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Milano 59

Today the rain brought the vibes down. I did get a good amount of work done though. The main thing that I did today that was creative was take a break with my friend during a group project meeting go get coffee and then go back to her house to make a charcuterie board customized with the things that we liked. After that we did more work and a lot better and felt like I was getting work done outside sun was out which made the day feel a lot better. And then had another group meeting where I worked with a friend on a presentation, nailed it submitted that then ended my day.

Sometimes I feel like I put too much of my self worth in the work that I do.

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Milano 57

I got so much work done today. I came up with a couple good recommendations for my Managing Creativity project. I looked into a few things for my Entrepreneurship project. I did work for Management. I got to prep for e-marketing a little. I got to see a friend. It's 9:42 right now and I'm going to try and not do any more work because I don't want to feel stressed and crash and burn tomorrow. I think I did good today. Tomorrow will be even better too.

I took inspiration today, I still haven't started piecing together all the screenshots in my camera roll into one composite for a photoshoot, but I am going to start tonight. I remember one of my New Year's resolutions is to use my inspiration. I'm also remembering from class that I need structure with the inspiration to be able to actually use it.

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Milano 56

I had a dinner party and it was a much needed reset. I organized a really successful dinner with a great menu and good vibes. I didn’t go off of inspiration like I did last time, but this time was alright even without.

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Milano 55

All sorts of design week events today. I feel like I'm burning out though a little. Overcommitting to a lot. Trying to remember what we learned in class about rest. Hosting a dinner party tonight.

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Milano 54

Today I cooked for my parents the recipes I’m planning on making my friends this week at my dinner party. I got creative with how we spent our time today. Tomorrow I’m going to get even more creative in that regard.

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Milano 53

Today I lightly styled my mom. We went into United Colors of Benetton and I picked out something for her she liked and bought. I love doing that because it gives me a lot of joy. I’m going to try and style once more this week.

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Milano 52

Yesterday I met with my group to discuss our project for the class. We are focusing on Off-White!

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Milano 51

Today I worked on a group project and came up with strategies for a start up we are creating, as well as strategies for a start up we are helping. Doing a risk assessment for the second one brought me into a flow state feeling because in addition to thinking out the risks associated with our chosen strategies to target Gen Z, I came up with more.

Then I worked with Emma on website development and general content strategy. We made a prototype of different web pages we wanted to design to have a little bit of a plan before we got into actually trying to code it out. Smart.

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Milano 50

I found a new artist to fall in love with.

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Roma 1

On my Roman Holiday, today I had a creative conversation with one of the most inspiring people I’ve met. I walked by her shop and almost didn’t go in, but then felt I had to since it was so cute. I am so happy I did. First green flag, it was the cutest store with the greatest selection. Like she created the stuff out of dreams because it was actually so beautiful in there. It was like walking through a golden memory. Second, she was so interesting. She told me about her life as a criminologist, how she solved a crime in the US just from reading the case on her own. She talked about deciding to not bring her boutique online because her criminology job already lives there. She didn’t want to bring her dream store there too. She also told me that business was good enough that she didn’t need to. Third, she told me about her cool clientele. She told me about the designers like Davide Renne and Alessandro Michele who come into her store, based purely off the vibe. No advertising. Just WoM. Fourth, she knew Durham.

I think what was so perfect about this store was the lady proved that you could do what she did. She had an inkling of what her dream would look like in real life and then she made it. She’s also defending it by not putting any of it online. She said this is an in person experience only. She also talked about a trending type of bar/experience in Rome that does a similar thing to what she does (not advertise, not photograph, just have a store).

I am really inspired by her attitude towards owning a store. She really was just about owning it and nothing else. She put in the effort to source all of the amazing clothes. Refinish and refurbish all of the antique furniture, paint the walls, dress the windows, everything.

Her store was the dictionary definition of a labor of love, and it reminded me of one of my New Year’s resolutions: “having hobbies for the sake of having hobbies.” Despite that, I feel like I still have to exploit my hobbies some how. I need to work in some way to make them serve a purpose other than ornament. Maybe I can make money off of this if I get good enough? If that’s the thought behind everything I do though, I can’t imagine I’d get anything done well. It’s like that general understanding about fame: if you try too hard, you’re going to be trying too hard. In other words, I can’t expect to be the best right off the bat because then I discount the process of trying and actually getting good. If I learned anything from this spring break, my week in Milan and my weekend and Rome, from seeing the exhibits I had been meaning to see, to having great conversations that rekindled my hope (again) for my creative future. Everything is okay. I don’t have a lot of time left in Europe, so I’m going to use the time I have left as much as I can. This was my inspiration week.

