushing and applying YOLED there has been my experiment lately. Try it if you want ✨ If you like this concept, I made a little word art you can print out and hang up for a reminder, just click the image to download and print.

Teaching has been so busy lately I haven’t had the chance to take a lot of photos. I’m making it a goal to update the teaching sections on my website this month so if you’re into seeing what I’m doing in the classroom, stay tuned. But do check out this awesome symmetrical word art students at St. Rita’s finished over the last few weeks.

• Reading all the Dune books in order is a goal of mine this year and I’m almost done with The Butlerian Jihad, written by Brian Herbert. I surprised myself with being really into it and now can’t wait to read more.

• We watched three flyovers of the International Space Station this month and it was an epic sight to see, especially with everything that’s been happening in the world. Check out this website to see when the next one will be.

• My friend Morgan, aka Oozy Schmoozy, is an amazing artist who creates Rorschach inspired abstract paintings. She’s turning out some wearable art with a new line of earrings featuring her artwork. Check them out and support her!

• Denim. Choker.

• I have to toot my own horn about the epic Super Bowl cake I made for the big game.

• Did some shopping with my friend Kayla at these local boutiques and had a blast!

• Killing myself to live on the I-15 South.

• This month’s printable calendar.

• This month’s playlist, songs to get you in the mood to SPRING!

I’ll leave you there, hopefully with something to chew on until next time. If you feel like someone in your life would enjoy this newsletter, please forward them a copy. Word of mouth is wonderful.

Your humble Artist-Researcher rambles on ✨ - Sierra