2024 Messy Desker resolutions
Ok, trying to type this out on Pages and then I’ll see how I can get it exported/imported to wordpress. At worst copy and paste will have to do. (Update: Yeah, copy and paste it was)
But ok. I’ve started following sketchesnscrubs on youtube and I’ll just her Artist Reset template for this.
I’ll divide it into two categories I guess.
First for the more ‘art’ stuff. Like watercolors, drawing etc.
Second for the more ‘writing’ stuff. Like journaling, pen-paling, blogging.
Highlights of last year:
I managed to get some art done towards the end of the year, found an awesome community, fell deep in the watercolor rabbit hole. But also did a lot, a lot of watercolor.
Unfortunately I didn’t get any penpaling done. I typed up a generic – what happened in 2023 – letter to send to my penpals, but I still want to read their previous letter and reply to that. But didn’t get around to doing so. I did at least start some ‘scrapbooking’ as I call it at the end of last year though, and watching my notebook bulk up with the bits and blobs I stuck into it has been really satisfying.
Because of just how screwed up work got, I didn’t have any expectations or anything in terms of art… But I did wish I could have replied to my penpals at the end of the year… But I just got sucked into doing art and didn’t end up writing any physical letters. Heck, even the ‘digital letter’ will still need to be printed out and sent physically. And I have not done so yet – gotta add in my end of the year covid story now.
Now for things that I want to do this year:
I want to keep less stuff on my chair, and desk… Ideally those two will always be free of things so that I can pop on to my chair and do art anytime. VS now where I have to carry the piles of stuff over to my bed first before I could do art. Same with writing…. I need more space to be able to write. Which is a huge barrier in why I haven’t been able to write… Like it’s just troublesome and more of a mental barrier than anything else. But still a barrier nonetheless. Already some stuff I’ve done like having the water cup always out and almost always filled with water (clean or dirty) made it easier for me to get along with the painting. But that kinda made me want to paint rather than do anything else, like writing, or drawing… Use other forms of art. That and the absolute lack of space on my desk makes that motivation even less. And things are not looking any better now. I’ve got crumpled up but unused serviettes on the desk – from restaurants in Genting. I could use them to dab away paint and stuff but it’s one big mess. There’s all the drugs (well, medication) from the various doctor visits as well as over the counter drugs and lozenges… And lots of trinkets and cups of brushes and pens… And so much stuff.
Do more color pencil stuff and use the supplies that I stress bought (retail therapy) over the black friday sales in 2022. Shop my own supplies basically. A lot of the stuff is still brand new in box. With the wrapper and all still intact. So yeah. That has to change… I’ll like to aim for at least ‘something artsy done every weekend’. No idea how busy work will get and all. Presumably it’ll just be a regular year but who knows. Ideally I’d like to do something artsy everyday. And I would definitely like to move towards that. Maybe even like a 5 minutes quick sketch would be good, and would certainly count. But to be more realistic, just something artsy once a week would be good.
On the writing front, definitely would love to write a lot more often. Both blog wise and penpal wise. And maybe start writing more journal entries again. I don’t think I’m gonna force myself to write in my journal everyday like I once did. But I would like to write again. I didn’t buy any journal for 2024… No hobonichi for the first time since I fell into the fountain pen hobby. But I didn’t even touch my 2023 hobonichi. Don’t think I did the 2022 one either. Those are NOT going to waste, it’s still good paper and I will still use them. But I won’t be making myself write everyday. Write I will. But not like an everyday thing. Oh yeah, you mean the hobonichi techo is meant to be a planner? Sorry, I’ve always used it as a journal. See I work in the lab. When I’m busy in the lab, what I do tomorrow depends on the results of what happens today. I don’t even know what is gonna happen two days later, what use is a planner?
What else do I want to do hmm…
Yeah nothing much. Just slowly going through the stuff I already have, and use them. Toss whatever can’t be used, donate/giveaway stuff I don’t want… And keep writing and doing art. I don’t have anything specific in mind like ‘learn how to draw nice portraits’ or anything of that sort. I do want to experiment with gouache and try out all the weird fancy supplies I got but I don’t have any specific skills that I want to gain in mind.
That’s about it for now I guess. Yeah definitely nothing big or groundbreaking… I mean, what’s the point of setting unrealistic expectations that you know you won’t be able to fulfil? For the satisfaction of writing something down in your new year’s resolutions? Nah. I don’t see a point in doing that.
I have other new year resolutions to think about… Like my goals in cubing etc. As usual I will have my 1 book a month reading goal I guess… I read a lot. But mostly junk webnovels lol. So those don’t count unfortunately.
Alright. That’s all for now I guess. Till next time!