Ringing in 2020
Hello! It’s been a while since I’ve typed away on here but it’s time for a 2020 post. It’s a blessing mostly to say that while 2019 was tough on my mood and mental health (though perhaps still a huge improvement from 2018 aka last year of Uni) , I’ve been blessed with a lot of work and have been able to keep busy. I only hope that I’ll get more projects for 2020, even though my brain and mood gets weird whenever I take one on! I’m working on it!
I’ve made 20 things for 2020, 10 of which are solely art-making related:
MAKE TRADITIONAL ARTWORK I miss sitting at my desk and painting sometimes. I also have all that paint from school…
EXPAND MERCH AND RE-LAUNCH ONLINE SHOP
BUILD NERVE TO EMAIL PEOPLE YOU WANT TO WORK FOR/WITH
MAKE BIGGER CERAMICS
FIGURE OUT TAXES???
APPLY TO THINGS Call for submissions, grants, contests, etc…
PRACTICE ART MAKING WITH SUSTAINABILITY IN MIND
DO SOME SORT OF MURAL?
MAKE CONTENT MORE ACCESSIBLE Like including detailed ALT-TEXT on advanced settings on Instagram posts.
MAKE PERSONAL ARTWORK And actually like it! Remind myself that drawing is still fun.
CONTINUE TO READ A BOOK A MONTH
DRINK MORE WATER EVERYDAY
EXPAND REPERTOIRE OF HOME-COOKED MEALS I cooked a lot in 2019 but I also want to try baking more!
LIMIT MEALS/COFFEE BOUGHT PER WEEK
STAY MINDFUL This is a broad term for how I will go about managing and internalizing thoughts and feelings in healthier ways.
LIMIT CLOTHING PURCHASES I want to thrift more and get timeless pieces.
BE SMARTER WITH MONEY Remembering to not hit the trigger on impulse purchases and remember money can be better spent on art-related matters…
REMEMBER YOUR HOBBIES, REDUCE SCREEN TIME
FIGURE OUT STORAGE SOLUTION FOR BEDROOM I am by no means a minimalist but I would like to find a way to maximize how I store/organize all my things in a pleasing way so that it’s not too overwhelming. My room is also my studio and workspace so it’s tough!
LEARN SOMETHING NEW
And there we go! 2020 is also the year of the rat, which is where I fall under. So I can only hope it’s a good yea for me, though I don’t know if that’s how it correlates in the law of the universe.
A Goodbye to 2018
I have found that 2018 has been collectively a rough year for everyone I’ve talked to and it goes the same for me. I think 2018 has been the year of big milestone events as well as big challenges. When I close my eyes and reflect upon the year I feel cold and tired. I remember the headaches following days of not sleeping. I remember the moments of coincidental and incredible bad luck! But there are flares of light that peek through for sure. I can say while 2018 was a time of tribulations, it was a time where my relationships and personal life have shone bright.
2018 IN REVIEW:
I’ve completed 75% of things, which to me isn’t bad! I usually keep my goals attainable and loose so that I don’t psychologically feel like a failure, but I do try to keep them challenging. I also like to write them, post it online and tell people just to keep myself accountable and obligated.
✓ DO WORK YOU LIKE + LIKE TO SELL- COMPLETE: this comes from only producing work and even selling work just from class assignments. While I did like some things i’ve produced, a lot of the time they can’t help but be conformed to a certain class or prof’s interest. And I didn’t like the fact that I wasn’t making enough (or liking) personal work.
✓ APPLY TO MORE ART SHOWS+TABLING EVENTS This wasn’t hard to beat because my first art show/tabling event in 2017 was also my one and only. In 2018 I’ve had group shows from school like HOMEWORK at Artscape, GRAD-EX (at OCADU) for my graduating show, 103B which my friends threw together, Canzine, a variety of holiday markets…! I get a rush adding things to my artist CV LOL.
✓ SUBMIT TO MORE CONTESTS, AWARDS, CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Another one I got to complete out of default for not having done so in the past. Do I wish I applied to more? Absolutely, especially as a student! Did I win any awards or contests, no! But this is another one I want to take with me for 2019. It never hurts to try and apply for these things.
SET UP AN ONLINE STORE- I’ve forgiven myself for not completing this one for 2018. For 2018 I focused on making work. I didn’t accept that I’ve been producing enough until I’ve heard people say it to me on different occasions. Whatever work for sale I have created, I would put towards tabling events. Now that those are over, I’m leaving left-over stock to the online shop and making more for it this 2019!
✓ READ MORE BOOKS: This was something I wanted to do more of because I missed the old me who would sit in the living room couch or even bring a book to dinner (and be told to stop) and read for hours! It used to take me 3 days to week to finish something but my adult life finds that hard. I usually invest in art books, short stories/anthologies, poetry collections and graphic novels because they’re easy to digest with the time I have. Fifteen Dogs by Andre Alexis is probably the only novel I’ve liked enough to finish in its entirety.
