#amelia south park

[raine-blxssxm]

Some Amelia doodles I’ve done while I was inactive!!

[suishane]

A sweet girl, keeping secrets. 🤫

@raine-blxssxm This fan art is for you. 🙂

[8trackaxolotl]

We will return to our regularly scheduled program after these messages: Art prints are now available on Etsy, AxolotlsOddities! Medium prints $5 and mini prints $1.25

[leviathanbodypillow]

@raine-blxssxm here's like my second drawing of Amelia <33

Her hair is SO FUN TO DRAW. I'm really proud of this drawing from the anatomy to the shading!

This is Amelia's (late) birthday gift (I missed it)

Take Super Crown Amelia <3

[gigantomachylesbian]

I don’t know if I literally have like face blindness (and if I did it would be to just a small degree) but MAN am I bad at recognizing people

[justanamesstuff]

All I Need

Chapter 2

Matty Healy!dad x f!reader

A/N: okay, second chapter/part…I had fun writing this part. Hope you enjoy it!!

Word count: 2k

Warnings: swearing, friends bickering, broken hearts (?), typos

Chapter 1

“Okay, we’re off.” Matty announced, extending his arms towards Grace. She faked refusing his request, which made Amelia chuckle and hide her little face on her mother’s best friend's neck. Y/n laughed witnessing. “Give my baby back!” Matty insisted, poking Grace on the arm.

In a swift movement, Matty took Mel and stepped back a few meters. “Yes!” He celebrated.

“Have fun” Y/n said to them. “Tell the guys that I’ll drop by anytime soon” She stated to Matty.

“You two can come with us...” He offered to the grown up women. Y/n shook her head.

“She needs her time with daddy.”

Matty smiled wide, dropping kisses on his daughter's chubby cheeks. “My sweet baby!”

“We need to gossip about you as well.” Grace muttered behind her mug. Matty looked instantly to Y/n arching an eyebrow. He was expecting an answer, meanwhile Y/n wanted to kill her best friend.

Y/n purposely ignored the conversation. Saying goodbye to her daughter. “Give mommy a kiss, and go.” Y/n sensed Matty staring. Matty stood there, in the middle of the kitchen, analysing how Y/n ignored eye contact. 'Was it a joke or a fact? Or both?'

If he didn’t say more, she wasn't going to either.

“Okay…” He spoke with his voice full of questions. “See you two later. Don’t burn the house down, please!” He turned around, with Amelia secured in his arms.

Once the sound of the door closing reached Y/n's ears, she looked dead panned at Grace. “I’m going to kill you, idiot. Why did you tell him that?”

“What?” They stared at each other for a minute. “I wasn’t lying…” Grace shrugged her shoulders.

“I don’t care, Grace. He has a big ego, stroked daily by…”

“Fans and hot models, actresses…”

“Yes, thank you.” Y/n shut her with a stern look. Deeply annoyed about that truth. "So he doesn’t need to know that we…sometimes-”

“Many, many, many times...”

“Why- shut up!” Y/n walked away towards the living area, which connects directly with the kitchen. “We don’t talk about him that much…and even if we did, he doesn't need to know, okay?"

“It was a joke!” Grace followed her, plopping at Y/n’s side on the big couch.

Y/n hold a scream, saying “I can’t stand you sometimes.”

Grace laughed at her antics. “You love me. Anyway…” she dragged the start of the phrase too much for Y/n’s liking. “What’s really going on?”

“What do you mean?” Y/n tried to keep her voice tone as normal as she could.

“No. Talk to me.” Grace warned her. Turning, so they were face to face while sitting on the big white couch. “Y/n…”

“I-” She didn’t know where to start. Not even her understood what was really going on inside her head.

After a week of having Matty around, her nerves were over the top. As she said, the frontman was fulfilling his duties as Amelia’s father like a champ. He was always like that once he was home. Being the perfect father and co-parent. Years before, she would not have believed it was possible. Never. But so many times he made her swallow her words, or thoughts, for what this matter involved. Once, he explained to her how guilty he sometimes felt while being away. Voicing his worries to her warmed Y/n’s heart.

They were truly friends, co-parenting a beautiful girl. Although being a parent was hard. A life full of joy, but full of worries as well. The fear of fucking her little mind creeping inside Matty’s mind, but Y/n’s as well. They bond over sharing good moments, but mostly through surfing the waves of sadness and hard times.

Y/n couldn’t complain about his behaviour during the week. At the same time, Y/n couldn’t ignore the growing pain inside her chest. He was being a pal, but not her partner.

Everything went even south the night before. She was laying in bed, exhausted after a long day full of: playing, changing nappies, a walk to the park, feeding Amelia and bath time. She could clearly hear from her bedroom -which was at the other side of the hall on the first floor-, Matty softly singing to Amelia. He was the one in charge of bedtime. With him sound tracking, Y/n scrolled through Instagram. Hundreds of notifications. Her accounts were private, but people managed to constantly tag her.

The same picture repeating itself plastered on her phone screen. Matty walking with a girl. No holding hands, no kissing, no nothing. The speculations were there, under, as texts and comments. People convinced the girl walking along was a worldwide known model. Matty looked kind of tired at her side, everything about her looked perfect. Y/n locked the device, leaving it on the bedside table. She took a deep breath and tried to sleep. Her mind racing with thoughts kept her wide awake for longer than she wanted to accept. Not conclusions, only a sour heart.

“Nothing. It's nonsense.” Y/n told Grace.

“It's not nothing if it is worrying you…” Y/n laughed, loudly. The irony.

“Nothing is really wrong. He’s a great father, Amelia is happy to have him back…work is good.”

“But?”

“What?”

“But something is clearly disturbing you...”

Y/n succumbed to Grace’s inquiries. “It’s so stupid. We have an arrangement…everything we do- Matty and I, everything we do around here is for Amelia to be happy and healthy-” She rambled, not really making sense.

“But?”

“But I’m sinking down.” Y/n admitted. Those words directly to her more than to her friend.

“Why?” Grace knew she was pushing a little, feeling at the same time as it was for the better. “Why are you sinking?”

“It’s selfish…”

“Stop beating around the bush, you idiot. Say it!”

“I want someone to care for me, to fucking love me…”

Grace looked at her like a third eye appeared on her forehead. “Amelia adores you, I adore you…”

“I don’t mean it like that, Grace! It’s been so long since someone…you know” Grace busted into a fit of laugh. “Are you fucking laughing?” Y/n couldn’t believe her.

“Yes!” Grace said, trying to contain the sound but failing miserably. She started to roll on the couch. Y/n stood up.

“Stop laughing!”

“I can’t believe the crap you said.”

Y/n was starting to get pissed. It took a lot of her to express those feelings, and Grace wasn’t taking her seriously. “Thanks for being emphatic.”

“No, no..” Grace seated back up, drying her eyes. “I am.”

“You are no-”

“Shhhh-” Y/n friend lifted a single finger. “My time to talk!” she grinned when Y/n kept her silence. “I understand what you are saying…but please, if you want someone to fuck you-”

“That’s not the only thing I want.” Y/n screaming while blushing massively.

