Takin' it Easy in July

Summertime is usually when I start getting huge bursts of creative inspiration. Unfortunately, we also had to move house, so a lot of time and energy had to go to that instead. But at this point we're pretty much all settled in and I'm really excited to get back in the groove!

Rather than push myself too hard, I'm giving myself some time to rejuvenate and have been reading a ton of books instead. I love reading sci-fi and fantasy in particular just because it keeps my imagination active but also it doesn't require any actual effort from me. It's a great way to come up with new ideas for stuff. Also, it's just fun.

I have been booking a lot of student tattoo appointments this month, which is both exciting and very, very daunting. Basically for every tattoo appointment I make where I think I'm going to kill it, I get another one where I'm sweating bullets because I just don't know how it's going to go. But hey, that's learning for ya!

Here's a look at some of the stuff I've been drawing up for people! These are all just rough sketches to help get the idea across, since I don't want to do a fully rendered piece only to have to go through a bunch of major reworks.

It's interesting to work on all of these things when I'm not really sure what my "style" is yet--I think my work looks mostly consistent but there's still so much I'm not sure of. Every time I make something I try to play around a little bit with slightly different looks.

Also, I'm officially one fifth of the way through tattoo school! Ten tattoos down, 40 to go until I can take my licensing exam. I'm honestly really happy with how I'm progressing at this point--still lots to learn, but with each one things seem to click more.

Moving on, let's talk about hair! My friend Dayla (pronouns: they/he) was in hair school not so long ago, and from our discussions it's a pretty hectic and trying experience, similar to tattoo school. So watching them get through all of it and now get to work at a really cool salon and do all sorts of rad hairstyles is really encouraging and also just plain nice.

Here's a recent hair color project they took on--the client wanted to do something inspired by tortoiseshell (like her glasses and also her cat!) and I think it's so fun and funky!! Also, what a creative idea. You can totally see it with the glasses, I realize now I should've also asked for a picture of the cat so we could get the full picture. It's totally not just because I want to see a picture of a cat.

I love how many different ways you can switch up your hair. Sometimes you can just do something fun and silly with a ton of personality, and this accomplishes that for sure. It's hair, you might as well shake it up and have a good time!

It also has to be said: I love the curls, they're so bouncy and happy. I bet the pops of orange and yellow are looking great in this summer sun too.

If you would like to book with Dayla you can find them on Instagram @hihellodayla, or go to https://vagaro.com/220salon. I highly recommend it if you're in the Portland area, the salon is really nice and makes you feel fancy, and then you will leave looking really cool.

That's all I have for July, thanks for reading! And thanks again to Dayla for sharing their work with me!!

If you would like to submit a project for me to talk about in the next newsletter, email me at heyladycelery@gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you! Write any songs or poems? Maybe you painted something? Take a cool photo? Hit me up!

P.S. I think the goal is going to be to send one of these out on the third Thursday of each month, so I'll see you in mid August!