Tag: Viola Davis

A busy week!

On 15/04/2025

In Art & Practice, Plans & Events, Readings, Reflexions, Self-care & self-compassion

Managed to finish Viola Davis’s memoir “Finding Me” in just 9 days! Makes me very happy. I might even succeed in going back to the plan of about one book per month!

Some thoughts :

The writing was pretty raw and less polished than I’ve read in memoirs previously, but considering the subject matters, it felt very appropriate and unfiltered.
I had not realized how much of a significance How To Get Away With Murder had : for some reason, when it started airing, it seemed to me that Viola was a household name and her casting was entirely and unquestionably warranted. It actually is, but that’s not how a lot of people saw it. I also did not know how challenging the journey to get there had been.
Though we actually have very little in common, I found her sensibility and sensitivity very relatable. Though I can still only imagine what she’s gone through from the words on the pages, as opposed to how she experienced it all, I have so much empathy for her courage and her pain.
Describing her witnessing of her father’s death hit a very sensitive and very raw wound, having gone through something similar just recently, and I’ll admit I broke down.
Her resilience shows so much through the pages, against everything she has endured. I already had a lot of respect for her, and the memoir sincerely cemented that.

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Though I had “The Origins of Creativity” on my to-read next, “Atomic Habits” by James Clear became available on the Libby app. I’d put a hold on it and I had delayed that hold probably 3 times by now, so when I got the notification again on Friday night, knowing “Finding Me” was possible to finish in the next day, delaying the loan again didn’t make sense. Will hopefully finish it by the end of April.

Actually, I really have to finished it by May 3rd, as there are still many people waiting to get their turn so I wouldn’t be able to renew the loan..!

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The advent of the once-in-20-years event that The Rasmus concert will be next month has spurred me to try and prepare drawings for them to sign if my friends and I end up being lucky enough to chat with them in person. So I have about a month to both practice, and to complete 4 quality drawings to get printed and signed. A challenge!

Here are the two I’ve done so far, Emppu and Eero :

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My 7 dailies have been completed in full for the past 3 days! First time in… a really long time. It made me proud, but at the same time, it didn’t bring back the pressure to complete everything all the time, especially at the end of the day. Rushing to check off a botched task at the end of the day, exhausted and fed up, is not bringing me joy. Cleaning-slash-tidying up might be an exception, because the results are tangible and helpful. A quick doodle or two Finnish words I won’t remember is not added value.

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For the first time in years, I attended a live model drawing session (yes, the nude kind) on Sunday, to improve both on anatomy and fluidity skills. Hadn’t realized it until I got there, but that specific session carried an additional challenge : a female model.

See, growing up drawing for fun from my own mind helped a lot to develop my creativity, and my imagination. Unfortunately, the latter tends to interfere with the attempts to realistically recreate something. Paired with being especially critical of the curves I draw, a female model thus presents a significant risk of frustration.

The sessions take place at one of the city’s universities, for a very modest price, and they alternate female and male models. I decided to go at the last minute this weekend because there wouldn’t be one the following Sunday, as the university is completely closed during Easter.

It actually went particularly well! Frustrating at first, but I reminded myself both that it had been years, and that this was a significant challenge, and to give myself some grace. It did help, and I still managed to go home with several pieces I’m very happy with!

I do see and feel a weakness in drawing feet, so I’ll do the mature artist thing and go practice that specifically. There are still two weeks until the next session, so plenty of time to find tutorials and to improve even a bit.

Various life updates

by Laury

On 09/04/2025

In Art & Practice, Music, Plans & Events, Readings, Reflexions, Self-care & self-compassion, TV shows

It’s been a while! To be completely frank, I lacked inspiration, and kept procrastinating. Exciting news were received today however, so I’ll get on with all of this!

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First, the less joyful but fulfilling nonetheless : I finished reading Enlightenment by Sarah Perry on the morning of April 1st. The physical copy I’d gotten from the Grande Bibliothèque de Montréal helped tremendously with focus. It had been too long since I’d had a real book in my hands.

The story was an exercise in finding ways to relate to characters I had little in common with, at least at first. The two main characters, Thomas and Grace, are initially found in a rather… old-fashioned baptist community. Thomas seems to be a bit of an outsider in every setting, and eventually we find out why. Watching him fall in love with astronomy and hold on to past loves was very endearing.

So is Grace, whose oddness, curiosity and hunger clash with her faith on several occasions and in as many different ways. Her temper, confusion, and conflict, while not one I specifically encountered, was nonetheless very relatable.

Overall the story was very human, both through the main characters and those orbiting them in the present, and through the mystery figure Thomas searches for in the past. Imperfect individuals trying their best to build a good life with what they’re given and falling prey to their own emotions.

On April 2nd, the very next day, I started with Viola Davis’s memoir Finding Me. I knew I needed something especially engaging, and memoirs often do the trick. This one is no exception : a week later, it’s almost halfway done!

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I’m now a week and half back into my previous habits. My objective of completing 4 out of 7 of my daily goals turned out pretty well so far. Though itching to go back to fully fill out my checkmarks everyday, I also know that rushing into it is just likely to mess things up. I took a month off from expectations, I will at least give myself a few weeks to get back on track properly.

One of the things I was aiming for was to draw for longer periods and more intentionally : make it a practice and actually work at it. I still haven’t pushed myself to do it. It is absolutely fear of messing up and of upsetting myself in the process. How annoying is it, to upset myself into being afraid of being upset!

Last week, I revisited my portfolio to motivate myself. Having not practiced consistently for years, my skills have rusted, and it is frustrating to try and shake it off. Looking back meant to inspire me, and to remind me that if I managed to get to that level of skills, I can do it again. It is going to necessitate intentional work, and it is going to remain frustrating for a long while, but it’s possible.

And it did inspire me. But I’m still afraid. That’s also something that needs work.

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The exciting news : 21 years after their first visit to Montreal, The Rasmus are coming back in a month for a concert!!

I cannot properly express how deeply their appearance in my life shaped it. The people I met, the experiences and opportunities, the growth that came from all of it… There is no wondering what my life would have been like had I not stumbled on their video for In The Shadows and subsequently gotten obsessed. I am genuinely grateful for all of it.

While there is some catching up to do on their discography, I look forward to it, and to both revisit memories and make new ones.

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I’ve been binge-watching Yellowjackets this week, which is all kinds of messed up and convoluted, but doing a great job and keeping me engaged. For the most part. There have been moments when it felt it was more background noise than anything else, and it made me reflect on my binging tendencies. No breakthrough yet, but awareness is the first step…