“Fine, yeah- still, you can go on dates!”

“Fucking when Grace? I have a daughter to raise...”

“She has a father, she has me…the boys would do it for her and for you, you know that. Amelia has an uncle, and granpare-”

“Yeah, but I’m her mother!” Y/n started to pass around the living room. She knew deep down those were merely excuses.

“Matty is his father. Doesn’t stop him from hooking up, date or whatever.” Grace tried to present her thoughts without knowing it was a dagger directly towards Y/n’s heart. Y/n looked down. The pictures came to her mind. “Y/n…” She snapped out of her daydreaming.

Y/n cleaned her throat. “Yeah, you’re right.” Her heart was aching. “I should-”

“Oh, no-” Grace looked through her.

Y/n’s head snapped up, her eyes wide. “What?”

“Don’t tell me…”

“I haven’t-”

“Shit, Y/n.”

“What?!”

“He’s fucking half of the population of the planet. He’s not made for being a good partner…”

“Don’t who- What you’re tal-”

“Matty.”

Y/n knew her facade was weak. At that moment of the conversation she couldn’t stop. “What about him?”

“Look at me and say you’re not waiting around for him.”

Y/n shut up. She was the one aware of her feelings. Although, she never thought she was doing what Grace implied she was doing. She felt light-headed. Y/n sat down slowly on the couch. “Am I doing that?” She asked herself.

“Y/n…”

“Fuck-” she closed her eyes tight. “No.” Y/n jumped from the couch. Her mind was working hard. Hurting a little. “I’m not waiting for him. Maybe I was excusing myself from dating…” She rambled out loud, starting to form a believable tale.

Grace tried to warn her. “He’s not going to stop dating hot girls…not that you aren’t hot, just-”

“Yeah, I know.”

“I bet he’s good at…it. That's not enough though-”

“Yes.”

“He cheated before-”

“We don’t know that for a fact-”

“Y/n…”

“Do you still have Paul’s number?” Y/n asked suddenly.

“Maybe. Why?”

“Give it to me.”

“Y/n…you need to slow down”

“Grace, give it to me!”

She grabbed her phone reluctantly, sending Y/n her cousin's phone number. Y/n started typing seconds after opening her phone. She was high on some cocktail of feelings, and Grace didn’t know how to or if she had to interfere. Maybe it was for the best. She hopped.

Suddenly, Y/n left the phone in the middle of the coffee table. “Done” she said.

“Mhm?” Grace was unsure.

“I have a date. Friday night.”

Grace couldn’t believe what was happening. “You’re crazy!”

“That’s new to you?” Matty asked -obviously- joking about it. Grace and Y/n felt like teenagers being caught after smoking for the first time. “Are you two okay?” he asked, fearing the answer due to their faces and sharing looks.

He left Amelia on the floor. She walked towards Y/n, who lifted her up. “Yes.” she responded, kissing her daughter, trying to find some comfort.

“Why then do you look like someone died?”

Grace laughed, trying to break the tension. “You just scared us. Wasn’t expecting you here so soon.”

“Yeah, well…mel-mel was screaming for a change of diapers. Forgot those at home. So…”

“Right!” Grace continued talking. Y/n was struggling to keep her calm, although she felt so pathetic.

“Y/n, are you feeling alright?”

“Yeah, wh-”

“She has a date...with Paul!” Grace shouted, scaring all of them. Making Amelia cry.

“Thanks, Grace!” Y/n’s voice was full of sarcasm. She walked away with her baby crying, trying to calm her.

She wasn’t far enough, she listened to Matty and her friend talking. “Paul, your prince charming cousin Paul?” Matty asked, Y/n felt a wave of regret. He sounded pissed, she thought. Y/n shushed Amelia, and herself too.

“Erm, yeah..him.”

“Y/n..” Matty went searching for her. He found her quickly. The lead singer stopped at the door, watching and analysing every one of Y/n’s movements.

“Yeah?”

“Are you really going on a date?” The question angered her. Who was him to ask that? She never questioned his dating behaviours. Never. Especially when those came with a tsunami of articles. Their personal romantic lives were out of the arrangement about co-parenting and living together. They weren’t a couple. He was not allowed or supposed to question her dating behaviours.

“Yes,” she said firmly. “Why?”

That took Matty back. “I-”

“Can you look after Mel…or I can ask-”

“Yes, I can. When?”

“Friday night.”

“Friday night” he repeated. “Okay, I have to check some tracks- Since I had to leave early, George sent them- ” Matty abruptly informed them, stumbling with his words. “Nice to see you, Grace.” and he was out of sight.

Grace walked out of the living room slowly. Making herself visible for mother and daughter. “Now I have a good reason to kill you.” Y/n stated.

Grace smiled wide. “I’m this beauty godmother, you can’t.” She took Amelia in her arms. The little girl laughed, and some tension disappeared from her mother's body.

She tried not to think too hard about Matty’s reaction. She focused on the date. No spark on her body, maybe it would come closer to it, to Friday. She tried to believe this was for the better. Grace was right, Matty wasn’t probably made to be her partner, but someone out there was.

Chapter 3

Feedback always welcome ❤️

[ryuatewater]

!!!INTRO!!!

Yeah so uh hi

NAME: Ryu Light (this isnt my real name ofc)

AGE: i turn 15 in september

PRONOUNS: Anything

SEXUALITY: I don't know at this point but I am asexual

HOBBIES: Drawing and writing

FANDOMS: (Might be updated later)

Object Shows

Omori

Undertale/Deltarune

Homestuck

Tadc

Purrfect Apawcalypse

Regretevator

South Park

Bugbo

Poppee The Performer

Steven Universe

Owl House

Amphibia

She-ra

SIDE BLOGS

@test-tube-iii ( Roleplay Account / Ask Blog )

@ryu-draws ( Art Only Account )

@box-iii ( Joke Roleplay Account / Ask Blog )

@amelia-hfjone ( Roleplay Account / Ask Blog )

@rye-cooki ( Roleplay Account / Ask Blog )

@catlord47 ( Roleplay Account / Ask Blog )

@someoneyoudontneed2know ( Roleplay Account / Ask Blog )

@pottedplant00 ( Roleplay Account / Ask Blog )

@piranhagaming ( Roleplay Account / Ask Blog )

@tammythereal ( Roleplay Account / Ask Blog )

FRIENDS

@quinndoesart

@thebaddexample

@creamtheaucreator

@talkingteardrop

@ask-bryce-hfjone

@t0azty

@zee-thezebra

@millylostintheosc

@thegoldentrophy

@roxydotcum

@cloudstongue

DNI

-Proshippers

-Zoophiles

-Homophobes

-Transphobes

-Racists

-Pedophiles

-Steve Cobs

-People who smoke/vape (don't ask)

RANDOM STUFF

I speak two languages: Turkish and English

I kin Paintbrush from Inanimate Insanity

And i use a clown nose in my smileys cause i love clowns :o)

I have an old object show! Read it here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eRiwCnFfZuOGF14jDnj-cYcPFq0ZVliMt3ScCKTIPyw/edit?usp=sharing

https://www.tumblr.com/ryuatewater/750851338171269120/are-you-ok-you-run-like-7-ask-blogs-dude-youre?source=share

and uh random spamton g spamton go

stamps are from @thisdastampdoesnotexist and @zee-thezebra

[redhairedwolfwitch]

Doctor Y/n - Attending Orthopedic Surgeon - 9 - Grey's Anatomy x Fem!Reader

Peeling back the duvet, you glanced down at the sleeping Allison who had snuck into the bed again whilst you asleep.

