Portraits!

I've been meaning to share this for FOREVER...! this has been something that has been somewhat 'public' for a while now, but back in January I was able to upload a whole new gallery to my main website. It was a division of art that I never really thought I'd find myself consistent work in -- one of those things that I knew I'd dabble in as a freelance opportunity here and there, but not something I'd partner with somebody in.

About a year-and-a-half ago I found myself at a little show called SPACE here in Columbus, OH. It was a typical day with people stopping by and leafing through my books, occasionally buying something then meandering along their way, until this one lady stopped at my table, and pointed out one of my prints that she specifically liked the style of, and asked if I'd consider doing portrait commissions for her. I was really taken aback by here inquiry(more or less that she was able to see past my anime-ish style and really saw the technique) but I said "Sure!!!" and asked what she had in mind. She said she wanted commissions of her wedding clients that she photographs. I was awed as she continued to tell me her story, and then a bit of a partnership was born!




This is the print in my book that the photographer noticed, and thought
the style would resonate well with the look of the portraits she wanted



  

These may seem 'old' since they've been up on my site for a while, but it was finally time to talk about them!

And if anyone has a favorite photo that they would love to see turned into a painting, and is interested in commissioning me, feel free to email me for further inquiries! I love painting people and animals!

Little Experiments!

Well I JUST noticed that it's been over a year since the last post where I swore that I'd try to be better about updating my social media... I don't know which is more relevant; that I keep failing at updating or that I keep trying.

So lately I have been finding a little extra time during parts of my day that I probably shouldn't have, but it's always (and I mean always) when I'm out of the studio. It's been a little frustrating, because I have sooooo many pet projects that I'd like to get into more, or items that I would like to experiment with, but I can't because my time in the studio is spent working on paid freelance projects.

With all this extra time I've been finding myself with (it's intermittent btw) I decided to see just what portable art supplies I could easily carry with me in a messenger bag that wouldn't be too heavy or cumbersome in my situation. Turns out that a portable watercolor set from Winsor & Newton that I had purchased for my study abroad in Rome was a perfect candidate! I have been itching to get into watercolors again, so this has been perfect!!!! To accompany my watercolors, I've added my Prismacolor Color & Watercolor pencils, and a set of Derwent Inktense Color Pencils. All supplies that I've had in my studio for years, with all of the intents and purposes to break them out to play with them, and to branch out into colored art that wasn't digital.

This is the bulk of what I've been carrying with me (minus the Wacom tablet and keyboard, ha!) and there are still a few things missing, but it has been such a relief for me to use the time away from my studio the best I can. It's a great time to experiment and see what techniques and products work well together for me and the way I do art.

 

And I'm even doing them outside when I'm out in the pasture with my horsey!

Back up on this Horse

So,
Hey!

I just read through some of my old posts, some were drafts that never got published, and some did get published (guess that wouldn't make them drafts, eh?). I can't even recall when the last time I posted on here was; it has truly been forever. I was proud of myself for keeping things like my tumblr and my L.L.C.'s facebook updated with artwork for a while, and then July 2015 hit, and it has been crazy, and when you're a person who already feels like they have little time and then you try to add an extra event into your schedule that already feels like a chore to you (when you'd rather be creating art than just posting it) but you try to keep up with it for the sake of keeping up with it (in this case, my online presence), it doesn't just become a chore, it becomes an arduous task. Whoops did I just say that about my social sites? Why yes, yes I did.

So what happened for the rest of 2015?

It was strange.

For starters, at the end of August I managed to fall off my horse in the exact way that I landed with multiple fractures in my pelvis. Yup! 2, to be exact.

That pretty much put my life on hold for a good 6 weeks with recovery time and other mental hurdles from my injury, and the biggest art rut that I've experienced in ages because of my temporary lifestyle change. Thankfully despite my fractures, I didn't have to have surgery. I was told that between the fact that I'm young, and that the fractures were in non-weight bearing parts of my pelvis, that I would heal just fine over time. Thankfully they were right! I'm now all healed up, with some mild stiffness here-and-there.

One factor that made this injury more interesting was I had plans to go to Hawaii since June, and by the point in time of the injury, just nearly over 6 weeks prior to leaving for that trip. I don't know how many of you had ever broken a bone or been around someone who has broken a bone, but this was my first time of ever breaking one. 27 years and a perfect non-breaking bone record (go big or go home, in my case), so not knowing what the healing time was, being told 8-10 weeks was a bit of a shock. I mean, I get it, it's a bone...they're not supposed to break, especially not the pelvis, at least not easily. Thankfully after 3 weeks despite my fractures not being fully healed, my doctor cleared me to resume my daily life -- no limitations! So I was good-to-go for Hawaii!

When I had returned home from Hawaii, my body and my mind were finally clear enough to tolerate making art in my studio, and I've been picking myself up bit-by-bit and rebuilding myself for newer opportunities, and harder challenges.

so there you have it, in a nutshell: busy summer, broken pelvis, Hawaii, and new challenges + typical winter hibernation.

So now I'm crazy busy, working on a graphic novel through a publisher, yes a publisher. Taking on commissions, getting some long-term freelance gigs, maintaining my full-time job, and hitting the road on the weekends for shows to sell prints. woo!