✓TRAVEL MORE: This year was full of it! I spent a month an a half travelling to the Philippines with my family, a week in New York with my friends as a post-grad trip and then a week in the little town on Elora, Ontario with my partner. Growing up, I don’t travel minus school trips and the obligatory Philippines family trip that gets to happen every 5-6 years.
GET MY DRIVER’S LICENSE: I got my G1 in the summer after high school and approaching Uni, and I still couldn’t bring myself to complete anything past that. Using the card as just a form of I.D. To be honest, i’m not in a rush to drive (nor do I want to). But it is useful to learn so that I can if I have to. But this one will take me a lot to get around to doing.
MAKE MORE FOOD, EAT OUT LESS. EAT BETTER! Technically, I do cook more meals and have learned to make things with some great success. My partner and I love getting to grocery shop and cook meals when we get to see each other (we live in different cities during the school year)! But in the rest of the calendar year I don’t make legit meals and I eat out a lot!!
✓LEARN TO LOVE+APPRECIATE YOUR THESIS. FIND PEACE. I am not going to lie. For the longest time, and it’s not uncommon among my peers either, I HATED my thesis while I was working on it. I was getting shittiest marks I’ve ever gotten since 1st to first half of 2nd year. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to pass thesis class. Debated whether I should have dropped it when I had the chance to focus on thesis solely for a 5th year. But now that I am finished, had my grad-show, and lived without it for a few months— I can say that I do like the work I’ve created. Sure, stylistically I want to venture off to something I should have pushed initially going into thesis. But all in all, It happened. It got noticed by a select number of people. And it’s gotten me some work for 2019!
✓ FIND A NEW PART TIME JOB: I used to work in Toronto’s biggest shopping mall. The mall retail scene was starting to make me feel jaded and whatever charm/benefits it had in the beginning was changing. I now work at a little local shop that I’ve loved to visit since I was in High School! The pace and vibe is more up my alley. They pay isn’t as great as the old job, but I’d trade it over the stress.
DO A MURAL OF SOME SORT: I accidentally crossed it out, meaning to cross the one above it, but I didn’t do a mural this year! And it’s something I still want to keep my eye on doing.
✓ A FUNCTIONAL WEBSITE LIVE. BLOG MORE! YES! During this last note, I would like to thank you for reading this far. I’ve always wanted my have my own website and I’m excited to add more things to it. And blog more.
I haven’t made a solid list of goals for 2019 yet / decided what I even want for myself this year. But see you in the next one when I do!
22
Don't let my baby-faced and youthful exterior fool you, I've just turned 22 on April 1st. Sorry if a certain line of Taylor Swift infiltrated your mind, she's been around for the whole weekend for me too.
Lavender from Crown Flora Studios from Ethan
I've felt rattled ever since the day I turned 20 because while 18 is technically the legal age of being an adult, 20 just seems like the real adult age. They still treat you like a child at 18 for the most part. I've never liked the idea of growing older, even though it's a privilege robbed of others too soon. But every time I feel a weird heart beat, throbbing pain in my wrists, numbness in my fingers to the elbow, pain in my back and shoulders, and the list goes on--I can't help but wonder why I'm having what I can only assume are first signs to bigger problems. I can't imagine the invisible internal stuff I haven't felt yet. Sometimes I wonder why my soul chose such a weak physical vessel to settle in. But then I remind myself I've made it this way with my choices...
22 is going to be a big year. I can feel it like a sailor who squints at the horizon and up at the distant clouds and knows something will happen. Graduation exhibition, graduation, a month and a half of travelling, then a life without school-- and then what? I've made a list of goals for 2018.
Maybe I'm trying to put those goals out there so that I can be accountable for them. Anyway, onwards in life another year older. Hopefully, another year wiser.
Welcome to the Blog!
@COCOALATTE IN TORONTO
I've made countless attempts at managing a blog, but this is another go. It took a while to start, but like most projects, I'm trying to learn to just START. Now that it's attached to my *professional* art website, I feel more accountable! I'm the type of person who writes and journals on the daily within my sketchbooks so blogging never seemed to be a complimenting force in my life more so than a redundant one. Not the case now! While my journals and diaries were more so for myself and those I allowed to read it, this blog will serve as a device to get to know me and my art a little more: with the intention to be read and read on a larger scale. How you got here reading this now, with the trail and thread of different taps on a screen or clicks on your mouse, I have no idea. But that's the internet!
I intend for this blog to serve two reasons:
- to get to know me, the artist
-the world around me from my perspective
-and to give more information/context of my art
But I don't want this space to simply be a newsletter.The blog could have just been kept at my art: work in progresses, sketchbook pages, upcoming or ongoing events. But I usually go to read a creators someone's blog because I'm interested in who they are as a person and how their minds work, in a sense. And while I consider myself an illustrator, I'm really interested in things such as: travel, food+drinks, lifestyle+wellbeing, fashion/makeup, books, writing+publication, etc. These are all things that inspire me and help me rest.
The next few posts will probably be art oriented but also help you guys get to know me a little more. I don't know where this blog will go, to be honest, or if it will go anywhere. All feedback about content is welcome!
