Saturday, 9 May 2015

Things happen for a reason

                 As cliche as it sounds, it really does happen a lot in my life. One of the recent things that made a huge impact in my life would be the death of my 1 year old laptop.  

        As you know from my recent posts from twitter that i kinda get dramatic over this loss and my cold-turkey from my addiction to gaming. What happened that made my laptop died instantly was infact from a overheat issue from the motherboard...and the coffee spill actually gave the deathblow to it. 

          I was very mad at myself for being so slow in reacting. Perhaps the thought of spending big bucks on a new laptop freaks me out. Anyway, what brings me into enlightenment is that I started being more productive and more time spent away from my laptop. So I thought this may serve as a lesson to me - a pretty pricey lesson. To value time and the little things around you. I slowly forgive myself and continue to strive on. Time won't justify grudges. It just poisons you instead.

             It wont be long before I can save enough to get a new one - I hope. I'm giving myself a good month or two to fully focus on improving myself and my time management skills.

So to make things briefly. What I've learnt from this big mistake: 

1.Learn to forgive is something you should do before loving yourself. 

2.Holding grudges poisons you instead. So let it go.

I'm sorry if this post isn't helpful to you. I think I need awhile to express myself through blogging. Give me time :D 

P.s// I've recently joined bloglovin. So you guys can follow my updates as soon as you can! 


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Friday, 1 May 2015

April Favourites !


It is May 1st today and to those who are working, Happy Labour day! 
can you believe we're almost reaching the half year of 2015. That is very insane! 

My time during April started off pretty good but towards the end I faced quite a number of hiccups.
I'd probably talk about it in later posts.


A number of things that made me happy recently :)

1. Sleep
Not everyone can understand the luxury of sleep. To me, sleep is something I highly appreciate.

2.more pens! 
I recently found a case of coloured pens from muji that I bought few years ago. Cannot believe why I left it in the closet. It is a good pen for sketching too.

3. streaming music from 8tracks 
Listening to music is one of my inspiraton to get ideas to draw. Especially the happy indie music playlists. This one is one of my favs.

4. Steamed bun
I just like buns in general. I love them get toasty in the oven so you can get this crusty skin on the outside and juicy inside. yum!

5. Face mask 
They help me feel alive again for 20 mins. I like them cold from the fridge.

6. Hair pins
The must have for long bangs. Especially during workout. They fly around my face and that can get very annoying.

7. my own customised ink
I couldnt find a reddish brown colour of my liking. so I did some mixing- with browns, yellows and reds. I'm using this ink for the drawing above too :)

8. scones - cranberry scones mmmm...
my current favourite teatime snack. Best eaten during a rainy afternoon with bitter coffee. mmmmm...

9. Hand cream - currently using L'occitane cherry blossom 
It's really important to keep your fingers hydrated. Mine always get dry and it sometimes develop into cuts which is very painful when I paint.



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Thursday, 9 April 2015

10 random things about me!

Hello everyone!

I hope you're having a great day today.I actually started this post a while back but I couldn't really make myself to finish it. You'll know why as you read on...




Wednesday, 1 April 2015

March favourites + thoughts


Whoa it's April already ?! 




some stuff that I've been liking this march

1. #GIRLBOSS
There are often times when I get a lot of free time at work. To make my free time less boring I downloaded a few e-books *ahem* to read. Reading this book inspired me to learn how to step up my game in making decisions and also taking opportunities. 

2. First aid facial cleanser
This cleanser is for lazy people like me that can remove makeup/sunscreen. I like. 

3. Chocolates
I love bitter chocolates.

4. Washi tapes
I'm not embarrassed to say that I love hoarding washi tapes. They're like little gems that look like treasures in my eyes. my current favourites - gold polka dots and the red stripes (??) 

5. coloured pens 
Another obsession - collecting coloured pens. I have no idea why they look like precious stones to me. But i love using this pink one from zebra serasa. pretty smooth writing for journals. 

6. watercolour ink - 36C Hyacinth Blue 
I always reach for this colour whenever i paint. It's a very pretty violet on a cooler tone. perfect for painting night skies and galaxies.

7. sunscreen
In my country, where we have tropical climate, it is very crucial to have sunscreen on. I learnt this lesson when I found out I have brown spots on my face. Those who have oily skin, try this one!  

8. Copic markers
This drawing was coloured using copic markers ;)

9. Steven universe
This show got me growing inside whenever a new weekly episode comes. Even the theme song is playing in my head now. 

10. COFFEE
I like mine with almond milk . Whats yours? 

11. mint
 I love adding mint leaves, orange and lemon slices into my detox bottle. Makes water even refreshing *u*


March has been a interesting month for me. mostly on self-discoveries and lessons learned in life, the emotional ups and downs ,having major art blocks. But it got better when i took the leap on trying out things I don't usually do.

     I use to draw faces and flowers alot, but I figured that I enjoy drawing florals and cute stuff too. Often at time I thought this might be very conflicting despite the discovery that I enjoy the style I am adopting now  compared to the one I had before. I was very clueless of what I really want and this goes on for days ( thus artblock happened).

