(originally posted to my deviantART, edited for link redundancy)

To my friends, followers, subscribers, and watchers,

I only finished two full paintings this year, the Legend of Zelda oil commission that I didn’t get paid for (I forgive the guy but the memory of it stings), and the painting of the four living creatures.
I made a terrain model for my army reserve unit (they ended up not even getting to use it for planning because of poor scheduling) but somewhere towards the end of that project, I hit a burnout phase (around end of August/September was initial burnout, but right now November/December feels like maximum burnout. Really low motivation to do a lot of things).

In September, I started attending weekly figure drawing sessions again, and those figure paintings are posted to my art blog (which you’re reading). I might eventually upload them to dA later on.
I started a tumblr and instagram, (fenrysk.tumblr.com, instagram.com/fenrysk), and both will probably be redundant in terms of art that gets put on there. I will mostly be using instagram for sketchbook drawings that I don’t feel like scanning, and tumblr will just be a cross-post from instagram and relinking from dA for finished works. Feel free to follow if those platforms are more convenient for you.

My grandfather passed away this past Monday. He was in the ICU in China all last week and a half, and my dad went back to China to visit him. He passed away while my dad was on the flight back. I’m still trying to figure out what to make of my emotions. Not sure if I’m even ready to begin grieving yet.

As for the upcoming year, I want to really push myself to produce artwork. I have been slacking off for the last 4 years, and I think my most productive time was probably end of 2012 and early 2013 during this period.

I must remember who I am, and what I was created for. I must recall why I do what I do, how alive I feel when it’s happening.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Yours truly,
MingYe “Fenrysk” Zhu