So I haven't posted in half a year and what do I post? A random personality test. More important updates to follow.

Your Personality Type: The Independent Thinker

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This seemed a good as a time as any to give you all an update on just why I've been so quiet around here.

The Good
Well I'm happy to report I'm at the height of my graduate experience here at the Savannah College of Art and Design. I've been learning about so many new exciting things, including how organizations look for and cultivate funders, the basics of marketing concepts, and proposal writing. On top of that, I'm starting an internship tomorrow at Georgia Shakespeare where I hope to get hands on experience in the matter.

The best thing about my experience here is that it's really cleared my head when it comes to starting my own studio. Before, I was overwhelmed by all of the little details and the great task of starting my own business, but now I've finally gotten insight on exactly how to go about starting my own business, and more importantly, how to keep it running. My goal now after graduation is to start my own illustration studio geared towards working with small publishers like Michael A LaFlamme who want control over their own illustrations and narratives.

Another positive experience has been the student newspaper. I've really been pushed by deadlines to challenge myself and I'm proud to have been a part of an award-winning paper and the author of a few useful articles and comic strips.

And finally, Spring Break is coming soon for a much needed break session! windfalcon and Insanejudge are kidnapping me to Yellowstone Park, but before that, we'll be dropping in on vestaka for a good ol time in Utah.


The Bad
Soo so so busy right now that I hardly have any personal time to dedicate to those dearest to me. It's also driving me nuts that I don't get much time to draw anymore, which is why things have been so slow around here. I've got a few sketches here and there to share, but I'm pretty much at an artistic standstill which means I'm probably going to explode with art when I get free time. Drawing the Rapunzel comic for the newspaper is really the only art you'll see from me of late. I recommend it to those of you who like dark fairy tales and sexy witches. Go give it a peek and let me know how you like it (Rapunzel Comic)


The Ugly
I had been planning on graduating in Spring, but thanks to an unorganized department, I won't be able to graduate when planned but will have to wait yet another quarter. At this point in my life, I am SO sick of school. I can feel that thinning patience which leads to burnout (and have been feeling it for some time). I'm really anxious to just...get out of school and really start my life and get my business going. So much stuff is waiting to happen, but it's on hold until I'm out of school.

I just have to keep telling myself that when I get out of here, I'll have a Masters and that's something to be damned proud of!

As if this wasn't ugly enough, my ID thief is back to charging bills in my name. I have been haunted by this crap for YEARS now and it likes to pipe up again when I have no time to deal with it. At the least, I think I've tracked down an actual address for this thief, so cross your fingers that something effective will be done to stop yet another ID thief.

The End?
Thanks to all of you for bearing with me thus far. Your kind words of encouragement are always a pleasure.

Here's to the future!

Because I'm a lazy ho, this journal has been cross-posted from DA, so no need to re-read, you DA-frequenters.

Whew...it feels like I haven't updated this place in an eternity! I'm alive and well, but feel a bit like Sisyphus at the moment...I keep rolling that big boulder up a hill and just never quite reaching the top. I've been so overburdened with projects that I really feel out of touch with everyone, particularly friends and loved ones. Once this phase in my life is over, though, I'm sure everyone will be seeing alot more of me. Things are soon to change...no matter how scary or exciting those changes may be.

Here's a glimpse into what's kept me distracted of late:

* The Eclectic Magazine. Took a job as the art editor for the school literary and art magazine called the Eclectic. Hiring me late in the semester means I've had to completely redo their previous editors practices, gather entries, process them, write articles, work PR, and sell popcorn on the block with a dancing monkey to get people to turn in entries. (many thanks to my gal :devgirlanime: for making a fantastic flyer for us)

* Rapunzel Series. Working on an illustrated dark retelling of Rapunzel for my independent study course. I'm really enjoying this project and the study of Grimm's Brothers tales, which brought me so much inspiration and enjoyment as a child. When I read their stories, I can still feel the magic I felt then in them back when my family lived in Hanau. I don't expect the Grimm's inspired illustrations to stop with Rapunzel once I'm done with this series. The Maiden With No Hands has piqued my inspiration as well, but one thing at a time *chides self*.