    I had no idea how I managed to get out from the art block. But i took away something from it and that is that I should not limit myself to one method but freely explore different ways instead. Keeping an open mind is important and let that style in you emerge out as you put more effort in it. :)


By the way! 
I recently re-opened my etsy store so if you fancy some stickers and postcards ( coming very soon), feel free to browse in my shop! I'll be adding some cool stuff soon!




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Saturday, 14 March 2015

Artist block - How did I cope with these monsters?


This post actually took longer than I expected. Probably it's my noob attempt to blog properly. Give me more time to practise this heh.



Every once a while these monsters can crawl up into you that possibly drains your passion out from your heart. Maybe after a project you just don't know what to do next, or having the self- doubt thoughts hitting in. or maybe you start to feel that you no longer enjoy what you're currently passionate about.  

I currently have this "artblock" moment since last week. Couldn't get good night sleep, having too many thoughts clogging up my mind. Usually my art blocks come and go naturally, when I am able to find new ideas to get inspired and such. 

But this time is different.This art block is too evil right in the core, which forces me to look in my underlying problems.


1) Making excuse to avoid the problem
I treat art blocks as a sign that I should ignore it and leave it till the day after. In this case this actually means me getting away from the problem itself. 

2) Self-doubts
 I draw because it makes me happy. But as I progress further, I'm pretty serious to produce more quality art to prep myself in becoming a indie illustrator. From there I unconsciously began to doubt myself that I can reach my ultimate goal. Well you know I think alot....

3) The wall
one of my greatest fears being the preverbial wall is in being able to move onwards and to adopt new changes to myself.

3) being a perfectionist 
This I am very surprised to find myself being so critical of the small irrelevant details. I'd say this is one of the main things that trigger the monster in me. I have my pride in my work and I take care of every details in it.

4) Being impatient
I'm pretty patient when it comes to painting but the irony is this - I disregard everything besides painting. I skip my everyday workout routines, I don't keep in touch with friends that often and I skip on my reading routine too. It's my terrible mistake to have this kind of habit. I got too into painting until it actually became a chore for me.


For some reason, I felt grateful to have this so called art block. It taught me to acknowledge myself more and give in to my terrible habits.

and now comes the bright side 'u'

I managed to come up a few ways to clear this monster out from my mind. Pretty simple but not easy for me actually, especially for a stubborn person like myself...

1) READ!!!!
Okay time for a confession - I never likes reading. Not until 3 years ago when I met a well-known artist whom I looked up to for gave me this advice and I still remember it very clearly - "never stop reading good books" she's my biggest inspiration that got me realize my inner passion to create art.

Reading helps me a lot! especially when it comes to biographical books. I like to wonder about their lives and imagine how it be if i'm in their shoes.


2) Sectioning your thoughts out.
This point here helped me alot. It is my natural habit to think haphazardly and that can mentally blow up my mind. Since i enjoy enjoy journaling , i try to write down my thoughts that my mind is thinking. And then I section them into categories which worries me alot. From there, I slowly write down a logical way to solve it.

Just an example of how I did mine ..

    problems                                                Solution
I'm scared to waste time                      make a priority list
I can't think on what to draw next         Read a book, relax and doodle etc
I cant find my style                      Keep practising, do not compare yourself with others.


3) deadlines
 I am very terrible at keeping self impose deadlines. I always end up procrastinating them. But recently i kept a discipline mindset to be serious on my own work, even if it's just a doodle. To make sure that I put my whole effort into something I dearly value of. Give yourself a reasonable deadline is also a good practice before you venture out to do freelance in future

4) Talk to someone
This is something that I'm most grateful of. Mind you I don't really have much friends to talk to. So to have someone to clearly direct my problems with is something really special to me. If you cant find anyone to talk out your problems with. I'm willing to listen :)


One of my experimental painting to get out from the monster in my head. Just splat colours and let it do its magic ;)

I do hope my tips can help you through this nasty monster out from you. I'm still learning day by day to be a better person. In fact I do think I have a lot more things to learn about myself.

I hope you have a great day ahead :)
Stay gold and keep hustlin'! 

Hsieying

ch- ch- check my out~

Thursday, 5 March 2015

#Dear me - a letter to my younger self.

Amazon.co.jp haul

Hello ~! How are you reader, I'm now enjoying my umeshu while typing this blog post :) 
I hope you are fine.


My package from Japan came the other day. I compiled of list of things from amazon.co.jp  since november last year with the help of my sister whose currently residing in Japan. Pretty exciting to try these babies! Oh look at that gorgeous dr.ph martin's ink bottles. *_*

From left: kuretake wink of stella pen brush (gold) , Pentel pen brush in black, Pentel brush pen, Pentel brush pen in grey and the refill cartridges.

I usually buy in bulk, to make shipping more worthwhile, or maybe because i'm a hoarder.. hmm..

Hoarder hoarder pants of fire.... 

I bought these two bottles, just because I couldn't make up my mind to choose one.

not pictured : W&N series 7 no.1 brush and dr.ph.martin's radiant watercolour ink set C.
I was already testing them out so i didn't take any photos of them.


Do share any thoughts on art materials and ask away any questions, I'll try my best to help :) 

Stay gold! 
Ashley