April '26 in Procress

Perennial Font

Not a ton of progress this month, just edits to existing characters. I’m hoping to kick this back up in May though and add a bunch more.

Sunrise Collage Piece

Still very much in progress, but this month I managed to sort through one month’s worth of newspapers, fishing for the right headlines for the project. Shoutout to my lovely GF for helping me with that!

Block prints for Sunrise

This month I made some block print carvings for a party that Sunrise NYC threw in conjunction with a bunch of other climate orgs. We let people print on pieces of scrap fabric, some of which my friend Danielle Urban sewed onto shirts, and it was so fun seeing what people chose to do with the blocks in terms of color and composition!

Three Songs!

I wrote another song for the Keepsake House Writing Club. This one is about stalling your projects and dreams in the hopes of executing better when you’re more skilled in the future. I then, for no reason whatsoever, wrote another song on a whim about wishing I was a more off-the-cuff, charismatic person. And following the writing club where I shared song #1, I wrote a third song inspired by seeing a late loved one in a dream. I’ve now reached a point where I’m actively writing enough music that I’m planning on collecting my songs into an EP or album. Between realizing how much I’ve been stalling on committing to larger scale creative projects and a small health scare, I’ve decided that I do need some part of me to live on in the world in the form of a CD.

Banner Designs for May Day

Sunrise NYC organized an action on May Day, aka international worker’s day, to blockade the NYSE in protest of the role billionaires play in worker exploitation, ICE, and genocide, among other things. I got to design the banners and hand signs that we made for that protest! I particularly enjoy the clown I drew on the right.

Project Hail Mary

Went into this movie with absolutely no context other than it was based on a sci-fi novel and it was incredible! I don’t know what I was expecting but it wasn’t to laugh AND cry AND nearly have an anxiety attack. I really appreciate that it gave me a range of emotion. Also that there was levity because I forgot until I entered the theater that space gives me existential anxiety.

Oh Yeah! dir. Nick Canfield

I watched this at Nitehawk Shorts fest and let me just say, Yello are now my Whimsy Icons. I can only aspire to be as weird, carefree, and simply in my art. This short doc was so funny and a good reminder to make shit just for the hell of it.

A Few Dollars More dir. Sergio Leone

This movie was a fun watch, but more importantly, I’m kind of obsessed with the hand lettered title credits. Time to make a revival font?

The Seagull, Anton Chekhov

Another play! I decided to read this after watching a friend perform in an adaptation of it. It was really interesting to see how the play was changed here and there to accommodate a smaller cast for the black box stage.

“Madwoman”, Laufey

I’m slowly coming back into a music listening phase (I tend to go in and out of listening to a lot of music and none at all) and this month I’ve had Laufey on repeat. Especially loving the instrumentals in this 🤌

The Clearing, Wolf Alice

I’ve been really enjoying this album, particularly “Bloom Baby Bloom,” the track that made me check out the rest of the album. I love a song that contains a lot of drama and movement and “Bloom Baby Bloom” really delivers on that for me!

Animation Speakeasy

This month I went to my first Animation Speakeasy event! What makes this event unique is that unlike other creative events I’ve been to where creatives present their own work, Animation Speakeasy invites animators to share short films that inspire them instead. The artists this month shared 3 shorts that I greatly enjoyed:

Jumping, Osamu Tezuka

This short is a great showcase of a first person perspective, with a simple concept and great execution. It was made in the 80s so CW for a racist jumpscare at [4:47]

Meow Mix, Chris Zhang

An absolute blast, Meow Mix really captures the feeling of the inside of my head in the current age of internet brainrot. Did I get or know every single reference? No, but I felt it.

Genius Loci, Maya Merigeau

As soon as I watched this I knew immediately that I was going to have to watch it again. The art style is absolutely gorgeous. I love the mixing of mediums.

I’m actually hoping that May will be more of a completion month for some of the open projects that I’ve been working on. The Turtle Race and Sunrise Art Fair are both in the works and hopefully will come to fruition over the next few months. And I need to set aside time to finish my font!

For making it through this newsletter, a doofy picture of babygirl Tuna.