Also, I've started a Stock Challenge with a Rapunzel theme over at ladydove7-stock:. Go check it out for some great Rapunzel stock!

* The Blacksent Project. Listen...The Night is here...and it's a party time! I've been commissioned by aspiring author Michael A LaFlamme to design a website and complete 7 character portraits for his marvelous fantasy series, Blacksent. The best are yet to come with Michael's project! Go check out the website design I've built in action at www.blacksent.com

* Graduation??! WTF? oh yeah and I'm GRADUATING college in Summer, so that means I have a senior art show to plan...one that will determine whether I graduate or not! I have an entire gallery to fill with artwork...and I only have 5 pieces I want to show thus far (out of a projected 30 needed to fill the space). In other words, time to get my ass in gear and produce something worthwhile that has a coherent theme.

* Graduate...School? OMFG! What? You thought I was DONE listing things to do? NEVER! With graduation comes Graduate school! I have just finished entering a portfolio of art, a 25 page research paper, resume, and artists statement to the graduate review council at SCAD Atlanta where I am trying to enter one of the few Arts Administration degree programs in existence here in the US. Cross your fingers, do the hoola, dance the sha cha, or whatever helps bring me luck. I'm definitely going to need it. Hmm then there's that little challenge after of finding a place to live in Atlanta, a job, and a way to pay for $24,000 a year.

* Dragon Con and other Cons? Dragon Con is just around the corner, along with AWA and Conduit. Sooo that means matting, framing, and doing the paperwork dance.

* ...somewhere in here, homework is supposed to get done...but we'll see about that....

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but that's enough to chew on for a good long while. I promise a grand return to DA with spiffy finished work and more involvement in the community once I've finished rolling that boulder up this particular hill. Unlike, Sisyphus, however, I know how to pay big strong men to help me push it.

I'm off to drool for a bit...and get back to work. Ciao!

...The Ang Was Here...

Cross posted from DA, so if you read it there, no need to reread.

Well, it seems another Christmas has come and gone, for better or for worse. It's been a hectic and bittersweet holiday for me, but all in all, not too bad. It's nice to not have too much to worry about besides when to see who and which cookies will go straight to the thighs or to the arm cheese.

The highlight of my holiday has to be the visit to my father's hometown, the cozy little redneck town of Woodbine, Georgia. While we were there, we pulled up mismatched chairs in a little restaurant in town called Stan's. The mounted bass were all decked out with garlands and the 'hook the chain on the nail' game was there for anyone who might get bored of lollygagging around. Include Max, the eldery black Labrador and you have an atmosphere that can't be beat.

I knew I was in a redneck town when I was petting the dog and the group of smiling drunken rednecks nearby smiled in unison and started to talk to me:

Rednecks: "Well hello there, missy. How old are you? Eddie Sasser's daughter aintcha?"

Me: "Yeah...you knew him huh? That's a good dog."

Rednecks: "You know that dog thar ate John's leg and we're still waiting for him to barf it up one day. He ain't got no teeth anymore."

Me: "Ha ha...yeah? Guess I look young, I'm 25...."

Rednecks: "Wow you're quite a pullet!"

Me: "A...what? *starts to inch away thinking it's perverted*"

Rednecks: "No no, it's a farm term. It means a hen who can't lay eggs yet."

Me: "Haha...eh...ok. No eggs for me then! I'm quite happy without any..."

I think I finally left the conversation when they asked if I had an age limit.

So you know you've been hit on by a redneck if you get called a hen who can't lay eggs. Good times! Hope ya'll had a helluva Christmas and a soon to be Happy New Year:)

PS.
If anyone's looking for some good after-christmas gifts, I've just added a ton of new originals to my Original Art for Sale list. SCAD grad school lingers so I'm trying to raise money again. You know you waaant to buy theeeem:D *jedi mind trick*

So Thanksgiving has come and gone and I still feel full of pie.  I stuffed myself silly on pecan pie, pumpkin cheesecake, turkey, honey ham, mashed potatoes, unidentifiable bean mush.  Aaah a Southern Thanksgiving is definitely one of the best.  It was so odd this year to think how everyone has grown up!  The kids were gone so it was just us 'adults'.  Funny to think that not too long ago I was still sequestered at the little white plastic kids table.

