Wow.

Some blogs are so self-indulgent and obnoxious it makes me want to erase myself from the internet.

But, of course I won't. I realize the hypocrisy in saying this on a blog, haha. I have a few new paintings a lot of stuff to say! So once I get my pics in I'll have a huge new entry, hooray!

In all things, progress.

Making new year's resolutions is easy enough, sticking to them is the tough part. Yesterday was the first day in a long time that had suitable biking weather, and since it was my day off I knew I had to take advantage. After six months off the bike I went on a 14-mile bike ride. Surprisingly, my legs don't hurt so much as my neck and upper back. All that straining into the wind, I suppose. The skin on my face is so dry today, I should have worn a balaclava. This is what I'm riding these days:



Surly Long Haul Trucker. As I was biking from one end of Purcell, where I was raised, to the other end (a whopping seven mile stretch), I had a new found respect for a town I had always thought of as bland and boring. I realized that this quaint, lazy little town is exactly the kind of town I want to bike through when I tour across America on my bike. I don't know when this bike tour is going to take place, maybe at the end of the summer, but I hope to one day span several states on my bike, rolling through small towns on little highways, stopping only to take pictures, sleep, and eat.

But first, the dreaded century! I'm still waiting on my heart rate monitor to arrive in the mail, plus I need new batteries for my cyclocomputer, and then the training will commence! In the meanwhile, I'm just getting my ass reacquainted with a bike seat.

In other news, I designed my boss's business cards and they finally arrived today, I gotta say Overnightprints.com does a damn fine job for a VERY reasonable price. We printed this:


Front


Back

with rounded corners. We ordered 500 of them and it was only about $40 total. I always google "overnightprints coupons" before I order and almost always get some kind of discount. They are awesome, and their staff is incredible and very timely at answering any questions you have for them. I highly recommend them! And I highly recommend myself if you want a design ;)

Since I have been doing so many designs lately, I think what I'm going to do is have ten or fifteen basic card designs to choose from for $50, or I will do a personalized design for $75 (plus cost of printing). It makes more sense to me to do it that way. Once I have my basic designs I'm going to put them in a portfolio and go around town to various businesses and promote myself.

Speaking of promotion! I got the fliers for the art show printed today and they look awesome! I went around Campus Corner and Main Street and put them all up. I'm really looking forward to this event, but I'm also kind of nervous about painting in front of everyone. I think I'm going to have to bring my iPod and block everything out.

I have a few oil paintings I'm working on at home to get me geared up for the event. I'll post them once they're done.

peace!

It's an art show!

So Studio Zen, where I work, is hosting an art show in February, and will be a part of the monthly Second Friday Art Walk. I just finished making the fliers for the event:


[Sorry if it's huge]

I'm very excited about this event! Me and a few of the participating artists are going to start painting at 7, and at 9:30 we are going to auction off our paintings. I observed a live paint at Standing Buffalo, a Native American gallery on Main Street and it was so much fun! That's actually where I met Micah, one of our participating artists. He does amazing work, I can see his work being featured in Juxtapoz. Here is a small sample of his work:







I love his paintings on vinyl. You can check out his website here.

Another artist, Olivia Cuenca, was my roommate in Savannah, Georgia for two years. She was a fibers major and does incredible tactile works with creepy tentacles:







Creepy cool. You can check her out here.

And last but not least, from the KND we've got Mr. Haveldids and Nots, a terribly talented artist:







I think I might need to steal the sloth painting, I'm so in love with it. Maybe we can do a trade, hmm? You can check out Mr. Haveldids and the KND here.


So yes! Everybody mark your calendars, this is going to be a ton of fun. There will be wine, cheese, live music, beautiful (and maybe a little creepy) artwork, a live paint and an auction at the end of the night! It's going to be awesome!

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

I feel like an adult.

I just spent an hour creating a very reasonable budget for myself that will allow me to pay off my loans quickly and still allow me to socialize on the weekends. My...brain hurts. I had to dust off my math skills for that one.

Newness

Some new stuff!


Proust


In Utero


Gaqua


Cuddlefish


These are all to be part of my exhibition in May, being held where I work at Studio Zen on Campus Corner. No date set yet, and all the details for this will be worked out eventually. The general theme for these paintings is "organic cliches," so I focused on themes and feelings that tend to come to us organically, so these are centered around feelings of love, and focusing on different aspects of it. From reproduction (In Utero) to the frustration that sometimes accompanies love (Proust).

I'm working on six pieces right now, which may sound overwhelming but I tend to work best when I have a lot of stuff going on. If I'm just working on one thing I'll never get it done, but if I layer my projects on top of each other I get everything done a lot faster.

Southside walk it out.

There's something about paying bills, doing laundry, cleaning house, cleaning my car out, balancing my checkbook, cooking lunch for the rest of the week, drinking green pomegranate tea with locally grown[?] honey, and getting four new planks of wood in the mail to paint on that makes me feel like I actually have my life together.

I didn't get to cross off everything on my to-do list I made for myself today, but I got the most important things done. Oh, and I made tofu lasagna and harvest salad with raspberry vinaigrette. I am stoked for lunch this week. I also bought some of this:



Seriously, best apple juice ever. It's comforting to look at the ingredients and all it says is "apple juice." YES PLEASE.