A BIG CHANGE

My life has been a little upside down these last couple of weeks. In the past, I've read those articles that say things like "10 Things to Remember When Your Twenties Don't Go As Planned" and stuff like that, and I've always thought to myself, well hey, I must be the exception and not the rule because so far I am rocking my twenties! I am an adult! Yay and things!

And then recently there was some overly dramatic craziness which ended in me apparently being the bad guy. It's a new feeling for me - this ostracizing atmosphere where I felt like a leper or maybe an axe murderer and everyone just kind of looked at me like all of Pride Rock stared at Kovu in The Lion King II. You know what I mean?

It's crazy how all the good you can do, and how hard you can work, and how much effort you can put in, and that it can all be undone by some workplace gossip. I haven't maintained a lot of friendships with girls over the years because I don't enjoy the drama that they can bring. Sure, I have some really good girl friends, but as a general rule I've learned that girls can be really mean and petty and sometimes for no really good reason at all. And that's kind of what I'm taking away from this situation I currently find myself in. Girls are just mean, and sometimes they are mean just because they can be.

So I've had a lot of time for introspection lately. A chance to take a step back and really evaluate my priorities. What do I want to do with my life? Where do I want to go? Who do I want to be? And I've found some answers, some ways to use my God-given talents as an artist and designer.

It was my grandmother who introduced me to Spoonflower. She is an amazing quilter and knitter and author and fellow creative soul. She saw that Spoonflower was holding a fabric design contest and she encouraged me to be creative and enter. So I looked into it. And I created a couple of designs (that are now for sale!) and I entered a design in the Botanical Illustration Fabric8 contest.

It feels really good to be creating. It helps me calm down and relax when it feels like the rug has been pulled out from underneath me. It reminds me that this is what I was meant to do. And actually, I am pretty good at it.

So I've been applying to jobs in the design field. And I've been working on creating some awesome fabric prints in my Spoonflower shop:

 

So far I have just two designs up for sale, but I am definitely working on more. And if there's any designs that you are looking for and can't find, let me know and maybe we can work together to create the kind of fabric you might need.

One of my good friends said to me that when he was fired from one of his past jobs, his whole world opened up for the best. So here's to things maybe falling apart so that better things can fall together. I really don't know where the future will take me, but I am excited to see what happens.

Close But No Cigar Young Grasshopper

(If you haven't voted yet read about it here and then go here to support Prince-y in his quest for Monster Hunter domination! You only have until Monday to cast your vote, so the sooner the better! Please and Thank you so much, so very much to those of you who have already voted! We both really appreciate it!)


I spent all weekend on my Master Imitation for my drawing II class. We were supposed to pick an artist and draw a figure in their style. 

So since I did my presentation on Chuck Close, I figured I might as well imitate his style since I didn't really want to do any of the other artists. 

Chuck Close's work looks like this: 

So my self portrait had to be in a similar style. It looks easy enough, right? But it take for freaking ever!

Here's what I came up with:

My teacher told me to draw a grid and go from there. So that's basically what I did. Then I used different colors and geometric shapes to build my figure. 


It definitely looks better from farther away than it does close up, but that's all in the style. 

Prince Charming says he can tell it's based off of me. But I never think anything I do really looks like me. At all. 

What do you think?

If You Don't Do Anything Else, Click My Links

It's not often where I shamelessly pimp a blog for you. Actually I don't know if I've ever done that - minus giving awards to other bloggers and raving about their awesome pages.

But today, today it is different. You see, I've been meaning to write a post on this for a little while, and with a recent competition and the chance of winning a Wii thrown in the mix, I figure now's a good a time as any to direct your attention to the man in my life, Prince Charming.

You see, Prince-y is almost as artistic as I am. (He's actually a really talented artist. Don't let me fool you.) He also loves his video games. So he heard about this contest for one of his all time favorite games Monster Hunter! 

This game started out for the PlayStation consoles and the PlayStation Portable. Prince and his friends used to sit around in a basement and play for HOURS upon HOURS. Now they're making a new Monster Hunter game, but this time it's for the Wii.

However, we don't have a Wii. 

[Enter Contest stage right.]

People created works of art to channel their inner Monster Hunter and Prince Charming created this gem: 

But you see, now we need your help. He needs you to go here and vote for "Matthew" so we can win a Wii and the new game Monster Hunter Tri. 

He's shamelessly asking people to go and vote and wondered if I could tell you all about it since I'm more popular in blog world than he is. So here I am, also shamelessly asking you to GO HERE and vote for him!!

(He will love you forever and ever and ever but not in a creepy way if you vote for him!)

Also, if you would be so kind as to hop on over to his blog and check him out. Prince-y likes to write game reviews, but there are some very funny stories mixed in occasionally, and also some updates on his virtual art. The poor boy only has four followers, and they all are IRL friends who aren't really interested in video games.

So, if you like video games or know someone else who likes video games then please please please for the love of all hand eye coordination Go. Check. Him. Out! And VOTE!

Pretty, pretty please, with sugar on top?


Update**


Prince didn't win. Actually, the guy who took first was the only professional artist to enter a contest clearly full of amateurs. Oh well - such is fate. We're sad, but dealing, lol.