Embracing New Experiences: Adventures in Bali and Developing Positive Habits

Hi friends! Happy 1st of August ♡

I hope you're all well and had a great July filled with many sunny walks. I love reflecting on my month with the Wildehouse Paper monthly mood summary. July was summarised as a month of embracing warm nights and deep connections, diving into the deep end to experience the sweetness of the present moment, and putting yourself out there to find acceptance. Do you feel like this resonates with your experiences with July? I think it does in some ways for me, especially embracing the warm nights - although I'm not entirely sure if embracing is the right word for it! I did dive deep into new experiences, such as meeting a group of strangers on a Bali trip - you can check my highlights over on my Tiktok.

Here's what my month looked like: meeting incredible people, indulging in delicious Balinese cuisine, lots of self-reflection, and doing what I enjoy - going to the gym and getting back into creating art.

I've been wanting to share some of my recent sketchbook creations with you. Due to a disrupted routine over the past few months, I haven't been able to create things as often as I would like. However, I've been finding inspiration in my travel experiences, particularly my recent trip to Bali. I really wanted to meet new people and experience new things, so I looked into a travel company called Intrepid, which caters to small groups and focuses on local travel experiences. When I was out and about I kept seeing advertisements for Intrepid everywhere, I'm a firm believer on signs so I took this a sign to book with them.

I had an amazing time and I did a lot - from snorkelling and mountain hiking to watch the sunrise, staying in homestays, interacting with locals, experiencing authentic Bali, trying out stunning food, and meeting the most lovely people! It was so hard to say goodbye. Whenever I leave a country I have visited, I always feel like a part of me stays behind. I can get very sentimental!

I'd totally recommend this trip if you're looking to explore beyond the typical Instagram spots and really immerse yourself in Balinese culture. You'll get to meet amazing locals, taste their delicious food, and step out of your comfort zone. I love using pencils at the moment, I love the simplicity of it but I tried a page spread using the Caran d'ache pencils.

Illustrated maps

Other than a bit of globe-trotting, I've been working on an illustration of a London map. I've done a few maps already; India, Greece, New York, France and Japan. As you might be able to tell from my blogs and work, I love travelling and exploring different cultures and architecture and incorporating that into my work. I usually start by jotting down a list of things I want to include in the map, choosing a colour palette, and then sketching onto separate artboards. Once I'm done with the sketches, I add colour. Here are my scribbles so far, they’re just initial sketches which I’ll go into detail a bit later. Do you think I've missed anything that you'd like to see on the map?

Building good habits

I've been doing a lot of thinking about developing positive habits since coming back from my travels, and one habit I really want to work on is reading. I began reading "The Thursday Night Murder Club" by Richard Osamn back in February, but unfortunately, I haven't been able to keep up with it as much as I'd like. My New Year's resolution to read a book every day hasn't quite panned out as I had hoped! I really want to make reading a daily habit and finish more books. Reading not only motivates me, but it also helps me visualise characters, which is fantastic for honing my illustration skills. Have you read this book, what are your thoughts on it if you have? I started illustrating what I think the main characters might look like, I’m not ready to share it yet but I will do in my next blog - stay tuned!

Thank you so much for being here, it really does feel so nice to share these thoughts. I hope you have a lovely month ahead and I’ll see you at the end of August!

Love, Janki x