I started off this week very overwhelmed and tired, and ended it being under the weather. So I cut myself some slack — emailing a couple of clients about delayed deliveries, focusing only on what’s urgent, and taking it easy on my personal projects.
WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING
1.
I took some time out for creative play on the weekend once I was feeling a little better to get in a more positive frame of mind. The result was making a LEGO letterpress print to celebrate achieving my new year’s resolution from last year to eat hundred different culinary vegetables (or their cultivars). I am using ink stamps rather than a roller and ink, and so I am constrained when it comes to the maximum size of the printing block. For a print a little smaller than A4, it took twelve square blocks of 2.5 inches side. As a result, I had to do some amount of planning to translate my design into blocks and make sure everything lines up. Though tough, the whole process — from making the design on Glyphs a couple of weeks ago to the printing and finally scanning the print back and playing around with it digitally — was very fun.
2.
After what feels like ages, Amber and I spent some time with Purneetha and Harshay. It is amazing how much time spent with friends will buoy you. The four of us have a lot of plans to take time out for making art together and trying out new media and techniques, and I hope that some of them come to fruition soon. When we met, we also paid a visit to the new The Bookshop Inc. Even though I didn’t pick up any books, Amber did, and I can see myself reading at least a few of them.
3.
Which brings me to, I started reading my first book of the year — Letters to a Writer of Colour, edited by Deepa Anappara and Taymour Soomro. I’ve been in a bit of a reading dry spell lately, and so it was doubly nice to immerse myself in the book. Only about a quarter of my way through, and I am already a fan.
4.
I began working on the second of a three-part essay series I am working on for a client. We’ve lost a bit of momentum for this work, so the going has been a bit slow. My poor health didn’t help much either. If all goes to plan, I’ll have a draft ready for the editor in a few days.
5.
I had the first design meeting for a new typeface design project, and it went off very well. Now onto lots of drawing!