Showing posts with label resolutions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label resolutions. Show all posts

Sunday, January 12, 2014

resolutions



I'm not a fan of making resolutions, because somewhere as early as March I usually abandon them, letting the associated guilt consume me. I don't like feeling guilty. This year however, I'm going to give making resolutions a try, and hopefully achievable, by keeping things relatively simple:
  • More art. I have been neglecting my artwork for far too long, and this has been making me feel bad. You would not believe how many pieces are lying about my apartment in various states of incompletion. 
  • More sketching. I used to consider myself a 'compulsive sketcher' (this is claimed in my profile), but have barely produced anything of note in the past two years.
  • Revamp my website. I honestly cannot remember the last time I added anything new to it— this is naturally tied to the previous two resolutions.
  • More gym. Bodies do strange things in their thirties.
  • More reading. A resolution which never works, but at this point, even reading two books this year would put me ahead of previous years. I find this sad, as I used to be an avid reader. Can I blame this on the internet?
  • Improve my Portuguese. This cannot be difficult as I can barely complete a sentence— anything would be an improvement! I would really love to be able to hold a complete conversation with Pedro's parents. 
  • More blogging. 
  • More owls. I really, really want to learn more about owls.


So here's a start at least at tackling the first resolution: I've put several hours of 2014 into finishing my ink portrait of the Nepali man which I abandoned at some point last year. His moustache is now complete, and his nose is almost there. The problem with pointillism is that you work for hours and hours and see little progress, making it easy to get discouraged. Wish me luck!

I hope you all have a harika new year, and that 2014 is full of love, happiness and health. May you meet all of your resolutions!

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

bye bye 2009!

Stack of Samantha Zaza's sketchbooks of 2009.
These are all the sketchbooks I've filled in 2009— that's 928 pages front and back, full of scribbles and sketches— not including the work I've done in the International Moleskine Exchange! I wonder if I can beat that next year...

I'm not big on resolutions. I, like most people, rarely stick to them, and end up with that December guilt of never having reached the goals I had set for myself twelve months earlier. 2009 has been a year full of change— I moved halfway across the world, discovered a new career path, met all sorts of wonderful people, visited two cities I've always dreamed of seeing— Prague and Budapest— and I bought a fish from a fishmonger in Turkish.

So what do I have planned for 2010? I've decided to tackle this new year's goals in four ways: art, language, travel and sport. Regarding art, I will continue to work on my drawings and paintings, hopefully getting an exhibition and finishing the comic I've been working on. Language— I want to improve my Turkish. If I have time, I'd like to get back my German. In travel, I will spend a month volunteering in Kathmandu this summer, and I hope to make it to Barcelona and Athens or Oslo. Finally, sport: since I have found nowhere to trapeze in Istanbul, I will take up fencing.

As usual, I want to floss more regularly and read more. I'd love to take up the accordion, but with all the painting, travelling and fencing in Turkish I've got planned, I'm not sure if I can realistically fit it in. We'll see. It's a skill I've been longing to collect.

What are your plans for 2010?