"Good morning Ally, time to get up before Luna starts her alarm call for your auntie Joey." You watched as the sleeping child began to stir from her dreamland.

///

"Joey, I'm going to get in the shower!" You declared after Owen had picked up Allison to take her and Leo to the park, bonding time for the children with Owen's mother, plus his sister Megan and her son Farouk.

Teddy was already at work, so you took your shower alone whilst Jo was up with Luna already in the kitchen when you heard the knock at the door and Jo going to answer it.

"Why are you dressed like a pigeon?"

"I'm a phoenix! Phoenix Fest!" Schmitt defended his costume, "what happened to your hair? Are you having a nervous breakdown?"

"No! I was trying to lighten my hair a few shades but I fell asleep, and Braces is in the shower after staying up with Allison who wouldn't sleep. I try to study when Luna's sleeping and Teddy and Braces have Allison and also Leo and Rory who visit now, but- help me!" Jo got louder and louder as she prepared a bottle for Luna.

"Do you have scissors?" Schmitt carefully asked, grimacing as Luna began to cry and Jo sighed.

///

"Okay, I will see you two later!" You nodded to Jo, then glancing at Luna before getting out of the car, not seeing Jo fail to follow as you headed into Grey Sloan for your shift.

"Tandem cyclists crashed. Rider in the back flew about 10 feet, she's hypotensive and presents with numbness in her legs, possible spinal fractures." Nico explained as he caught up to where you had caught up with Link.

"Swell." Link's smile was fake, reminding you of how he had turned up at the penthouse needing a place to crash after his proposal to Amelia went south.

"Might want to lose the happy face. Patient might be paralysed." Nico replied as you raised an eyebrow, realising things were probably even worse than you thought.

"I don't want to look how I feel, Nico, which is like I want to break the whole world into a million pieces and bury it so no one can find it." Link put on another fake smile as the three of you grabbed gloves.

"Maybe we should take this one then?" You offered, gesturing between yourself and Nico, the patient talking about how her wife had steered the bike into a family's day out in the park, and a nearby priest who had been visiting the duck pond.

"Y/n, her wife, Ms Correa, bed three." Winston instructed you, and as you headed over to the patient bed in question, you were glad it was you Winston sent, and not Link, as Amelia's face broke into a smile at seeing you.

"Can someone make sure that the priest is okay?"

"Priest?" Your nose crinkled in confusion, looking to Amelia for an explanation.

"They ran over a priest visiting the duck pond."

///

Nico, Link and Amelia were in the OR whilst you were in the ER, looking for anyone who could help Schmitt restore a patient's face after blasting it off with illegal fireworks, a patient who was apparently on shrooms.

It was Webber who returned with a plastics candidate who was interviewing.

"Did you pull that doctor from the interview-"

"We needed a plastics surgeon, I gave privileges." Webber replied, heading to go try to re-arrange the interview with Dr Lin, whilst you were prowling the ER for ortho cases.

///

"Y/n!" Megan Hunt spotted you almost immediately after having calmed Owen down from the fact that a priest had died after colliding with bikes that had almost hit his family, including Allison and Leo.

"Hello, Megan!" You froze for a moment before the woman pulled you into a hug.

"Come on, we're all going to the bar to raise a class for Father Christopher, and I haven't seen you in ages but Allison kept asking for her mommy and mama at the park today." Megan smiled, looking over at where Teddy was watching you both with a smile on her face.

///

Two incoming message(s)

Link: Found Jo sat in her car in the car park.

Link: She couldn't take Luna in to daycare and leave her.

One unread message

Link: What happened to Jo's hair?

Y/n: sleep deprivation and a hair lightening kit

You barely managed to type a reply to Link before Allison was in front of you, her hands on your knees wanting up.

///

"Okay I'm not going to tell you how to parent your son, but this is not going in Luna's bag. Hey, Braces, is Ally finally asleep?" Jo spotted you wrapped in a blanket, looking exhausted but you still tried to help with Link and Jo preparing the bags for Luna and Scout.

Especially since Amelia had headed to Minnesota, and Scout had decided to stop sleeping through the night.

"Teddy is dropping Leo off at Owen's, I think Scout is asleep and my job is now to try save Elsa's cape which ended up in the dishwasher? Leo's world, we just live in it." You concluded as you began to examine the remains of the cape.

"Too bad Jackson left, this cape needs plastics to restore it, and I don't think I can ship it to Boston."

///

"All of the children are at daycare, one form or another. Cody texted me a photo of Rory and everything... and Arizona just texted me a photo of Sofia, wow it's been forever since I've seen them!"

"Should we shelve the Elsa costume?" Teddy enquired, confusing you and Owen with the new conversation topic.

"What?" Owen frowned whilst you jumped to wanting an explanation.

"Why?"

"You know, put Leo in more t-shirts and jeans? Just, is that the right parenting move?" Teddy asked, glancing between you and Owen, before reaching for your hand as she noticed you shift nervously.

"Did something happen?" Owen enquired but Teddy shook it off.

"None of the other kids at daycare are wearing costumes, so I just..."

"I think Leo should decide what Leo wants to wear. I didn't have much growing up, clothes especially. Costumes of characters never happened, so I think... I am being called." You headed out as the scans were up for Owen and Teddy's patient.

///

Amelia calling you from Minnesota took you by surprise as you headed into the Residents Olympics, sitting with Jo and Link.

"I found a strawberry in my patient."

"Back in med school, I found a yam." Link added, eating more crisps before putting bets on the residents.

"Brussel sprouts. Plural." You added in, making Jo and Link look at you in shock.

///

"Look at you two, breaking rules and saving lives. Too bad I prefer Teddy with Y/n than my own brother." Megan Hunt sassed as Owen looked offended and Teddy tried not to laugh.

You were completely in the dark about their patient, and the actions that would follow everything.

///

Your phone buzzed with an email, opening your phone to see Callie had sent you a research article to read. You barely had time to open it as Jo sent a message to you.

Joey: please hurry home, Link is singing depressing lullabies

"I'm worried, I want Leo to be okay in the world, what if-"

"What if we let him be himself?" Owen suggested, smiling as he spotted you sat on the floor of the daycare, helping Leo put on Elsa's cape.

"I'm worried that the world won't be kind. I'm worried that it will be hard. I'm worried that people will be cruel." Teddy confessed, her eyes lingering on where you were grinning and singing Let It Go with Leo and Allison.

"Maybe they will be. Y/n has seen more hardship and cruelty as a child than any child should, but despite my first judgements, S/n is great with the kids. Leo's happy, let's just let him be happy, okay?" Owen suggested, smiling as Leo spotted them both and made a beeline, whilst you pushed the pushchair that Allison had been put in.

