how are there 2 months left of 2021?!
2021 nov 01 21:04
Well, I told myself i'd do a monthly update every first Monday of the month and luckily this one falls on a Monday. I'll see how that works out. I'm still contemplating little weekly check-ins but I might not send them out as emails. I will probably post them on Mondays as well, just to make things simple.
Ugh. I don't know. I'm not sure there's a point to doing all this aside from keeping myself accountable for getting work done and maybe some self-reflection of the month (which is what my zines used to do). So here we go I guess?
October. Went by quickly and was a huge blur. The first week or so was messing with website shit and finally deciding to shut Patreon down for simplicity's sake (more on that later!). Had to do a lot of personal, non-art shit like more customer support shit, getting our piano moved to my mom's place, trying to make this space more "work-friendly" but eventually realizing that I need to just leave the house sometimes in order to get work done.
I did work on a sculpted piece: a vinyl toy custom that was in a show in Brooklyn (Dumpster Friends Forever), currently going on. The piece has already been sold, which is bittersweet, cuz I was low-key hoping to get it back. I'm happy he has a home though, and it was nice to do something different. Here are some shots of him:
The rest of the month was struggling with my 2022 calendar idea of Lil Fay hanging out with different cryptids. It was honestly hard to find 12 remotely different/interesting ones since most of them were just some variation of bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster. Luckily I was able to draw up the first 6 months (my initial goal was to just get 4 done, but thankfully I was on a roll) so here are the first 6 cryptids!
I'm glad it eventually worked out, but I did have bouts of stress worrying that I wasn't gonna get any of this stuff done in time. I think it was mostly the cabin fever setting in and the fact that it's REALLY hard to focus at home. I just have waaaaay too many distractions. I need to find ways to cope with that in the coming months, especially with the cold weather setting in.
So, the couple of things I "relearned" this month and need to remember in the future:
1. Stop stressing out about productivity. Things will eventually get done.
2. Take more breaks and don't feel bad about it.
3. GO OUTSIDE once in a while.
4. Actually go out to a cafe and work. Find someone to work with for social interaction! Yay! A 2 for 1!
5. Start printing cards at the print shop. Spending money on ink is NOT a good way to spend money. Also: quality is way better.
6. SLOW THE FUCK DOWN (this applies to EVERYTHING).
7. Start using the SAD light.
Anyway, maybe some of these tips might help you? Especially if you're in colder climates when the days are getting shorter and more dreary, make sure you do things that take care of your mental health. It may feel easier to just stay home and isolate, but yeah... probably not a good idea. I have toyed around with the idea of streaming again (like I did a few months ago) but maybe some late night ones might be good? I have to figure that out still.
Alright. I'm gonna stop rambling now and leave you with my thank-you-sticker drawing:
