August 2020 Doodle Calendar

Awonderfulsheep,

Hi friends. How are you? I hesitate to vocalize it for fear I might jinx it, but I think the height of summer is behind us. It’s raining today, but the past few days have been perfect in terms of weather. Although this summer saw an unusually long monsoon season, so the unending rain will eclipse the heat in my memory.

Looking at my doodle calendar for August, you can’t help but notice the flames and spikes and skulls. These symbols obviously correlate to feelings like anger and also not feeling well. However, not as obvious in the doodle calendar are the many little moments to celebrate, which I revisited through my photos and journal.

To start, two quotes written in my journal at the beginning of the month:

Art as gift

Seth Godin, Linchpin

Linchpin by Seth Godin was chock-full of motivation to really embrace your unique, creative you to become indispensable. I really liked the chapters on art as a gift.

“Say who you are, really say it in your life and in your work. Tell someone out there who is lost, someone not yet born, someone who won’t be born for 500 years. Your writing will be a record of your time. It can’t help but be that. But more importantly, if you’re honest about who you are, you’ll help that person be less lonely in their world because that person will recognise him or herself in you and that will give them hope.”

Charlie Kaufman

I think I discovered this quote by Charlie Kaufman on Twitter. I adore this idea, I want to embody this idea. But it also takes courage. Being truly honest and yourself is scary.

On to the recap.

In August I took a four-week printmaking workshop. The instructor has bachelor’s and master’s in printmaking from the best art school in the country. It was so nice to learn about papers, supplies, and techniques from an expert, versus my usual approach of *sees something cool, guesses how it’s made, dives in.*

Week one we learned about transfer technique using Citra-solv. This was a lot of fun and I definitely want to incorporate it into my creations.

Week two was collagraph, which I also covered in this process video. I learned a lot in this particular class so I wanted to document it for posterity. I’m also proud of this video, despite lagging views. 🙂 My cactus print was inspired by friend Darren’s photo of his prickly pear cactus

Week three was silkscreen printing and I chose to print graphic camellias.

The final week was linocut stamps, which I’ve tried on my own before to make cute stamps for snail mail. So for class I experimented with more of an abstract design and pattern. Depending on the color choices I think the blocks could represent both the mountains and the beach.

I also had a couple of good eats, like this meal at Sio, a Japanese restaraunt in one of my favorite neighborhoods, Yeonhui-dong.

August was another busy work month, but also included some fun snacks at work. Observe these Korean-style corn dogs, for example. (Fun fact: American corn dogs in Korea are “hot dogs” and American hot dogs are called, “American hot dogs.”) These combine potato bits, mozzarella cores, and hot dogs to create the perfect heart attack.

I thought this was a cool, artsy photo of my finished drink at a cafe. Not pictured is the sprig of thyme at the top of the glass. 🙂

Unfortunately, the end of August also saw a spike in Covid-19 cases, which meant the introduction of Social Distancing 2.5 for two weeks. I think this is the closest measure Korea’s taken to lockdown in other countries. The biggest change I experienced was now you can only get take out at franchise cafes and convenience stores. (You can still sit in at indie cafes.) Cases are starting to drop but Level 2.5 was extended into this week.

And in a bit of personal good news, I hit both 400 and 500 subscribers on my YouTube channel! I don’t want this blog to just be a funnel for my YouTube, but I also can’t not mention it as it is a big part of my life right now. This might change later, but video is currently my favorite way to observe and document life.

So on that note, I’ll leave my August vlog/colored pencil ASMR video here. This one is good for falling asleep to, according to my dad! 🙂

This blog post is part of Su’s The Changing Season’s challenge. Please check out her page to see how to participate and see what other creatives have been up to around the world! It’s a really lovely community.

Published by Awonderfulsheep

Navigating the creative seas

28 Comments

  1. You’ve been so productive. I hope you’re proud. I love those silkscreen and block cut prints too. Beautiful bright colors. Also, yes, YT promote it, don’t feel like you’re not supposed to. I’ve totally dropped mine but that’s okay, it’s not the priority these days and it’s there when I want to pick it up again, right?

    I also enjoy trying to figure out your calendar meanings. The cactus was the drawing of the cactus? Skulls for bad days, okay, but what about the SNAKE? 😛

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  2. Pingback: The Changing Seasons, August 2020 | Zimmerbitch

    1. Thank you so much! I’ve been discovering other types of doodle calendars on Instagram and it’s been so fun to see. I think it’d be a fun activity to do with kids as well, maybe with a larger piece of paper to let their hands and minds roam free. Or a collaboration with multiple kids. 🙂

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  6. First: congratulations on 500 subscribers on Yt- that’s awesome!
    So happy you enjoyed your printmaking workshop and learned new things. 😀 So it’s a camelia- damn! 😂
    I think summer’s saying it’s goodbyes here too – ugh! 😂
    Love your doodle calendar as always and might steal, eh borrow your skulls for bad days in mine. 😁💕

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      1. How fun you did lino prints in high school. Thank you for your kind words on my doodle calendar. I’ve slowly been discovering other doodle calendar artists on Instagram and it’s been fun to see all the different varieties. 🙂 Hope you’re well

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      2. Yes we are well over here in Queensland.
        There is so much inspiration out there on instagrama and pinterest, however it is always lovely to see what you have been up to in the way of creativity.

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    2. Thank you Sarah for your congratulations! Just the other day I scrolled back through my channel and it was nice to see all the videos I’ve shared so far. It’s a nice visual diary of my life.

      Printmaking was a lot of fun, but it does take time and space to set everything up 😀 As for the camellia, I wonder if the way I portrayed it was a bit Korean in style–the only people to get it right were Korean.

      I hope your September is going well, with no skulls or flames in sight! I LOVED the sneak peek of your calendar and I can’t wait to see the finished piece! ❤

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      1. I can imagine printing to be consuming, both in space and time. Imagine getting one of those monster printing machines – wouldn’t that be awesome? 😄
        And thank you for your inspiration and encouragement- the doodle calendar is so much fun, I’m sure I’ll keep at it from now on! ❤

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  8. I thoroughly enjoyed your “Color Me” video. I love how your stationary get “star”time: coming out of the box with a crisp “snap”, pencils getting sharpened with sound effect, all the exciting papers which come out to play.

    What is that fascinating looking food you cut into on Aug 1? I love how the video is interspersed with all sorts of yummy food.

    You shadow play is also very atmospheric (and your hand shadow animals are so cute!)

    Thank you for sharing your August! Hope you are keeping safe & well in September, and that the new Safe Distancing aren’t cramping your activities too much!

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    1. Oh my goodness, thank you for watching! I thought a no music, no talking video would be easier to edit, but it took just as long. 🙂 So thank you for such a nice comment and review. I believe it was a chimichonga that I ate on Aug 1. There was a Mexican restaurant across the street from where I took my printing workshop, so I ate there one day. 🙂 Hope you are staying healthy and well over there too!

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  9. Pingback: The Changing Seasons – September 2020 | Art Expedition

  10. I once created something similar to your August doodle calendar. I find it tiring and seems like i feel i am doing it for accomplishment sake. Even though I completed it, I realize i never enjoyed the process. Maybe there is something wrong with my process because there was no fun in it for me.
    Good to know you are enjoying it.

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    1. I hear you. I’ve definitely felt it was more of a chore at times, and forced myself to catch up and finish the calendar. But for the most part I’ve enjoyed finishing a calendar. Perhaps a different way of record keeping would be better for you. Thanks for stopping by!

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