"Let's get you all home." You barely heard what Owen said as Teddy walked over to you, holding Leo in her arms but leaning in to kiss your cheek.

"Hi, love. How was your day?"

///

Tags: @nnightskiess @emskisworld @multifandomlesbianic @thegirlwhowishedeveryonelived @inquisitive-nix @grey-warden-commander @unexpected-character @youralphawolf72 @incorrectlycorrectfun

[wheels-of-despair]

Enough | Tom Grant x You | Series Masterlist

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry Pairing: Tom Grant x You Summary: It's been a year since the events of Enough, and you and Tom have an office Christmas party to attend. Contains: Cookies, cocoa, presents, coworkers, familiar faces, just a happy little check-in with Tom and the one who didn't get away. Words: 2k

"Hey. Maintenance man."

Tom's face breaks into a grin at the sound of your teasing voice on his radio, causing him to drop the plastic clip he'd been holding in his mouth while he fixed a drooping string of lights on the welcome sign. He bends down to pick it up off the ground before pulling the radio off of his belt.

"Where are you, and why is the answer not," your voice drops in an imitation of him, "Standing proudly next to my beloved at the office Christmas party?"

He laughs to himself and presses the button to answer. "On my way, love. Had to fix the lights on the sign again." He holds the radio in one hand and works with the other, sticking the plastic back to the wood and draping the light string over it.

"This is no time for over-achieving, Thomas. Santa's list has already been finalized. You'll just have to try harder next year."

Tom snorts and stands back to admire his work.

Welcome to Sandy Shores!

Tom loved it here. He knew the place inside and out; he'd helped build it, after all. He knew every employee, every delivery person who came in and out, and hoped to remember the faces of returning guests next summer. (And if he didn't, the sassy lass who ran the office would help him match names to faces.)

They'd be celebrating their one-year anniversary next month. One year since he'd shown up in front of her flat and convinced her to come back to Cornwall with him. One year since they'd packed her things into boxes, secured them in the back of his truck, and driven south. She'd followed him down in her beloved junk-bucket of a car - which she'd nearly run him over with once - and used a pair of radios to stay in contact during the long drive. They never wanted to be apart again.

They'd had a little time to get settled in before the holiday park officially opened to guests, and Tom soon realized that the week they'd spent together in the fall was only a preview of the good times to come. They still couldn't get enough of each other. They cooked together, and watched sunsets, and he'd taught her how to surf.

Well he'd tried to teach her how to surf. During their last lesson, she insisted she'd rather just sit on the beach and watch him. But that was alright as well; he quite liked having someone waiting for him with a warm towel and a big smile when he came shivering out of the sea. He especially liked it when she'd take him home and warm him up more.

When she first arrived, his caravan had looked like all the others. And then, one day… it was home. He'd never been a big decorator, but a new set of curtains here and a lamp there and a few pictures on the walls made all the difference.

His favorite picture was of the two of them. They'd been watching a sunset from their porch, and she declared that they needed a picture together. They'd turned around so that the vivid pink sky was in the background, and she'd snapped several smiling photos. But his favorite was the one where he'd turned his head at the last second to surprise her with a kiss on the cheek. His mouth had crashed into her with perhaps a little more force than he'd intended, and they'd both erupted into laughter.

His second-favorite was of the two of them on either side of their dear friend April. She and her granddaughter Amelia had come to stay for a week over the summer, along with Amelia's husband and children. April loved her new home almost as much as Tom did his, and was quite impressed with how far his cooking skills had come along since she'd seen him last.

Tom and his lady love worked together seamlessly; she took care of the paperwork, and he took care of the labor. It was just the two of them at first, but as more people were hired, things got easier. He couldn't operate the software to make a reservation or update the website if his life depended on it, and her most valuable contribution to the upkeep was occasionally holding a flashlight. But she held that flashlight like a professional, and he got quite good at scribbling down names and phone numbers on paper and promising that she'd call back to make things official. They made a great team.

"Thomas Grant, you have been out there admiring that sign for a full minute. It looks fine. Get in here."

Tom holds the radio to his mouth. "Are you watching me over the security camera?"

"Maybe."

"Like what you see?" He grins and spins around.

"Gorgeous. Now please get your gorgeous butt in here."

Tom sets off toward the office with a smile on his face. "Can't help but notice you're not at the party either, if you're in the office watching me on the monitor."

"Thought we'd make our grand entrance together."

"Awww," Tom coos as he steps in through the back door. He deposits his coat on the rack and slips into your office, avoiding the staff gathered in the lobby. "Hi."

"Hi," you greet, clicking away from the security cameras and standing from your desk.

You cross the room and meet Tom by the door, greeting him with a hug even though it had only been about an hour since you'd seen him last. He nuzzles his cold nose into your neck, and you squeak. He laughs and keeps burrowing.

"Tommm," you whine.

"Hmmmm?" he hums into your neck.

"We've got a party to get to."

Tom sighs, detaches himself, and opens the door for you. "Ladies first." You lead the way into the lobby.

"There they are!" Richard, the owner of the caravan park, holds his arms open in a surprised gesture like he hadn't seen you in years.

"Sorry, sorry, a few last-minute things needed to be taken care of," Tom apologizes.

"That's our Tom, always going above and beyond!" Richard says proudly. "Alright, now that everyone's here, I have a few things to say!"

Richard always has a few things to say. He's a little eccentric, but working for him has been a dream. You'd never had a boss who valued your opinions before. He absolutely adored Tom, and treated him like a most trusted advisor. No more barked orders and snide comments like at Shirley's. Aside from the occasional visit from Richard and his wife Marianne, you and Tom were left alone to run the place. You loved it.

While Richard rambles about your first year of business, you take a moment to admire the room.

A large Christmas tree stands by the window. Richard had requested beach-themed decorations, to match the park's name, even though there were very few guests this time of year. It did look nice. You and Tom had done the decorating yourselves. Shells, sand dollars, starfish, seahorses. Blue and white lights lined the reception desk and doorframe and glowed from within the branches of the frosted fake tree. It was all very coordinated and professional.

Home looked a little different.

You and Tom had opted for a more traditional look. Your tree was green, and multi-colored lights reflected off the plain but shiny ornaments. At night, when all the other lights were off, it cast a warm glow through the house that made you want to snuggle up and stare it until you fell asleep. You and Tom had been experimenting with different kinds of Christmas cookies, making a new batch each day, so it constantly smelled like home-made sweets. It was warm, and cozy, and absolutely perfect.

"So let's hear it for these two, who guided us all through a tremendous first year of business!"

A smattering of applause brings you back to reality. Richard, his wife, and the five off-season employees and their significant others beam at you and Tom. You can feel the heat rise to your cheeks.

"Anything to add?" Richard asks. You give Tom a nudge with your shoulder.

"Uh, yeah," he clears his throat. "We just want to thank everyone for choosing to be here with us. Not just tonight, but in general. We've got a great thing going here, and we're both so happy that you're all part of it."

You nod in agreement. The room remains silent.

