A Less-then-Hallow Eve

A Less-than-Hallow Eve

This year, I did not attempt a 31 day/4 week drawing challenge as I have attempted in previous years. I also barely even dressed up this year, only dawning my Hufflepuff robe and tie. It felt like there was simply too much going on in the world and my personal life financially to feel stable enough to indulge in the usual festivities. This may sound like a, "Woe is me," rant, but I don't want to focus on the negativity.

My intention with this post is to reflect on what I think, "went wrong," this year and how I can make it better next year, no matter what the state of reality is at that point. Step 1, I believe, is to plan things out much farther in advance. My goal was to do an art livestream on Twitch where audience participation was highly encouraged to guide the direction of the canvas. What ended up happening was only one person showed up in my chat and I exclusively drew different things I saw on Pinterest that fit the cute, Halloween-y vibe I wanted to achieve. I didn't take into consideration that the time I chose to stream was peak trick-or-treating/party time, so I'm not disappointed that not a lot of people were there. Something else that came from this stream that can contribute to my planning for next year is the idea that I could turn these sketches into a sticker sheet. I received a Cricut machine and materials from my mother as a graduation present, but have only so far used it for tests and to make stickers for a No Kings protest I went to earlier this year.

So, whether you got dressed up, went out trick-or-treating, partied, or just stayed home watching scary movies and bingeing on overpriced candy, I hope you had a happy Halloween. No matter what your situation is, holidays are what you make of them. It can be for religious reasons, financial, patriotic, or even your own birthday. What's important is to try to spend time with those you love and make memories. Life is too short to be so full of anxiety so often, and when people in power do everything seemingly possible to make your life harder, all you can do is focus on the things in your life that you can control and go from there.

To hopefully many more Halloweens to come! ♥