In this May art vlog, I’m trying to do something that sounds simple but always ends up being weirdly hard: recharge. After a stretch of book fairs and art markets, I hit that point where I’m excited about a million ideas, but my energy is very much not matching the list. So I spend the month sketching a lot (especially little “travel” sketches in cafés), testing small, portable setups, and checking in with what I actually want to improve—sketchbooks, fantasy illustration, and the kind of focused painting time I’ve been missing. You’ll see me play with gouache palettes and quick color decisions, and then I spiral back into my Dracula obsession (as one does) with a vampiric portrait painting. I also talk through priorities and art goals for the second half of 2025—basically cutting down to the essential projects so I can get better at the things I care about most, instead of just staying busy. If you’ve taken on too many projects—even the fun ones—this is your reminder that “less” can be the thing that gives you your art brain back.