"…alright, I'm done." The small crowd chuckles at Tom's awkward conclusion, and you watch adoringly as his cheeks turn pink.

"Alright, everyone," Richard announces, "Let's eat, drink, and be merry!"

Everyone breaks off into smaller groups after the dismissal, and you turn to Tom with a smile.

"Doin' pretty good with that public speaking, Mr. Grant."

"Hush," he says with his best fake glare, making you laugh.

"Oh! The stockings!" You suddenly remember. "Everyone?" you ask, hoping to catch their attention before they start to get lost in conversation or wander off. "Don't forget to take your stocking from the fireplace before you go!"

The staff's eyes drift toward the unlit fireplace, and they hesitate. After a few seconds, Kyle and Kendra - Tom's friend from his previous place of employment and the pretty blonde he'd met in a bar last year - make the first move. Kyle is now Tom's second-in-command, and Kendra is your activities director. There's not much for her to do here in the winter-time, but she and Kyle live on-site and she helps out whenever someone needs an extra pair of hands.

The rest of the staff follows suit, until only two stockings remain.

"Richard?" you ask gently. He stops watching his employees tear into their gifts and turns to you. "The last two are for you and Marianne."

"Us?" he asks, eyes bulging. She peeks her head out from behind him.

"Of course!" you smile. "We couldn't leave you out, you're part of the family!"

Richard and his wife approach the fireplace, and sure enough, find their names on the last two stockings. They carefully remove them from their hooks and bring them back to you and Tom at the desk. You watch with amusement as they begin pulling out candy and trinkets. Their stockings held the same sort of treasures as everyone else's, but the unbridled joy on their faces at locally-made treats, lip balm, lotion, and socks was genuine. You and Tom had debated on whether you should include the owners in this little exchange with the rest of the employees or get them something else to set them apart, but now you knew now that you'd made the right decision.

You and Tom had so much fun shopping for stocking stuffers. You'd spent an entire weekend going in and out of every shop in town, looking for tiny treasures that no one would think to buy for themselves. You'd come home loaded down with bags, and had sat in the living room floor beneath the tree to sort through your findings and pack them into the light blue stockings that matched the office's beach decorations.

You and Tom stood to the side, watching your friends and coworkers and boss laugh and compare gifts. Christmas music played quietly as the group devoured the cookies you and Tom had been working on all week and drank an absolutely ridiculous amount of hot chocolate until, finally, they began to yawn and head toward the door.

When the numbers had dwindled to four - you and Tom and Kyle and Kendra - the party had lasted for nearly two hours. Kendra began collecting forgotten cups, but you stopped her.

"Those can wait 'til tomorrow. I think we've had enough excitement for one night," you yawn.

"You don't have to tell me twice," she grins. "Kyle! Take me home!"

"Yes, ma'am," he answers, rising from the chair where he'd been talking to Tom. He bends, and she hops on his back. Tom opens the door for them with a grin, and Kyle carries Kendra out.

You and Tom turn off the lights, lock the doors, and head for home. It's just a short walk away.

Your tree glows through the window, welcoming you to your favorite place on in the world. You and Tom go inside and slip into pajamas, but don't go to bed. You curl up on the couch together beneath a fuzzy blanket and watch the lights of the tree twinkle. You can feel your head getting heavier, and nuzzle into Tom's chest.

"Happy Christmas, love," he mumbles.

"The happiest," you yawn. Even half asleep, you know that this first Christmas with him is going to be hard to top.

[shazzyluka]

My Artfight 2023

Everything that I did on artfight this year

Here is my artfight for 2023 Attack and revengers

SPIKE WEAVER✦ from (Artfight name: Casual_Villain)

Deidre Minuendo from @u3pxx

Ralph (SP OC) from @alsfunkyalbum

Otis from (Artfight name: Idkbruh)

Jeffery Benson Woods from @greenpumpkinart

Bett from (Artfight name: MissBat)

Spider Jester!! from (Artfight name: CannedCrab)

Sighted Spider from @morefluid-thanwater

Amelia Cartman (SOUTH PARK OC) from @doodlebee707

[lupaeusmoved]

character inspirations .

artists / bands .

taylor swift , noah kahan , hozier , a day to remember , bad omens , olivia rodrigo , nessa barrett

films / shows .

dude , stand by me , paper towns , beauty and the beast , adventureland , the kings of summer , endless love , divergent , the way way back

teen wolf , outer banks , supernatural , shameless , euphoria , arrested development , looking for alaska , parks and rec , south park , pretty little liars , doctor who

characters .

tinkerbell , jj maybank , sarah cameron , aquamarine , alaska young , tris prior , rose tyler , amy pond , serena van der woodsen , mariana adams foster , nala , andy dwyer , princess anna , amelia shepherd , elizabeth swann , louise belcher , nick miller

faceclaims .

madelyn cline .

tagged by : @prosperae tagging : @razorfst , @thwolvss , @hcrv3lles , @salvatoraes , and everyone else bc i think it'll only tag five

[raine-blxssxm]

Phone destroyer Kennelia!!

For their mystical units, I decided to keep Kenny’s theme where he’s a Greek god (Hermes) by making Amelia Persephone. For Amelia’s weapon/power in the game, she has a basket of pomegranates, half of them being edible, and the other half being bombs. Her idle ability is that she’s capable of throwing these pomegranate bombs whereas her charged move is that she regains health by eating a pomegranate. This is inspired by a Greek myth I read a couple months ago at school where Persephone ate a pomegranate in the underworld, which obligated her to stay with Hades. According to the book, she did this because her favorite food was pomegranates, and she was extremely hungry after not eating for so long. Hope you guys like it!! ❤️

[trottlecanon]

INTRO POST!!

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚ ⋅

HIHI!! you can call me calico or leafy, either one iz fine :3

i uze she/they/paw!

im a demigirl + sapphic and i uze xenogenderz! im also questioning if im on the aromantic/aroace spectrum

im 13! im gonna be 14 on december 3 >_<

i have social anxiety and autizm (both diagnosed)

i have a typing quirk! herez how i uze it:

“i forgot to do my homework last night, i hope my teacher doesnt check today.” iz now: “i 4got 2 do my homework last night, i hope my teacher doeznt check 2day.”

