Birthday in Lockdown

 

Birthday drawing, hand drawn and coloured with copics

Ah dear.  I had all these awesome plans for the weekend past but alas, Victoria Australia is back into lockdown.  Again.  It is very frustrating and surely there must be a better way rather than locking down the State as soon as the virus makes it's appearance.  We sadly have to live with this for a very, very long time and we can't just keep locking down the minute someone has a sniffle (yes, am downplaying it by a lot.  Anyway, am annoyed to say the least, but I know that for me it is just an inconvenience and I am ranting out of frustration more than anything else.  There are plenty out there that have funerals with limitations, Weddings that had to cancel, operations scheduled, jobs lost and who are in a far worse situation than myself.

I turned 41, a few days ago. Since I (and a couple of million people) were in lockdown, there wasn't much else to do but take stock (and draw) of what I've been doing with my life.  I am an avid believer that we only have one life to live and it 's best to live it how you want to live it, best you can.  I think, I've done pretty well.  Had some real financial hardship and relationship issues in my early to late 20s which has made me realize the true value of money (it might not buy happiness but it does buy peace of mind like paying rent) and some people are truly irredeemable jerks no matter how charming they are.  My 30's was mostly travelling both from home when I moved to the country and overseas.  I visited Canada, a huge chunk of Europe, Japan (4x)  and re-visited the Philippines.  I've also spent a good chunk of my 30s and now early 40s with a really good man, who I truly appreciate.  I've also gone back to spending a good amount of time focusing on my health and fitness, now is the time after all. Health only goes downhill as we get older. Unfortunately the start of my 40s has been a bit unstable because of the pandemic for both years so far.  However, I am happy that my workaholic ways and developing relationships with several clients in my 20s-30s meant that I wasn't struggling for work during the crisis and so many people were.  I really am one of the lucky ones and I am thankful for it.

I did spend all of Saturday working on the illustration above and enjoying cake at night.  The illustration was done with copic markers and there are 41 bunnies hidden in there.

My lovely partner bought me this cake to celebrate

I started this blog in 2006.  I haven't really posted much with actual thoughts and opinions because you never know who could be reading this and I felt that maybe potential employers might get turned off by it, but I would like to be able to click back on posts and see how I felt at the time and what I was doing. This blog is over 10 years old and I would like it to be more personal.  I feel like most of my posts just chats about how busy I am at any given moment....which would not be a lie.  I am currently across 2 different jobs for one client and about to start another commercial with another client and later this month I will be on another animation series job for 9 weeks.  I just finished painting 3 pet portraits for a commission (which I can't show yet).  

Now what did I do today?  Worked on one of my freelance illustration jobs and am about to work on another after putting up this post.  Got the pet portrait brooches for Fuzzy Pudgies varnished and ready for glossing.  Trained earlier today and about to do some house chores.  All a bit mundane but it is a Monday.  Watching the new on the Lockdown update in Victoria and feeling a touch depressed that it looks like it will be extended which means a trip I had planned this weekend will probably need to be cancelled...but hey, again, it could be worse!  I also ordered more lucky cats cos they make me happy! 

Here's my last completed pet portrait that I can show!  My first dog that I painted for a friend for her Birthday.

Mmm...best get onto chores and start a detailed illustration for another job!