Won Year

Well it's been a year, so let me try and summarize.

On the health and well-being category:

First off my dad is cancer-free, last time we checked, so that's good. That's the best thing that's happened.

I successfully trained for and completed a marathon last March. I averaged about 11 minutes/mile, which was a little over my goal of averaging 10 minutes/mile, but considering how hilly the course was, I will take it. After checking that off my list, I quickly decided to never run that far again. As a professional hairstylist, being on my feet all day is part of my job, and since my feet are destined for awfulness even on their own, I decided it wasn't worth risking injury. My ankles and knees took a serious beating throughout the whole ordeal, and for some reason I could not avoid getting blisters to save my life. I had blisters on top of blisters on top of blisters. At any rate, as amazing as it feels to create and accomplish tangible, physical goals, I decided the cons outweighed the pros and to never marathon again.

So I ditched running, and started swimming and weight lifting. A couple times a week in the summer a few friends and I would meet up at Barton Springs for an early swim. There is no better way to wake up, I assure you! I toyed with the idea of training for a triathlon and even trained for a few months, but life got in the way and I had to put it on hold. I'm ready to pick the torch back up though, think I might start with The Rookie Tri.

Since the beginning of the year I've started taking boxing classes at my local YMCA, as well as really focusing on weight training. I feel like I'm in much better shape than I did when I was training for the half-marathon, leading me to believe a diverse workout is key to being toned overall.

Probably the biggest change in my health this past year has been my diet. I've discovered the Paleo Diet, which has changed my life. There are a million blogs and websites out there dedicated to the Paleo Diet, so you can do your own research, but I'll say this much: it has cleared up my rosacea, something I did not know was even possible, as well as melted fat off my body in places I've never been able to lose much, all while maintaining muscle and gaining a sense of clarity in my brain. My allergies were practically nonexistent this year (if you live in Austin, you know what a big statement that is!), I really cannot say enough good things about it. I highly recommend reading into it if you're interested, or go on trial and just eat paleo every other day for a while, that's what I did. It's improbable to think you can change your entire attitude towards eating overnight, so I definitely suggest looking into it before jumping in. It is not a fad diet, it's a philosophy.

I could go on and on about that forever, but I'll save it for later.



On art and design:

I've cut my hours back at Birds to make time for my apprenticeship at Noah Marion Quality Goods. I've actually just recently debuted my new design, The Barber's Pouch.


Naturally, as a hairstylist this seemed like an obvious crossover. It's comfy, snug, stays in place, right on your hip. Holds up to five alligator clips, two shears and a handful of combs. The bottom is a button snap, to keep hair from collecting inside. Made of vegetable tan leather, will age beautifully over time. As a hairstylist, I see this as an investment in your career.

Working for Noah has been challenging and rewarding, it is always fun to learn a new medium. I am learning how to add a third dimension to the way I draw.


Wallet design. (I'm too into zigzags right now)
I was only mildly satisfied with this one, there are a few glitches I'm working out.

I'm excited to learn more in the arena of accessory design. It's a whole new avenue, but it seems like the natural progression for me.

Always more to learn, as always.

As for illustration, I've just completed an illustration for my friend's online magazine, CAP. I believe the article is about Tesla being a rock star.


I've also been working with a local hair product company VERB, which has been a lot of fun. Nothing yet to show in picture form, but they are fun people to work with and I'm excited to watch them grow.


On everything else:

I guess I've just been living. My thoughts are positive and I think my life reflects that. I try to work all the time. I don't want any day to feel wasted, I never want to feel like I didn't do everything I could to make my life awesome. When I take stock of what I have, I feel overwhelmed with gratitude towards the world around me. I feel blessed, really.

I will try to not go a whole year without between this and the next entry. But who knows, life may get in the way again.

So here's an illustration I did for CAP Magazine based out of my very own Austin, Texas.

I noticed I hadn't updated my blog in almost a year. But if you are interested in commissioning an illustration out of me, just email me at erin.baird@verbproducts.com


I will try to update more this year! This I promise you.

I've had a series of long days

I need to write this shit down. I am going to describe my weekend in detail, because I can't make this shit up.

So over the weekend my friend Lauren came down to see me. I love when my friends come down to see me, but I didn't get to take any time off of work and did not alter my workout routine because it's important to me to be properly trained for the half marathon in March. So this is my Saturday:

