It's been a whirlwind few weeks.  

I don't remember off hand what my last update consisted of, except that I had spoken of leaving Texas to return to California.  Well, it's all settled, and I will be on the plane tomorrow.

I am excited and a touch nervous.  

I have two portraits to complete.  I just haven't gotten to them in the rush to pack up everything and get them ready to go.  I will be getting to them as I have time, but they *will* get done, as will the handful of promised color pieces I have in the works.  I'll be working full time, and probably overtime, over the summer, so things may be extremely slow in the art department.  But I'll get it all done.

Once I've caught up, though, I'm going on a bit of an artistic hiatus.  That doesn't mean I'm going to stop doing artwork altogether; I'm just going to let it take a bit of a back burner.  I may play with fan art in this time-- it'll help keep my skills up to date.  

In the autumn, work slows to part time (at least in my experience), and in that time I'm going to shift focus back to the artwork.  And I have some plans to implement as well-- for instance, I'm going to be offering book illustration specials, both black and white and color.    I may also hold the occasional Free Sketch Day, though I won't be able to do that regularly.

I am absolutely not going to abandon this blog for any extended period of time, though.  If I've got art to share, I'll share it.  If not, I'll write updates or other entries.  I might be able to do a bit of creative introspection writing, as I used to do.  I will also do regular signal boosting as things catch my attention.

It's going to be a challenge, juggling life and work at a resort with art and crowdfunding, but I am determined.  

My good friend Wolfe-- greyeagle2007 on LJ-- runs a marvelous little curio shop in East Texas with his partner.  They sell a plethora of unique items, candles, antiques, and handmade crafts and jewelry.  This is the sort of shop you always think belongs in a mystical urban fantasy, a little half-hidden building that hovers somewhere between this world and the next, trembling with magic.  And it's about to go out of business.

You see, their air conditioner broke down some time ago, and their landlord refuses to fix it.  They lost over $6000 in merchandise last summer due to the excessive Texas heat.  They're expecting the same this year if they can't get it repaired.  

So, they've been setting up a couple of things to try to help fund a replacement a/c unit, or to fix the old one. 

They're going to hold a gathering and silent auction at their shop on May 26th.  

But Wolfe has also begun a campaign on indiegogo to help pay for the unit.  There are perks-- handmade jewelry.  

So go take a look at the campaign and their shop site, and do help spread the word or contribute if you're so inclined!  Also be aware that they take online orders from their web site.  Feel free to browse; you might find something perfectly suited to yourself or someone you love!

A/C Fundraiser Site

Mammie's Country Candles Home Page

So, I have a final date for flying out to California!  I'll be leaving in about two weeks.  

I'll be working the same position I had when I was there previously, which is a bit of a disappointment.  But at least I know what I'm doing in it.  It will be pretty easy to slip back into a normal routine again.

They've been extremely busy and understaffed in the department I'm returning to, so I'm probably looking at overtime.  Which unfortunately means that I'll probably not be able to do very much artwork for the duration of the summer.  Hopefully I'll be able to do something here and there on my days off, but I'll have to see.  I may just need to get out and do some hiking and other nature-oriented activities, since it's been far too long since I've been in a place like that.  I miss it terribly.  And I need the emotional reprieve, and the spiritual connectedness that comes from being in a natural environment.

In Autumn, business slows down, so I'll have more time to devote to art things.  I'm still wanting to find a good way to balance the artwork with the day job (or evening shift job, as it will probably be) without sacrificing too much art productivity.  I probably will just have to work in cycles... when it's busy at the resort, lessen the focus on the art, and when it's slower, increase the productivity on the art.  Also, the resort's closed in January, so I can either stay there or go on vacation, and focus on the artwork full time.  

Internet access will be somewhat unreliable, though we do have it.  It's just that limited bandwidth for the entire group of employees tends to be used up rather quickly.  So I will probably make posts on days that the internet works.

So, in short, I will still be doing artwork, just won't be quite as regular. 

I have so much packing to do, between luggage for the flight and boxes for later shipping... eep.

Hello, friends!  

So, I know it's been awhile since I've posted artwork here, so I thought I'd post a few of the character portraits I've completed.

I have two left, but here are the four I've completed so far. You guys know the drill in how to enlarge. :)

timelord1's Maeve Kennock, dulcinbradbury's Aileann, just_the_ash's Moraiwe and Angamarth (a special order), and timelord1's Roghrid.




I also started a new painting to try to coax my muse out of hiding. Well, it's sort of a new painting-- this is actually a redo of an older piece that I never finished.  I call it Masquerade.  I'm using more of a color-sculpting technique for this one, rather than using a tight line drawing and building on that.  Keep in mind that this is VERY rough still, just blocking in basic colors and shapes.  This painting has now gone through three re-works.  It started off similar to this, with her standing in a maze of arches, in the water.  I then moved her into open ocean, with the ruins of an arch in the background.  But I think I like the more claustrophobic feel of having her standing within the architecture.  I also changed the color scheme a little-- she was wearing a purple gown before, but it blended too much into the indigo/violet shades of the background.  And I changed her pose.  She will still be standing in seawater, and the mask will be weeping.  No clue how long this one will take me, as other projects will take priority, but it'll make a good warmup piece to work on at the beginning of art-days.

So, an update!  

I've still not heard back from the manager at the Green.  I'm going to try to scrounge up an email address and contact him that way; it may be easier than trying to catch him on the phone up there.  

I am feeling better stress-wise, slowly but surely.  I still have my moments, but it's improving.

