My last post was on December 12; somehow, time just blurred—it’s already early May! I had many things I hoped to share, but life got busy, and priorities had to shift. Sadly, this blog ended up near the bottom of the list.
The first few months of the year—January, February, and March—were packed. Most weekends, I doubled down on spending time at home recording and editing lessons for an upcoming class. More on that soon! It was an intense process, but once everything was completed, I felt a massive sense of relief—and excitement. I poured my heart into those lessons and can’t wait to see how students respond.
Before I knew I was going to be busy, I joined the #junkjournaljanuary challenge. The prompts inspired me, and immediately, I had some ideas for some of those. These below are just a few of my favourites. Check the entire journal’s flip-thru here.
Ahhhh, not to forget, I managed to do the #birbfest2025! This was more about illustrating birds based on the list of prompts. I had this perfect idea of sketching during my lunch breaks, but as it turned out, it was just an “illusion” as I didn’t count some last-minute things that happened at work. But I got 15 done, and I felt that was a good way to wrap up the challenge.
In February, I took a short trip to Taiwan. The highlight was seeing friends and visiting family who still live there. I didn’t share much from that trip because I didn’t get many chances to sketch—some unexpected things changed my plans. Still, I was happy to visit the post office and pick up a few stamps for my collection.
Have you heard of the Seek Gather Create challenge? It’s a scavenger hunt–style art challenge on Instagram that I try to join whenever possible. I love how it pushes me to think outside the box. You can check it out at @seekgathercreate. I decided to do something different for the February edition and created assemblages instead of working in my usual art journal. I made four altered tins, one for each weekly prompt. You can view the videos of each on my Instagram account or click on each image below to go directly to that post.
Have you tried assemblage or altering photos in your creative work?
March flew by in a blur—mostly taken over by work.
April brought a meaningful highlight: I traveled back to the Philippines to spend time with family and commemorate my parents’ death anniversaries. Fortunately, Their dates are close, so we held both gatherings during the same trip. The days were packed with errands and preparations, but I’m thankful for the little pockets of time I found to sketch and document the experience in my journals. One of the most memorable moments was sketching the remnants of my mum’s orchids and other plants.
Toward the end of the trip, we visited another province and spent a short but refreshing time at the beach, where my cousin lives—a perfect little break before heading back to Shanghai.
You can check out a flip-thru of my sketches from this trip here.
Before the trip, I joined the #artfulmemorieschallenge, hosted by @janechipp and @jackravi. It was a fantastic creative deep dive into altering photographs. For this challenge, I used the pages from an old French geometry book and worked with a mix of vintage photos and prints made from my own scanned images.
After returning from the Philippines, I dove back into my art journals. I decided to pick and choose from the #artfulmemorieschallenge prompts rather than complete them all to make space for other ongoing projects. Maybe next year, I’ll be able to do the full set of prompts and feel more “prepared” (whatever that means, right? LOL). More of my takes on this challenge are on my IG page.
And finally, I completed my downsized December Daily project! You can check out the full flip-through video.
So there you have it—a glimpse into my 2025 so far.
Have you taken part in any creative challenges this year?
Thank you for stopping by.
