Day 157: February Recap

It's almost March! How on earth is it even possible to say something like that? Wasn't yesterday New Year's Eve? We're already two months into the new year which means there are only ten months left, which is a long time, but I'm still trying to get over the fact that 2020 doesn't even sound like a real year. However, it is almost March so that means it's time for my February recap.

After January, I was ready to actually get after some of the goals I had been talking about wanting to accomplish. One of the main reasons why I felt like January was a rather rough month was because I got off my sleep schedule and let my to do's slid away towards the last two week. You can read more about that on my January Recap post. February was going to be the month I got back down on top of things and really did something with my time. While it felt like the entire month flew by almost as quickly as January, I believe I was able to really accomplish quite a few of my goals.

The beginning of February began with quite a few facetime calls to my long distance friends, something I place a lot of value on. Friends are one of the reasons why being alive is so great, which is why I decided to try and get with a friend every week to really spend some quality time with the people I love. While doing a lot and knocking out goals is an important part of your days and weeks, we cannot forget to nurture our relationships.

On February 5th I went on a photoshoot to a field near my house. I had this idea in mind for a little mini series and was excited about shooting two images at the same time. It went better than I ever expected it to, both images have turned out to be some of my favorite images I've ever created. They are vibrant and lively and communicate a story that is near and dear to my heart.

I have been able to create images that I like a lot this year because I took the time to review my entire portfolio. I did this by narrowing down my favorite images and then looking through my least favorites and my favorites while asking why I separated them that way. Once I came up with why some images were my favorite, I've been taking those qualities such as vibrant colors and have been focusing on them in my new creations.

During these first couple of weeks in February, I have really been trying to work out a better schedule and stick to it. One of the big things that I disliked about January was that fact that my sleeping schedule was so dysfunctional, going to bed at 5 a.m. here and waking up at 3 a.m. another day. Thankfully this month, I have been better at getting to sleep earlier and waking up around a pretty consistent time. There have been days that have not gone so well. But over all I did much better than I did in January.

During the first full week of this year, I made an unofficial decision to create an image every week to reengage and audience I had almost completely lost during 2019 while I was doing college. This month I have created three images (I missed this week because I was gone at a conference) and they have been some of my absolute favorites I have ever created. After not creating for such a long time in 2019, it feels really good to be jumping back into a craft I love and really working on growing my skills.

Overall, I emailed six galleries to inquiry about a possible exhibition for my art in the future. I got one answer saying that are not currently accepting submissions and then there has not been a response from any of the other five. I share this with you because having your dreams fulfilled is an incredibly hard task to accomplish. There is a lot of rejection, or in this case silence, that you have to learn to deal with. It can be really discouraging. But remember that all the no's are leading you to the right yes.

On Instagram I have overcome my fear of showing my face and voice by recording more personal spoken messages to share on my story. I think it's really important to engage with your audience on a personal level and I've finally gotten to the point where I am comfortable with sharing videos of me speaking. This is a huge step for me online and it's been a lot of fun to record videos to share with everyone following me.

Now my favorite part of February was by far my Fragments of Decay series shoot. My dad and I headed out one early morning and shoot in front of this old abandoned church. And the image I ended up getting form this shoot has changed everything for me. It is by far my favorite thing I have ever created and I have fallen in love with it like no other image I've done. You an see the image on this blog post. The response I got on social media was also so encouraging and I am just so pleased with how it turned out. I also wrote to an abandoned building owner to inquire about shooting at her property and am currently waiting for her response.

All in all, February was a pretty good month. I got a lot of stuff done for my business and created three strong images that are going straight into my portfolio. Personally, the month was a little rough and not for any particular reason, which I have learned to be okay with. Nothing is all sunshine and rainbows and sometime you just have to appreciate the cloudy days just as much. Come rain, come shine, this is our life and it's time to embrace all the ups and down, no matter what they bring.

Biggest Lesson Learned: Embrace the rainy days just as much as the sunny ones.
Favorite Moment: Shooting and creating another image in my Fragments of Decay series.
Summed Up In One Word: Pursuing.

Until Next Time,
Lillian Merritt

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Day 158: Leap Day

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Day 156: Conquering The Scroll