Today: Get Messy Thursdays | Adventure, Week 3

So, I decided to crack open a new sketchbook this week.  I was running out of pages in my old one, and everything that I loved about it (namely, the scraps and things spilling over the pages and spiral binding) was sort of driving me mental.  The binding was making it difficult to create full page spreads, so I went after something that would lay flat.  

I love the minimalist cover (I added the E for good measure) and the page size is perfect.  Buuut…. as you’ll see, the paper’s not holding up well with all the paint and ink.  I’m tempted to try making my own with loose watercolor paper.  Trial and error, my friends.

Speaking of trial and error, I accidentally used a “u” stamp instead of an “n” stamp for my first spread.  And I’m strangely okay with that (Look! I’m becoming a reformed perfectionist!).

Materials used: Bubble wrap used as a stamp, with ink and watercolor paint (applied with a brayer); letter stamps from Studio Calico with black StazOn archival ink; Sakura white gel pen; black fine point Sharpie pen; Sakura watercolors

One of the Get Messy prompts this week involved our biggest or greatest or most adventurous (I can’t remember the specific wording) adventure.  I listed a few that immediately came to mind in the bubble wrap circles.  Some adventures would revisit in a heartbeat.  I loved swimming to the back of a dark, sort of creepy, fish-(and who knows what else) filled cave off Cooper’s Island in the British Virgin Islands.  I would marry Nick and become Grace’s mother again in a heartbeat.  I’d even climb a bunch of waterfalls wearing gold leather sandals.  

The whole skydiving thing?  I’d probably skip that.  The more I thought about that absurd day, though, the funnier it became to me.  Like, to the point that I was in tears laughing.  And so, I feel like that one’s worth sharing.  If you’ve already been skydiving, we likely watched the same terrifying training video, wore the same hideous leather helmet thing, and possibly experienced the same life-changing, harness-induced discomfort.  Seriously.  I could barely enjoy the view, because all I could think was, “I survived free fall, and will come back to Earth only to die of the world’s worst wedgie.” 

I decided I needed to make a conscious decision just to relax (this would be a once in a lifetime experience, after all) and enjoy the ride, but apparently I relaxed so much that the instructor I jumped tandem with thought I had passed out, and he started sort of slapping me on the cheek.  So that was weird.

Also, I went on this whole “adventure” with an ex-boyfriend (it was all very fresh… like… I think he dumped me a few days before we went).  That seems like an important detail.  After the slapping thing happened, the instructor tried to make small talk while we circled back toward the ground.  

It went something like this:

• Instructor: So, what do you do?
• Elizabeth: I am in college.  Um… what do you do?
• Instructor: I am a skydiving instructor.
• Elizabeth:  Right. (Duh.)
• Instructor: Is that your boyfriend (pointing to parachute a bit ahead of us)?
• Elizabeth: Ex-boyfriend.
• Instructor: Whoaaaa, skydivin’ with your ex-boyfriend!  That’s a new one.  You must really trust him.
• Elizabeth: Yeah.  No.  Not really.

Add 20 minutes of awkward silence between me and the person tethered to my back.  And then cut to the part where I forgot the most important segment of the training video (pull your legs up at landing) and tripped us both, causing me to be flattened like a pancake into the ground.

END SCENE

After that little trip down memory lane, I’ve decided that my greatest adventure is yet to come.  

Materials used: Magazine clipping (how gorgeous is that matte black place setting?); turquoise ink; Sakura watercolor paint (black and grey); Sakura white gel pen

As for adventures (hopefully) never to come, the list looks something like this:

• I will never be an adventurous eater.
• I will never get my nipples pierced (this is probably an overshare, but really… it only takes being bitten once while breastfeeding to know that even if I had an overwhelming desire to get pierced… this ain’t gonna happen) and I probably won’t get a face tattoo.  
• I will never go bungee jumping.  
• I will never get a cat.

Materials used: Magazine page; washi tape; glue stick; black Micron pens; Sakura watercolors; white acrylic paint

I didn’t have much in the way of “craft trash” to use for this week’s art prompt, but I did have this lovely tear-out from the most recent issue of Domino.  I painted in what was missing and added a quote (often mis-attributed to Audrey Hepburn).

“People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed; never throw out anyone.” – Sam Levenson

Materials used: Black Pitt pens; mirrored geometric patterned paper from Studio Calico; Faber Castel gelatos; Sakura watercolor paint; bright pink ink; white acrylic paint; glue stick

And for my final page, I got a bit personal (because wedgies are so impersonal…).  I came across the expression “Your vibe attracts your tribe” at like, 4 in the morning earlier this week.  Grace was up and I was mentally willing her to go back to sleep, while simultaneously busying myself on the Instagram.

It struck a chord (mostly because everything strikes a chord when you’re overtired) because I feel a little bit tribe-less lately.  Being home with Grace has been such a wonderful change, but I’m finding myself really needing to make an effort to build new connections and fight my introverted desires to keep to myself all day.  We’ve got a few things lined up that I am looking forward to, and that I think will be a step in the right direction.

In the meantime, I am not totally sure what my vibe is… because our current tribe consists almost entirely of old men wearing Red Sox hats, enjoying the beautiful weather at Castle Island.  Bonus points if they’re walking dogs (Grace’s vibe is 900% “Bring me your puppy!”).  Making friends is an adventure.

Welp, that’s it for this week.  To check out what the rest of the Get Messy Thursdays crew is up to, you can find their links here.

Also On Tap for Today:

• The Psychology of Selfies via Buffer Social
• Finishing up a few Father’s Day projects 
• The secret science of shyness via The Washington Post

What’s your tribe looking like these days?