What a night! What a crowd! Makes you glad, Makes you proud

The Phantom of the Opera was the first musical that really got me into theater, and probably the show I've seen the most. I last saw it back in August on a whim as I knew it had been updated and I was curious - I knew it was a long shot, but I was kind of hoping that they might be making it more like the Oslo production from 2019. They didn't, but changes or not I fell in love with the story all over again.

I knew I wanted to see it again, and when I saw TodayTix were having a sale I bought a cheap ticket on a random date. I didn't think much about it, I literally just bought the best ticket at the best price, so I was floored when I arrived and saw they were filming it for the 35th anniversary and it was some huge event! There were roses on every seat with a note from the Phantom, and we were each given complimentary glasses of champagne. I think I enjoyed it all even more because it was all so unexpected!

Here's what I wore. I made the blouse the weekend before, and it ended up being a real headache! I mostly wanted to make the sleeves which I drafted myself, and I bought a pattern for the bodice as I figured it would be quicker and easier but that was a mistake! Apparently thinking the pattern will match the measurements on the outside of the packet is asking too much. But it came together in the end and I'm really happy with it! My dress has a painting of bears on it!

Must be the season of the witch

I love finding mushrooms. I don't pick any as I'm still learning to identify them. I was taking a photo of the big mushroom shelf growing from the side of this tree stump, and didn't even notice the tiny little wispy guys on top until I was looking at the photo.

"It's good to see me, isn't it?"

I finally went back to London to see Wicked last night, and I don't even know if I have the words? The last time I saw this show was March 2020, a week before I left Europe to go live in Japan. And then, you know, something else happened. I remember feeling at the time like I was content to take a break from the show as I'd seen it so often by this point, but the old saying be careful what you wish for comes to mind as I didn't mean like this! It's almost the same cast as before it's temporary closure, with the exception of Sophie Evans now playing Glinda, and as she's my absolute favorite I couldn't be happier about that! I really think this current cast is perfect 💚

This is what I wore. This dress was one of the last things I bought in Japan before I left, I'd been admiring it on the mannequin in front of the shop for a couple of weeks but it was kind of expensive. Knowing it was the last time I'd ever have the opportunity to buy it made me go for it though, and it's probably one of my favorite clothing items I got while I lived there. I wore it with my Doc Martens sandals, which are not very comfortable but I'm persevering.An old punk in Camden called me 'Alice in Wonderland', so that made my day.

Dress - LilLilly // Sandals - Doc Martens // Headbow - Innocent World // Necklace - Tarina Tarantino

Turn and face the strange

I meant to post about this sooner, but I went to the antiques center last week! I last went in December 2019, and I always love taking photos and seeing how much it's changed every time I go. I used to come out of these places with armfuls of things, but I'm definitely more chill nowadays and I just really like looking at quirky old stuff and seeing how things have changed over time (or not!) and thinking about the kinds of people who maybe owned it before. Especially as these places always get me thinking about consumerism and how much old stuff exists and how much new stuff is constantly being made, and how all of these lovely old things often end up in garbage dumps or left to rot in attics and how unsustainable it all is. Which really bums me out so I try to only buy stuff that I want to give a forever home.

I'm really into bears lately, and I love old carved stuff like this that looks handmade.

I've been admiring this painting for years! It used to be at another antiques place locally, now it's moved to here, and I swear I've been looking at it for about 6 years so it always makes me really happy to try and spot where they've hung it up this time.

I love old packaging design, and this iron was tiny. I did think about getting it as it would literally be perfect for travel, but it was super heavy which isn't airline friendly.

I've never seen canisters specifically for different types of sugar before.

We'll make it beautiful

I went down to London yesterday to go to the theater and I can't believe how long it's been since I've been able to type that!! It all felt a bit weird and surreal all day as I haven't been to London since coming back from Japan. I haven't been much of anywhere really and I did feel anxious and a bit of reverse culture shock because I've become so used to navigating Tokyo and Japanese etiquette and customs that things kept taking me by surprise and I found myself unsure of what to do. I posted about it on my Instagram stories and I had a couple of my friends from Japan messaging me to say they've felt the same since returning home so at least it's not just me!

