2014: Having to Remember Everything

It's the last day of 2014, and time to reflect upon how much of a whirlwind 2014 was. I have to think really hard and dig deep in some file folders to be able to come up with an accurate number of all the stuff I did this year! I'll break it down by category, to make things easier on myself!

The first convention of 2014 was Boskone. I had panel space for the first time after beating around the bush for a few years. Boskone to me is like a winter retreat to do nothing but stay inside with a nice hot toddy, looking outside at the bitter cold of Boston Harbor with sadness that eventually you will have to venture outside again come Sunday evening. Regardless of the disdain towards the weather, I'm excited for Boksone 52 come February!

Spectrum 2014

I attended Spectrum Live this year as an exhibitor, and in Carly-fashion, I opted to drive to Kansas City, spanning the 22-hour drive over 2 days. I had an amazing time, and met a lot of amazing new people I wouldn't have otherwise had the chance to meet. In 2015 I'm attending a wedding in May; I haven't gotten a booth or a table, but I would like to make it back as an attendee for the awesome community experience!

Illustration Master Class 2014

The IMC is just a yearly commitment now. I kept trying to wean myself off from the workshop, but it just remains an incredible experience that I cannot live my summers without. This past IMC I worked on a personal project, a piece for a gallery show at Krab Jab Studio. It was an experimental week, deviating from comfort zones, but I like to think my piece was a fun learning experience!

"Kodama" 18"x24" oil and acrylic on board

In fact, having not really looked at this piece in a few months, I'm pretty amazed at some of the choices I made, and textures and effects I accomplished. Not too bad for flying blind!

A huge event this year was IlluXcon. It was my second year behind a table in the ballroom Showcase on Friday and Saturday night. Two pieces found happy homes this year, "Avian" and "Moonlit Assassin". I could not be happier with their new owners, I know they will take good care of my babies!

I ♥ IlluXcon!

I cannot wait for IX 2015, primarily because I have been juried into the Weekend Salon! I am so honored and completely tickled to know that a jury deems my work in such a high regard. Words cannot describe!

2014 was also the year of my first major accolade as I had the honor of being featured on the cover of Nightmare Magazine, a publication which I hold a deep respect for. Thanks to Galen Dara--love you!--I was put in contact with Lightspeed and was the cover artist for their Nightmare Magazine Halloween issue, exclusive to women artists and women writers! It truly is an honor to have taken part in such a project, and I cannot wait to work with them again!

Nightmare Magazine issue 25

Speaking of works that feature creative women, I have also been asked to be a contributing artist in Cathy Fenner of Spectrum's book project Women of Wonder. The book will debut in the first half of 2015, and will be available for purchase at Spectrum Live in May! Keep your eyes peeled!

Women of Wonder

This year was definitely a busy one. From January to December, I have been in more gallery shows than I can recall by memory, but thankfully for me I have them documented and the tally is... 13! It could be 14 to 16, but I only started documenting shows on my website since April. I have shown with so many new venues this year including Arch Enemy Arts, Modern Eden, Alexi Era, Slushbox, Krab Jab Studio, and Hive Gallery. I have painted things from tarot to androids, cats to ghosts, plants to bears, arrows to bees... and I can't get enough! Already for 2015 I have enough shows planned to keep me busy all year, but I'm always aiming to keep an even fuller schedule. I want to give a big thanks to all the gallery managers and curators that have invited me into their families. Without you, I wouldn't be pushing myself as an artist as much as I am today, you continue to provide me with new and interesting subject matter to tackle. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Here's to a new and exciting 2015!  Cheers!

Fire Can't Take the Art Away

Sadly, early this morning a fire claimed a building in the town where I grew up that was home to the first art school I attended as a kid: Bob Boroski School of Art. It was here where I would go on Saturday mornings and spend the day making art, spending time not only with other kids who loved to do art, but also the college-aged faculty that I looked up to and wished to be someday. Kind of crazy to think that I'm now in that position, years into the future!

Bob Boroski

 I owe it to Bob for pushing me and teaching me what was not being offered in public school. I hope he will be able to rebuild his business, so he can continue to push other kids like me in the right direction. Viva la Bob!

Looking Back on 2013: Not That Unlucky!

