Quick update

Hey, everyone!

I haven't updated my journal since last year, so I thought it was about time I did, as a lot has changed since then — and I think I say this in almost every entry. So yay for being original.  

Usually summer is the time when I focus 100% on art and get forward with the goals I set at the beginning of each year. But when September hits and uni starts, it all becomes a bit to much to tackle. This summer was quite different, however. Not bad different, just different.

The good part is that I finished a small sketchbook I had started — sketches done in the bus mostly, as well as some studies I did during July. And I started two new ones. Lots of basic stuff — boxes, rough sketches with bad anatomy that I still haven't sat down to study seriously, and some sketches from imagination for a personal piece that's still in the works.

The bad part, perhaps, is that I haven't been much active on the net for quite some time. A kind of general hiatus. I haven't updated my SBs or uploaded anything new on here, and I can't keep up with anything going on at the moment.

That's why I had to find a way to make more time for art and getting better at it. Making general changes in my life is the only way I could think of to get there. After failing and trying out stuff, it's a lot easier to filter out the things I don't like or imagine myself doing in life — and keep only what's meaningful and worthwhile to me.

And that's where the last bit of my summer went. It's all still a work-in-progress, and it probably will be hectic for the next couple of months until I get it all sorted out. In the meantime, even if I'm away, I'm not giving up. I'm just carving out a way to the kind of life I'm after. On my terms.

Doing too many things at once, and wanting to get above average results in some magical way, just isn't the way. No matter how many goals or priorities you set for yourself. You want to do so many things in a single day, and it's just not physically possible: the stress piles up, you can't focus on anything, and it all just becomes too much. Sound familiar?

So either declutter and re-evaluate the situation, or.. well, there is no alternative. Declutter and find a system that works.

For anyone feeling overwhelmed and having trouble balancing art, life, work, studies or whatever your personal circumstances may be: take a deep breath, and try to find out what your priorities are.

Based on those, draft a plan of action and follow it. If that means deactivating facebook, not going out for a month or getting used to new ways of doing things, do it. Five years later, you'll wish you had done something sooner.

If you got a goal to achieve, isn't it worth it to give it your absolute all?

This is the part where you nod.

Let's do this, then.  


Talk soon,
Rali 


PS. What's the one thing you did this summer that made a difference in your life and/or your art journey? I'd love to know.