her.

she  The truly creative mind is inhumanly sensitive. To her a touch is a blow, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, and failure is death. Add to this cruelly delicate organism, the overpowering necessity to create, create, create so that without the creating of music, poetry or books, her very breath is cut off from her. She must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency she is not really alive unless she is creating.

Pearl S. Buck

Update: I was recently featured in a video interview with Charlotte Creative — check it out here!

proust.

ciarabird-proust  Ahh the infamous Proust Questionnaire. This is one of my favorite interviews to read from others, it is far more interesting to me for some reason than a Q&A based on actual information about the person. I use it often in FOUR, but I've never answered it myself, so...

What is your name as you would like it to appear in the magazine? Ciara Bird.

Where are you from and where are you now? Los Angeles by way of Augusta, Georgia.. currently in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Your age. 24.

What is your current state of mind? pensive.

Who are you and what would you like to be? more artist, less designer.

What is your idea of perfect happiness? b—with warm sun, cool breeze and trails for hiking followed by an uninterrupted afternoon of painting, reading and leisure. essentially no feeling of “what am i supposed to be working on.”

What is your greatest fear? “i want to be cured of a craving for something i cannot find and the shame of never finding it.”

Which living person do you most admire? is it bad to say Beyonce? without going into depth i just feel like she sums up my ideal of imperfect womanhood perfectly in her own way; love, happiness, career, sexuality, classiness, motherhood, etc. yet she still comes off as humble.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? social anxiety. the glorification of busy.

What is the trait you most deplore in others? don’t tell me who you are, show me. less talk more do.

What is your greatest extravagance? publications. the easiest way to collect the art i cannot afford.

What music are you listening to right now? im not.

Name a special day for you. may 5.

What is your favorite movie without naming it? two women, one man. paint, spain and woody allen.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse? i cannot.

What natural gift would you most like to possess? gab.

What or who is the greatest love of your life? b. but also freedom, I’m learning that one doesn’t balance out the other.

What do you consider your greatest achievement? my faith.

Where and when did your parents first meet? high school. toledo, ohio.

What would you do if you weren’t scared? longterm travel.

What is your most treasured possession? b. i can part with everything else.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? 9-5 corporate design for an artist with no outlets.

Open a nearby book and copy the first line you like. “Not just a plan of action, vagabonding is an outlook on life that emphasizes creativity, discovery, and the growth of the spirit.”

Where would you like to live? west coast.

What is your most marked characteristic? my smile.

What is the quality you most like in a man? charm, conversation, and curiosity.

What is the quality you most like in a woman? happiness, conversation and charisma.

What advice would you tell your 15 year old self? don’t worry— your skin will clear up and your hair will look good.

What do you most value in your friends? conversation, honesty and support.

Who is your favorite artist, writer, musician? kelly wearstler, audrey niffenegger, j.k. rowling, maxwell, jhene aiko

What would be the title of your memoir? bird & bee.

What is your motto? it takes the same amount of energy to wish as it does to plan.

wishvs.plan.

wishvsplan-1  "I knew who I was this morning, but I've changes a few times since then." —Alice in Wonderland

Twenty-thirteen was such an amazing year for me. Though I went from being super focused on a specific goal to once again feeling lost and unsure of my plans towards the end, I feel very confident and excited about what 2014 will hold for me. I pretty much summed up the year with my return post back in October so I want to focus on my new dreams, plans, and goals in no particular order (some vague, some specific) along with the quotes I want to carry with me.   wishvsplan-2 wishvsplan-3 wishvsplan-4   Over all I want to travel a LOT more. get lost. make more art, see more art. ruin plans, make new ones. reach goals, make new ones. maybe blog, maybe not. be young, disconnect, don't worry. and continue to change my mind..

**all images are from my tumblr archive. if one is yours and you feel some typa way let me know!

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rockets.

rockets  About a month ago I finished reading "Three things you need to know about rockets," a memoir by Jessica Fox, and for the first time in a while I tore through the book and dogeared close to every other page. These are a couple of my favorite quotes/passages.. but the entire story is definitely worth the read.   "The artist's life cannot be otherwise than full of conflicts, for two forces are at war within him; on the one hand, the common human longing for happiness, satisfaction and security in life and on the other, a ruthless passion for creation which may go so far as to override every personal desire... There are hardly any exceptions to the rule that a person must pay dearly for the divine gift of creative fire." — Carl Jung   "When you choose one way out of many, all the ways you don't take are snuffed out like candles, as if they'd never existed. At that moment all of Will's choices existed at once. But to keep them all in existence meant doing nothing. He had to choose, after all." — Philip Pullman, The Amber Spyglass   "it occurred to me," I continued tentatively, "that the Holy Grail is not the treasure but the dream, like the carrot before the horse. It's the impulse that gets you off the couch and propels your journey. The problem arises when you don't allow your dream to change. In that case, if you seek it, hopefully you won't find it." "Why?" "Well, that would be a mid-life cries, wouldn't it? You finally get what you want, but didn't realize that the journey to getting it has informed who you are, so the grail you once dreamed about, that was supposed to bring perfect happiness — whether a car, house with a white picket fence or dream job — is, not likely, not going to make the current you feel fulfilled."   The Hindu concept of Dharma came to mind, what I understood to mean that we each have a responsibility to follow our own path — unique to ourselves, our interests and talents — for by doing so we give the space and opportunity for others to do the same. (Conversation copy omitted) By leaving to follow my dream, I was making room for someone else to follow theirs.

The back cover is a bit cliche/wanderlusty BUT I love that kind of stuff. "A book for anyone who has ever thought "What if" — a true story about a woman who dared to follow her dreams.." perf.

womenlikeme.

womenlikeme

“Women like me do not fall gracefully, we stumble over our spines, trip over our vowels, and collapse into your arms.

Our hearts are open books, Russian novels containing fifty pages on the way your voice drifts across the telephone wires each night. Our hearts are first drafts, unedited verses about each and every person we have ever loved: the stranger on the subway, the girl who gave us a balloon, the boy who took our virginity but not our heart.

Women like me will love you from a distance of a thousand syllables while laying in your bed, we will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible, and when we leave you will finally understand why storms are named after people.” — Katrina, M.K.

Thanks Lauren. All images via tumblr.