I wake up at 8am and head to the gym, where I run a solid eight miles. Saturdays are my long run days. I get in my car (whose check engine light has been on for a while [but really how seriously can you take those stupid lights?!]), and don't even make it out of the parking lot before it dies. A fellow gym member helps me get my car nice and situated safely in a parking spot. For some reason my car always breaks down when Lauren is in town, so she's used to this. I call her repeatedly but she's passed out, dead to the world. Oh well, I think, I'm no stranger to the bus. So in my SCAD hoodie and short running shorts, drenched in sweat, I head to the bus stop. My route lets me out in a "questionable" part of town where crackheads are known to linger. Not expecting to take the bus, I am weaponless. Yes, I usually carry a knife and pepper spray on me, but not today. Naturally, as soon as I get off the bus, some crackhead across the street starts yelling lewd things at me. I know I look extremely attractive in my running shorts and smell really great, but I do not appreciate someone offering to "slap that ass" under any circumstances. I keep my head low and walk fast, thinking he'll fuck off if I just ignore him. He is literally chasing me at this point, and I can hear him getting closer behind me. In this moment I was not afraid, but instead I felt a hot feeling in my stomach and I run through my options. I see some debris on the ground, consider chucking it at him. My friend Tasz lives around the corner, I consider running over to his house, but I'm not sure he's there. I'm thinking, I may actually have to defend myself in a few moments. Ahead of me I see a few mechanics standing outside their garage, so I make it a point to walk in between them even though it's out of the way, just so some other people can witness what is happening to me. Then, a magical angel man pulls his car over and asks me if I'm okay. I said I was fine, just being harassed a little too much is all. He gives me a can of pepper spray and says to be safe. I wave the pepper spray in the direction of the crackhead, so he knows to back down. He continues yelling, but finally recedes. About a hundred feet away from my front door, Lauren calls me. It's not even noon yet.

So after a long, tiring, but fun weekend with Lauren, I finally have to deal with my car situation on Monday morning. So I wake up at 8am once again to call the highest rated garage on yelp.com, they can get me in that afternoon and suggest a towing company. I call the tow truck people and tell them to meet me at my car in forty-five minutes, then I call a cab to come pick me up. It's 8am and my brain doesn't really start working until 11, so I'm trying to quickly get everything I need put into my backpack and cab it to the gym. I figure I'm already up, may as well get a workout in before work. I arrive at my car and am surprised to find out that it actually will turn on, however sputtering and dying every few minutes, but it's enough to get it to the nearest garage and save me the $85 to tow it. I quickly google "car repair" on my phone and find the nearest Auto Zone. That's right, Auto Zone, which as I quickly discover is NOT a garage, but a car parts store. Of course. Like I said, my brain is not awake yet. My car can barely go 15mph and is dying at every light. So naturally a police man pulls me over, to which I have to hastily explain I'm just trying to get to Auto Zone before it dies again. He offers to "escort me," sure whatever. Of course I instantly realize my mistake upon getting to Auto Zone. Frustrated, I park my car (at a downward angle) and try to find the nearest garage. Fortunately there is one around the corner! But now I can't get my car to start due to, that's right, the incline. Frustrated, I get out of my car and have to PUSH IT MYSELF up the small hill onto flatter parking lot ground, and my car finally starts. So finally, after all that, I bring my car, sputtering and dying to Klingemann Auto Repair, who I really need to give mad props to because they took care of me in a timely, professional, and affordable manner. Thanks, guys, really.

Having settled that, I take a cab back to the gym for a much-deserved workout. I hit the showers and quickly realize in my haste to get all my shit together, I had forgotten my towel at home. Oh well, I think, there's no going back now, I have to be ready for work within the hour. So I unload my stupidly expensive shampoo and conditioner in the stall (I'm a hairstylist, shampoo is an investment), and once I'm done, I am trying to dry off like a dog, just shaking water off parts of my body best I can. It didn't work so great. I had to slither into my clothes, everything sticking to me. Possibly one of the grossest feelings in the world. My outfit is...okay. Not the best, but not bad for being thrown together at 8am.

I had spent too much on cab fair already, so I decided to bus it to work. After figuring out what route I needed to take, I calculate I have juuuuuust enough time for breakfast at Taco Cabana. I inhaled my food, thinking if I throw this up it would be almost whole. But I dash out the door and walk hastily to...the wrong fucking bus stop. THE HELL?! I realize my mistake instantly, the stop I need to be at is just down the street, and if I book it, well, I just might make it! But no. It was like a scene from a terribly scripted romantic comedy. I was running, arms flailing, just as the bus pulled away. Frustrated, I call my boyfriend and yell at him for no reason. This proves to solve nothing at all, so I call the cab company for the third time that day (not even noon yet). I was at a weird intersection, apparently, because after fifteen frustrating minutes, the cab has not arrived. I call again, they said they sent a cab but "couldn't find the address" (HELLO, GOOGLE MAPS, COME ON), so they send another cab. Twenty minutes pass. I am getting dangerously close to being late to work. I call the cab company again, and once again they admit their driver could not find my location so they send another cab. I mean come on, how hard is it to find "across the street from the YMCA"?!

So the cab FINALLY shows up, I am only slightly late to work, and a coworker was nice enough to give me a ride home after work. So this weekend my faith in humanity was tested, and it came out positive. Between the man who helped me move my car, the guy who gave me pepper spray, the amazing mechanics of Klingemann, Lauren carting me around, my coworker giving me a ride, hell, even my boyfriend for letting me yell at him and being understanding enough to not hold it against me, all these acts of kindness far outweigh the shit storm that tried to ruin my weekend.

You know what the real kicker is, though? I left my fucking expensive ass shampoo at the gym.

