I have a book of 365 days of drawing and I just started today. Cruel Summer is my favorite song. Every time I hear it, I have this scene in my head of Taylor and Joe and the year she disappeared. I decided to take my time to draw this so I can get the image in my head on paper. Thanks for looking @taylorswift@taylornation
Let the players play! #TheManMusicVideo is out now!
This video had me in tears. As a 23 year old woman, I’m constantly objectified and sexualized. I’m constantly told at work that I’m too emotional, or that I must be on my period for getting mad at something, simply because I’m a woman. I play this song for my 1 year old niece. I want to keep progress moving and make a world that she can feel empowered in. I hope so many women, regardless of if they like or dislike Taylor’s music, hear this song and get something out of it. Can’t wait to hear this everywhere- if not by the radio then by me blasting it, windows down in my car everywhere on repeat (if you haven'theard me doing that since August). @taylorswift@taylornation
So this is the first time I’ve ever let myself draw @taylorswift . For a long time, I was afraid to draw her because I have a tendency to draw more towards an anime aesthetic and I didn’t want to draw her that way. Anyways, this is my design of what the Lover album looks like to me in an outfit. (And likely what I’ll wear to Lover Fest East, Aug. 1st!) @taylornation
This painting is on a 2ftx18in canvas and with a total of 67 and a half HOURS put into this painting, I get to say I’m finally finished!
There are so many hidden details on this painting and nods to different aspects of this era.
The string of Christmas lights each have 13 lights on them, except for the ends which have 6 and 7.
The butterfly flies between Big Ben, featured in the Me! music video, and the Eiffel Tower, referencing Je suis Calme! and the #CityOfLover concert. London Boy is colored as the British flag. The hands on Big Ben point to 1 PM, or 13:00 in military time.
The rose is for the performances where she had a wall of roses. The purple flowers are seen in the You Need to Calm Down Amazon music lip promo.
The cornelia flower is shown as it is in the many pictures on the spotify song backgrounds. Then the yellow daisy is known from the pictures from the album, of which @taylorswift put them over her eye, put in her mouth and wore on a headband.
Right beside these flowers lay a stack of three books. A reference to Paper Rings. The top book reads T❤J. The colors of the two bottom book are self-representing. The light blue is the color of my locked journal (which references the journal theme of this album) and the orange is my favorite book that was given to me from a past Lover.
Straight across, above the rainbow of You Need to Calm Down is a ladybug, which is a nod to the Stella McCartney mural that helped announce Lover. There’s a ladybug on the mural.
One of the last hidden gems in this painting is on the path of the Cornelia Street lyrics. Where you can see shoe prints. The vines by the daisy flower represent the garden gate. Cornelia Street is in New York, in a sense that path represents an area of America ( @taylorswift ) while on the other side of the “gate” is the Europe, mainly Britian (Joe). Cruel Summer’s bridge (shown below) features @taylorswift “creep[ing] in through the garden gate, Every night that summer just to seal [her] fate”. In a sense she has to goes from “America” through the “gate” to get to Joe, whose British and represented by the Britain/European side. Continuing with this in Cruel Sunmer and Cornelia Street both song mention a bar, while in London Boy @taylorswift mentions a pub. Leading to my belief that Cruel Summer is referenced to be in the US. Likely what happened coming home to her “place on Cornelia Street.” The foot prints on Cornelia Street are represented by pink shoes (for the Lover Era) for @taylorswift and a deep blue for Joe (whose favorite color is blue, and @taylorswift references the color towards him in Cruel Summer).
No matter what, my #LoverPainting means all the world to me and I truly hope @taylorswiftand@taylornation get to see it. It challenged my abilities with art and it gave me something to look forward to during quarantine. Love has burned me, it made me a cynic, it healed me, it strengthened me, it helped me grow. And @taylorswift music was there for all of it. Even with me now, when I’m finding solace in being single, optimistic about my future, and hoping to move out again someday. I’ve come to realize that sometimes you need to just let go of what happens. You can always remember them, and as @taylorswift said, you don’t have to forgive them. But the Daylight will always come.
>also the breaker in my room JUST went out for the first time in the 6 years my mom has had this apartment. It was only my room. Fun fact that we learned: my room is breaker 13.
After the Eiffel Tower, I knew I needed to make a toast to London Boy and Me! on my Lover painting. And so right above the London Boy lyrics (which is also the British Flag), I decided to paint Big Ben. Although incredibly small, Big Ben took almost 4 and a half hours to paint. I have never been more proud of a tiny piece of work, but I also know I don’t want to draw or paint any architecture for a long time.
I never would have guessed I could in the first place though.
As City of Lover came, I had a major empty space. I was inspired to put the Eiffel Tower there. The show was amazing and I’m constantly listening to the live tracks over and over on @spotify but, again, I was afraid of architecture. I’ve never drawn any architecture in my life, so being able to draw it was really a surprise to myself. Again, this was the challenge that my Lover painting was giving me.
It took me 3 days of drawing roses over and over, until I could look at one and draw it. I did it. I was terrified to draw it again on the canvas. But I did it. I was even more terrified that I would paint it and ruin everything that I’d worked so hard on. But I did it. At this point, I understood my Lover painting would be more than just a fan painting. It would be a challenge for myself. A challenge of trust and patience. And a test to see what I could be capable of.
Mom has to drive me to Target tomorrow (to pick up Lover!!) and this conversation happened
Mom: “Do you really need to go to Target tomorrow?”
Me: “Yes…”
Mom: “Why? For something pointless?”
Me: “It’s not pointless to me…”
Mom: “Is it a new song out?”
Me: “It’s not a song, it’s an album…”
And then I ramble on for a few more seconds tryna convince her and she just walks away without saying anything. But I think we’re going. On the other hand she does also enjoy @taylorswiftsongs
