It's Been A Minute

Today is the day. 

It is the day I write a blog for the first time in over a year.  I'm splitting this update into two parts: (Life Update & Art Update). If you want to skip ahead to the art commentary, just keep scrolling my friend. 

The Life:

I’ve started a few updates over the past 15 months or so but the longer I go without writing, the more challenging it is to summarize developments in my life. So because enjoy making lists (and it seems like a simpler way of bringing you up to speed), please enjoy the following list of the “Generally Major/Cool Things in My Life Since July 2020”

• Election: I worked the polls for the 2020 presidential election.
• Illness: I promptly got sick after working the polls and stayed pretty freaking sick (highs & lows) from early November through early February 2021. Is it possible it was COVID-19? Potentially. Did I ever test positive? No, and I received multiple tests. So, I’ll probably never know if I had COVID for certain, but I can tell you that winter 2020-21 was a misery-fest of awful proportions. 
• Grad School: I began taking classes to gain my Master of Public Affairs (MPA) with a focus on Urban and Regional Governance at the O’Neill School!

Fun Fact: grad school is just a lot of reading and trying not to be too cynical.

• ​Vaccination: I’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19 #TeamModerna
• Travel: I enjoyed a brief visit to North Carolina for a little family vacay.

• Birthday: I turned 32. Not a milestone year. Birthdays are now a memento mori. *celebration emoji* *skull emoji*
• Dating: I’ve experienced some of the most uncomfortable, awkward, cringe-worthy first dates of my life. Dating after 30 is stupid. 
• Profession: I landed a new job as the Recruitment and Outreach Coordinator at the O’Neill School for Public and Environmental Affairs! Talk to me if you want to go to college and "Major in Making a Difference"
• Student Loans: I paid off another loan and have been able to make some real strides on my student debt thanks to the government stalling payments. That means whenever I pay my normal monthly amount, I’m paying only on the principle and not interest! This has been huge for me.

Check out my fancy new headshot.

• USA Today: I was featured in USA today for my pandemic lady-stash. I subsequently received several unpleasant DMs. Jury is still out on if this article is somehow tied to my misadventures in dating.
• Reading: As of this post, I am in the middle of reading my 80th book of the year! At the surface this sounds like quite the accomplishment. I caution you from making this assumption; reading has become both a pleasure and a dependency. *upside-down smiley face* I would much rather live in Prythian than the United States. I'll leave it at that. 

The final thing I want to share I have no natural segue for because I am mentally fatigued; such is life. So here it goes, I am ready to run again (I hope)!

That’s right ladies and gents! As of today, I am dusting off my running shoes and starting a 12-week couch to 10k training plan. At the time of writing this, I am optimistic, well-rested, and motivated so, we’ll see how this goes. If everything plays out like it is supposed to (fingers-crossed), I should be running 6.2 miles on Christmas Eve! That is the goal anyway. It has been a very long time since I’ve been able to do any kind of regular running so I’m hoping my body is able to adjust to the new routine.

The Art:

With regards to my art (which lets be real, may be the only reason you're even looking at this website), I've not put much effort into it since getting sick. It has only been recently that I've painted.

The above painting "Chronic" is probably the first piece I am actually legitimately proud of painting in this year so far. Working in gouache, I have found it intimidating to do any portrait work. To simplify things, I focused on limiting my palette to a double split complementary color scheme. I find that limiting my color choices ultimately makes me more creative and thus more satisfied with the end result. This time around was no exception.

From an emotional standpoint, I was feeling pretty dang sad midday last Saturday and thought, "Ugh fine, I'll just paint it out." So I did. I painted my feelings of frustration paired with just wanting to expose my fleeting moment of weary hopelessness without making myself feel pathetic. Sometimes using words just makes me feel too embarrassed and vulnerable. I don't want to sound like I am complaining, taking something good away from the world when I let myself become a broken record of "woe is me." But with art, I feel like I'm getting those feelings out and contributing something at the same time.

I straight up love self-portraits for this. Looking at this painting, I can see exactly what I was trying to express. I get to expel the uncomfortable feelings without saying anything I would wish to take back. Without feeling weak. I fully recognize being open about how you feel is the opposite of weak. I do not want to dissuade anyone from being open with their feelings to a safe source (my therapist is fantastic and deserves all of the gold and chocolate in the world). I would simply like to emphasize how art is a path that I often take when I want to express something in a way that feels safe to me. Nine times out of ten, I feel better when I complete the drawing or sketch. 

 Anyway, there you have it. She’s sill chugging along.

​​​Choo Choo,
Angela DeCamp