Bye Bye July

Big Foot

dry point, edition of 17

will be available at FanEx (Aug 27-29)

Bye bye July. It was the best month of my life (as long as I can remember.. with a hint of exaggeration). I took it easy in July. Above piece, Big Foot was done just before my July vacation. You can guess my mental state at that point. My parents' store moving, teaching 2 classes, writing papers, drawing, etc., I had been very stressed. My teeth clinching habit came back. So purchased a hockey mouth guard (a cheaper solution for a poor artist like myself - I hear the dental night guard costs over $300) in place of the dentist recommended night guard. I thought they were the same thing. Boy, it wasn't.

I felt dumb spending 20 dollars for it. But I do not give up that easily. I'm going to cut it down to fit it in my mouth. One day, one day, my love! 

So anyways, I don't need night guard for a while anyways. After the best month of my life, I feel splendid. I'm going to list how I pressed Hyein reset button:

1. Mexico for a week! As with everywhere I go by myself, I almost cried on the first day out of loneliness. But as always, I loved it starting the second day. It is a very un-cool thing to say, but I do love staying in all-inclusive resorts. Yup, among retired people and rather large Americans, waiting at the buffet cue, I fit right in. It is sad, but I am tired of travelling. At some point in my life, travelling became work. I have to run around, see a lot and experience things to be inspired. But in these all inclusive resorts, I can check my brain on the way in and stare at the ocean for 7 days. AWESOME. 

When I meet people who say, "I'm not a tourist. I am a traveller", I want to punch their faces, but I act cool.

I realized I never posted photos from Bruge last year. I will get on that on the next post.

2. Yes, I turned 30 in mid-July. Seriously, I never dreamed of me turning 30. While I was walking yesterday, it suddenly dawned on me that I cannot say I'm in my twenties anymore. Man, I remember my mom turning 30. Anyways... I got great presents! TV tuner and Doctor Who book from my brother. Also grocery bag with a bigfoot on it and gama-go owl wallet. My Emily Strange Wallet was falling apart (all ripped so cards and coins scatter on the floor every time I take it out of my bag), so I was desperate for a new wallet. I suppose not desperate enough to buy one myself... I had over 100 zip lock bags, new wallet could wait. Back to my birthday things, I also got some money from my parents. Cash presents always brighten me up, oh yeah. I heard I have a very low standard for good birthdays, but it was rad.

There are two owl illustrations in this wallet <3 

3. I've been on-and-off meditating. One of my favourite illustrators, Aaron Leighton taught me about stress-free meditation methods (check out of his new book, Spirit City). It's strange, time slows down when I meditate but moves fast when I surf internet. Whenever I spend a long time away from internet, I feel refreshed and productive. I seriously considered to cut this evil thing off. But how am I going to work without internet? I'm trapped. Um, back to meditation topic, I'm going to attend free meditation classes for artists coming Fall. 

4. Cottage! I haven't been to a cottage in a very long time. When we first move to Canada, we had to have this 'cottage' experience, so we rented a very small dirty cottage somewhere North. It was damp everywhere with dusts, rodents, and broken appliances. It wasn't a pleasant experience. I also had to spent a lot of time in ice cold cottage-like places in my Geological Engineering days. However, this time, it was a very nice and comfortable cottage. It was so much fun to jump into water with inner tube around my waist. I can't wait to do it again someday.

5. Won Friends With You stuff from Magic Pony. I won 2nd place. I never won any lottery in my life. I am still numb from the shock. I thought those prize draws were all fakes. Friends With You is another one of my favourite illustrators. My love for them is just ridiculous! Because I am a crazy person, I haven't opened all the boxes yet. That is for the special occasion and there will be another blog post about that. *pounding heart*

Magic Pony gave me 3 dolls, 2 zipper tops (I don't know what they are), 1 button, 1 tshirt and 1 chocolate. I thought there was only one doll, but they kept coming out of the prize bag. I love you, Friends With You. I was too scared to talk to them at their signing in June. But when I smiled at them, they smiled me back. I think they are very nice dudes.

That ends another super-long and badly written blog post. I should actually be writing my thesis proposal. Grad school is endless writing... I want to paint, dammit! Oh, I got a new studio space at school. I'm sharing the space with one other classmate. I will post pictures later.

Good bye July. You were too kind to me. Now time to go back to work.