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚ ⋅

im an editor, artist, and fanfic writer!

ive been editing since december 2021! ive alwayz only uzed capcut becauze idk how 2 uze anything else tbh..i post my edits on tiktok (bottom of post)

ive been drawing traditionally my whole life, and digitally since 2020, i uze ibispaintx and my art acc iz on instagram (bottom of post)

im also a fanfic writer! i have a bfb au and i write oneshots once in a blue moon (i write on ao3 and wattpad, bottom of post)

tbh 4 this account im gonna fuck around and find out what gets reach

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚ ⋅

MY SPECIAL INTERESTS ARE CATS AND OBJECT SHOWZ PLEAZE ASK ME ABOUT THEM PLZPSLZPZLZ

i have 6 cats and a dog i love them so so much

i first discovered the osc in 2016 and ive been fixating on it on and off ever since </3 so far ive watched bfdi, ii, hfjone, burner, and cfmot and i plan 2 watch a lot more! a few showz on my list are extraordinary excellent entitiez, the nightly manor, ion, etc!

some of my other hyperfixationz/interests are total drama, vocaloid, project sekai, hell park/south park, dr stone, percy jackson, lps 2012, pokemon, spooky month, tbhk, AND A LOT MORE god im in so many fandomz plz

i kin a lot of characterz…my highest kinz are leafy (bfb), fan (ii), nene kusanagi (pjsekai), amelia euler (one), taylor nolan (one), teardrop (bfb), x (bfb), remote (tpot), suitcase (ii), microphone (ii), tweek tweak, heidi turner, pip pirrup, mafuyu asahina (project sekai), ena shinonome (pjsekai), AND SO MANY MORE BC IM MENTALLY ILL

i also collect ships like baseball cardz so here are some of my fav ships!

bfb/bfdi/tpot: tree x bottle, liy x leafy, teardrop x leafy, pillow x book, gelatin x leafy, tennis ball x goof ball, pin x coiny, and a bunch of other ships with leafy LMAO

inanimate insanity: poly bright lights, fan x test tube, lightbulb x paintbrush, suitcase x microphone, soap x microphone, lifering x tea kettle, baseball x nickel, suitcase x balloon (only platonically!)

hfjone: liam x bryce x amelia, taylor x charise, bryce x amelia, liam x owen

cumfart and burner: spraypaint x kit, kit x rozey, tissuez x record, knify x picture, chargery x socka, yoshka x kratcy

project sekai: nene x tsukasa, kohane x akito, an x kohane, akito x toya, mizuki x an, rui x emu, ena x airi, minori x kohane

tbh the only tdi ships i like so far are noah x cody and tyler x lindzay

I CANT MAKE THIS INTRO POST SILLY ANYMORE BECAUZE COPY AND PASTE IZ BEING FUCKY

BOUNDARIEZ!!

dni: basic dni, pro/comshipperz, xenogender/neopronoun antiz, rarepair antiz, winner x clock shipperz

thin ice (unless we r close): cringe culture believerz, fireafy likerz, oc x canon antiz, firey defenderz, tree x remote shipperz

plz interact: osc, cat loverz, pjsekai playerz, vocaloid fanz, TROTTLE SHIPPERZ, literally any1 who sharez my interests

MORE AB ME!!!!

im a choir kid

im an infp-t

my humor: 🔥‼️😰⁉️💔😇🚼💨😈😡😧👎😱🤓🧌🤨🦅😿

my fav artists are cheezy hfj, inanimate insanity, taylor swift, melanie martinez, ghost and palz, mitski, maretu, kikuo, the living tombstone, and or3o :3

MY ACCOUNTS!!

tiktok: sillyvveon (main) treexbottle (alt)

ask 4 discord!

wattpad: calico_cloverz

twitter: cxlico__cxt (shitposting/spam) theiichronicles (rant/opinion acc)

instagram: calicokittypawzz (art)

tumblr: youre here!

ao3: cxlico_cxt

project sekai friend code (global server): 210235411300147200

bye thanks 4 reading! :3

[robertsameliax]

location: the robert's residence then some wooded area who: amelia roberts with mention of hank roberts, jordan roberts, and liam granger ( @grangerliam ) trigger warnings: violence (slap), reckless driving

Amelia had specifically avoided coming over to the house when her father was home. For the first few weeks she was back and had to stay there until her apartment was ready, she avoided him at all costs. He was too drunk anyway to know if she was there but she wasn’t in the mood for any arguments that were bound to happen when they were together. She had noted he wasn’t home when she slipped through the doors of her childhood home to drop off something for Jordan.

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

Words slurred already and Amelia all but rolled her eyes at the man before her. God she hated him - hated the sight, the smell, the aura that he put off like his shit didn’t stink. It was revolting and she was glad that for the past ten years she didn’t have to deal with any of it. When she didn’t bother paying him any attention, a beer bottle came flying past her head hitting the wall and shattering in front of her.

“Did you hear what I said, Bitch? That fancy school you went to couldn’t give you better ears?”

Amelia, full of rage now, turned to face her father. “Why are you such an asshole? I’m dropping stuff off for Jordan and I’m gone.”

She went to move past him when he gripped her arm pulling her back toward him. Even though it had been years since this happened, he was a lot stronger than she remembered. “Watch who the fuck you’re talking to.”

“Fuck you.”

She managed to get herself out of the grip that he had on her and forcing her way to the door before he stopped her. “Who do you think you are. Just because you went to Harvard doesn’t meant the you’re not South Side trash. See where you ended back up? In the slums with your trashy Liam.”

The moment Liam’s name came out of his mouth, she saw red. “Don’t you fucking dare talk about Liam.”

“Like he gives a damn. He’s been fucking girls all over this town not worrying about you. He doesn’t want a pathetic slut like you.”

The slap she gave him across his face came out of nowhere and if Amelia knew anything, she knew not to stick around. She quickly headed back to her car. As she pulled out of the drive way, she could see him stumbling into the front yard yelling but she was already gone and parked on the nearby street to collect herself.

It was when she was in the confide of her own space that she let out the sob that she had been holding in. The tears flowed freely and her heart ached - no that wasn’t the best word for it. It felt like she had been stabbed in the heart a million and one times and then someone put it in a blender and pulsed it until there was nothing left. Her chest was tightening and she couldn’t catch her breath - she was suffocating and at any given moment, it was as if her lungs were going to explode out of her chest. Her hands gripped the steering wheel as she rested her head on the slightly cool surface as she willed herself to breathe through it.

What felt like hours later, but was only a few minutes, she sucked in a big gulp of air and let it out through her mouth as if that was going to help. Surprisingly, it helped for a brief moment before the tears started again and her breaths were getting shallower by the minute. She had to get away from the her childhood home - away from this town - away from everyone.

As she reversed out of the parking spot and found herself on the darkened road, her foot weighed on the gas pedal. She knew these roads like the back of her hand and could drive them blindfolded; she knew every twist, every turn, every place that the cops hung out. It was something that she had learned over the course of the years that she was sure hadn’t changed and it was a skill that she needed especially this night. The windows were down and the music was blaring to drown out any thoughts that were trying to run across her mind. 

“Like he gives a damn. He’s been fucking girls all over this town not worrying about you. He doesn’t want a pathetic slut like you.”

The speed of her car increased from the normal speed of 40 to close to 100 in a matter of five minutes and in this moment, she didn’t feel anything. It was as if she was free from everything and the ache in her chest didn’t hurt so bad and her stomach was no longer in knots. It was something that she cherished in this brief moment until she saw the road change in front of her and it was as if she had never driven this road prior - even though she had a million times. The curve was approaching quickly and Amelia had to slam on the breaks to avoid going directly in the trees and her car jerked hard - her back coming off the seat and the seat belt tightened against her body. 

She flung back as the car came to a stop and as she looked around, she knew exactly where she was. Taking a deep breath, she pulled over to the side of the road and climbed out. She walked through the muddy water and heard the leaves crunch under her white cheer shoes and for a minute, there was a peace calmed over her and then the thoughts came in like a wrecking ball and she was back to the sad girl that she was only minutes prior. Except the sadness was now mixed with anger and as she delved further into the woods, she found the field that she had been to so many times.