I went to see Heathers which is a show I've wanted to see for years as I really love the cast recording. To be honest I'm not often drawn to musicals based on movies, there's been a lot of them lately which is kind of it's own gripe. I think Heathers works better as a musical though as it's such heightened reality anyway, although to be fair I've never much liked the movie so it's not hard for it to be an improvement. The issue I often have with musicals I've only ever listened to and not actually seen is because I'm such a visual person I kind of make up my own version of it in my head because I don't know how it's staged (I don't like bootlegs personally, watching something through someone's shaky phone camera where they're constantly zooming in and out is not a fun time for me). So sometimes actually seeing the show can be a bit of a letdown compared to what I pictured, but I really enjoyed it! And I'm so glad it opened as restrictions have been so up in the air lately which has affected the theater and arts industries the most, so it just felt so important to be back.

There was so much I wanted to do in London before the show that I kind of didn't know what to do. I wanted to go to a museum or art gallery, but I also wanted to check out a few stores I can't get to locally. I was still deciding on the Tube when I suddenly decided to jump off at Tottenham Court Road and spent most of the day in various book shops, so I guess I'll go to the museum in a few weeks. I also stopped by the Japan Centre, which I've been going to for years but it really hit different this time as I recognized absolutely everything on the shelves from when I lived there. Especially as I'd been having that reverse culture shock anxiety all day too, it was comforting!

“Stop trying. Take long walks. Look at scenery. Doze off at noon. Don't even think about flying. And then, pretty soon, you'll be flying again.”

One of the things I really wanted to do the most in Japan was visit the Studio Ghibli Museum as I'd missed it when I first went which I was super gutted about. Then Covid happened and it closed, and then while locked down they decided to do some renovations and keep it closed longer and it was basically shut for the entire time I lived in Japan and I thought I was going to miss out on it again. Until!! They announced they were opening mid-January, 2 weeks before I was due to fly back to Europe. Serendipity!

The building itself is completely magical, I don't know how else to describe it it's just so whimsical and full of tiny details even down to the doorknobs and Jiji shaped faucets. Some of its almost like a maze with tiny doors you have to crouch to go through and spiral staircases that lead to no where in particular. There's all kinds of different rooms, from detailing the history of the company and how the animations are made, to all of the behind the scenes artwork and research that goes into everything.

This was my favorite bit as it's set out like spaces where the artists are in the middle of working and like they just got up for a break, and the walls are covered in genuine concept work, story boards, and background art. I found it so, so inspiring, so much that I even bought a set of the watercolors the artists use (the Japanese brand Holbein of course). There were photo albums to flick through of the photographs the researchers had taken on locations, shelves of books they used as reference (nothing specific either, just books about birds or certain cities that are the kind of thing you'd probably overlook at the thrift store). I think the reason I found it so inspiring was because there wasn't any fancy expensive equipment or tools so it all felt really accessible and realistic. It made me want to thrift a bunch of books and paint from them as reference, and I loved seeing that all of the fantastical locations and creatures in Ghibli movies are based on things so mundane.

They also have a movie theater showing exclusive short movies that are only viewable at the museum, I think there's 8 or so that they rotate through, and t one I saw was about a caterpillar and you saw him hatching and experiencing the world for the first time and it was so cute! It also had no speech, just sound effects, so you could understand it in any language which I thought was smart although I don't know if they're all like this. 

“You must go on a long journey before you can really find out how wonderful home is.”

It's slowly feeling more and more autumnal here and I can feel myself approaching my hibernation phase. Oh to be a bear! As I can't sleep all winter I've done the next best thing and have mostly been holed up with my illustration work and crafts.

I've been rewatching one of my favorite TV shows, BrainDead, which I realized I'd last seen two years ago in 2018! I'm having to use the US Amazon to stream it (thanks VPN!) as I guess because it's currently topical with the US elections that they've started charging to watch it when it used to be free. Because it's been a while I'd forgotten some of the finer details of the show and it really is hilariously funny. 