This year has treated me amazingly well. At this particular moment, it's hard to really remember everything that happened, but I suppose that's a good thing! My goals at the beginning of 2013 were to complete 2 paintings a month, and to get my first freelance job. I'm excited to say both were met! Here's a reflection on this past year's happenings:

Kick-Ass Art Show

IMC 2013

• I participated in a 4-person show, in which I sold my first painting ever to the amazing tattoo artist and great guy Joe Capobianco.
• Did a painting for a Sandy Hook benefit.
• Quit my day job teaching to devote all my time to painting.
• I tackled my biggest painting yet at this year's Illustration Master Class; a 2-by-3-foot painting of Jon Snow and Arya Stark from Game of Thrones.
• I conquered a 15-hour drive down to Atlanta for my very first Dragon*Con in which I hung my work, met tons of amazing people, and sold two pieces. Then had to drive back...
• Was a part of the wildly successful Amanda Palmer Tarot!
• Not a week after, showed my work for the first time at IlluXcon, and sold a piece to the wonderful Winona Nelson!
• Participated in two monthly art blogs: Month of Love and Month of Fear. Both kicked my ass but gave me confidence in my artwork and time management skills.
• Got my first freelance job! The title goes to Zoë Robinson for picking me up first!
• Starting participating in shows across the country in California!
• On the horizon I have my first solo show on January 11th!
• This list cannot be finished without mentioning all the wonderful people that I've met, and all the old friends I was able to see again.

 I participated in 5 gallery shows, went to 3 cons, and if I recall correctly, I painted a total of... like, 34 pieces? Some simple, some more time-consuming, some frustrating, some elating, some I wanted to share, some I wanted to burn and have no one ever see them.

IlluXcon 2013

Suffice to say I'm pretty happy with how this year went. I've come to know what makes me most happy with my work, and discovered what I need to work on. My goals for next year are to keep improving, go to more conventions, be less intimidated and to promote myself like crazy so I can participate in bigger, better things! All so I can comfortably begin to support myself solely by my art. Cheers to a new year in the works!

Dream Predation and Getting Busy!

Dream Predation 16"x20" oil and acrylic on board

I did this piece for Forest to Shore's Cursed show last month and I have yet to properly upload a photograph of it up on my site. This is actually a springboard piece for a solo show coming up in January that I still need to get off my arse and begin work on the pieces! 

However, I am fortunate enough to say that as of late I have been incredibly busy working on and finishing painting after painting for numerous projects! I have never felt so happy :D

Amanda Palmer Tarot Kickstarter!

Amanda Palmer Kickstarter

The project has been launched and already on its first day, at only a few hours old it's been funded well over $6k! Very exciting! Don't hesitate to become a backer and own a set of this awesome limited edition goodness! ;)

Estate Haul

Went to an estate sale after hearing from John's mother that it was at a house of a former artist. This always gets me excited because I have no idea what they have or what I can find. I was pleasantly surprised!

In total I got eight frames, an old aluminum watercolor pan, and two tubes of Rembrandt oil paints. Two of the frames I picked up were a little worse for wear, and all were terribly dusty and were clearly homes to spiders at some point in time... But, after a few hours dusting them off, wiping them off with watered down bleach to to kill any mold, they look awesome!

 

John also picked up this band saw, which we're both psyched about because now I can easily cut masonite without risking exacto injuries to my hands, and he can saw through branches in a fraction of the time it takes for him to take a hand saw to one! Fantastic haul, we're such happy campers! :)

What the Deck?!

Picked this up today from Forest to Shore to paint for their upcoming skateboard deck show in August. Ah, yeah... no true idea what to really paint on this! I have some idea; naked ladies, flowers... stuff. Any ideas?

The format is what's really messing with me, it's way longer than what I remember skate decks to be, it's about 3' long by 10" wide looking at it right now ('cause, it could totally change shape while I'm not looking). I'll fiddle around with it in my head, but if anyone has anything to suggest I'm all ears :)

We Drew a Band

Tamieka: "I'm not sure what to do... I think I'm going to draw a band."
Me: "Wait... draw a band? Not, make--hm, okay, yeah, I'm in on this."

(guitarist drawn by me, drummer drawn by Tamieka, singer drawn by Stephan)

Still Doing

The frames for the color studies are finished: assembled, stained, just need to pop the paintings in. Apologies for the blurry pictures, I have a horrible habit of getting lazy and using my camera phone. Got the large frames assembled as well, just need to stain those.