These pictures are a mix of the exhibits and stores I went to throughout the week.

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Milano 49

Today I reflected on my own creative confidence. Which I realized I don’t have a lot of. I’m going to Rome today. I’ll talk more after.

I wrote an article draft today. I planned a little bit of a pop up too.

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Milano 48

I wrote an article today but towards the end of working on it I thought about applying to jobs and felt like I was wasting my time and that my writing was shit. Then I started making mistakes on my job application which made me feel like I can’t do anything right.

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Milano 47

I sat again with my friend to draw while the weather was nice. This time in a park. There was a lot more to focus on when I drew here, and everything I kept looking at kept changing, so I found it difficult to focus. That’s been the main thing I’ve been struggling with these past few weeks, staying focused on my stuff. I’m trying to get in a routine of some sort as I start to get more on my plate. But it isn’t easy. I think back to what Professor talked about when we learned about creative routines. I’m starting with writing 500 words a day.

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Milano 46

Today was my first real off day in a while. With no (save a few who weren't available in the daytime) friends in town, I decided I would go to the exhibitions I had been meaning to check out all of March before they closed the first week of April. Juergen Teller: i need to live was first.

This exhibition confirmed that Teller is probably my favorite photographer ever. At least, with only my digital camera and not editing, he's the one I think I emulate the most. I also find his stuff incredibly inspiring. His ad campaigns for Marc Jacobs. His spreads for W Magazine (including one shot in DC that really resonated with me). The way he portrays his subjects and environments is raw. Rawness that makes me, as a viewer, feel closer to his work. There's nothing going on. It's literally the world through his lens; which is just how the world is. It's optimistic to me, even when the photos look incredibly dark or kind of off. I found some of my favorite images walking through this exhibition. I also learned more uncomfortable things about him that kind of made me squirm. But artists are all weird so I felt that it tracks. I liked that he had part of his exhibition dedicated to hate articles posted about him, pretty major criticisms. It made me think about his art more like him I feel like. At least, I wondered, what was he thinking when he saw these articles come out?

I went to see Roe Ethridge: Happy Birthday Louise Parker at 10 Corso Como after the Teller exhibition. I enjoyed it because the space was well-lit, the pieces were well-placed. I liked most of his work. I was confused a bit about how I was supposed to walk through the space and interpret what was on display, but I also kind-of liked how I had to make it around on my own time. I want to look more into his work.

[jaciura]

Milano 45

I sat in a cafe in the morning and drew with my friend. I drew her. Halfway through, though had already noticed how off I was proportion-wise with the distance between her head and her hands, I adjusted to start drawing more in proportion, but I didn’t want to erase everything I already had down, and didn’t want to start from scratch either. I started drawing next to what I had. I kind of liked it like this. It makes me think of something someone said about architecture in the US vs. that in Europe. They said that in the US we just like to take things down to build from entirely new. In Europe, they just keep everything up and deal with having the anachronism of old things living now. How many times in creativity do we build on things as they are instead of thinking we have to start from new?

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Milano 44

What did I do that was creative today?

I ask myself this every day before I make a post. Today I ran through everything I did today. I woke up late. I rushed(ish) to the tram to get to school. I went to school to work. I worked and came home right after my classes. I got more data at windtre. I went for a run. I showered. I sat and listened to a podcast as I read a trend forecast. I watched TikTok. I think the most pseudo-creative thing I did today was read the trend forecast. I know what to think about now when sourcing. I know now what not to look for when looking for something new (as far was what the next trends will be). I didn't do a lot. I really worked, left, came home. Do I need to do more with my day? Am I really so tired and in my head that I can't get over myself to get more work done?

I was really productive yesterday, maybe today was the balancing of the scale.

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Milano 43

I did go stir-crazy this morning. I was in my room thinking about the end of the world and not being able to find a job and cracking under the pressure of everything I had to do today, but then left my apartment and felt fine. I blasted Work by Iggy Azalea through my iPhone 6 and got on the tram to sit in a cafe. I sat there for almost 7 hours and cranked out some proper good stuff. Some of the most creatively stimulated places I've felt are out of the house. Sometimes I feel like I need to be cooped up at home though. But sometimes I just need to see people. I felt okay the rest of the day. The fatigue hit me later, but for the most part I felt good.

I often think about the class where we had to finish the sentence, "I would be more creative if..." Mine is "...if I got more sleep." Now I know why Professor made us do the film project where we had to get our actors to say "...I need to sleep."