I also finally finished my Snow Queen project. It's been a lot of work as I was bubbling over with ideas during lockdown and am still playing catch up and digitally painting it all. I'm feeling a bit done with it all to be honest and am itching to work on something new but I still have about 8 different illustrations to finish.

I'm still working on my sketchbook though, just at a much slower pace. I drew these two portraits with ballpoint pen last weekend. I'd watched Joker for the first time since I'd seen it at the cinema and met Todd Phillips, and that whole thing was just such an experience that I was worried my very non-cinema sized screen would diminish it somehow. And also it's just that feeling of wanting to savor your favorite things instead of over watching it, you know? It inspired me to draw the Joker though. I'm tempted to paint the drops of blood on his face and perhaps the clown make up too, but I'm worried about spoiling it and losing some of the detail. I also drew Aaron Tveit because of watching BrainDead which he's one of the main characters in (and is the whole reason I ever watched it in the first place, let's be honest).

This is what I'm currently working on in my sketchbook, using actual paint for a change. I've been itching to draw something from Wicked as I've been thinking about how I used to see it several times a year and how inspired I'd feel at the end of each performance and I miss that feeling so much! I dug out my old sketchbook to look at some thumbnails I'd messily sketched out in my car on the way home from London after a show, and this was one of the them so I decided to finally give it a go. I was a little worried the perspective wouldn't work, but it was one of those rare moments where the image in your head comes out exactly as you want it too! I love using gouache as it's so satisfyingly matte and flat once it's dry. I'm using a different sketchbook to my usual brand, and I do really miss my old one but I'm also enjoying being able to use more materials and paint in it. The only issue I really have is that because the paper is so much nicer I'm struggling to really fill it up as I don't want to 'waste' it - which is generally why I steer away from fancy sketchbooks in the first place!

I've also been working on my memory journal, currently creating a spread for BrainDead as I like to record things I've enjoyed. I've also fallen down a rabbit hole of watching people journal on YouTube which is incredibly addictive! Including k-pop journals, which really isn't my thing but I just love their enthusiasm and I admire it really. When I was a teenager being passionate about anything was sneered at, particularly if you were a girl, and it's something that really stuck with me and made it difficult for me to express my interests as I constantly felt like I had to dial myself down to fit in, and I'm still trying to unlearn all of that. So although I don't like the topic personally I really admire how unabashed these girls are, and how creative it makes them! Creating journals and scrapbooks of things you like is nothing new, people have been doing it since the 1950s, but it's become much more aesthetic now and I love that. And it's just really fun keeping track of stuff you're watching, which songs you're particularly into right now, and your general feelings on it all. Our interests shape who we are so much that it makes sense to have a place to record it in a creative way.

This was not as nice as I'd hoped but I liked the packaging!

Otherwise I've mostly been trying to keep up with all of my other hobbies. The trouble with having so many is that there's always something to do, which is a blessing as I've never been bored in my whole entire life, but I can get a bit overwhelmed at how much I want to do and how few hours there are in the day. I'm currently trying to get back on track with reading as it's a hobby I've really missed and I've finally settled into a great book after a few duds. I'm also halfway through a knitting project, which I didn't take any photos of as it's not very exciting to look at right now but it's a triangle shape and learning how to shape knitted items feels pretty exciting as I'm still a beginner. And I've taken up hand sewing after discovering Bernadette Banner's channel over summer. I've sewed for years and made loads of my own clothes, but as much as I love the finished result of wearing the things that I've sewn I've always hated the actual v frustrating process of sewing and seen it as just a means to an end. So seeing Bernadette hand sew full clothing garments kind of blew my mind as I've always associated hand sewing with mending or finishing a hem. I was particularly inspired by her Lady Sherlock waistcoat and decided to attempt it for myself, so I've also had that on the go in the background. I've loved seeing it slowly take structure as I quietly sit with it on my lap in front of a movie rather than hunching over a sewing machine, and it's gotten me thinking about all kinds of things I want to sew next!