Happy New year Tag

I’ve always been writing an overview of the year as it’s nice to look back and reflect on the things that I’ve done, experienced and places that I have visited. I don’t think anyone would’ve expected that this year there’d be a global pandemic and that we’ve all had to press the pause button. It’s just been one weird year where we’ve all had to adapt in the way we live, interact and work. For a lot of people though, the pandemic has exacerbated hardship in terms of loss of employment, mental health, loss of education and an uncertain future in that certain plans have had to be put on hold for the time being. It has also shown the widening gap in poverty and life chances, especially the North and South divide, not forgetting that BAME groups have been completely marginalised in comparison to their white counterparts.

The Black Lives Matter movement has probably been one of the most important social movements of the year; a reaction to the murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor (of course, not forgetting the countless innocent lives taken away by police brutality and systematic racism) it sent shockwaves across the world. How in modern America is this still happening? It’s like the clocks have turned and they’re going backwards. Social activism has sprung up through social networks organised through grass root communities and organisations- unity and love has been the light through this dark tunnel . It has been a real eye opener, against the backdrop of Covid-19, that solidarity and support is shown no matter where you are in the world. In the summer myself and Ivy raised money in solidarity with Black Lives Matter together with some other artists and illustrators who were kind enough to donate a piece of artwork to the cause. We both felt frustrated by what was happening in America, and though I didn’t go to any protests, sometimes the smallest actions can have a major impact.

During the period of lockdown I had spent a lot of time weaving and throughly enjoyed it. This’ll definitely something I’ll be continuing and I have plans of buying a larger loom.

 

I took part in lots of virtual craft markets during the summer, made sales through them, and will do more of them as they arise in the future. The pandemic has shown that creatives and businesses have had to adapt in the uncertainty of the coronavirus, although not the same as walking through a market, I think it’s been fantastic that so many people have grouped together in support of one another.

As well as taking part in online life drawing lessons, Sam and I have had the time to cook far more interesting dishes which we wouldn’t usually have the time for. We made cheese (at one point it was mega hard to get hold of cheese), bao buns, sushi (made this twice now), lots of Japanese food in general plus good old wontons which I can’t see to get enough of right now!

As lockdown was easing we went camping for a couple of days and that’s been our holiday; no plans of going away either. We’ll spending Christmas here in London as it’s way too risky to be visiting family members. Once vaccinations have been on the roll-out I’ll be making my way up North as I haven’t seen my folks since July. I also miss my grandparents but it’s just not worth the risk to be seeing them over the Christmas period. I miss conversing with them in Cantonese, eating my Grandma’s traditional and home cooked Chinese food… all of those things I’m really craving right now but I keep reminding myself that one day we’ll be able to spend proper quality time as a family. So we’ll be having a quiet: watching lots of films, eating cheese and chocolate, making artwork in my own time and hanging with the cats.

I’m going to end my post here and I wish you all a festive Christmas and see you on the other side. Since I last updated this post, London and all of South East of England are now in tier 4 which means no mixing with other households, people cannot leave tier 4 areas unless permitted (i.e. for work)… generally staying put then.

(A rather ambient version of WHAM’S Last Christmas to get you into the mood- Enjoy!). x

This is my first blog post of the year and I’d just like to say that I’ve hope you’ve all had a good start to the New Year! I know that I’ve been saying this every single year, but 2016 really did whizz by! I thought this post would be a reflection of last year as bits of it was crazy and mega stressful.

In January I started my new job as a teaching assistant (which is my current job at the moment) and I’ve been there for just over a year. I’m still happy with where I am and the people at school are amazing and super supportive as well. Shortly afterwards, we bought our house in Wood Green! Hurrah for adulting! There are no words to describe what was going on in my head as I honestly thought I was going to explode due to stress!

As that was going on, Emily and I were organising our very first group show of 2016 called ‘Tropical Safari’. The timing of it couldn’t have been better (hints of sarcasm there…) but I was extremely grateful for having friends to help us along the way as there were things which seemed to have snowballed and I felt like things were getting out of control. Everything worked out for itself and the show was really good- couldn’t have been happier about it.

My cousin asked me to do some custom prints for her for Christmas presents and she was really please to see the final thing. Also, a good friend of mine asked me to design her wedding invitations! I had a lot of fun with it as she was super flexible with how she wanted it, so as long as it followed the theme of blossoms with shades of blues and greys so that it tied in with the wedding.

 

I spent most of my time doing loads of DIY stuff to the house, and we’ve not even finished yet. So about the floors… we’ll come to that when we have the time/money.

I’m going to end it there as I wanted to keep the post to the point and not go on about the floors/DIY/the cats… Hope you all enjoy the rest of the week and take care!

20151225_142319

20151225_160509

I’ve spent the last couple of days piling on the food in Newcastle and at home and currently recovering from it all! We took the cats up to Newcastle as no one in London was available to look after them. Nether less, after a good couple of days hiding in one room they’re certainly, shall we say, a lot more bolder than before! They’ve settled into Sam’s mum’s house for the time being, but will be heading back to London over the New Year. now they’re lounging around in the living room (as you can see from the photos, Mario, posing for a photo!).

I shall be back in full swing of things what with my new job and illustration work- all new and exciting happenings, which is a positive start to the New Year.

I’d just like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May the New Year bring you good health, happiness and exciting things!

New Year

I can’t believe it’s that time of the year again! It’s come round so quickly; I say this every year but it has though! This time last year I was still in Hong Kong ready to leave to come back to the UK. That was probably one of my biggest achievements so far- to travel alone and to learn about myself. I really hope in the future we can go travelling together as I feel like there’s so much out there and that it needs to be explored.

Over the last few months I have been working full-time, so the illustration side of things have fallen sideways. I’m going to spend more time this year and to focus more on it as I look back and feel really bad for not doing as much as I should have done. Also, I hate regretting/ dwelling over things. It’s always been about not having enough time to do anything (more hours in the day please!) and working overtime too- lot’s of it.

The clearest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness.

-John The Man Muir

So, I’m going to promise myself to do more artwork and start enjoying the little things that come by day to day. I have really learnt a lot about myself in 2014 and made some good friends at work. Since going back to my workplace, I have also learnt that some people are not worth my time either. It’s pointless wasting time and energy on people who are transient in your life.

I also decided to give Facebook a break because I waste so much time on it. For me, it got the the point of seeing loads of random posts that are unrelated to my interests as well as people ranting about things.  I guess the outlet  and openness makes it easier for people to be more clear cut about things. I suppose the constant negativity from people really gets me down sometimes.

I suck at New Year’s Resolutions, however, I’ve made a list on things I need to work on over the coming year and to remain a happy person!

My mini goals for 2015 are:

– To carry on and pursue the elusiveness of the illustration world.

– Not be beaten up by negative people.

– To focus more on myself and worry less about others.

-See people’s faults as their own insecurities.

– Spend more time with people who mean a lot to me.

– Try and stop moaning about the small things.

– Being happy.

What have your achievements been in 2014? What are your plans or goals for the coming year? I would love to hear from you!

Wishing you all a Happy New Year for 2015!