Category: updates

The dumpster fire that was 2021

It’s been a rough year to say the least.
A very good friend of mine died in September, and my Step-Sister died at the beginning of December.
I’m doing more art, than I’ve done since starting my day job.
Most days I feel like I’ve taken a wrong turn in my life, it’s all upside down and backwards, but I keep trudging on, maybe I’ll find my way back to where it all went sideways so I can get on track.

But hey, 2022 is just around the corner, the year of Green People Crackers, Viral Vampires, Kaiju coming up from deep under the sea and biological war to end everything.

I was hoping that we’d have COVID in the rear view mirror at this point because I wanted to get back to doing shows, but I’m not so sure now. Being out around people gives me really bad anxiety, I don’t want to deal with the insanity a certain group of people have about wearing masks or vaccines.

This weekend I’m taking down my mask order listings in my shop, I’ve already put away all of my fabric & sewing machine. I made masks almost non-stop for 18 months, it’s time to concentrate on arting.

I’ve been enjoying this whole Chibi/Super Deformed character style I’ve been working in, even if no one else really likes it. I just have so many I want to do, it’s my escape from this monotonous hamster wheel of an existence I’m stuck in.

I need to get cracking on reworking my portfolio, in the coming weeks I’ll be updating my website and adding art & prints to my website store.

Kurt Russel as Santa (This was my christmas card this past year)

Dr. Frank N Furter for Halloween

813 Days or 2 years, 2 months, 23 days and a pandemic later.

I’m still around, sort of, these days I feel half dead and always with too much to do. This never ending mundane cycle I’m stuck in is going to end up killing me. I have a dayjob it pays my bills, but leaves me feeling empty and used up. I need to do art, it’s a fundamental part of my being, the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do. Because of work & life I haven’t painted in 2 years, does anyone even know what that’s like, imagine suffocating, because it’s exactly like that. So I bought a tablet that I can paint digitally, it’s a substitute, not nearly as satisfying as actually painting, but I am making art. I’m not very good at it yet, but I’m trying.

Practice piece no. 1

Practice piece no. 2.

Practice piece no. 3

Long Way Around the Sun…

Yeah, 6 months have past since my last entry.  The Day job is exhausting, I have little to no energy left when I get home at night to do any kind of arting.  I have no idea how I’m going to rework my portfolio, I get about half an hour worth of drawing done on my lunch break, and that’s it.  The weekend is usually full of the stuff I used to do during the week when I was freelance.  This is going to be far more challenging than I had originally imagined.

This is the last painting I managed to do, and that was at work, took about two weeks?

Most recent Sketch (after seeing Alita: Battle Angel)

Meanwhile my artwork ‘todo’ list just keeps getting longer.

I hope my next update has some real art.  *crosses fingers*

Commissions…

are officially CLOSED.  
I know I had mentioned keeping commissions open till Sept 7th.  I just don’t think I’ll be able to do it, so I’m just going to go ahead and close now.

I will not be taking on any new commission for the foreseeable future, and I’ll probably be super picky about the projects I  accept.

I start my new day job tomorrow.    I will need some time to get my brain out of  the ‘art for money’ mode, and find my creative voice again, right now she’s MIA.

First paycheck will go toward getting me a new pair of glasses, paying for my website at wix, and getting the cats to the vet for their annual check-ups.

My last show is October 20th – The Wheaton Halloween All Night Flea Market.  I’m not sure at this point how many shows I’ll be able to do, or if I’ll even want to do shows anymore once I get sorted with the new job.  I’d like to keep doing them, but it all depends on how much new original work I can create while also working 40 hrs/wk.

New Art:
I created this for a client’s business card because I thought it needed a pop of color over the standard black/white clip art.

I have it up on TeePublic and  Society 6.

Before Closing – I want to give a special thanks to all of my patrons and clients for their support over the years, it’s been rough, I really appreciate it all.