The anger of how stupid she felt for what had happened hit her like a ton of bricks and before she could even think twice about it, she let out a loud scream, cursing the stars. Thankfully, she was alone so it didn’t matter if anybody could hear her. It was the release that she needed in that moment and with all the emotions that had left her body, she felt instantly drained. But before she could let herself rest, she dialed the one person she needed to hear. When his voice rang through, a soft smile tugged at her lips.

“Liam,” was all she could say as her body slumped against the cold, wet grass as she hung up the phone. She found herself staring up at the stars until she wasn’t anymore.

[hallmark-movie-fanatics]

Hallmark to Premiere Six Movies in August: See the Schedule (ET Exclusive)

Hallmark Channel will debut four original romances every Saturday for the month of August as part of its "Summer Nights" lineup, while Hallmark Movies & Mysteries will premiere two new movies, ET can exclusively reveal. Additionally, season 10 of the Erin Krakow-led When Calls the Heart will be underway with new episodes rolling out every Sunday on Hallmark Channel.

HALLMARK CHANNEL All premieres are at 8 p.m. ET/PT, unless otherwise noted.

Making Waves Starring: Holland Roden and Corey Cott Premieres: Saturday, Aug. 5 Music executive Amelia (Roden) goes to a festival on the Outer Banks to beat out the competition for an elusive new band and discovers that the group is fronted by Will (Cott), her childhood summer sweetheart. Over the course of the week, as Amelia tries to convince Will that her company is the better choice for his musical vision, she realizes there might be a conflict of interest…her feeling for him.

When Calls the Heart - Season 10, Episode 2: "Hope Springs Eternal" Starring: Erin Krakow, Pascale Hutton, Jack Wagner, Kavan Smith, Chris McNally, Kevin McGarry, Andrea Brooks, Martin Cummins, Kayla Wallace, Loretta Walsh, Viv Leacock, Amanda Wong, Johannah Newmarch, Natasha Burnett, Ben Rosenbaum, Hrothgar Mathews Premieres: Sunday, Aug. 6 at 9 p.m. ET/PT 

A Safari Romance Starring: Brittany Bristow and Andrew Walker Premieres: Saturday, Aug. 12 Megan (Bristow) is a research scientist living her dream in South Africa pursuing a Ph.D. in ethology, while working as a ranger on a nature reserve. When Tim (Walker), an American theme park designer arrives to capture footage for an immersive, safari-themed attraction, Megan serves as his guide. As they spend time together exploring the savanna to observe giraffes, elephants and lions in their natural habitats, romance develops. Knowing that Tim will soon return home, Megan is afraid of giving her heart to someone who lives half a world away.

When Calls the Heart - Season 10, Episode 3: "Oh, Baby" Premieres: Sunday, Aug. 13 at 9 p.m. ET/PT 

Never Too Late to Celebrate Starring: Alexa PenaVega, Carlos PenaVega and Sherry Miller Premieres: Saturday, Aug. 19 Camila’s (Alexa PenaVega) busy schedule at the dental practice where she works has left her exhausted and with little time for a life outside of her patient load. When she meets Javi (Carlos PenaVega), a substitute teacher at the school where Camila’s mother Sherri (Miller) works, she takes him up on his offer to join the Spanish class he teaches on the side so she can finally learn the language of her late father. Sparks fly as Javi helps Camila connect with her Mexican roots and, with her 30th birthday around the corner, Javi encourages Camila to mark this milestone with a “double quinceañera” to honor her Hispanic heritage. Not one for big parties, she’s hesitant at first but ultimately decides to take the plunge and celebrate in style.

When Calls the Heart - Season 10, Episode 4: "Great Expectations" Premieres: Sunday, Aug. 20 at 9 p.m. ET/PT

Napa Ever After Starring: Denise Boutté and Colin Lawrence Premieres: Saturday, Aug. 26 After inheriting her estranged grandmother’s winery in Napa Valley, Cassandra (Boutté), a high-powered attorney, takes a sabbatical from her job to renovate the property that was the source of the fractures within her family. With the help of handsome local Alec (Lawrence), she learns more about the grandmother she hardly knew and is able to reconcile the past, while finally opening herself up to a love like she’s never known.

When Calls the Heart - Season 10, Episode 5: "Life Is But a Dream" Premieres: Sunday, Aug. 27 at 9 p.m. ET/PT

HALLMARK MOVIES & MYSTERIES All premieres are at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Big Sky River: The Bridal Path Starring: Emmanuelle Vaugier and Kavan Smith Premieres: Friday, Aug. 11 Tara (Vaugier), now settled in Montana and dating Cowboy Boone (Smith), works to bring their family lives together but tensions arise, as blending their families will be more of a challenge than anticipated.

The More Love Grows Starring: Rachel Boston and Warren Christie Premieres: Friday, Aug. 18 When Helen’s (Boston) husband unexpectedly asks for a separation just after they’ve dropped off their daughter at college, she struggles to navigate her newfound single status. Thanks to a stray dog who enters her life and the friendship of a helpful veterinarian (Christie), Helen rediscovers her strength and begins to forge a new path.

I'm leaving out the When Calls the Heart blurbs for episodes 2 through 5 because they are spoiler heavy, and for anybody who might not wanna know just a warning before you click this LINK too read the full article at ETOnline.

[keanuquotes]

Artist Bio

Alexandra Grant (b. 1973 in Fairview Park, OH) received her Master of Fine Arts from the California College of Arts and Crafts and her Bachelor of Arts from Swarthmore College. Grant is the co-founder of X Artists’ Books and the founder of grantLOVE, an art project to raise awareness and money for various nonprofits through the gift and sale of her LOVE artwork. Her work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Galería Marco Augusto Quiroa en Casa Santo Domingo, Antigua, Guatemala; Galerie Gradiva, Paris, France; Honor Fraser Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Lowell Ryan Projects, Los Angeles, CA; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA; Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; Ochi Gallery, Sun Valley, ID; Orange County Museum of Art, Costa Mesa, CA; Positive Art Center, Seoul, South Korea; 18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA; the 20th Bienal de Arte Paiz, Guatemala City, Guatemala, and elsewhere. Grant has been included in group exhibitions at numerous international institutions including the Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA; Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv, Israel; El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, TX; Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, East Lansing, MI; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Museo Archeologico di Amelia, Italy; Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, Denver, CO; Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA; The Contemporary, Baltimore, MD; Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA; and the USC Fisher Museum, Los Angeles, CA. Her work may be found in the collections of Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Museo Santo Domingo, Antigua, Guatemala; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA; and the Orange County Museum of Art, Costa Mesa, CA. The artist lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

Interview Artist

Alexandra Grant

By Carol Real

How does literature serve as a catalyst for your artistic practice, and how does it influence your creative output? Can you share examples of specific literary works that have inspired your art?

