My sanctuary is also my chaos. It’s an extra bedroom in my home, carpeted and covered with clear plastic tablecloths to protect the precious resell value from my drips and spills, which happens plenty. There’s a canvas stapled to the wall because I’m too eager to get a painting out of my brain and into reality to wait to build myself a proper stretcher. A second and third unfinished canvas on an easel and another against the windows. There’s no ventilation unless I open a window, which I often forget to do, and the sink is absolutely ruined with layers of paint. But one thing there is in this tiny room, a vibe, as the kids say. The small but mighty speaker blares my tunes which have become synonymous with my art practice. I may be a visual artist but music, it’s my guiding muse. Silence is my enemy. It allows too much space for doubt and overthinking (oh no! I’m thinking!!), stifling the creative flow that pulses through my veins. No matter what’s playing, the symphony in the air breathes life into my creations. Without music, my canvas remains blank.

When I was younger, liking certain (emo) bands became a part of my identity and fueled me to search for “good” music, primarily music that wasn’t on the radio, but as I grew up, I cared less about that and more just about respecting and totally enjoying what I was hearing. I always used music as a steppingstone to talk to people I otherwise wouldn’t, so it’s no surprise years later I’ve made it a habit (going on over a year now) of sharing tunes every Friday on my Instagram. Why Friday? Friday’s like dawn for the weekend. Great to put the past few days behind and move into typical non-working days. It’s Friday! It’s VIBE DAY! It’s also the day they chose to release new music, so the vibes are generally a-buzz with links flying of new shares.

After a year of this I’ve embraced the very cringey-named “Vibe Day” - a day dedicated to sharing the songs that fuel my artistic fire, that transport me, motivate me, just general do something other than feel, “that was nice.” Just as I cannot paint without music, I cannot keep these melodies to myself. So my Instagram Story feed gets bombarded by 15 second masterpieces.

But why do I even care to keep this up? One of my friends had told me about Paul Simon describing how the listener completes the song via sharing, and how that made her think about me and how many artists I’ve helped make whole. And damn if that didn’t stick to me and make me stop second guessing if anyone cared what I was doing on my sad little Instagram of 321 followers. (I’m a self-proclaimed micro influencer! Influencing what? Who knows. My weird art? My music shares? Bean memes?)

But I’m here to make the music whole. It’s part of my practice and part of me, so here’s to sharing!

• Vibe Day Shares: here
• Instagram if you’d sometimes like commentary