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What a Looker!

A Woman wearing a Hannya Mask. Hannya masks wymbolize the jealous woman in Japanese theatre. The color of the mask depends on the kind of jealousy harbored in her wicked heart.

The Woman demon is a really interesting archetype in Japanese fiction, movies etc. Though women arn't really encouraged to have a strong voice, there seems to be a fear of her suddenly using her quietness and fragility to lure the unsuspecting man to his downfall, which could include anything from financial ruin, a drawn out tortuous death or a simple broken heart. But what spawns this hateful creature that at one turn tittilates and the next terrifies?

Jealousy is a common trait associated with the fairer sex, and though one wishes it could be dismissed as a stereotype the abundance of catty behaviour, back stabbing and overall judgement that woman place on each other's shoulders begs to differ. But can we really expect anything else? Women havn't really had the luxery of living in a society that was very welcoming to their individual quirks. With the narrowing eye of beauty, girls are being taught that it's perfectly fine to rip another woman down on looks alone. Thus teaching men it's alright as well.

It's easy to state that it is the tyranny of man that has done this, but I suggest a more circular explanation. Though a patriarchal society may have sewn the seeds for woman on woman cannabalism it is the woman who choses to perpetuate the bahaviour. On the surface the primping and posturing is for the men, but the men seem, no offense, not as sensitive to the intricate stitching and design that women put into every aspect of their being. The cult of beauty is for the most part completely female. Beauty, or the feeling that one's lacking it is the root of most female jealousy.

Maybe it's just biological competition. Anyway, what this whole unstable mini essay was trying to say and was failing horribly at (due to my own lack of focusing ability lol) is that the Hannya mask though ugly and monsterous is just a mask. The most bullying, nasty woman you've deemed soul sucking, bitchy, crabby, cold, loose, ugly whatever term you use to reduce her to a one dimensional expendable entity is really just you trying to protect yourself. She's not wearing her mask, she's wearing yours.

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Phew! Now that that's out of the way here's the picture I did for Monster Channel Blog that some of my friends started. The theme was yokai. Tried using india ink in washes but unfortunately like always I had trouble with color potency. Am not very fond of it, especially since the mask looks almost goofy but what can ya do, better luck next time :)

Here She Comes

Here's a mini something I just found, remnants from a class assignment that was nixed before it could be completely realized. I know I know, Awkward hand :)

Transplant Girl Strikes Again!

It's been a long time hasn't it? Well my apologies blogger friends but after successfully making the trip back to the Evergreen State I fell into the black hole my home normally creates. The moment I made it "home" the renovation on my room began. Granted, my fervor was most likely brought on by the sudden lonliness in being in a house by myself for hours on end but it did get the job done quickly, meaning I now have a space to work, sleep and generally feel human in.

However upon the creation of my personal space everything bottomed out. It's so different here! In New York I had actually built up a support system of friends for the most part I could trust, folks who loved art and respected it. Since I'm going to be attending the local University in the fall the common question posed by family and family friends is an excited "what are you majoring in? Bussiness? International Communications?" and I have to let them down, and then get borderline angry at them for being so disrespectful. It's hard to come back to a place that has been secretly thinking you've been throwing your life away in the frivolous pursuit of a passion! Of course it's not too disheartening when I look in on their lives of chronic unhappiness. Atleast on the East Coast one could do unhappiness in self-deprecating style :)

The absolute hardest thing though is that all the inspirational people I had to leave are just going to continue on living, stocking the books, getting into trouble, going to the beach, getting jobs, completing thesis, puking on shoes, eating pasta, sunbathing on roofs, having midnight chats, all without me.

I am just a pile of jealous.

So now I'm just trying to puke on some shoes myself, and not forget who I am, not to turn grey without all the easily accessible color and keep in touch but not be dependant upon old connections. That's not too hard right? Right.

God what a downer right? Thats not even my intention, it's just that I've hauled my butt out from my cave to sit in a Starbucks in the hopes of actually accomplishing something, and it's working! Haha, now that the venoms out a little I can tell you guys that I do have a new illustration I did for my friend's Monster Blog. Am still trying to hunt down a scanner so that should be up in the next day or so, and am just going to continue working on different projects to keep my art chops up. But also start just writing about things again, because there's something about just opening the floodgates that untangles a whole lot. PLUS it's fun as balls lol

Alright, Later Gators!