My last year’s contribution to The Sketchbook Project was Lyrically Inclined. This year, I continued the theme of visual journal pages inspired by lyrics from some of my favorite musicians. I have explained in my previous blog my love of music, despite my utter inability to sing, keep a rhythm, or play any form of instrument. As I did with my last sketchbook, I have also listed the artists and songs included in this year’s contribution to The Sketchbook Project.
A life lived for art is never a life wasted. -Macklemore & Ryan LewisThe worst things in life come free to us and we’re just under the upper hand. -Ed SheeranWe know the fire awaits unbelievers, all of the sinners the same. Girl, you and I will die unbelievers, tied to the tracks of the train. I’m not excited, but should I be? Is this the fate that half of the world has planned for me? -Vampire WeekendAnd if you feel like a tourist in the city you were born, then it’s time to go and define your destination. There’s so many different places to call home. -Death Cab for CutieAnd I’m lower now, and lower still. And you did always say that one day I would suffer, did always say that people get their pay. You did always say that I was going places, and that you wouldn’t have it any other way. -Laura MarlingNo way to make the pain play fair. It doesn’t disappear just because you say it isn’t there. -Sara BareillesAnd if you’re still breathing, you’re the lucky ones. ‘Cause most of us are heaving through corrupted lungs. Setting fire to our insides for fun. -DaughterMama once told me, “You’re already home where you feel loved.” I am lost in my mind. I get lost in my mind. -The Head and the HeartAnd at once I knew I was not magnificent. -Bon IverAnd if you swear that there’s no truth and who cares, how come you say it like you’re right? Why are you scared to dream of god when it’s salvation that you want? You see stars that clear have been dead for years, but the idea just lives on. -Bright EyesI’m just a face without a choice. A choice you’d never like to guess what I think above the shoulders. Ten years old without a voice. I feel like nothing’s really changed. Now I’m just a little older. Underneath it all, I know it’s not your fault that you don’t understand. I blame myself. -Sky FerreiraI know the weak-hearted are strong-willed and we are being kept alive until we are killed. He’s up there, the ice is clinking in his glass. He sends me little pieces of paper. I don’t ask. I just empty my pockets and wait. It’s not fate, it’s just circumstance…I lower my eyes wishing I could cry more and care less…but I love this city, this state, this country is too large and whoever’s in charge up there had better take the elevator down and put more than change in our cup or else we are coming up. -Ani DiFrancoAnd all the teachers used to teach you can do anything, if you put your mind to it. We put our minds to it all, but disappointment crashed the ball. We could’ve done anything we just never quite knew it. -PassengerThe storm is coming but I don’t mind. People are dying, I close my blinds. All that I know is I’m breathing now. I want to change the world, instead I sleep. -Ingrid MichaelsonDoes it almost feel like you’ve been here before? How am I gonna be an optimist about this? How am I gonna be an optimist about this? If you close your eyes, does it almost feel like nothing changes at all? -BastilleI like going to the park, I like walking through it. I like taking my dogs there and friends, and I like being alone. I like being able to shout, but I wish I could be quiet. When I’m quiet people just think I’m sad, and usually I am. -Kate NashThis scar is a fleck on my porcelain skin, tried to reach deep but you couldn’t get in. Now you’re outside me, you see all the beauty… -Stars
1. Ten Thousand Hours –Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
2. The A-team –Ed Sheeran
3. Unbelievers –Vampire Weekend
4. You are a Tourist –Death Cab for Cutie
5. Blackberry Stone –Laura Marling
6. Eden –Sara Barreillis
7. Youth –Daughter
8. Lost in My Mind –The Head and the Heart
9. Holocene –Bon Iver
10. We are Nowhere, and It’s Now –Bright Eyes
11. I Blame Myself –Sky Ferreira
12. Coming Up –Ani DiFranco
13. Staring at the Stars –Passenger
14. Keep Breathing –Ingrid Michaelson
15. Pompeii-Bastille
16. Don’t You Want to Share the Guilt-Kate Nash
17. Your Ex-Lover is Dead-Stars
Carly Swenson is an intuitive painter originally from northern Montana. She spent more than a decade working primarily as a mixed media artist before shifting to acrylics. Swenson received a BFA in Visual Arts with an Art History Minor from Bemidji State University. During and after university, she traveled and lived abroad, this included studying in China, traveling throughout Europe and living both in England and the Azores.Swenson’s work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions throughout the US and internationally. Her freelance writing and mixed media journals have been published in nationally distributed art magazines. She has facilitated art workshops for various age groups. Swenson’s work is also included in the permanent art collections of Angra do Heroismo Museum and Bemidji State University (Bemidji, MN). Currently, she lives in St. Paul, MN with a smart little dog and a weird little cat. They’re nice.
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One Reply to “lyrically inclined 2, final playlist”
Carly Swenson • Intuitive Artist 
One Reply to “lyrically inclined 2, final playlist”