Now I get to sit and talk about work and home like an adult, despite how this bores me to death....but I suppose it's stuff you HAVE to talk about or else everyone stares at you blankly.  Despite that minor feeling of alienation, it was a nice quiet Thanksgiving with new folks.  Everyone was very warm and welcoming and I felt like an accepted part of the 'adult circle' and not just a child to be set aside at a table.

Next year we might be having Thanksgiving at my brother's new house!  If that happens, we'll get to see how my family handles being interracial...which should prove...interesting.

Next year, I hope to actually bake a few pies myself and contribute to the tradition.  Hopefully, you all had a good one!  Anyone have any unique Thanksgiving traditions?  Mom and I invented Pumpkin Cheesecake for our family, how about yours?  Share and share alike:)

PS.  I finally finished a big holiday project I was working!  Go take a peek at my Winter Angel.  Expect cards in the mail soon^_~

I was staring at my corn-made hangers this past week and had a flashback to when my mother and I bought them at Walmart:

Me: Dude, hangers made from corn? Cool...*smells them to see if they smell like corn* I wonder if they taste like corn?
Mom: I'm not sure. *brings the hangers close to her face and takes a small lick*
Me: ...did...did you just lick the hanger? *dies laughing* So...did it taste like corn?
Mom: No...it kinda tasted like plastic...

Just proof that mom and I are cut from the same cloth.

Anyways, on to the important updates! I've been really quiet here for awhile thanks to one heck of a busy semester! I have several research reports to write, a book cover to pull outta my butt in the next few weeks, and not to mention I've just been made the Art Editor of my school's literary and art magazine, the Eclectic! I'm soo tired from working, but so very excited at the same time!

My Essay Topics (for the morbidly nerdy):
Disguising the Mask: Batman the Trickster
Rosemary for Remembrance: Flowers as Visual Metaphor's in Shakespeare's Hamlet

So I'll be missing from the art scene for awhile (and have been missing already), but I promise a grand return with a few spiffy projects in the wings!

Till then, keep the wine on ice for me.

...It's strange to think that I'm wearing the coat of a dead woman...
It's a simple brown coat long enough to cover my calves.  Fluffy and quilted with a faux fleece collar.  It used to belong to the sweetest old lady named Ms. Hynes, a dear friend of my grandfather's whom I met once upon a time years ago.  I was drawing and scribbling random doodles of elves and what have you while Ms. Hynes waited on my grandfather to take her home.  Little did I know that she was much more than just a smiling old lady, hunched awkwardly from too many years.  Somewhere along the way, that sweet smile widened and she took my art into her hands, musing with me about what I was drawing and what it meant. 

A chord was struck between us, a spark of a kindred spirit.  I found myself immersed in her words, listening to the tale of how, when she was a young lady full of energy and life, she would draw and paint with such inspiration.  Not one to sit still, her travels around the world took her to Egypt, a place I also have a special connection to ever since I could remember.  It was beautiful, she told me, exotic... a dream world I could never even begin to imagine at that time.  It was there she had an accident and broke her back, resulting in the uneven hunch of her back.

I know now it must of hurt for her to sit there smiling at me and running her shaking hands across my children's scribbles.  But even so, she smiled anyways and gave me such a warm feeling of being welcome. 

She must have been so beautiful in her youth.  Ms. Hynes died quietly one night while my Grandfather held her.  She had no one else left in the world but him.

Ah the random memories that hand-me-downs trigger.  Grandpa just couldn't bring himself to throw this old coat away, or any of her lovely coats.  He wanted me to have them to keep warm and safe.  I'd like to think she'd have wanted me to stay warm and happy.

Here's to you, Ms. Hynes....your spirit warms me even now.

Hey everyone, I just started up my first ever livejournal community called Angelic Shades!  From now on, this community will be where I post my sketches, writings, and art.  Personal babblings and randomness will stay on this account, but for the most part, you can keep up with my new art and creative processes there.

Also, feel free to join and post your own art and writings for me to critique!  I hope to get some grand interaction with kindred spirits and really sit back and enjoy the energy that comes about from so many people conversing and enjoying themselves.

I also will be sharing tips on resources and letting the folks there first dibs on all of my special offers, from project releases, to tutorials, to art sales, so go, go NOW!

