Life has been wonderfully chaotic these past few months, so I've barely been able to keep up with all of comments and messages I've been getting, but please do not think they're not appreciated! I've got to say that I'm at the point that I don't know if I will be able to keep up with all of the activity online. I can barely find time to do art, so there is a delicate balance between showing appreciation to my fans (and critics) and producing more work to be enjoyed (and criticized). I hope you will all be patient with me and understanding as well if I don't get back with you right away.
"Wonderfully chaotic." Yep, I said it. I have two 99.9999% certain art-related business partnerships coming down the pipeline, including an agent and a collaboration with an incredibly talented artist. I won't say who just yet, as that is bad ju-ju, but I can say I'm incredibly excited to be working with these two men soon. Stay tuned for official announcements soon. Oh yeah, I just revamped my official website's gallery, so go check that out, too, and lemme know what you think! Oh... and I just celebrated my 1 year anniversary as an artist! I consider March 22, 2006 my birth as an "artist" (although it's certainly debateable that we're all artists from the moment we're born, but that's too philosophical for me right now), when I posted my first attempt at creating art, "A Paragon of Symmetry."
I have been struggling with my job. To maintain some privacy I won't go into too much detail, other than to say that I'm being put between a rock and a hard place and what was supposed to become a very handsome full-time position as of the beginning of this month got nixed by the CEO and President in a generic hiring freeze. Wankers! So in the meantime, I'm still a contractor, making enough money to get by and even spoil my son a bit, but without any benefits, including medical insurance. (My son's four-year wellness visit just cost me $296.00, weeeeeeeee!)
Speaking of my son, he's been my biggest challenge. I've recently discovered that he is a likely candidate for having High Functioning Autism/Asperger Syndrome. He just started in a special education preschool program and so far the results have been great... however, I know a number of you have been dieing to get together, pose, or just get a response from me... but please understand, he is my number one priority. As many of you may know, I'm a single mother but have an incredible support structure with my parents - so that's been great, but I can't keep my son in a daycare (he keeps getting expelled because of his disability) and that's making it very difficult to work a full-time schedule and demonstrate the serious productivity I could otherwise. This was part of the difficulty in me not getting hired full-time earlier and of course, RIGHT when I was approved and ready, the company installed a hiring freeze.
Laugh. It's okay. I did. It's pretty much my luck. But remember, I said "wonderfully chaotic." I'm really enjoying life right now and starting to feel like I'm living again. I've made some great online friends and really started to blossom back into the woman I once was.
And speaking of the woman I once was... I started working out again and readjusting my diet for a healthier lifestyle. My overall goal is to lose up to 75 pounds and in this first couple of weeks, I've already lost 12. If anyone has any suggestions or links they want to share for online resources, I'd love to see 'em, though I'm pretty confident that I'm doing this in a healthy, functional way and I've consulted my doctor on all of my shenanigans.
I didn't post tonight to pimp or promote anything, just wanted to say hello to everyone and kinda let you know where I've been.
In the meantime, to celebrate my anniversary I guess I'll highlight some of the artwork that I've produced in this first year that either has significant meaning to me or that I'm particularly proud of:
