A portfolio is crucial for artists. It's also one of the hardest things to put together. How do you represent everything you've done in a handful of pages? What defines your art and how do you show that to someone? To me, making a portfolio is less about gathering bits of who you are and more about getting rid of everything you're not. The process of cutting work that doesn't fit add to your vision is a process of getting to the core of your artistry. When I was approached by Blurb to build a mini portfolio of my work, I was both excited and nervous to go through this process of getting to my core. You constantly have to ask yourself: what's my perspective?

The first part of the process in building the book was deciding what type of portfolio I wanted to create. I ultimately went with a "mini portfolio" to show a select collection of my work rather than the entire range of my art. Through editing some unpublished pictures of my travels and creating some new studio work, I built a small photo book that gives a reader a quick glimpse into what the world looks like in my head. It's meant to be a conversation starter, rather than the whole conversation.

Tips | Living Colorfully

I like to capture a colorful life but, I have to admit, I don't always live a colorful life on a day to day basis. How so? Well, my closet is mostly filled with black, gray, and lighter gray. I stare at textbooks with barely any use of color most of the day. And I sit at a desk or in front of a computer, soaking up as much color as I can to compensate for everything else. If this sounds like you too, I'm glad I'm not the only one. But maybe there's hope for us, right? There's gotta be. I've jotted down some quick and easy ways we can both start to put some intentional color into our every day. 

Friday Faves || Instagram Love || Colorful Canvases

Holy macaroni! I know it's been a while since I last posted but I promise it's for a good reason! I got married a couple weeks ago and had one of the best days of my life so far (more details and tips to come later!). It is crazy how much a single day can consume weeks and months of time for planning. Alas, I am back and in action! Got some new DIY projects coming for the spring season and working on some more community sharing posts. Speaking of which, Friday Faves will now feature the many incredibly talented, inspiring, and downright cool people I've admired, met, and connected with on Instagram. Seriously - that app is a brewing pot of daily awesomeness! 

To kick it off, today's Friday Faves will revolve around the world of "Colorful Canvases," inspired primarily by my gal Courtney (@myfriendcourt), who is an artist and art teacher in Atlanta. As if her feed were not colorful enough, prepare yourself for the beautiful connections she makes with those on Instagram through her #Makeyourmark challenges each month. Every day, people are challenged to doodle, draw, paint, or sketch a particular theme - from waves to circles and from clouds to colors. She's a burst of inspiration and an example of community loving at its finest!! Click to check out her instagram and blog!

@myfriendcourt

The next four artists below also glue my eyes to the screen when I scroll through their feeds! 

TL:@theebouffants | TR: @nataliawrobelart
BL: @katefjury | BR: @artandsoulcreativeco 

1. Kendra Dandy (@theebouffants): This brilliant woman knows patterns like it's nobody's business! Through her print designs of lips, lipstick, shoes, dresses, fruits, and color galore you are immediately transported to a world where you wish everything came patterned...but seriously, wouldn't that be kind of awesome?

2. Natalia Wrobel Art (@nataliawrobelart): I've known this true beauty since my childhood days (we went to the same elementary and high schools!). She creates some of the most mesmerizing array of  colorful paintings I hope to one day be lucky enough to hang in my own home. She also has a studio space which essentially means she's the coolest person in Boston right now, just sayin'.

3. Laura Uy (@artandsoulcreativeco): This talented lady can take the most dangerous animals - bears, foxes, and lions - and turn them into the cutest furry creatures around! From her cards to art prints, you may find yourself wishing you could just snuggle with them and not look weird while doing so. That may be hard to accomplish though...sorry.

4. Katherine Jury (@katefjury): This dazzling painter can literally create the most beautiful messes you've seen, in all the best ways! I love her mixed color palettes, textures, and her serene outlook on life. She also includes many pictures of beaches, sand, and stones - which may just make you wish you were in her shoes (or lack thereof)...all the time.

Please check out these inspirational artists, follow along, and share your thoughts! Come back next friday for my next batch! Oh, you can also find me on Instagram too (@creativekipi)...happy weekend!

Update || Graduation!

I did it! I've tossed my hat (literally...and metaphorically) and I'm ready to head into the 'real world'! Sorry for the super silence around the blog for the past month. I've spent the few weeks either stressed out of my mind, sweating on horribly timed hot Boston days, or trying to regain some energy after burning through the end of the year. On graduation day itself, I was so exhausted from the heat and running around that I could barely savor the moment. Thankfully someone from my family kept tossing my camera around and we were able to get plenty of different shots of the whole fiasco. I chose just three for now (trust me, you don't want to see the whole album..theres maybe 500 at least!). The first image, with the cameras and the 2013 banner in the background, I think represents a lot about our time, what it means to 'live an event', and the use of photography as a means not only to document  realities but also as a means of capturing pride. Thanks to my dad for snapping that one - along with the thousands of other parents who were bunched around!

This second image I think captures a lot about Harvard and what these past four years have meant to me as an institution and a place of learning. The high beams, the richly vibrant banner flags, the old traditional vows to "Veritas" or "truth", and the honest reality that the resources I've had access to have 'suspended' me to much higher places I could have ever imagined.

And this last photograph needs little explanation. When it comes down to it, graduation was important because it was more than just an individual celebration. Time and time again I found myself fully embraced in the arms of my man, my friends, my family -- all of us saying, "We did it!" I can't even begin to imagine what my life would have been without the people I hold so close to me; to photography - I'm so grateful you can capture that pride. 

Graduation Countdown || #2 || My Spring Bucket List Update

As I mentioned earlier here, I kicked off my senior spring wanting to try a variety of activities that I have yet to explore on campus before graduating. Ideally, I wanted to do 99 things in the 99 days remaining until graduation. Now, that number has dropped to just 60 days! Gasp! Well, I still have a lot of work to do but I was pleasantly surprised with everything I was able to do over just the past couple months especially. Here is the visual proof below, and my brief notes about each one afterwards!

1. Go on a spring break trip - went to Florida with my girls!

2. Dance in Ghungroo Performance (South East Asian dance show on campus)  - danced in the senior segment!

3. Sled down Harvard yard steps - thanks to Hurricane Nemo, I went down Memorial Hall steps on a dining hall tray!

4. Attend Celebration of Black Women (campus event organized by the Black Men's Forum at Harvard) - went for the first time, got a rose and a special note! 

5. Go to the Holi Festival (cultural Indian/Hindi festival including dancing and the throwing of colored powder) - got purple, pink, and yellow in my eyes, mouth, and hair...and I loved it!

6. Deliver letters on Housing Day (a Harvard tradition where freshman are randomly selected into one of 12 upperclass houses) - chanted until my throat was sore and ran like never before in the yard!

7. Go out dancing in Boston! - went two times already with my girls to a dance club in Boston!

8. Attend an IOP Forum (generally high-profile individuals who come to speak at the Harvard Kennedy School of Govt.) - went to go hear actor Sean Penn and former prime-minister of Haiti, Michelle Pierre-Louis, discuss Haiti 3 years after the earthquake

9. Try a new food place in the Square - a few days ago I finally tried Clover, an entirely vegan restaurant just across the street from my old freshman dorm. The rosemary fries are perhaps the best fries I've ever tasted!

Thoughtful Delight || Living [is] easy

source

Living is easy. So easy. It's so easy to mess up, to get lazy, to be tired and bored. It's so easy to be disinterested, unmotivated, unforgiving. It's so easy to forget, to never respond, to never choose, to linger endlessly and endlessly and endlessly. Living is easy and not how we like to think. We like to define living as one entrenched with passion, with moments strung together like constellations, with everything meaning something, with midnights filled with moonlit conversations contemplating what could be next. We like to think living is exciting. To think it is defined by risks that changed who we are, who we know, and what we do for the better; to think it is defined by the amount of smiles we give and receive, the hours spent wiping tears from laughter, the numbers of friends willingly standing by our sides. This may very well be part of living. But it's not all of it. It's not hard yet. It's hard to embrace the fact that living is not defined by sparks but by dullness. It is not defined by the single momentous day but by the meshing of hundreds and hundreds of uneventful days. It is not the sole red balloon drifting upwards in the sky but rather the vast, blue air that encompasses it -- the air that has been there all along.   

