Resolution 2014

It's nine days late, and nothing's new, but I'm pretty determined on changing the way I create this year. For example:

1. Less free art because of "boredom", more fair trade in terms of art. I make you something, either you pay me for it or make something for me as well. It helps both of us practice if the latter, yes? (And me for the former, for when I have to price my art in the future... whew.) :)
2. I hope I'll want to be able to make at least one work of art that isn't school or Collegian-related every week. From sketches and doodles to full-blown paintings, traditional or otherwise, I don't really care, as long as I don't confine myself to work that I have to admit sometimes take the heart out of the art when I don't feel like doing it but I have to. That's life, and I intend to break out of it as best as I can.
3. I want to try new things and revive the old. I've never bound a book before. It's been so, so long since I last used polymer clay or made jewelry. I've never used oil paints (successfully, that is). Hopefully the learning experiences I'll be able to put off until I have the opportunity to learn them in school, or when I have the time and can learn them myself should it not be done in school. In the meantime, I'll try my best to come back to the projects I left hanging; who knows, maybe I can apply what I've learned, and make them better. Probably.

That's pretty much it. Like I said in my previous blog post, here's another year of wanting to be the very best (artist), like no one ever was. Well. Maybe not that last part. There were/are tons of 'em, after all. I just want to focus on being a great me.

'Til next time!

Hello, 2014.

Albeit a belated one. Heh.

I left 2013 a more creative, more "Filipino", and (hopefully) more mature individual. Here's to the year that lies ahead of us - may it bring more joy to savor, more spirit to live, more challenges to overcome, more creation to create. And may I be blessed with the resilience to update this blog as much as I'd like to. :P

Resolutions 2013

Yes, I am aware that I haven't been blogging. No, I am not dead, and school is much too boring for people on the Internet to read about repeatedly (at least for me [this I write with classmates Kira and Trisha watching my every move]).

You must look at the title of this post and think, sixteen days into the New Year and only now are you formulating your Fantastical List of Never-Before-Seen Resolutions That You Are Supposed To Achieve This Year? PREPOSTEROUS! Ha. What I find preposterous, dear reader, is the fact that human beings wait three hundred sixty five days a year to resolve something new for themselves and postpone for the rest of the year to achieve when they can actually spend any (or every!) of those three hundred sixty five days resolving and achieving in a fashion that is productive!

Don't get me wrong, I'm no New Year's Scrooge. I'm just defending why I came up with these resolutions so late, and so generally, as you will see. Here goes!

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I warned you this list is so general. I'm not trying to cheat or anything - these three items just literally came up while I was in one of those Daydreaming in Transportation situations, except it was at night. They were, in fact, kind-of "unachieved" enough to turn into resolutions as well as achievable enough to turn into resolutions. It's totally a win-win, right? And these don't even have to be just my resolutions - they're general enough to adopt as your own, too!

 

1. Make more things

If you haven't noticed yet, this is a blog about making things. I do enjoy creating, and this year I resolve to create many, many more things. Things, maybe, that I haven't even tried to make before. Which leads me to...

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2. Try new things

This was the first resolution I came up with, and for good reason. I have been itching to eat at da.u.de (dah-you-deh) somewhere in Taguig. I say "have" because I haven't. However, last night we had dessert in its somewhat-sibling, Manila Bake, which is also under the Serye Cafe Filipino group of restaurants. I fell in love with Serye then and there for being so Filipino and so delicious at the same time - they were selling bottled Tsokolate, for Chrissakes! 

And shame on me for not knowing enough of these "hidden" gems in Metro Manila, what with their distinctly Filipino roots but - dare I say it? - world-class original and creative flavor that end up supporting the local economy and helping others, like, in the case of the Serye group, native Filipino ingredients and their producers.

I'm not limiting myself to Proudly Filipino things, or food, either. Last night we also ate at The Fat Skillet, which I've never tried before. I've never been to Thailand, or Indonesia, or Malaysia (SO SUE ME, OKAY?). There's just a world of possibility and newness that's waiting for me to - erm - graduate? Hehe.

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3. Do Filipino things

Speaking of Proudly Filipino, I resolve to do more Filipino things this year. If there's one thing I significantly jumpstarted last year, it was my nationalism. Nueva Filipiniana was a good, although maybe not-so-original testament to that, as well as many other projects I began. I just hope last year didn't burn me out, because I am so prepared to burst with love of my country this year.

So help me God, let me pass U.P.!

Oh yes, about yesterday!

I'm so glad because I'd previously made three, "Filipiniana-inspired" dresses for the Grad Ball. One was a barong-style thing, one was a 50s dress/"baro't-saya" inspiration, and the last was a really simple design but with this tribal fabric. The thing is, I didn't even hope that the last one was up for consideration. I really wanted a dress like it, but getting the fabric was tricky because it wasn't common. I assumed you'd have to go to ten hours North of here to get a couple of yards, but Tita Mila told me I was wrong, and now we're going with that! I'm so excited, you guys!