Back to Menomonie; Back to Work.

This week has been extremely stressful for me. I was in Sweden over the whole summer, spending time with my sister and family, as well as working at a study abroad traveling agency called Blueberry. I came back to the US a week before school started, and I am still in summer mode! Before I knew it, I was back in a totally different country, having a schedule I need to follow! My brain has been all over the place and I feel I am having extreme difficulties getting back into design mode. Taking this drawing class has been extremely relaxing so far, even though it's only been 2 classes. I feel like it is helping me slowly get back into school mode, and it is really helping me enjoy what I am doing. It's like therapy. Being an industrial design major is extremely stressful and time consuming, that at this point I feel it's a pain, rather than a passion. Once I get back into the swing of things, I know I will be excited about my major again.

I was born and raised in Sweden until I was 9 years old, and I have been going back for vacation about once a year since then. This summer was the first time I actually lived in Sweden for a whole 3 months, which was a life-changing experience. For one, switching languages was very interesting. I started to think in Swedish, and I had to figure out a whole new way of speaking so that I could sound like myself. At first, I felt really awkward and I didn't really know how to bring my personality out in the way I spoke, but the more I spoke, I was able to joke and express myself in the way I wanted. With art, I am still getting to know how to express myself, and I hope to get better at it. There are so many different ways of communicating, and I think that I have learned a lot about myself by simply spending a whole summer speaking a different language.

Another thing I found interesting was design in Sweden. I have realized that my style is very scandinavian (when it comes to expressing myself with fashion, and design) without even knowing it! Everything is very minimal, contemporary, simple, organized and practical. That is exactly what I am trying to portray with my portfolio. So walking around all of Stockholm and going into design boutiques really helped me get inspiration and excitement about design. I went to Berlin last summer and was able to see a bunch of amazing design, including a store that was all white with nothing in it, except for in the very back of the store, there was a little table with 10 pairs of sunglasses on it! I feel traveling really opens your mind up and you get exposed to so many different kinds of art and design, and ways of living in general.

So now I am back in Menomonie, Wisconsin.

I am happy being back, but it will take a little while to get used to the change in environment. This drawing class is actually my favorite class at this point, and it is really helping me get adjusted. When there is so much else going on, it is nice to come to a class where your mind can observe and get lost. I think I have a lot of stuff to work on, but I say that in a positive way. I am super excited to become a better artist and be proud to show off my artwork. Something I would like to become better at is not being such a perfectionist. I am very clean with all my work, and it looks so perfect that it becomes boring to look at. These gesture drawings we do in class are gradually helping me get better and be a little sloppier, and feel that it's ok now. We'll see how the next few weeks go, with hope that I get back into creativity mode again. I'm planning on drawing the shell I got in class, while listening to good music, having inscents flowing, and cool lights shining in the background. :)