art – Metropolitan Muslimah

In the name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful.

Hello! I broke my promise to you! I did not manage to set up some pages of my bujo in preparation for April last week. So this is me making up to you!

Before starting on it, I need some inspiration. My kiddish art skills could definitely use some help.

One of my favourite bullet journal designers is AmandaRachLee. This is her 2022 bujo setup:

Alright, now let us see how I miserably try to incorporate or rather, kinda learn from copying her ideas.

Hahaha! Yeah, I added my own spin to it but you could see where I tried to imitate.

I think I should write more legibly for goals instead of writing in cursive because it just looks like I am not taking my goals seriously enough. I took a different approach because I have already kinda mapped out my goals in this manner.

Slightly different spin but you could see me imitating some parts here.

I kinda dig the folder idea she used. Unfortunately, I was tryna squeeze three months into one since I am only starting my bujo in April. Or else, I would have gotten a more consistent look.

I skipped a lot of the collections she did. I would probably add on if I have time to do so.

Next, I need to set up the monthly log. I visited https://www.archerandolive.com/blogs/news/monthlies-what-are-they-for-and-how-can-you-customise-them for some ideas. This is how I executed the first inspiration showcased on that webpage:

I got the proportion all wrong and I just cannot get the shading right. LOL. But hey, I tried to maintain the general look that was inspired by AmandaRachLee.

My estimation is way off. I do not know how much space I need exactly for each day. If this layout does not work out, I will give more space for the rest of the weeks.

And there you have it. My April setup for my bujo! I am really glad I did this. It has been a while since I get to do any visual art and this was a great outlet. My drawing skills definitely need improvement but I am happy that I beat my laziness, firstly, by doing bujo and by forcing myself to draw something difficult. Secondly, I am happy that I am learning to carve out some time to do this. To do art. However badly it may be. Hahaha!

And Allah is Al-Khaafidh, The Reducer. – MM

In the name of Allah, The Most Beneficent, The Most Merciful.

I gave up on Bullet Journalling after doing it for a year. I started in 2019. Tried to continue in 2020 but dropped the ball. Tried to continue it again in 2021 but failed yet again.

Well, it might be a little late to continue bullet journalling this year but, heh, why not? Since the years for 2020-2021 were never completed, beginning in the month of April for this year seems fitting enough. These kinds of things can probably drive perfectionists crazy but I am not perfect and I am broken so whatever comes out of me remains imperfect and broken.

Anyway, let us have a little review of what my 2020-2021 bujo (short for bullet journal) looks like.

On the spine, we have 2020 written on it. I will need to add on the years 2021 and 2022.

So this is how the cover looks like. I will need to add on 2022 to it.Looks like I will have to write it in an even smaller font. Haha!

I pasted the key symbols of a typical bullet journal here to remind myself how a bujo works in case I forget. I mean, I only did one full year of bujo and most of the entries were done on a catch-up. So to date, I do not really have that pure bujo experience.

Why waste a good pic? That is me in all of my honourable glory at my old workplace.

My 2020 cover! Right about now, you would have already established that I have nooooo sense of artistic talent whatsoever.

And on top of that, my handwriting is simply atrocious. You can see that I added on 2021 to the incomplete 2020. So I will have to add 2022 below the incomplete 2021.

Ha! Can I just stop being weird? I don’t even know who that lady is anymore. Really seems like a lifetime ago. Now, I am goalless, dreamless, focusless, and affirmless. I do not even know if I used the correct words. Just kidding. We have already understood that I do have goals, dreams, focus, and…well, maybe I do need more affirmations.

I kinda like how this looks but I acknowledge I lack the finesse to make this look really good.

I tried to make a spread that shows the different designs for each month but clearly I dropped the ball halfway. Also, I was only able to enrich my little mind by a little bit through reading four physical books from the library. Sad. No wonder I am still not smart.

Hmm. I should probably print out some 2020 photos to fill these pages.

I was trying so hard to use various art tools here. Water colour, colour pencils, markers, pens, and shiny pens. Epic failure.

Clearly, I have not been doing any house chores since 2020. Sighs.

I just realised that this is like a very kiddy version of Blue Lagoon. Embarrassing.

Ooh, my first ever Batam trip! With my husband to boot! After COVID-19 had hit mostly China the month before but have not overcome Indonesia and Singapore! Fond memories.

My art is worse than a child’s. I honestly think it is because I lack practice and that I just got lazy and decided to rush my art.

OMG. First meeting and jam ever with now drummer, Teck, and pianist/guitarist, Shike. What a ball. I cannot believe our friendship has only been two years. It feels like we have been playing music since forever.

Yes. I just got incredibly lazy and it does not help when I lack energy and time to do this shit.

Wow. I still remember that last day of operations in my old workplace. We all had to close down due to the first strong wave of COVID-19. Our very first nationwide lockdown. And yet, I simply did no house chores during the entirety of the lockdown. The irony.

At this point, I am pretty sure I had given up but I still forced myself to create something. Because something is better than nothing.

Haha! Forced annual leave (ANL). I really held a grudge there. But it was better than not having money to eat. A lot of people lost their jobs due to the lockdown. 😦

Yeah, even when I tried to continue in the following year, it just was not happening for me.

Ah. The studio project. It was a huge accomplishment.

What is design? Who the hell has time for designing nice layouts in their bujos? Why was I so busy?! Oh, the tasks were actually a few just that they took up a lot of time and wanted to squeeze in the prayer timings because, you know, I have a problem with not praying on time. Yes, you read that correctly. Present tense; I still have the problem.

If you were to do a psychoanalysis on me, I think it is pretty safe to say, I am quite mental.

I could probably wish all of these July birthday babies a Happy Birthday in one email. LOL.

And so this was the last page of my condemned bujo.

The reason why I want to get back into it is mostly because I want to have more content on this blog firstly and secondly, I need a lot of practice with my art. I have zero art skills and talent but we all have to start somewhere if we get very interested in learning it, do we not? I think doing this is a perfect opportunity to not only finish an incomplete book but to train myself to finish things I had once set out to do.