Had a pleasant 3 day snowfall this past weekend. Read and watched the birds outside chase each other around and actually picked up a small case of cabin fever, which was cured today by going out and having a lovely lunch out on the beach with my mum! Again, watched the crows and seagulls chase each other around while munching on my foodstuffs.
I've been steadily sussing out summer plans, and I have decided I will be flying down to Brazil to stay with Vlad for a while in July! Not sure how long, exactly, but I am very excited nonetheless. Rio will be hella fun :)

Adventures in Home Depot

Went to Home Depot today to get molding to frame my DP pieces. Oooh, so many choices...
Decided upon one type of molding for the color studies and another, larger, but somewhat similar molding for the larger pieces. Home Depot didn't sell the stain I wanted (custom "classic black") in pints, only in quarts... So I am on a mission to go see what I can find tomorrow.Played with the saw for a while and am sussing things out. Will continue tomorrow with a fresh mind.

Feliz Navidad!

Aye, hell of a long day, but was thrilled to be with my mom's family. Big bro loved the Flapjack shirt I made him and I got more books than you could shake a stick at (do people not believe in libraries?).
Now tomorrow would be perfect to stay in and read said books, what with the inclement weather coming and all, however, I'll have to drive in the snow to spend time with my dad's family... Maybe I'll pop in to see cousins Zach and Mary (baby in the oven!) and their SOs and leave, or settle for my backup plan: mas vino.

Got pics of the shirt:

AJ kind of reminds me of Andy Samberg in this pic...

Stay classy folks and Merry Christmas!

Snow!

So, not going to post stuff from the review until I'm done writing these papers... So here's snow!
Didn't realize the window screen would show up. It's artsy...
Saw a broad last night on the way to Bradley Liquors spew all over the sidewalk.
On my 4th cup of tea.
Need to pick up my laundry.

Fly Kicks

Finally got to drawing on the shoes I got for free at the Black Friday event. Did this while watching 2 episodes of Glee. Also, Felisia got me a goddamn BEDAZZLER for Christmas and I totally christened it on these sweet babies.

Missy Elliot's got nothin' on these kicks.

Wow, it's Wednesday.

Debacle

So today, to make a long story short, Danielle's purse was stolen while we were at Starbucks. Paid for her prints, helped her out and got her to a state of normalcy. She called me an angel.
So I got to the studio at like... 5 and am working to get DP done. Yellow is virtually finished aside from one glaze, and Red needs some simple linework painted in. Green is the only one that needs a little more attention, but I will be here late and all I will need to do is take pictures of those 3 tomorrow and print those suckers out.

<---
Oh! Lookit! A sidebar!
<---

Finished SBS

So here is my submitted final for the SBS pieces. Of course I want to revisit them but I will do that later on when I have free time.
















So yesterday everything worked out. I was able to easily print everything out when I returned to the computer lab with no fuss and I got my $2 back. When I laid the five pieces out next to each other on the cutting board table I felt something I've been waiting for for a long time: I have COHESION! I'm really excited that there is finally defining features to my artwork. :D
The stress level is decreasing steadily now, I got a good deal done painting today and so now I'm going to spend time dicking around with my blog layout. I want to add another sidebar on the left to add links and such. I found a tutorial earlier but I don't think the script is really compatible with this particular blog layout because it really messed things up earlier... I'll figure it out. Success will be evident once my blog has another sidebar right over here.
<--

Night In (the studio)

Decided not to go to the 242 show because it is so cold out. So instead I had Indian food for dinner. So here's a pic of chana masala and onion bahji. Oh, and Tony on Felisia's back.

Home Stretch

Hi school internet. Working on those two SBS paintings and just need a good break. I'm strangely relieved right now in spite of all the chaos of the last two weeks of semester. On my plate I still have to do:

• SBS main and spot illustrations
• Photograph my work
• Finish the 4 DP paintings in progress and start/finish the 5th
  
• Construct my DP book
• Write 4 essays

I suppose the relief stems from my brain being 3 steps ahead, so I subconsciously know that hey, this will all be done sooner than I think. Just need a few more 5AM nights.

Sorry, no images. Tomorrow.

Beetle Buddy

This guy's been cruising here for a while:

NERDGASM

OH MY GOD WATCHMEN WAS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!
♥RORSCHACH♥