This is the wallpaper I made for myself when I was feeling lost. You can click on this to download the image for yourself!

I Feel Like Howling

Meghan Rock November 13, 2016

This has been a rough week. As a proud supporter of Secretary Clinton, I was hugely disappointed by the election results.

But more than that, I'm terrified. I'm angry. I'm worried for friends and family that look different (be it by skin color, gender presentation, religious attire, or anything else). This is not a good time for the people I know and love. I spent most of the week under a dark cloud.

And then I moved onto anger. I've been feeling galvanized, reforged even, by this new world order. I'm devastated but coming back strong. I've applied to volunteer with some organizations I really admire locally and contribute to several more monetarily (I can't give much, but a small monthly donation still helps).

My message to you:

Don't be silent. Be the moon that howls in the night. Spread love and support like it's Nutella. Engage with people your community. Get ready to protest. Make your voice heard and listen to the responses you receive.

Let's do this.

Sketchbook-ily

Here on the blog you can find works in progress, excerpts from my sketchbook, and lesson ideas for teaching art.

You know you’ve been in quarantine alone too long when you’re like, “IT IS TIME TO MAKE THE RAINBOW PLAID BEAR-EARRED VEST OF MY DREAMS” so...yeah this is happening. #sewistsofinstagram #rainbow #plaid #greenpepperpatterns #ivebeenalonetoolong

I’m using the scraps of my dining table build (which I have decided isn’t too tall if you just build new chairs that are tall!) to make a plant grow shelf in my kitchen. It’ll keep the stained red oak and maple plywood look I used for the table, and have three grow shelves and a shelf for cookbooks and the microwave. I did some preliminary trigonometry to figure out the angle of a few cuts but overall I think much measuring may happen during the build to get it as close to accurate as possible. I’m super excited to have a spot where I can grow all my herbs and succulents in the dark Chicago winter and increase my plant numbers at home. As for supplies, I’ll be heading back to @owlhardwood because it’s one of the few DIY project stores I’ve been to where no one looks askance for my woman-ness or feels the need to mansplain how wood works. They’re always really helpful and there’s someone nearby to answer questions when you have them. And their stock of hardwood is drool-worthy. I’ve had a lot of bad experiences at hardware and home improvement stores (if you have any lady-type friendly places in Chicago DM me) and when you find a place that doesn’t do that it makes a difference in the whole project experience. So yeah, that’s my next project. After that: new dining room chairs! Bent plywood! Fancy! But for now, something more simple. #womanbuilder #diyprojects #plantshelfie #growlights #trigonometry

To celebrate @sarasneeze’s birthday we are having a murder mystery zoom party and I’m a corrupt mayor in Chicago during Prohibition. I made @kitkatner cry laughing so that’s a pretty good sign that this should be shared on social media. #murdermystery #costumeparty #grouchomarx #forposterity #whywasntibornwithfacialhair