I’m wise now, apparently

Hey stranger!

I have been thinking letters and not actually writing them. When it’s been a while since you’ve seen someone, or written to them, it can be hard to know where to begin because it feels like a lot had happened but also not much at all. So the answer to how have you been? becomes something like you know, work, family, normal stuff.

So here’s an unpacking of that unsatisfying answer - some stuff that has happened since I last wrote to you in February:

• I turned 40 a few weeks ago. Feeling pretty good about it overall, aside from having an awful cold that took me out of action for far too long. I guess that’s part of being born in July, in the depths of Makuru/Winter.
• Possibly related: someone called me wise. I am wise now.
• I went on a birthday trip to Bali with some friends, the first time I’ve been overseas since Covid. I made a cute travel sketchbook that almost met a watery end on a snorkelling trip, but thankfully managed to keep dry.
  
• Still doing life drawing when I can make it!
• Overall I’ve been doing less painting and sketching though, probably due to some extra responsibilities at work that are taking up a lot of my mental reserves. I’m hoping as things settle I’ll be able to get back into it more.
• I did play around a bit with digital sketching tool HeavyPaint. I was inspired by this interview with the founder Vaughan Ling, talking about how he created the app to fill a need he had as an artist.
  
• I’ve been making some more simple clothes, and finding that the time I spent making them is comparable to the time I spent browsing online shops looking in vain for cute, affordable linen sets. I’m now playing around with crochet, although it’s slower going than sewing.
• I bought a little printer that only does standard 4x6 photo prints, and an old school photo album. It felt like a silly indulgence but so far I’m finding it delightful to be able to print photos to stick on my fridge and flip through a physical album, without the time investment of getting photos printed in store or making a photo book.
• I’ve been reading a lot of fiction, and got an e-ink reader that allows me to read digital library books which has been very very nice.

So how about you? What have you been working on lately?