Summer 2012

Beginning in June of 2012, I started work on my BFA in graphic design. I took one class while teaching two, so it was a very busy summer! Here's some of the work I completed in my Drawing I class that summer:

Crafts--2011-2013

I've started to venture outside of drawing and painting, and here are a few of my earliest projects, from the past two years.

2012--Non-Academic/Commissioned Work (Painted)

2012 was the year I decided to go back for my art degree, but in the meantime, I still did some non-academic painting projects.

2011--The First Year of Brushstrokes

Here are the projects I completed my first year doing freelance, as well as a couple random projects for the "limbo" years during my "break" from artwork. I'll be back later to add descriptions to each image and to remove this sentence, but for now, just enjoy the view. ;)

Fresh Format

Here in a few minutes, I'll start posting my artwork in a new, fresh format, with categories, a copyright watermark on each photo, and groupings according to classes, commissions, crafts, and so on, so it'll be easier to find the piece you want to see. Stick with me a couple more hours, and everything should be finished here and ready to begin over at my professional portfolio page.

I'm not the tidiest person ever, but even I admit that there's just something soothing about reorganizing one's life. :)

Notice Any Changes?

If you're visiting the blog and my portfolio page over the next few days, you may notice some changes.

As I embark on an art-related job hunt and try to bring in enough income in the meantime through my freelance work to make ends meet, I'll be attempting to streamline how everything is accessed and trying to make some thematic changes to help accentuate my art and style (i.e. a new black-and-white template to allow painting colors to pop out more). Don't be surprised if old blog entries are deleted and the images are combined into single posts to make it easier to find the images you're looking for.

I'll also be updating the Facebook page with a cleaner way of organizing my portfolio, keeping academic work and commissioned work more clearly defined, as well as replacing many old images with higher quality photos (both on the web pages and on the Facebook page). Keep checking back!

[It's Normal to Take a While]

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners. I wish someone had told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase; they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know that it’s normal and the most important thing you can do is a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you finish one piece. It’s only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take a while. It’s normal to take a while. You just gotta fight your way through.”

Ira Glass