Print shop

It is here.

"It" being my print shop on Etsy. Now, prints of my pieces can be bought, and affordably, too. I decided to use Etsy because it's so much more flexible than, say, someplace like Cafe Press, but they still take care of a lot of things for you (so I didn't have to figure out how to program a shopping cart into my website, or take credit cards, or anything like that).

So there it is! Not everything is up there yet, but I'm working on it. Take a look?

On trees. (and in trees.)

You know what I realize, when I look around my apartment, is a recurring theme? Trees. In my art, too - all you have to do is look at my portfolio to see that, there are trees everywhere - but also, when I moved and started putting stuff up in my new place, I realized that I have a lot of tree-themed decor. It's not even on purpose, either! I don't collect trees, I just...happen to acquire them.

Maybe it's because green has always been my favorite color. But in this most recent piece I did, there's hardly any green at all. Mostly I think it's just because tree branches always seem compositionally sound. I find it hard to make a bad composition out of trees. And it's fun to, when painting trees, also paint little hidden things in the branches. (Gold star for you if you found the bird in the above painting!) Really, I could probably go a long time only painting trees, and it'd take me a while to get sick of it.

Well, okay, trees and Art Nouveau borders. And monkeys. And pieces of fruit. Okay, so I probably couldn't paint solely trees forever. But I could do it for a pretty long time!

(Website will be updated posthaste, by the way, as well as other developments.)

Belated hello

I'm just after making a website update, so I figured I would come on here and say a little something too. Yes, I have been doing something this past year and a half...I just haven't put it on this blog. I will post all the graphic design and logo design I've been doing as soon as I have permission to do so from my former workplace, I swear.

In the meantime, here, have a tiki head:

One quick piece

Simple little Dia de los Muertos sugar skull icon. I'm really into Day of the Dead symbols and iconography, so I'm thinking I should make this part of a trio of icons...we'll see.

Preview of coming attractions, as it were...

In case anyone was curious, this is what I've been working on lately. Just a little preview sketch. Yes, these are the five main Tempest characters I used in my thesis. I kinda combined those characters with my King Midas/"little gnome people" way of drawing, just to see how it'd look. I'm going to finish these in Illustrator. So...The Tempest as a kids' book? Who knows...

May/June paintings

Couple recent paintings...

"Seems I'm not alone at being alone/A hundred billion castaways all looking for a home." This is the one that's been sitting on my easel for months. I did this painting in the tradition of the Hurricane Panic piece I did last summer. I just like painting little people doing funny things, is all...
On this one I was looking at Kelli Bickman's work, and that iconic way of drawing. It's a new thing for me, and I don't think this will be the last time I try it. (I've discovered that just because it's simplified doesn't mean it's easier, either.) That's also my new signature on both of these...I liked my old way of signing things, but it wasn't really legible, which kind of defeated the whole purpose of having a signature on a piece.

These and some other things will be up on the website shortly.

Thoughts on...starting.

Towards the end of this semester, I heard someone in one of my classes say this:

"If you're at the end of your senior year at Ringling, and you find yourself saying 'I'm just now STARTING to get good'...that's kind of sad."

I don't really see why that's such a bad thing, though. Here's how I'm looking at it: I've been painting for about six years (real painting, not childhood fiddling around with watercolors like I did when I was eight). I have probably, what, fifty more good years to go, at the very least? (I'm planning for eighty more, though. ;) Hey, my grandma lived to 93...) If I was the best possible artist I could possibly be right NOW, then what do I have to work for, you know what I mean? That's 40-80 really boring years ahead of me.

I think it's good that I'm not completely satisfied with the work I'm doing now, because it means I still have places I can go with my art. Art school isn't the END! And if there are people who graduate and think, "okay, this is as good as it gets, my art training is DONE and I can never learn anything more," that's what's sad to me.

So! Here's to eighty more years of continuing to improve!