I completed another portrait last night.  Three more to go!  (timelord1 and erigeneia, these three are yours!)

So, I did a little updating of my gallery site and my Zazzle.  Mostly, I just uploaded the boat-load of newer artwork to my gallery page. On Zazzle, I changed the category cover art, and added some products.  The products won't show up until they're approved, but do feel free to browse what's already there!  It's slowly but surely expanding.  I also lowered the royalty percentage, so products will be less expensive than they have been.

I started a personal blog with the intent of visualizing certain accomplishments and mindset changes in vivid detail as if they had already happened.  I wrote in it several times yesterday as a precursor to things I set out to do, and wouldn't you know it-- it was very effective!  I'm going to keep up with this, I think.

And, that's about it for now.  Hope everyone's been well?

As most of you who follow this blog are aware, I've been living with my family for the past couple of years in order to help caretake full time for my grandmother, who has Alzheimer's disease.  It's been insanely stressful, and not only because of the caretaking duty.  I haven't spoken publicly about my family, and I hesitate to do so here, but I will say that this household has been the cause of a large amount of stress.  

I've put a lot of thought into whether I should stay or go.  Any way you look at it, it's not an easy decision to make.  I will say that some of the issues I've had with my family (not my grandmother's condition) are the primary reason that I've finally decided.  It's necessary, for my own mental health and well-being.  I've been verging on a total emotional collapse for longer than I'd like to admit, and I need to get away for my sanity's sake.

So, I'll be, if all goes well, returning to California to live and work where I did before I came here.  The place wasn't perfect by any means, but it became home after living there on and off for several years.

That means that I'll once again be working a full time paid job.  Well, I should say, a part-to-full-time job, as hours vary-- it's a resort, and like most resorts, has busy seasons and slow seasons.  This does not mean that I'm giving up on the artwork in any way, shape, or fashion.  I will continue taking commissions and creating crowdfunded pieces.  I will likely not be able to do Free Sketch Day on a regular basis, but I might be able to set aside a day every now and again to gather prompt requests and work on them over a period of time.  The internet at the resort is... less than reliable, and has limited bandwidth, but it resets once a week.  I'll post updates and such on those days.  

That being said, though, I may need a small break from the art while I get acclimated to Cali again.  A week or two in which I can just be, disappearing into the forest and remembering who I am.  Because I've sort of forgotten.

I still have five portraits to complete, which I will do before I leave.  I've nearly completed the big double-character half-body portrait; just needs a few finishing touches which I will put in today.  The others are all normal head-and-shoulders pieces, so they shouldn't take quite as long.

I've been slipping back and forth between feelings of guilt and immense relief over my decision to leave.

The manager of the resort is out this week, but I will call him up at the beginning of next week and hopefully have a date set for return. 

So, I've decided that it'd be best to view the caretaking thing as an unpaid full-time job, because of the sheer number of hours that is required of me.  I've only had one day this week to work on the art, which makes me glad that I took the time to do as much as I did.  I might be able to do a little work today, but tomorrow will be taken up from about six in the morning until ten at night.

As much as I love my family and want to help, it is frustrating, especially since the artwork is my only source of income right now.  I even considered leaving to return to California (I've been told I have a job up there at the resort that was my home and workplace for several years, whenever I want to return), but decided against it when my family said that they needed me here to help out, at least until they can get some sort of funded care for her sorted.

So, wish me luck in this balancing act!   

So after almost a month of struggling to create artwork every time I had time to sit down and attempt to work on projects, I finally had a wonderfully smooth day with few interruptions and ACTUAL DRAWINGNESS.

I did rough line art for all-- read it, ya'll, ALL-- of the outstanding character portraits.  All in one day.

I'm gonna post them here because, well, I'm so happy that I actually got something done without, you know, erasing it five thousand times or getting dragged away two minutes after beginning work, that I could scream.

Fair warning-- these images are still very rough.  They need a lot of work.  But I completed stage one of portraiture and kicked serious ass today, so you all get to see them.

If Photobucket ever finishes uploading them, that is.



( Several unfinished drawings beneath cut. )

Hello, all!  I'm whisking by here to leave a short little update before hitting those very, very late character portraits.

These last few weeks have been difficult.  I've spent the majority of my days caretaking (which I'm sure you all are sick of hearing about for now, and so I won't go into too much detail).  The evenings have seen me struggling with character portraits, drawing and redrawing and redrawing things until I was cross eyed.  Unfortunately, a side effect of stress for me is that nothing I create looks right to me, so artwork tends to be like treading upwater.

I'm trying really, really hard to beat that funk this week.  I warmed up today by starting on a sketch of Taylor Kitsch as John Carter.  It got off to a bumpy start, and I'll finish it up later, but it got my drawing muscles revved up enough to start on the next character portrait on the agenda.  It actually seems to be going rather smoothly so far!  (I really hope I didn't just jinx myself by writing that.)

In other news, I have a few ideas that I may be implementing with this blog in the next few months.  I want to get caught up and find my working rhythm again before adding projects and/or events to the list, though.

And, another week is upon us!

As I've been dealing with a lot of family-caretaker issues this week, with both my grandmother and my brother, I've gotten behind on the portraits, so I am going to exclusively devote this week to catching up on them.  So, no Free Sketch Days this week.  Hopefully I will be able to hold it next week.

I'll try not to leave too much radio silence here, but I don't usually like to post in-progress images of the portraits for reasons not entirely defined in my head.  So I'll probably be posting images as I complete them.  And I might do some work on the crowdfunding pieces, but only if I start to catch up on the portraits, which are first priority.