Art: Unadulterated

Lately, i've been really busy with school, trying to meet deadlines and assignments the past few weeks and I kept making excuses not to blog. The whole Celcom mobile Facebook advertorial thing also has kept me busy with stuff to post on this site I kept ignoring the impulse to just write and express myself here.

So here it is, some kind of activity on my end to just let you guys know that I'm alive and well (I'm technically slightly down with a flu but it's nothing I can't handle). So what have I been up to lately? Well work aside, I've been reading quite a bit of One Piece (largely due to Ling Yi's influence) and fooling around with the handwriting tool quite a bit on MSN messenger.

Yeah so here they are, art in it's most unadulterated form and with it some updates on this blogger's life.

1) Cheebyekiaa!

Cheebyekiaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

I drew this when quite a number of things hit me at the same time - I was stressed out working on a project, I recieved some rather unsettling news and I was just frustrated with life in general. I just felt like standing on some tall cliff overlooking the rough ocean waves, with the strong sea wind beating down my face and just yelling out my frustrations to the unrelenting tide.

And as much as I hate to admit it, that has been happening quite a lot in my life in NTU. It sucks to feel out of control of my life and I need to do what I can to reassert my myself in what I do. I want to achieve what I have set out for myself and go where I want to go, but it can get so frustrating.

Maybe this is where the abundance mindset that Steve Pavilina talked about on his blog comes in. Perhaps he's right and instead of spending the bulk of my time and energy focusing on the things in life that frustrate me, maybe I should spend that focus on the good things in my life instead, like the great friends I have, the great people I meet both offline and online and my love for writing.

Just being back on Blogger and writing this out really reminds me of how much I used to love blogging. I used to wake up in the mornings with like three thousand blog ideas and update like 3 times a day. I still love to write and take time to reflect on life but my studies and commitments are just taking so much out of me.

I really need to find that balance, that golden mean between work and time to spend on self actualization. Ultimately it all boils down to time management and discipline, the two things I really need to work on if I want to commit to my goal of becoming a better, more efficient person.

2) Hungry!

Hungry!

I drew this when talking to my good friend Ling Yi while working on my research methods project all alone (hate working on long, wordy reports all alone) at around 12am last Sunday, asking him to come back so that we can go out and have supper. Yes I was that hungry. I have been sleeping at really odd times due to tight deadlines and all and if I remember correctly, only taken my first meal of the day at 5pm. Little wonder that I was feeling like an Ethiopian at 12 midnight.

It is interesting to note that due to the lack of exercise and possibly my latest bout of flu (which comes with a whole lot of water consumption) that my midsection is currently very, very vastly different from the thin, skin and bones figure above.

3) Lovebeam

Lovebeam

Note that this piece is titled "Lovebeam", not "Lovebeams" and is in the singular and not plural form. I drew it when I was chatting to my pal Nick about what most guys at this age has on their minds - girls.

I think I drew this as I was thinking about fictional characters that just seem to be able to snag that one girl that they're eying when they just put their mind to it and focus on just chasing the girl of their dreams. I mean we're forced fed this stuff, and over time we just start to subconsciously believe in it, that if we find that one special girl and love her with all you've got, she'll be yours in the end.

But it always seems to me that the real world is so different from that. Making the girl the only one you think about just seems to decrease your chances - you can't talk right in front of her, you get nervous just by looking at her and you can't even muster the courage to ask her out properly. The logical thing to do would be to not dwell on it and meet more people but it never is easy to reconcile the opposing views of the heart and the brain.

Why do we desire what we cannot get so much?

I guess that's what made me draw what I drew next.

4) Heartstab

Heartstab

That's just how bad news feels sometimes, especially if it pertains to matters of the heart. It really feels like just that - a dark cold sword just stabbing through your being, emptying your being and making you feel all empty inside.

Maybe that's why I seem to connect with this song from David Tao's latest album, Opus 69, so much.

Secret Love - 暗戀

Even if you're an international singing sensation but if the girl you're in love in just doesn't feel the same about you, it still hurts deep inside. What's the use of being to get any girl you want, with the sole exception of the one you're dying for?

5) Flower for You

Flower for You

Yeah an in stark contrast to all that emo writing that this blog has not seen for a very long time, simple flowers for a friend. Come to think of it, we all feel lonely and insecure from time to time, even though if we are continually surrounded by people. A bright flower definitely would serve as a cute gesture of appreciation. Who can say no to such a cute, bright smiley face?

I drew this for Adele who drew me one when motivating me to complete my assignment! I guess that sometimes encouragement and friendship comes from the most mystical of sources. (:

***

Hope that all you out there are fine and well! Hope that you all have wonderful, fulfilled lives. That's exactly what I'm working towards!