First painting of 2016

First painting of 2015

I find it a little difficult to look back at the year since I get it confused with my academic years, but this time last year I was only just beginning to settle into uni life. Instead of blabbing on I'm going to try and split my year into significant stuff/landmarks.

- Got rid of toxic relationships

Without going into too much detail, a big change happened for me when I ended an incredibly toxic relationship. It certainly wasn't easy, but it sure paid off. I finally began to re-discover myself (cheesy as that sounds) and find my confidence which had an effect on every aspect of my life (for the better).

-Formed strong friendships

Whilst I got rid of bad relationships I also found new friends at university who I'd consider some of the best friends I'd ever had who I felt inspired and pushed me to do better.

-Started doing more original paintings

One of my biggest insecurities(?) in my paintings was that although I could copy a photo pretty well, my original pieces (which is what I wanted to do) were in no way up to scratch. They all ended up pretty awful, but I started to re-paint some of them and the obvious improvements made me feel so much better.



-Quit my job

For several years I had worked part time at McDonalds. I kept my job whilst at uni, only working in the holidays when I returned home. I had intended to work full time all summer to earn some money before I went back, but it made me so incredibly miserable I decided to quit. Although it may not seem like a big deal to most, it was to me; the significance of choosing to have no money rather than work a ridiculous job that drained any joy or motivation I may have had was pretty large. In reflection it also made me want to work even harder at what I do to ensure that I never have to do this kind of job again.

-Found my place at uni

After a very long summer I finally moved back into Leicester into a new house shared with three very good friends. I'm not quite sure how but everything seemed to click for me; I began to open up, speak to more people on my course who (through no fault of their own) didn't know I existed. This had a really big positive impact on the way I saw myself and increased my confidence yet again.

-Bagged a cool boyfriend

Soppy but necessary I also met my boyfriend (also on my course who also didn't know I existed, nor I him) and so far he has been wonderful and makes me very happy. With him being in the year above me I have learned a great deal from him already, and there's something very nice about being on the same course and understanding the demands from it.

-Improved in 3D

Following on from my boyfriend, I have learned a lot from him and have also made peace with 3D. Something I never thought I'd say. For an entire year I felt like I was learning 3D at uni just to get by; I had no intention of ever doing any professional work with it, but I think I've now finally seen potential (in myself as well) to consider it. My main aim is still concept art and illustration, but it doesn't feel like the be all end all of my career, which leads me onto my next point:

-Offered new opportunities

I won't talk too much about this since I don't like talking about things that aren't necessarily set in stone nor have happened yet, but good things are coming and they have an awful lot of potential. I'm very excited.

I feel like I could talk about stuff and things for a lot longer, but without telling you my entire life story, these are some of the main points.

Overall this year has gone from pretty low to very high. My only new years resolutions are to worry less and keep doing what I'm doing. I finally feel at the stage where I've worked it out, got my shit together, produced some good stuff and opened doors for myself, so now all that is left to do is keep going! I'm excited to see what 2016 has to offer!