Posted by bzedan on Jul 22, 2023
[Main image description: A square digital illustration done in a very sketchy painterly style, loosely rendered, of a sunsetting sky behind a dense series of power lines stretching to a pole partly covered by a tree. Walking along one of the lines is a silhouette of a rat.]
I'm just finishing up a week off of the day job - and no I didn't "do anything" (go somewhere/do notable traditional vacation things), and that's fine! I didn't really *create* things either. I just! Rested! You know it's okay to do that? Like I'm not a bad person for not taking this week to crack through a bunch of creative projects (not that the imaginary you is saying this, this is a conversation I've had with myself all week).
I did read quite a lot (whew! Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle is a super satisfying, creepy book!), and did some tidying, tried not to melt in the heat, got my sleep schedule a little more solid and? Most importantly? Feel rather refreshed. Like, if I'd gone and pushed myself to "make up" all the creative work I feel like I've been "dropping"* then I wouldn't feel, on this Saturday at the end of it, like maybe I have gained back a bit of creative currency to spend in my day-to-day.
And that's really want I want and need. To just have a bit more gas in the daily tank. That's what a vacation is for! Anyway, I realised it's been a bit since I have posted (apologies) so here are some very random things I have done this month.
The main image for this post is a scene I saw the other day and then drew later. The rats here are so small and cute and dusty brown. Where we used to live they are very large and luxuriously black. All rats are cute, but they are cuter when they live in orange trees, not in your walls.
I made a meme that is very specific to Tumblr and fandom culture. Did you know I'm on Tumblr, that is where I am the most.
Here is one (and more in a post) of the Clippy DM's a Game images I made because the idea is haunting me quite a lot, frankly.
Anyway, I have been having a purposeful rest and that's nice! Four decades in and I am now getting much better at saying "chill the fuck out man, you are not the worth of what things you create."
*I think it's important to note that like, I did do a couple of creative things, but they were ongoing projects that just needed finishing up or have (like the Labours drawings) regular weekly benchmarks. The key is I didn't add MORE.
Crossposted to Patreon