Lovely Things: Yellow!

In such a crazy unprecedented time I'm clinging onto lovely things that fill me with warmth and hope. That happens to mostly be the color yellow these days. I have a large comfy yellow sweater that is my favorite. I've spent that last few days sleeping and working bundled up in yellow ready to face what the state of the world is throwing at all us beings. I suppose now is the time for warm sunshiny things! Here are my current yellow favorites. 

I have way too many little pouches and bags, but I L O V E them all! I love this cute skull one by The Dainty Squid. The craftsmanship on all her products looks amazing!

Spring in Utah is always a mixed bag of sunshine and snow, YES snow! I love a good golden-milk but haven't ever been able to make it taste good at home. Now might be the time to test out recipes. This one by Hello Glow looks pretty simple!

Yellow isn't my color but I still wear it anyways. This tee by Hiller Goodspeed speaks to my soul!

 Now that we own a kitchen table I'm always on the look out for cute napkins and table runners. These hand stamped napkins by Julie Peach will look amazing on any table! 

I don't think you can have too many notepads can you? This one by Word of Word Factory is witty and cute!

I've had this recipes for rosemary-lemonade by A Beautiful Mess bookmarked for AGES. I'm not a lemonade fan, but I do love lemons and I L O V E rosemary! Hopefully it'll be warm enough soon to drink lemonade out side. Well I suppose that is if there is sugar and lemons as the store! 

I hope you're all safe and healthy!

Don't Fall Asleep Zine!

I was working on zines like C R A Z Y because I was suppose to table at a zine fest before it was postponed. I'm still working on zines just a bit less rushed! This zine is one that I put together really fast. At work I get a case of the sleepies cause lets be honest work is kinda boring AND I'm not really a coffee drinker. Which seems to be everyones secret! So to keep myself awake I doodle on scrap pieces of paper. I took all those scraps and made this little doodle zine called Don't Fall Asleep. This zine has a few cut out pages that the doodles over lap with. It was really fun to make but honestly kind of a pain to print. Getting it to line up was a bit tricky, BUT I figured it out! It did take quite a few test prints to get it in the prefect spot. I'm not sure if I'll do another cut out zine unless I have a really clever overlapping idea. Anyways, I really like how this simple doodle zine turned out. 

If you'd like a copy you can always email remikeahi@gmail.com! I mostly like doing trades for zines or other artwork. Even if you don't have anything to trade and just want some cute mail email me!

Out Going Mail!

I've been struggling with this work from home nonsense that is going on. I mean don't get me wrong, I LOVE being home! I'm the definition of homebody! But it was such an adjustment. Not only just doing my normal work tasks but knowing how to balance my creative tasks as well. The first week I felt so much P R E S S U R E to do/create/ utilize this gift of time wisely! All that pressure zapped away all creative energy I was clinging on to. This weekend I was able to pull myself of out my head and get a better grasp on how I was feeling about the current state of it ALL. I took sometime to write letters. Which honestly helped my state of mind the most. I was finally able to express in letters/words all the feelings I was struggling with. I'm so grateful for all the pen pals I have that let me rant and rave about my emotions for two pages! I made these envelopes with a little bit of gouache and colored pencils. I did a few simple abstract patterns to fancy it up a bit! Something about abstract and repetitive patterns are always relaxing to make. I still have a bit to catch up on, but luckily I have the time!

Current Reads!

My goal of reading two books each month hit a snag last month because I only read one. I thought I was better at managing my time, but turns out I was wrong. B U T I did manage to squeeze one book in! That books was The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. This book was AH-mazing! Most definitely my favorite book of the year (out of the three so far) This book was a little bit slow to get into but worth it sticking it out! This books basically tracks though an actresses scandalous career now that she has aged she is ready to share her story! Of course it much more twisty then that, but thats kinda the idea of it. This book touches on so many relationships and how complicated they can be. It dives into a lot about what it meant to be a successful lady at the time and what it still means to be successful as a women. Evelyn was ruthless with no regrets, clawing her way out of poverty into stardom. When you think about it that can create such a sad life albeit a successfully famous one and one that we can all learn from. This book also explores sexual identity and how its never as simple as we'd like to think. The vast variety and delicacy of relationships mentioned in this book causes so much self reflection. I can't recommend this book enough! If you have read it, what did you think? Were you as shocked as I was at the ending??

What are you reading lately?

List of Thoughts + LINKS!

LIST OF THOUGHTS: 

1- Oh man what a W E E K it has been. Working from home and the days are officially mushing into one. Its affecting me more than I'd like to admit. I know its just an adjustment. Today it stopped raining and the sun came out which helped a bit. 

2-Its frustrating to see all these people not taking social distancing seriously, maddening really. BUT I have to keep reminding myself that I can't control others only myself. 

3- I love THIS post and recipe on how to make your own hand sanitizer. Although everything I've read really makes soap the real hero, but if you're in a pinch splash alcohol all over!

4- Normally spring is the time for fruity fruit pies but since we're not going out and no stores have flour. That means no baking for this lady. Until then I'm going to oogle at THESE pies!

5- Sadly the zine fest that I was scheduled to table at in in the beginning of April has been postponed. Which comes with a wave of relief and sadness. I had a plans all laid out for what I needed to do by when and what I was going to make. Once that came to a halt I've found myself a bit creatively lost? At such a terrible time too, I have SO MUCH TIME and now my creative spirit seems to be wisped away? WTF.
6- Bandcamp has waved its fees on sales for today so obviously I had to buy ALL the Friends at the Table soundtracks. Excuse me while I eat snacks and weep a little to the Maridelda soundtrack!
7- I'm trying my best to cut back on the amount of dairy I consume. So I've been reading a lot of vegan recipes lately and THIS one actually looks real good.
8- It is warming up and I would LOVE to try THIS natural dying technique. I've really wanted to get back into sewing and maybe try to make some quilts. Maybe this summer/ fall will be the time!
9-There is such a strange vibe of wanting to do A L L the projects but then also having no energy? I can't tell if its just a mix of anxiety and guilt. There is so much pressure right now to take advantage of this time and make or do and honestly it is not helping at all. Seems like the combo just isn't working for me. I hope I can sort through it soon.
10- If you're feeling lonely and would like some cute snail mail I have been sending out a lot of zines and little notes to anyone is wanting to receive something. If you're interested my postable link is HERE. I'm not sure when I'll get something sent but maybe thats the fun in it.

