Update, September Plans and some of my favourite things

Hi peeps, 

How are you all ?

I thought I would make a little post about a variety of things going on right now, as well as my plans going forward for the rest of the year. :)
I'll also share a few of my current favourite things with you, and would love to hear about you, how you are doing, what you are loving, and all those sorts of things, if you feel like sharing. 

So here we go.
The serious stuff first. 

This month's focus will be revamping my Patreon page a little.

I want to rewrite my About page, create tier images for the tiers I haven't gotten to yet, and generally rework the look of my posts and structure of my page.
This shouldn't affect you guys too much, but I just thought I'd give you a heads up so you are not one day coming back to a different looking page out of nowhere, haha. 

I will also be working on finishing the Process PDFs of Parasite and Ouroboros, for all of you $5+ patrons, as well as getting paintings done for you $20 and $35 peeps. 

Stay tuned for the stickers designs for this month very soon, as well as the mini-print poll.
The Sketchbook PDF will come a little later this month as I need a little bit more time to fill some pages, but it is coming along. 

I have submitted "Ouroboros"  to the upcoming WOWxWOW show, "Curious Alchemy", that will go live on the 9th of October, and will run until the 30th. 

The piece will be available for purchase while the show is live, and then on the WOWxWOW website after that!

 ✦ September : 

 The next few weeks are going to be about the Patreon revamp, as well as painting "Dandelion", and hopefully get started on another smaller piece at the same time. 

 ✦  October : 

I will make a proper post about this at some point I think, but as a heads up, I won't be doing Inktober this year.
My decision has nothing to do with the current Inktober controversy, and all to do with the fact that I am swamped enough as it is, and I need some time to focus on my regular tasks and catch up with various difference things. I simply don't feel I have the mental strength to attempt the challenge this year, or any kind of daily drawing challenge for that matter. 

Instead, I will be participating in Month of Fear.
Month of Fear is a weekly challenge, with a prompt word per week.
I've participated in the past and really enjoyed it, and since I am more in the mood to paint than draw these days, it makes more sense for me to try that out.
Here's the tumblr for more information on this challenge :
https://monthoffearart.com/  

Another project I would like to turn my attention to in October, is creating a book of my sketches.
I don't know how much work that will entail, and I need to smooth out some things before I attempt it, but I have wanted to try it for a while, and I figured why not now.
So we'll see how that goes. I'll probably need your input on some things along the way, so stay tuned for that!

 ✦  November and December :

I would really like to make another Calendar this year, as last year's went down so well and was a lot of fun to put together.
I don't know how realistic of a plan that is though, since I am not doing Inktober, and a daily challenge was a perfect way to rack up a good number of illustrations in a shortish amount of time. So I am not sure I'll manage to create 12 illustrations before my End of Year sale but I'm bookmarking the idea anyway. 

As I just mentioned, I will have my yearly end of year sale around November, with, as always, a special discount code for all of you patrons. I'll keep you updated, obviously. 

I wanted to find the time to switch my shop platform to my website, as I had mentioned in a post at the beginning of this year, but I am not sure whether to cram it in this year, or just wait until the new year.
I feel like I have quite a bit on my plate as it is, and I don't want to host a sale on an entirely new platform I will have had to rush a bit. Too many opportunities for things to go wrong. So I might wait and do the switch in January or thereabouts. We'll see. 

For now, here are my plans for the next few months!

I have a few videos in the works for Youtube also, but I'd rather not outline them in detail quite yet, as they are the most likely thing to fall through given how many elements I already have to juggle, so you'll have to bear with me for these.
Same for the enamel pin (poor thing) that has been in limbo for a while, mostly because I simply don't have the money to fork out in manufacture quite yet. But I haven't forgotten it! I'm researching manufacturers and I will update you once I have more news. 

 ✦ After we came back from our holiday, I was absolutely exhausted, and I also felt fairly unwell. Not due to Covid, but, I think, because I developed an iron deficiency while we were away. I don't each a lot of meat, and, like most women, I'm always on the verge of deficiency, so I have some supplements I'm supposed to take, but I lapsed for the last month or so.  This resulted in me having extended bouts of dizziness and nausea, and generally feeling quite poorly, until I clocked what was going on and started taking my supplements again. I'm much better now but that was what set the rhythm for our first week back. Fun!

 ✦ Motivation was difficult to find the last few days, and I feel like it was hard to find the last few months too, so I decided to start restructuring my work to try and refocus and find myself again. 