Jan and the Cons

We're in the final week of January...and winter has officially stepped up it's game. With the arrival of Winter Storm Juno, it's been a little intimidating to say the least. When I first heard about Juno (before Juno became Juno), all I heard was that it was gonna hit the Northeast pretty hard. Thank you, Ohio, for being in the Northeast, but not being in THAT Northeast. I'm really hoping that all the people who are being affected by the storm are going to come out of this ok, and not be without provisions for too long. Officials have really been talking up this storm, so hopefully people heeded the warning seriously and prepared for the worst. But Ohio has certainly seen it's seasons of severe power outages caused by severe storms, but winter is never fun to deal without modern day conveniences, no matter where you live.

That's not at all to say Ohio hasn't seen it's fair share of snow as a result of Juno. Right now we are covered in a fluffy blanket of snow, with temps in the single digits again. I. Seriously. Hate. Winter. Seriously. As long as Ohio doesn't get blasted between now and let's saaaayy, oooohhh, next Monday, then we'll be good. This weekend is Ohayocon here in Columbus, and I nerdily dub it my "social event of the year". Last year I had pre-ordered my pass, but couldn't use it because Ohio had consequently gotten hit with a pretty crippling snowstorm of it's own right before the con. I mean, counties all around were shouting out level 2 snow emergencies, and not to mention I was pretty much trapped in my house. Our lane was completely impassable. So when I heard about this "Historic Blizzard" coming in to hit the Northeast, I just pretty much rolled my eyes and cursed. But, thank you Ohio, for not being in the way. Maybe we can still be friends.

So here's to hoping, and keeping my fingers crossed that the badge I had pre-ordered over the summer for Ohayocon 2015 doesn't go to waste thanks to another storm, or blizzard, or general impassable conditions.

Wow!

So the weather here in Ohio has mellowed out (for the time being anyway), and if it has to be winter, this is surely my kind of winter. The temperature has stayed within the range of 28-36 degrees. It has purely been enjoyable. Not too frigid where every second spent outside is sheer torture, and not too warm for all the snow to melt to expose the depressing environment of a bare Ohio landscape in winter. Not saying that I want it to stay this way for long, every day I tick off a day on my calendar and count the days until spring.

Still plugging away at the ol' life. Things have certainly gotten interesting in my end, and hopefully once some time has passed, I'll be able to share a few things. Needless to say, the things I'm going through right now, well, it's teaching me a lot about life. A LOT. I've never felt so overwhelmed and helpless, but thankfully I'm surrounded by loving family to help me through such times.

In other news, I've finally joined Pinterest, and am honestly a bit hooked! I had received a tablet for Christmas, and it's been fun to just occasionally pop up my board while I'm sitting on the couch, looking for other things, and it's just fun to save that quick little thing for later.

This is an older doodle, but something that I still enjoy rediscovering.

2015!

Well, it is 2015, 2014, what happened to you man, you used to be cool!

Seriously, it's 2015. It came here too quickly for me.

I've been meaning to post about this for a while, but about 2 months ago, my HP scanner had died. It was seriously one of the saddest things that happened to me in 2014, as silly as that sounds. My parents gave me that scanner 10 years ago for Christmas, and it's been an indispensable part of my of my studio ever since.

I'm sooo weird when it comes to replacing my electronics. For some reason I have to sit and mull over the loss of the piece and then gear up to replace it. Over the summer, my PS3 had died, and even though I was in the middle of playing 3 games on it, it took me 4 weeks to justify replacing it. Money wasn't even an issue, I could've gone out the next day and purchased a new one, but didn't, because that's just how I roll.

But anyyyyyywwwaaaaay, as I was building up momentum to buy a scanner, I was doing research on the standard specs for a scanner, and was shocked to see that my scanner that was a decade old, was actually on par with the scanners nowadays!

In my perfect mindset, if I have to be forced to put money down on a new device, the device needs to be a true upgrade (as long as the price is within reason, of course), with either phenomenal specs or something that will really increase my productivity. I was hoping to find a scanner with a bed larger than my deceased HP, which was 9x11.5" or so. All of the ones I was finding were about the same which was a disappointment, or looking at large-format Epson scanner that starts at $2,500. Yup. No kidding. I thought I'd be stuck with no solution to easily scan my 11x14" sketchbook and watercolor pages.

and then, I found this on Microcenter's website!

 It is an 11x17 scanner, that is actually under $500! I don't know if it's visible, but there are 2 8.5x11" sheets of paper fitting perfectly in the scanbed. I put the little bit of extra money down and got the nicer model, but omgeee! A beautiful baby in my digital arsenal  to help me import my larger format sketches.

So here's a large sketch, fresh out of my 11x14" sketchbook!

Hmmm....

I have something fun I'd like to share with ya'll! hopefully it will happen within the next day or two!

who can believe that Christmas is next week...PRACTICALLY AROUND THE CORNER! this time of year was always murder for me, as I'm honestly sure it was for most kids! as wrapped gifts started accumulating underneath the tree, it was pure torture having to wait until the end of the month to rip open that thin, ornate paper!

Within the past couple years my family has had some dramatic changes to how we celebrate Christmas. and especially the past 2 years, we've all sort of started waiting until Christmas Eve to set the presents under the tree. I've actually kindof enjoyed that method, it seems to add to the illusion of Christmas since I've gotten older and generally less excited about the Holidays. my biggest excitement now for the Holidays is the delicious Lamb dinner my mom makes for Christmas Eve dinner!

but anyways, have a sketch!