Stay safe my friends. Be mindful. Lead with compassion. Reach out and look out for each other.

Love you always,

Lovely Things: Zines!

Phew, what a crazy time we're living in! Seems like there is something new and scary each day. One thing I've seen a lot of is artists struggling. Between shows being cancelled, part time workers being laid off it is a scary world out there for creatives! I'm lucky enough to be able to work from home and have a great safety net of friends and family. So now is the time that we come together to protect those creatives in our community that are suffering. This means buying their art if you can, sending encouraging messages and sharing their art work on your social media platforms. One way I've been supporting is building up my zine collection. Zines are a great affordable way to show support! SO for today I'm sharing some of my favorite zines that I've come across!

Beautifully illustrated mini-book by Sophie Morrison!

Spring is here! This riso zine by Kristyna Baczynski is making me excited for the SEASON! 

I have a new found love for worms! Added cute riso zine for my collection by Sarah Hingley!

I've also had a new thing for pink, this zine by Ambivalently Yours is too dreamy! 

This style of zine by Fanny Fuxreiter fills me up with joy! Soft boyz for life!

Any zine I find about body hair I ALWAYS buy. Its such a huge sensitive topic for me! This one by Jamie Squire has the cutest illustration. One day I'll be brave enough to make my one hairy zine (maybe). 

BONUS! The people over at Letter Zine have compiled a whole bunch of free coloring pages. I love this idea and I love the work they are doing to being lettering artists together!

In Due Time Zine!

February zine! I set a goal to make a new zine every month and this was last months. Although technically I did finish it with in the month I had adjusted the mini middle page which put me behind! So is life! I'm still counting this one as a win. This zine is about some female artists that continue to inspire me but maybe didn't get the credit they should have in their time. The four artist I wrote about are Connie Converse, Carol Kaye, Vivian Maier and Hellen Levitt. All of these ladies had to overcome challenges and are so inspiring! I also made a little playlist that goes along with this zine that you can find down below! I made a little smaller insert page for the playlist. I'm loving pages that are different sizes lately. Overall this zine was challenging because I don't feel like I'm the strongest writer and its a large format that I usually work in. Honestly it felt good to push myself! Zines have a way of balancing newness and familiarity which I love and has helped me grow so much as an artist!

I'm currently selling this zine for $5 or trades (honestly i'd prefer a trade!) so if you're interested send me and email at remikeahi@gmail.com You can follow my instagram @remikeahi for more zine updates and art bits!

Song and Doodle #79

Oh boy I haven't done a song and doodle post is AGES! This year has been flying and I've been up to my eyeballs in projects. BUT this week demanded that I slow down a little and doodle on the iPad to relax. Sometimes you just need to listen to the universe and take a break! Any who, today's song is by Baby Pink. This is a super cute girl band based out of Salt Lake. A couple weekends ago I got to see Jane Sanders do a mini-town hall thing (Which was wonderful. That lady is really inspiring!) but the opener was the lead singer from Baby Pink and they did a little acoustic set. I personally think the acoustic live stuff is much better than the recorded stuff, but it is still great! The lyrics to most of their songs really speak to me as a *fairly* young lady trying to navigate the world! I choose lyrics from the song Crazy because it really encases the insecurities of wanting everyone to like you. Which I'm sure most people deal with at one point or another, but those insecurities seem to really linger on young ladies.With the world of social media and unconsolidated opinions its hard to not get swept up in the bubble of feelings. I think it takes time and confidence to sort though all of the negativity that might get tossed at you. What is so great about this song is that it makes me feel so NORMAL. I enjoy songs that make me feel like someone understands the obscurity of it all.

"So why do I drive myself crazy

Thinking about people that hate me"

Zine Submission

A little while ago I came across this awesome group on Instagram called Grapefruit Soup! They are collection of creatives, writers and artists! On their blog they have a lot of great articles and interviews! They are also compiling a zine and had open submissions! The theme is "home" so I drew up this little gouache gal to submit. I think it turned out alright. I wish the skin tone wasn't as light. The tricky thing with gouache is that it always dries a different color! She definitely gives me axolotl vibes for some reason? I suppose I could have re-done it but I want to get into the habit of just finishing a project and leaving it alone. So I didn't think too much and I just submitted it! I love the subject of home and how large and encompassing it is. I'm looking forward to seeing how the zine turns out! 

Making. Listening. Eating.

Making. I've been working on a chaotic doodle zine!

Listening. Molly Burch's cover is AH-mazing. 

Eating. Last weekend we got to eat at one of our favorite Asian restaurants! Their won-ton soup always reminds me of my grandpa.

February Art Journal!

Last months art journal! I made a tiny booklet out of scrap paper for February's art journal. I wanted to do something tiny cause I knew I wouldn't have that much time and had a lot to get done. I still managed to fall behind somehow, but that is just the way it goes sometimes! There was something really fun and relaxing about working on this tiny book. The busy months where I feel like things are out of control are always the best reminders of why I journal and how helpful it can really be. March is turning out to be just as hectic. Hopefully I've learned my lesson in February and will keep on track! Despite being overwhelmed I'm filled with creative excitement!