VISUAL DELIGHT || #3 || HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

DESIGN WORK || #3 || I LIKE FALL SPRING PROMO PHOTOSHOOT

I had the pleasure this week of photographing the promotional fashion shoot for I Like Fall's upcoming spring release! I was delighted when Preetha, a fellow Harvardian and friend, offered up to model for me. She has such a poignant quality that is both stirring yet soft (and she's had quite the social media explosion after the pictures were posted on Facebook!). Here are some of my many favorite shots from the shoot, and you can click here to see a sneak peek of the spring lookbook on I Like Fall's site. If you're in the Boston/Cambridge area, join I Like Fall on Wednesday, February 13th at 5pm at the launch event hosted by Free People in Harvard Square! 

TRAVEL DELIGHT || #2 || OCEANSIDE FAIRGROUNDS

While back at home over the January winter break, my family and I visited the Oceanside Fair for the first time. It is hosted every Thursday night from 5 to 9pm on an open boulevard just a block or two from the ocean and main pier. I have always been in love with fairs of the variety since I was a kid. Street fairs, carnivals, block parties, craft markets -- love 'em all. Here are a few pictures from our most recent visit. Some interesting things I discovered: people can make wooden roses that smell divine, funnel cake is maybe one of the most delicious and nutrient deficient foods on earth, I have never tried Afghan food which is now on my list of things to do, and California (again) is the best place on earth. 

THOUGHTFUL DELIGHT || #1 || DEAR SUN

The sun is beyond just a beautiful thing. It's also a hated thing. Something, sometimes, so unwanted. We close the shades tighter, we bar our eyes with dark shaded rims, we moan its wake after the nights we never slept. We found out that it can even kill us. It burns our skin until it sheds, it melts our favorite ice creams and takes the water from things. It pushes us around -- back inside buildings, behind curtains, under cooling air vents and ceiling fans. It ruins snow days, it starts bush fires; everyday, it leaves half the world in darkness. Maybe this isn't about how us humans need the sun...just maybe, though, the sun needs us. Every morning it yearns to be impressive. It labors tirelessly at landscape painting. It leans in too close -- tries to peer into our world, how we work, what we do. It probably feels as though we pay it too little attention. 

Dear attention-seeking, massive globe:

I see you.     

TRAVEL DELIGHT || #1 || BRAZILIAN FRUIT LOVE

Over the past five years I have been fortunate enough to travel to several countries around the world on trips related to health and community work. Luckily, I have always managed to bring along a decent camera to capture these trips, resulting in quite a collection of photographs I've acquired. Every once in a while, I'd like to share some bits of those travels with you all -- either stories of individuals I've met, foods I've ravished, or sights I think photos can never do justice. I guess it's my way of remembering how each trip fragments itself into bits of my memory, how my past melts together to teach me something of the present.

As such, there's perhaps no better way to start than with one of my favorite places -- hands down. A place seemingly bursting at its seams with vibrant passion: Brazil. One of the first lessons I learned while spending four weeks in Sao Paolo -- a growing economic, cultural, and medical hub of the nation -- was to be grateful for the creation of fruits. Not just strawberries, mangoes, peaches, and plums. I'm talking fruits I've never even heard of, never could have imagined their existence. I tried jackfruit for the first time, fruits in the shapes of stars, fruits that looked like onions yet tasted like delectable pears; I had mangoes that, for the first time in my life, I could eat as dessert after every meal, every day. I began to dream of the paintings I could make with the insanely vibrant colors of juices that oozed, dripped, and stained my hands, my teeth, my shirts, my tongue. I became a smoothie addict, an instant fruit nut and, unfortunately, now that I'm back in the States, the standard for fruit (if not the very concept of it) has inevitably been erased and set at an impeccably tasteful high. 

VISUAL DELIGHT || #2 || MERRY XMAS!

Wishing you all a merry holiday and plenty of cheer!

VISUAL DELIGHT || #1 || "EMBODIED SPRING" PHOTOSHOOT

When I photographed for I Like Fall (www.ilikefall.com), I recruited some college students to model for the launch of the online retail shop in September. This was one of my favorite shots, featuring a sophomore, Antonia. I was going for a grundy spring look and thus the large floral adornments on their faces. We partnered up with The Body Shop in Harvard Square which provided the make up for the models--a subtle dark and dreamy look. Overall, it was a great shoot and I'm still testing out the waters with my new baby--yes, my camera is my child. It is by far the most expensive thing I own but it is my pride and joy. Here's another one of my favorites...