Job Hunting woes…

I really don’t even know where to begin this post.  I’ve been actively job hunting since April.  I’ve had 3 phone interviews and one in person interview.  And still no job.

I have frustration on several fronts.

1. Too many civilian employers don’t take Military Career Experience as real Career Experience.

2. So Far I’ve run into the people doing the hiring for creative jobs have absolutely no experience in that job.  So when you’re asking about items on your resume, as you’re talking to them, their eyes glaze over because you can see they have no idea what you’re talking about. When you try to clarify what you’ve said by making it simpler, they’ve lost interest and are just looking at you.

3. I’m very limited to how far I can go for a job.  I’m limited by funds and the fact that my car is a piece of crap.  It needs repairs I don’t have the money for.  I can drive for about 20 minutes before my car starts to over heat.  The highway is completely out, it’ll over heat in 5 minutes.

I might have to re-evaluate my strategy and go back to admin for the time being.

It’s So Damn Frustrating.  Being Frustrated and anxious sucks.  I cleared my commissions list and all of my contracts. I have zero dollars coming in right now.  And I’m so anxious I can’t draw anything without wanting to chuck it in the trash.

Edit to Update:
I just got a call with a job offer, now I just need to wait on the background check.

Mighty Con Dupage 2018 [in review]

Mighty Con Dupage has come and gone.  I really thought that there would have been a better turn out with the weather being as hot as it was, I think people opted to stay home where it was cool.  While I didn’t do great, it wasn’t terrible.   I had great neighbors on both sides, I got to chat with young artists, and a few friends I haven’t seen since last year (or maybe the year before).  I’ll most likely do it again next time it rolls around.

Lately I feel like the internet has become a black hole, while people may like your work they wont necessarily give it a like or comment leaving you to wonder if anyone likes your work at all.  And with every site and it’s algorithm, getting your work to your followers is next to impossible.  So getting out to these small local shows is so refreshing.

 

I’m still working on my Chibi Self Portrait,  I really like how it’s turning out, I’m thinking of using it to rebrand my website.

First & Second Draft:

 

Second Draft Edited in Photoshop:

 

And the finished line work on watercolor paper:

 

Hoping to have it finished today, I have a portrait commission to start.

I’m also thinking of offering this type of portrait as a commission with an option to put it on merchandise for the client.  I can’t remember if Zazzle lets you make private product pages, I know you can’t at Society6.  Would anyone be interested in something like this?

Ok, gotta get back to work, I hope everyone has a great week.

 

This coming week…

I’ll be doing some heavy revamping of a few of my pages in particular my ‘prints/merchandise’ and ‘original art sales’ pages. The pages are going to be set up so that you’ll see preview images here, but will be directed to buy from my Zazzle Store for prints & other merchandise, and my Etsy Shoppe for Original Artwork. That way I have a bit less html work to do, and more exposure. I’ll also be working on getting my first calendar completed for 2012!

But today it’s outside to rake leaves before the rain starts on Monday.

Retro Sexy Robot – Progress

I’m so happy to make some progress on this piece after the last two days of having no electricity. Monday morning we had a really bad storm that knocked the power out, ComEd’s automated service estimated that restoration time would be Friday / Saturday. I was so upset and frustrated that it was going to take them that long, when I have so much I need to do that involves working in photoshop. Cyphan & GenCon are really just around the corner and that was going to put a serious dent in my time table. I found out from Pam, one of the cashiers at Jewel, that ComEd was bringing in crews from other cities to help get the power back on.

Tuesday at about 1130p the ComEd truck was on our street scouting our power lines, I think everyone on the block was outside watching, waiting and hoping.


I know it’s a little different for me, but I really think it sums up a majority of the artistic influences of my youth, Patrick Nagel, Classic Pinup, Soryama’s Sexy Robot, Xanadu and Flash Gordon from 1957 (the first real scifi I was exposed to as a kid, I used to watch it every Sunday morning).


Desk – 07142011