When I was a graduate student studying drawing and painting at the California College of the Arts, the main question that preoccupied me was finding a stream of ideas that would both interest me in the long term and be the intellectual bedrock for my artistic career. I asked myself what I liked to do when no one was looking and what I liked to do when everyone was looking. What I enjoyed thinking about in my life to that point and what I would imagine enjoying for the rest of my life. The answer was literature and reading. So I began my career using painting to represent and interpret literature, poetry, and writers I admired. It’s what I still do today. My early text-based works examined poems by Pablo Neruda and Wislawa Symborszka. When I moved to Los Angeles in 2001, I searched out living writers interested in an exchange. That’s when my collaboration with hypertext pioneer Michael Joyce began. I have had the pleasure and privilege of engaging with a diverse group of writers and thinkers, from James Joyce to Hélène Cixous, from Szymborksa to living Polish writers such as Anna Adamowicz, Krystyna Dąbrowska, Julia Fiedorczuk, Bianka Rolando, Olga Tokarczuk, and Urszula Zajączkowska.

How do the languages we speak and the images we see influence our thoughts and shape our exchange of ideas? How does this understanding inform your artistic exploration of text and language? 

I grew up traveling and living in many countries, speaking Spanish and English as a small child and learning French as a teenager. I have clear memories of landing in a place where I didn’t speak the language. I looked for visual and other clues to make sense of words and phrases as I adopted and adapted to French. So I’d say that my understanding of language comes from speaking three languages and being curious about the rhythms and intonations of other tongues that I don’t know.

Since my first solo show in Asia last year—MANTRA at the Positive Art Center in Seoul, Korea—I encountered curiosity about my work in a place where the alphabet itself is pictorial. I learned about artist Lee Ungno and how he approached abstraction from pictogram shapes present in Korean writing and representation. Inherent in my speaking English and two romance languages are the visual and philosophical limitations of the Roman alphabet.

Can you explain the connection or evolution between your earlier “Antigone 3000” paintings and your more recent works? How has your artistic vision evolved over time, and what inspired these shifts?

I’ve been working with and depicting the story of Antigone in my paintings since 2014. The reason it has held my attention is that the work continues to evolve. Each composition is based on three main elements: horizontal pours of paint, which represent the organic or messy qualities of real living; ruled lines, which represent the rule of law or idealized life; and words, in particular, a phrase by Antigone from Sophocles: “I was born to love not to hate.”

Since beginning my career, I have shifted my focus and style both gradually and suddenly, and the former is the case for the “Antigone 3000” series. If I look at the earlier paintings in the “Antigone 3000” series, they are more architectural and formal, more rigid, even, in their construction and composition. The paintings most recently exhibited at Miles McEnery Gallery in New York still have the three elements—pours, lines, and text—but are much more free, joyous, and visually cacophonous, like a firework explosion. I think you can see that I’m enjoying painting them.

The Rorschach-like text in your artwork enhances its abstract nature. Can you elaborate on how this technique contributes to abstraction and deepens meaning in your work?

I began my career in drawing and painting with all the text elements in reverse or backwards. It created a Through the Looking Glass experience, of being on the other side of a world, looking in. It invited the viewer to stop reading the text and instead make sense of it through other visual cues, like color, scale, and the emotional intensity with which the words themselves were written.

In “bodies,” a series of paintings from 2010 based on texts by Michael Joyce, the words double, representing the symmetry of the human body. This idea of symmetry and repetition influenced my representation of Antigone’s voice. Represented symmetrically, “I was born to love not to hate” becomes a totem. The original image was created as a wax rubbing on paper over a plaster sculpture. The image was both a font from the sculpture but also showed that my hand was involved in the frottage. As the work evolved, I began to use a silk-screened version of the text-image, which allowed me to move onto canvas and use different colors in the printing process.

At an opening in 2019, my godson, who was 10 at the time, came running across the gallery and said, with obvious delight, “I decoded the painting!” I like that the viewer has to puzzle out and decode the text when it is, as you have said, abstracted into a form.

How does the scale and size of your paintings impact viewers’ experience and interaction with the artwork? In what ways does it affect the emotional or sensory impact?

There’s a performative aspect to all paintings—though the studio space is private, the paintings are a record or traces of a series of physical actions. Scale allows me is to stretch my arms and spine and get on my tippy-toes and sometimes even a ladder, and to draw and paint to the edges of my physical limitations. I also walk back and forth to look at the painting. I get up close and granular with a small brush and then move several paces back to see the overall effect. I think the viewer intuits that the artist is moving backward, forward, up and down… as I solve what is, in the end a visual puzzle. And the bigger it is, like any real puzzle, the more pieces there are to unite.

Small paintings, however, can be difficult to resolve and I admire painters who work on a smaller scale.

Can you share any upcoming projects or exhibitions you’re excited about? What can viewers and art enthusiasts anticipate from your future creative endeavors?

I’m looking forward to several months of quiet studio time. I just completed a painting in Berlin in unusual circumstances. There was a flood in the studio and so I painted in a corner of my kitchen instead, with extreme lighting that ranged from direct sunlight to near-darkness. The lighting and the fact that I was only working on one painting—I usually work in a larger space with many paintings underway at the same time—led to a new evolution in the “Antigone 3000” works: a strong palette of contrasting colors, both light and dark. I’m excited to see where these new, accidental ideas take me. As is often the case, an accident is an invitation to innovate.

I’m continuing to develop six large-scale paintings for a project with six Polish poets—a chapel-like installation of women’s voices.

I’m working on an upcoming project with the French writer and theorist Hélène Cixous, Itinéraires Fantômes (Phantom Itineraries) which will be part of an exhibition at the CAPC in Bordeaux next year curated by Marion Vasseur and Ana Iwataki.

How do you maintain a balance between staying true to your personal artistic vision and navigating external influences or expectations? How do you ensure your art remains authentic and reflective of your creative intentions?

As I respond to your questions, I’ve used the words joy, joyous, and enjoy. I think those are key to balance in any creative endeavor. I enjoy my work very deeply. I trust my instincts about my next step and have sought to work with curious, rigorous, and kind people. When asked recently what the best preparation is for an artistic career, I answered that playing sports as a young person gave me the tools to understand the importance of daily discipline and how to work with others. I learned to both be present in today’s work and to recognize that art, like sport, is a continual activity, not just a single piece or game. In addition, being an artist requires multiple skills. In the same way, a baseball player on offense both hits the ball and runs the bases and then switches to a defensive skill set with a glove, artists must master several different skills. For my work, they are reading and researching, thinking and writing, and then the production of works in collaboration with others. And then there’s the bigger picture: my interest in both the history of global art and literature keeps my mind curious, and engaged and gives me a sense of being part of something bigger than myself.

What advice would you give emerging artists who explore text, language, and art? How can they navigate and leverage these elements to create meaningful and impactful artworks?

Making text-based art is difficult! From graffiti tagging to conceptual practices and more painterly approaches like my own, it takes practice. The first piece of advice I would give is not to give up…and try different approaches. Also, the questions I asked myself as a student was useful. Ask yourself what do you care about when everyone is looking, and what do you care about when no one is looking? Hopefully, in your art, it will be the same thing.

* All images courtesy the artist and Miles McEnery Gallery.