LIFE LATELY: Quarantine Edition
*This blog was originally published 22 July 2020.
Hello there and welcome to my home in the interwebs! 😊
I started writing this about ~2 months ago and just left it to rot in my drafts. So yes, I've been putting off publishing my very *first* blog post for a loooong time already. I'm not a very good writer but I'll try my best. So here it goes... 😬
Welcome to my very first blog – Life Lately: Quarantine Edition! 😷
I clearly remember two days before the lockdown, I was so excited to go shopping for groceries and told myself that I can use the down time to continue working on my personal projects. But reality hit hard because all my plans for the year were put on hold—travel plans, business plans, career plans. I was in such a bad place that I couldn't make art and couldn't function normally. Thankfully, about 6-8 weeks in, I was able to shake off the ~bad feelings~ and slowly picked up my pace. 😌
Did this a day after the lockdown started 🏡
Plus!!! My new & improved Decade Girls! (L-R: 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s) 💁
It's been 6 months (and counting) since the whatever-CQ started and TBH, the days have started to become blurry. I'm just glad to have a semblance of a routine these days, which pretty much revolves around work, art, and slacking off. Don't get me wrong, I don't slack off all day. I just allow myself pockets of me-time in between work and making art. I indulge myself in some self-care habits too, like watching (or re-watching) series and some online shopping here and there (hahaha, who's guilty?). 😆
What the first 5 months of quarantine looked like for me 👀
My day starts pretty early(-ish???): I wake up at around 8-8:30am, lay still and scroll through my phone aimlessly 'til 9:00am (HAHA don't judge me okay?), eat breakfast while watching YT, and /really/ start my day at 10:00am. I check my work to-do's for the day and tick them off as best as I could throughout the day. Whenever there's no pending task, I try my best to dedicate time to make art or to read books in my TBR pile. But let's be real: most of the time, I just spend it watching tons of videos and looking at memes HAHAHA, as seen here. At night, I alternate between watching BTS vids or something else from Netflix. That's pretty much it - my sister and I usually just watch stuff together until around 12am. 📺
Breakfast at 9am, then off to work, art in between tasks, and some unwinding after! 💗
And since the whole quarantine situation isn't looking good (well, at least for us huhu 🙃), we both decided to fix our home offices. It was fun and tiring, but I would say it paid off considering I now spend half of my day just hanging out in mine! I love it more than I love my bed, hahaha! Personalizing the space helped a lot too, especially now that most of us are working from home. I put out all my fave art books, a mesh dedicated to my new-found loves (if it isn't obvious yet: yes, they're BTS💜), little butingtings from friends, and so much more! Now, working from home doesn't feel as lonely as before.
Workspace Before & After! ✨
Aside from the routine and environment changes, somehow, my art has changed too. From the usual earthy browns and greens to vivid blues and purples, who would've thought? I'd like to believe it's a good kind of change, a growth of some sorts. Now, I'm less afraid to experiment with my art.
Nowadays, I enjoy drawing sunsets the most. It started out with me just laying random colors on the canvas, a bit of Gaussian blur, then *tadaaa*, gradient! Then I tried blending the colors manually with brushes and I just fell in love with the process! And now all I could draw are tons and tons of sunsets. It's probably just a phase (or not), but I'm happy either way! 😊
My Art Then vs. Now: Still the same, except more colorful! 🌈
I'm not that good at consoling people, but I try to do so with my art. They're not the best drawings out there but what's important is I get my message across. Here's me sending you warm virtual hugs *🤗🤗🤗* through one of my artworks! It's hard to stay hopeful these days, but I still hope you find something to help you stay sane even if the world seems to be crumbling down.
I started writing this blog post while listening to Jimin's song "Promise" on repeat. It has helped me get through bad days and it's too good not share. Ending this here, go give it a listen! 💗
PS: If you need more pampa-GV in your life these days, listen to Dynamite! 🕺🧨 HAHAHA, shameless ARMY plug! 💜 Have a nice day (or night) and thanks for taking the time to visit me here! ❤️
‘Til the next!
♡ Marie ☺
