“We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget.” -Joan Didion

In mid-2016 I was getting the sense the Lord was telling me I needed to delete my private online journal for safety and privacy reasons in the wake of a suspected cybersecurity issue (among other things). My LiveJournal (hello LJ friends who had access to my account!) had hundreds and hundreds of journal entries dating back to 2001. I had a strong emotional attachment to my journal. Long story short, I did delete my online journal but not before a lot of tears, hemming and hawing, deleting and undeleting. But before I made the final purge online, I compiled all my journal entries into a 970+ page .PDF document and stored it on my hard drive. (Sumunod nga kay Lord, pero kung makakalusot, lulusot)

When I read the highlighted verse today… I knew. I had to delete the .PDF, too 😥😭 so I did that just today. 15 years of my life… gone.

My reflection: we cannot have a new life if we keep holding on to our old lives, and we can’t start a new chapter if we keep rereading the old ones. Just as the enemy holds us back by bringing up our old issues, we cannot move forward if we keep entertaining the past. The old has gone, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17). So now… I’m truly and finally moving forward and I’m looking forward to seeing what NEW journal entries God wants me to write… in the safety of a paper journal.

And for all else, there’s this blog. If people are interested enough in what I write that they would go through the trouble of hacking into my private online journal… I’ll make my writings public then. They might learn a thing or two in the process.

Since 2011, at the end of the year, I would assess the things that happened during the year and I would sum up my entire year in one word.

In 2016, I switched gears, thinking to be intentional and set a word before the year started. Unbeknownst to me, I was not the first person to think of doing such a thing, as my other friends were doing the same thing, too. In fact, it was something that a lot of other people were doing, in lieu of setting a whole slew of new year’s resolutions that would eventually end up being broken.

I originally shared this article as a post on my personal Facebook profile on September 24, 2017.

I’ve shared this story to some friends but also want to share here on FB. This is a lesson I learned on being specific in prayer.

***

True to being part of the Intercessory Ministry, I don’t pray for myself much because I don’t really want anything for myself. But when I do, I only ask God for wisdom, guidance, and not much else.

A few months ago I kept getting the message over and over (via conversations with godly friends and my devotionals) that I had to be more specific with my prayers for myself (prayers for other people weren’t a problem, though). It was a recurring message so I took note of that and decided to “challenge” God and try it out.

On June 29, 2017, I wrote a journal entry to God in my journal app. I thought of asking for something really specific, difficult, but INCONSEQUENTIAL in the grand scheme of things— something not out of greed or gain.

I wrote, “I want a blue, pink, and yellow cotton candy in the shape of an elephant. I want it in real life. Something I can hold in my hands and eat.”

(Haha parang bata lang, candy ang hinihingi 😅)

This is a repost from my personal Facebook account, from November 21, 2017.

I parked near St. Jerome church for the free parking, then I walked over to Alabang Town Center to run errands. I was already in the middle of the mall when I realized I forgot my other bag so I walked aaaaallll the way back to the car to get it… only to realize, when I got to the car, that I left the bag at home. *facepalm*

The last I’ve written extensively on this blog was in 2015. If you look through my posts in 2015, you’ll notice that:

1) I took a break from my client work
2) I went through what I call a “creative rut”
3) I stopped writing in my blog

No big blog relaunch, no bells and whistles for now.

I’m dusting off this blog (my last post was in 2015!) and moving in to this domain, RegSilva.com (all my blog entries used to be on wedgienet.net, which will now be a portfolio-only site). My primary aim is to get back into blogging. This blog is currently bare bones– I will be adding bits and pieces of functionality as I see fit and when the need arises. For now, just words 🙂

Stay tuned to my updates by:

1) Signing up for my email list here. In return, I’ll give you my sketchbook for free.

2) Liking my Facebook page, Reg Silva.

Coloring books for adults are all the rage these days. Coloring is supposedly meditative and relaxing, but I’ve never gotten into the whole adult coloring book craze. I assume it’s because I already color as it’s part of my work as an illustrator, so it wouldn’t make sense for me to color outside of work for leisure. I can see how others would gravitate to coloring as a way to pass time and release stress, though.

Riding on the adult coloring book wave, Summit Media and Studio Dialogo extended an invitation to me to be part of a local coloring book publication, along with 40 other Filipino artists. I was honored to be asked and to contribute two pages to Hue Can Do It! and Hue Can Do It, Too!, which launched with a book signing last August 29, 2015 at the Philippine Literary Festival in Raffles Makati.

I’m in a creative rut, and have been for the past several months.

It’s the reason why I’ve missed uploading two of my monthly wallpapers this year and frankly, I don’t foresee myself posting the rest of the wallpapers for 2015. I’ll have to rethink my wallpaper strategy, sorry. I’ve been uploading wallpapers monthly for two years now and I think I’ll stop. I might start up the wallpapers again in 2016. Maybe, maybe not.

I haven’t been doing personal art for several months now. I’m going through creative brain drain. I’m just… stuck, I guess. For a long time now, client work has been dominating and perhaps I forgot how to “art.” I haven’t been in the mood to do anything creative at all.

I guess I’ll just have to wait out this rut until I feel like picking up a pencil/brush again. Who knows when that will be.

Last February, I worked on a project for Igloo Books– a reward pack and wall chart activity book for children.

Reward charts are apparently a thing nowadays– they’re progress charts you use with your child to reward him/her of good behavior– such as doing their chores, eating their vegetables, doing their homework, etc. Whenever the child progresses towards a goal in the chart, they get a star or a sticker as a reward, akin to the stamps we got in preschool for a job well done.

Igloo commissioned me to illustrate some 50+ spot illustrations for this project– scenes showing various good behavior. Some sketches:

I started painting with gouache recently. I’ve been thinking ahead (way ahead) and figured I can’t (and don’t want to) do digital art forever, especially in my old age (LOL). I’ve been an avid computer user since I was around 14, when I first started playing with Photoshop (starting with Photoshop version 4.5). I’m not at all ashamed to say I am quite the champion when it comes to staying in front of the computer for hours on end. It’s probably why my eyesight is so bad.

Digital gets tiring though, and all those hours spent in front of the computer takes its toll on me. Sometimes I just want to get away from a screen and do my art by hand, with traditional media.

Last month I took a bit of time off from my client work and experimented and played with various traditional media I can make a transition to in the future. I recently busted out a set of gouache paints I bought a year ago; it’s only now that I found the time to play with them. Right now I’m really liking gouache– it’s very forgiving, easy to work with, and easy to clean up. Here are some quick things I painted recently.