Old Pieces, New Photography

I started these pieces last year and reworked them incorporating techniques I have developed in the past year as a result of these pieces. What started out as an experiment has developed a concrete process that I utilize with every piece, now. All as a result of experimentation. I've even standardized my post-painting process; photographing them and posting them on my blog. As per usual, mad props to my buddy Josh Verduzco" for the help with the photography. We swap photos for haircuts. Never underestimate the power of bartering your skills!


Moving Forward


Negative

I have other old pieces that are photographed better, now available to view on my Flickr site, but these were the only ones I reworked. Moving Forward is now available for purchase at the Austin Art Garage, located on South Lamar. I'm pretty excited, it's a really rad, lowbrow gallery.

On that note, my other photographer buddy Evan Prince recently took a few photos of me, The Fox, and Shirley.


The Fox behind me, and my other mode of transportation even further behind me (the Focus is a road warrior. Ten more years!)


Me and Shirley. She's a beast.


Just me, thinking about my bikes.

You can see more on his tumblr. He makes me look good.

And since we're going balls-deep with the images here, I'll go ahead and toss in some recent graphic design freelance I just completed:


Any excuse to use neon is a good one.

I hope I crashed your computer with all that overwhelming amount of amazing content I just dumped on you. Ya welcome, internet.

On moving.

I live six hours away from home, which is of course Norman, Oklahoma. It's just far enough away to be completely different and close enough for my friends to drive down and visit me for the weekend. They always say they wish they could move here. Austin is somewhat of an American paradise, I think, and I think everyone else is realizing that too. Or maybe that New City High hasn't worn off of me yet. The truth is that anyone CAN move here, anyone can move anywhere they want. It's a matter of priorities. I took a pay cut to move here, but the difference is made up with all the things I can do here that I can't do back home: go jump in Barton Springs, kayak Lake Travis, go on weekly bike rides with the social cycling scene. It is true that life is what you make it, and that you can be just as happy in one place as you can be in another, but the environment around you can stimulate you in a direction. And for me, personally, Austin is the best idea I've ever had in my entire adult life.

I've made a lot of decisions when at the time I honestly was not sure if it was the right decision or not, but stubbornness and pride carried me through to the complete execution of my decision. Going to hair school and moving to Georgia for art school both fall in this category. As it turned out, attending barber college was another bright idea, as it has thus far supplied me with a career and enough money to live on, as well as introduced me to some of the most amazing people. The art school decision, however, I have been struggling with. It has been a long, whiney road to come to grips with my post-college life, with my new found and seemingly pointless debt to pay off student loans for schooling that still hasn't landed me a job. But then I realized something the other day, when I was in the middle of being mad at my expensive degree and the fact that I still don't have a job in my field: it's not my pricey schooling's fault I don't have an artistic job, it's mine. I have to be my own boss and create my own title. Become CEO of my own life.

And art school was worth it, in spite of the student loan debt, because it taught me the importance of time management and the basics of art and design, and much like hair school introduced me to some of the most amazingly talented people I've ever come across. It also taught me how to live on practically nothing pretty comfortably.

I have been inspired. I have fully realized that life is what I make it, and if I want to make money on my art then I am going to have to hustle. So that's what I've been doing; busting my ass to make extra money so I can invest more towards a future that ensures I am getting paid to create. Which brings me back around to my original point, that moving to Austin is one of the best ideas I've ever had, because moving here made me realize that I do have enough ambition and talent to do more than just survive. I might even be able to flourish. Without the confidence that moving here has given me, I'm not sure I would be able to make it as an artist. I would have settled into a familiar, comfortable life as a hairstylist in Norman, Oklahoma and continued to paint as a hobby. Not that there is anything at all wrong with that, I do firmly believe you can be just as happy being in one place as the next.

After all, life is what you make it.







sidenote: I do want to kind of delve into all the reasons I love Austin but I already feel really braggy so I'll save it for another day...but just to summarize: 1. best shape of my life 2. awesome people 3. beautiful 4. barton springs/greenbelt/lake travis ok ok I'm done....

sidenote2: this is also my subtle way of trying to get all my friends to move down here, already.

2009, you so fine.

2009 was the best and worst year of my life. I had some of the most amazing and devastating experiences I've ever had. I entered the year bearing a heavy heart after one of my close friends passed away. I dealt with an overbearing workload from the last few months of school, strife from a long distance relationship, and eventual breakup, but I also went on three vacations and graduated with my BFA in Illustration. There were moments of sorrow, moments of pride, and ultimately, a change in my direction. At the end of the day I had to come home, my new-found debt in tow, to try and figure out my next move. 2010 is all about refocusing my attention in the right direction. My new years resolutions:



So, in case you missed it, I'm going to be updating my blog more, and focus more on my artwork. I've been easily distracted what with my life having been somewhat chaotic since I've moved back home, but I've got to move past that, to grow and progress. I promise a better me this year.

And now, a visual recap of 2009.


rip


my last few months at scad


epic costa rica y mi amiga mejor


graduation/havin the best roommate ever


my brief excursion to ATL


making new friends


getting reacquainted with old ones

and of course:

my return to ZEN