One of the ways I am attempting this, is by prioritizing art.
Something I am not good at when I have such huge piles of admin work to do next to it.
But the last few days, I have made a conscious effort to draw first thing in the day, instead of checking my emails or social media. 

I put on some relaxing nature footage and sounds, and I try to fill a few pages of my sketchbook, as well as do my Daily Doodle.
It has been truly wonderful, and I hope to be able to keep up with that routine in the long run. 

 ✦ To help quell my anxiety, I have also been leaving my phone out of the bedroom during the night, so that I don't reach for it before bed, or as soon as I wake up.
That has been a big step for me, as I have a lot of paranoia linked to not being close to my phone in case something happens to anyone I love and I need to be reached. It hasn't been long, I've only managed to maintain this for a few days, but it has worked wonders for my mental health already so it is another habit I really hope to be able to sustain hopefully for the foreseeable future.  

✦ Books :
One of my 2020 resolutions was to read more. I have failed miserably so far, but at least I managed to finish one of my long-standing reads :
"Other Minds : The octopus and the evolution of intelligent life" by Peter Godfrey-Smith.
It is a TREASURE. I adore this book. It is so witty and interesting and full of fascinating information. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in biology, the mind and cephalopods!

I have now started reading "Prisoners of Geography", by Tim Marshall.
Let's see how long it takes me to finish this one...

Long gone are the days I devoured books in the span of a few days...T_T

✦ Comics :

My boyfriend is a pretty wonderful person, and every so often, he'll get me gifts for no reason at all.
His go-to gifts are comics/graphic novels, ever since he learned how I used to spend my childhood reading them.
His first comic gift to me was "Saga", by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples, which needs no introduction to anyone who enjoys comics. I now have all 3 installments.
His latest one was "Paper Girls Book One", by Brian K.Vaughan again and Cliff Chiang, Matt Wilson and Jared K. Fletcher.
I devoured that one in less than a day. :) 

✦ Games :

I go through phases where I enjoy playing on the console, and then move on to the iPad for a bit, and then I don't play at all for a while, and then the cycle starts back again.
Right now, I'm in an iPad mood, and have been thoroughly enjoying casual idle games that help me relax. 

My boyfriend and I play Wordscapes together, and I personally am thoroughly enjoying Egg Inc. It's a game all about hatching chickens to grow your farm, in a future world in which eggs have unlocked the secrets of the universe.
It's so enjoyably relaxing, that I've taken to occasionally playing the music from it in the background while I work. 

✦ Apps :

Talking about relaxing, I recently downloaded the app "Forest" to help me focus and stay away from my phone while I work. The app lets you set a time limit, and will grow a little tree while you are away from your phone. If you successfully avoid using your phone during that time, you have a little tree to add to your virtual forest. If you fail, your tree dies.
It's super cute, and has been a sweet little incentive to me to avoid opening my phone too often.
In all honesty, it relies entirely on my distaste with failing, because I have 2 phones and an iPad, so I could very easily bypass the app and browse Instagram and still have my tree at the end. But I would feel like a fraud, so in a way, the app works for me, haha. 

✦ Nature footage :

Something I have been finding a little bit tough the last few days is the fact that we have had to quarantine ourselves since we came back from France, just in case. Meaning no going outside.
I arrogantly thought I would be ok, but it turns out it has been getting to me a whole lot more than I thought. I have felt sadder and more gloomy than usual, and a lot of that is due to the lack of nature and fresh air.
So to quell my withdrawal symptoms and tendency to mild claustrophobia, I have been playing nature videos with nature sounds on Youtube as an almost constant background noise while I work.
It's wonderful and is working wonders for my anxiety and gloominess. 

Here's a little playlist I created of my current favourites, in case that is your thing too : 

 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZdjA54eJCB_r8sptYbVQRHqO7YyGo-JH 

⇧ I recently changed my PC background to this wonderful picture of Durdle Door. I've been fortunate enough to go there myself a few years back, and seeing this picture every day makes me think of that  wonderful trip. I enjoy having desktop background that make me feel that little bit closer to nature. 

And that's it for now!

I hope this little post was enjoyable, I know I don't share all that much of my personal life outside of art with you, so I hope this is fun to read about. 

I would love to hear about you and how you are doing, if you feel like sharing!
Let me know if you've tried any of the things I mentioned, or feel free to recommend anything you've been enjoying yourself!

I'll be back soon with the sticker designs for this month, the mini-print poll, some "Dandelion" painting updates, and more.
Stay tuned, take care, and speak soon <3