Here’s Week 3 Of This Year’s Inktober ☻

Hi everyone, how are you doing?

I hope you are doing well as you possibly can. I'm doing okay despite all of the heavy turmoil this year. This has been exhausting, and if I could, I'd give you the biggest of hugs.

Much love, stay safe ❤️

What's your audio aura? Thank you @stacytangart for the inspiration and @yumightaswell for creating this fun art challenge! The idea is to paint a self portrait using the color palettes of @spotify audio aura. As a result, it was very cathartic 💚💖

"...Maybe we'll see each other somewhere." 

A screenshot study with a nice sentimental touch ☺️

Today is my birthday! (11/23) So I would like to gift you all with this announcement:

I have (finally) created my own food blog! @comfydarkeats ✨🍽✨

Food and art are both things that I greatly enjoy. When I was asked what my dream career would be, I answered that I'd want to be a food illustrator.

I say "finally" because, to be honest, even though they are my passions, it took me a while to just get started. Maybe it's the fear of making mistakes, or that the results won't turn out the way I want it to. Does anyone else feel this? 😭

A very wise friend told me, "Why not start with a 'bad drawing'? Why not paint a 'bad thing.' And just keep going until you finally get something good." In other words, I won't know if the piece is bad if I don't get started at ALL.

I'm also trying to apply this mindset in other aspects of my life. I admit to not accomplishing a lot of goals (let alone daily tasks) because of this fear of failure, fear of not getting it right the first try, which causes me to stop on my tracks and just be stagnant overall.

I know this is something I need to work on, but as I'm getting older, I'm learning that it's okay to make mistakes, as long as there's the eagerness and acceptance of bettering myself. I'm also trying to take in this saying, "There's no better time than the present." It's been said so many times, but I never really had that sink in until now.

Creating this blog is a small step, but it's important to me that I initiate at all instead of going, "someday." So here's to starting new things that may turn into accomplishments!

Is there something that you've been wanting or needing to do?

新年快乐! Year of the Ox 🐂🧧✨ Also, here's the previous years I've done so far 🐀🐖🐕

I'm offering free digital prints of this piece for a limited time. You can find the link here available until the end of this month. Enjoy!

My only wish is that you all continue to stay safe, stay warm, and stay healthy. Let this be a prosperous, growing year.

"Carry me!" Inspired by this interesting looking tree I saw during a hike a while back. I'm sure it gives nice hugs 👋

Day 8: Star

This was a challenging one, but I learned a lot about clouds and white ink pens ☁️

“Sleep Apnea”

This is something that I’ve been wanting to delve more deeply and apply into my work. I don’t think that many people are aware of the severity of this common but serious sleeping disorder.

About 10 years ago I was diagnosed and, like many people, believed that it was simply just snoring. But after getting informed and doing further research, I realized how much it severely affected my overall well being.

“Sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder that occurs when a person's breathing is interrupted during sleep. People with untreated sleep apnea stop breathing repeatedly during their sleep, sometimes hundreds of times. This means the brain -- and the rest of the body -- may not get enough oxygen.” -- Nayana Ambardekar, MD

I’ve been told that, before using the equipment to help with sleeping (the Continuous Positive Airway Pressure machine, or CPAP), my breathing sounded like a loud creature getting choked from its own body. I can joke about it now, but it was a really scary discovery! But despite this health condition, I’m still thankful that I got to be educated, to find out in my early years, to get the help and resources I need, and to be more understanding to those that are also diagnosed with it or something similar.

You can find out more about sleep apnea in your own time. I just hope that there will be more awareness about it, that it’s not just snoring, that seeing the term or the supplies used won’t be so foreign, and that there are solutions to improving their health in the long run.

Day 11: Cruel

This was rather difficult to figure out what to draw. In the end, I came up with a feeling that I'm certain a lot of us struggle with. It sucks, but it's also kinda reassuring to know that it's not an uncommon thought, and we're not alone in this

Time is an illusion that helps things make sense, So we're always living in the present tense, It seems unforgiving when a good thing ends, But you and I will always be back then. 🎶

So I finished the series and boy did I not expect to feel so many feels for the season finale 😭 But yes, Adventure Time, it got better and better and I definitely recommend it 👍