 (Im'So it's been a little while once again since I've graced these pages and for good reason!  First off, I had BIG success at this past Dragon Con (a southwest convention for scifi, fantasy and horror), sold half my gallery and had the most surreal good time with Sam and Brenda, two of my best buddies who came all the way from England and Montana, respectively.  It was great to have them both in one spot.  There were many drunken conversations, nights of drawing, and being accosted by knights playing invisible card games (for a hint at our madness and photos of us acting silly see the list of doom).  I will never ceased to be amazed at the connections one can make with other people through the net.  Despite my dad's supsicions, Sam and Brenda did not turn out to be axe murdering child molestors.

Buut as soon as I got back, I got swept away in the waves of makeup work, essays, and tests (missing 4 days of college is BAD).  Thus the twitching and the silence.  Never fear, for I am return-ed!  I've got a big senior exit research paper I'm working on at the moment (that's right people, I'm GRADUATING SOON!!!...at least from THIS collegeXD) where I get to talk about Batman as a Trickster figure. How awesome is that??    I'm being graded on reading graphic novels and talking about something I love (Batman comic book nerd fangirl here).  Not only that, but this paper will be published in an anthology and I also might be able to design the book cover!

Mmm publicity.  Speaking of which, the first of the Blacksent fantasy novel that I designed the book cover is reaching its fruition!  By the end of the year, there'll be a book published in the stores with my artwork on it!  To be sure, you'll see a big announcement here of how to pick it up once it's out.  I'm super hyped and super proud about getting my name out there.  Not to mention Michael A LaFlamme, the author of the novel, is a super awesome guy that I couldn't be happier to work for.  Got to meet and talk to him at Dragon Con as well and he had such a kind heart.  He even gave a dollar to a bum that everyone else, including myself, ignored. That's kindness you don't see every day.

Other than that, I'm just sitting back and chilling and trying to enjoy this last semester before I get to face the shiny beyond that is the rest of my life.  Lots of love and hugs for everyone that I don't get to keep up with as much anymore.  I'm off to unwind a bit and then hit the books.....with a baseball bat.

And tell me if this is not the funniest random Batman comic panel EVER XD (I'm blaming this one on hanging around too many yaoi freaks...you know who you are!)

Well I have returned to the glorious grind that is college:  living off of tv dinners, lugging two ton literature anthologies, and bouncing of the walls of my insanely tiny shoebox (aka. my dorm room).  Here's this year's arrangement!

Dear god, I need to plaster the walls with something, either posters, or pictures drawn in my own blood before I go insane!  Yes Brenda, the duck says hello XD

It's hard to believe that this will be my last year at college!  By this time next year, I'll be settled and living in an entirely new arrangement pursuing what I hope to be the rest of my life's goals.  So far, I haven't nailed down any specific jobs.  I'm just daunted by the looming inevitability of what everyone warns me is the 'real world' where artists starve and pretty girls like myself get married and throw away their foolish illusions of independence and being an professional artist.  All I can do right now is continue working towards the small things that are ahead of me and hope that they'll amount to something.

Along those lines, after much matting, framing (aka me lazy buy frames at store>>), arting, and paperwork, everything is ready for Dragon Con!

 

This year, there'll be alot of firsts for me when it comes to conventions. This is my first time staying at a hotel (Frickin HILTON baby!) and enjoying myself at a large con and the first time I'll get to meet Sam, a wonderful artist from England (go see her stuff NOW!  She's so very talented and destined for greatness.)  I'll also be meeting Michael A LaFlamme, the author of the book Blacksent: Book of the Umbra, which I created the cover for.  I'm so excited as it seems so many opportunities are intersecting at this convention!  The stock artist of DA acclaim ,Jade Macalla, will be there to interview us about our artwork for his online show AND there's a ball especially for artists where many Atlanta gallery big wigs are attending!  On top of that, add spending four days chilling with one of my best home gals, Brenda, and I am in complete heaven!  Even if no opportunities pan out artwise, I'm happy just being able to spend so much quality time with people I don't get to see every day.

Till then, it's back to school with me!  I may grow a little scarce when September 1st hits as that's when Dragon Con begins, but if you need me, just drop me a line via email:)