Yay! I drew something that’s not fan art. This is my unfortunate reality, because I’ve been doing so much more of the former these past few years. It’s just easier when the characters are ready-made.

I’ve been trying to get back into doing original art though. It’s hard for me to come up with concepts, but it’s usually the little things in my surroundings that stimulate my artistic muse. Last night I took a spontaneous trip to the Fairhope Pier with my older sister. Lots of people were there fishing, and I took a few photos, which I posted on tumblr.

Today, I decided to draw a guy and a girl standing on the side of the pier, the guy fishing and the girl standing next to him. I sketched it out like that, but I wasn’t feeling the look of the guy, so I decided to just draw the girl—and that she should have awesome natural hair, and I would suck it up and draw the detail in her hair texture.

I named her Marjani, which means “coral” in Swahili.

Last Saturday, I attend a natural hair meet up for the first time. It was held that afternoon at a popular restaurant, The Spot of Tea (everything is good there). I initially found out about the group while browsing Meetup.com. There I came across the group for naturals in my area, founded by Tanene Jackson, a local hair stylist. Thing is, when I first went to my old hair dresser, asking her for tips on caring for my newly natural teeny weeny afro (TWA), she gave me Tanene’s number. That was almost two years ago, and I never followed up.

A few months ago, I picked up a flyer featuring community activities held at my old high school, and there was a class called Natural Hair 101, taught by none other than this same Tanene. I couldn’t arrange my schedule to attend that class either, but still, I thought it was pretty cool that this person’s name kept popping up, particularly in association with natural hair.

So, I signed up for the local natural hair group on Meetup and waited for notification of the next get-together. The first one I missed, but I had signed up my older sister and hair-inspiration to attend with me. The next meetup that came around, Crystal was the one that signed me and my mom up as her +2.

Saturday rolled around, and I had forgotten all about the meet until Crystal reminded me a few hours before. So, I drag up the will to get ready and go. My hair was currently flat-ironed, and I had really wanted to rock a nice twist-out for my first meet, but whatever. As I we approached the restaurant, we saw a girl walking down the street with her hair pulled back in a puffed. My mom wondered out loud if maybe the girl was going to the meetup, and my sister and I were like, “Nah.” Of course, we get to the restaurant, and the same girl is sitting at the table. I found out she’s from St. Kitts, here attending university because the University of South Alabama (my alma mater) has this amazing meteorology program that no one ever talks about.

Long story a little shorter, I got to meet some really nice naturalistas, including the elusive Tanene. She was very warm and personable and I would really like to visit her salon soon. (I usually like to take pictures at this sort of thing, but I felt wasn’t comfortable taking photos of complete strangers in such an intimate setting. Next time though…) Tanene told us about the Natural Hair and Wellness Expo that she was hosting next month on June 18. I will definitely try to attend. However, I literally just signed up for Art as Business: Using Social Media to Promote the Arts which happens to be the same day, but the times overlap so I will be able to attend the Natural Hair Expo later in the day.

I’m going to have to get some pieces together to bring to the seminar. I just ordered a new set of Moo cards that will be in next week. They’re regular size this time rather than the mini cards that I usually order. I can’t wait to see them. I just received the card holder in the mail today and it’s so great. I was delighted simply by the way it was packaged, not to mention what was actually inside.

Just something I whipped up for my dad. That’s actually the house in which I spent the first 5 years of my life. My grew up in this house. Even though most of my life was spent in a different home, I have lots of very fond memories of my time spent here. It doesn’t really seem like it was over 20 years ago.

That’s a dummy phone number at the bottom.

That was my day today.

It was good, as it reminded me of all the art projects I’d like to start and complete this year. I was able to network, give out a few business cards (which I need to reorder, featuring more recent art).

In light of recent tragedies, I’m participating in a few fandom auctions in with winning bids being donated to Architecture for Humanity.

I’m a little disappointed that I managed to miss both the super full moon and the Fairhope Arts & Crafts Festival this weekend. I haven’t been able to attend the Festival for over a decade because of some other more pressing engagement. This year I was actually free to attend. It’s frustrating. Anyway, Arts Alive is in a few weeks, so, hopefully I will make it downtown for that.

The pencil art from the illustration featured on the homepage of my portfolio site:

Like always, anatomy and proportion issues about in the initial stages of both drawings.

Been listening to the new album from ADELE, entitled 21. It took me a while to get into the richer,more refined production of the songs, but I do like it a lot. Her cover of “Love Song” (originally by The Cure) was an unexpected, yet pleasant surprise.

I’m up for a busy weekend. At the end of it, I expect to have quite a few lovely photos to share.

Late last month I finally purchase a new phone. I chose to get the iPhone 4 16GB, since it seemed like a pretty good bargain, and I had been due to upgrade my phone plan for about 2 years. My old phone was a Samsung A737. It was compatible with the 3G network, but it’s very small and lacks a QWERTY keyboard, so I was very disinclined to reply to text messages in a timely manner. I really like Samsung products, so, if I hadn’t gotten the iPhone, an Android would have been my alternate choice.

So, enter the iPhone. Initially, I was very underwhelmed by the new device and began to reconsider my purchase. However, after taking time to read the instruction manual made available through a series of emails that AT&T/Apple sent to my inbox, I began to have a lot more fun with it.

Personally, I find the iPhone to be most ideal for social networking. I love the ability to live tweet/share images with a few swipes of my fingertip. Very cool and convenient, indeed.

The camera feature is also very nice. That wasn’t one of the selling points for me, but it’s definitely a plus. I checked my photo archive to find that I’ve taking a photo everyday since I got the phone. Before, doing a 365 series was such a chore, and now I snap pics of my daily life without second thought. My favorite part of the camera feature is the duality of having a lens on the back AND front of the camera. I suppose this was developed for the FaceTime feature, which I have yet to use, but it’s one of those things that doesn’t seem like a big feature until you get it. It’s so handy to have.

I still have yet to test out the HD video feature. I’m just not into vidding. I like making still images. However, my youngest sister is going to be participating in her first hair show this evening as a stylist, so I’ll try to capture some video along with photos. Should be fun. I’ll most likely be using Instagram for most of the pics.

Along with the phone, I purchased the Otterbox Defender Series Case, recommended by the salesperson for a person who is “hard on phones.” I would drop my old phone all the time, but I think it was premarily due to the small sized and smooth edges. However, as someone who’s had to get her laptop screen replaced from impact damage, I did not want to take any chances with this phone. I love this case, particularly how the silicon shell fits around the hard, protective shell. I just watched the video on the link, and have now learned that the clip on the back pops out to act as a stand… Did not know that before. o.O

In summary, I like my new phone a lot.

It doesn’t snow here very often, the last time being 1996. Even then, it was the wet, sleet/slushy kind, not the white fluffy stuff we got this past Friday.

I saw a photograph on my tumblr dashboard of the lower half of a girl standing on a rock in the middle of a stream. I liked the concept and decided to use it as basis for a new piece.

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It seems I’ve reached a crossroads conundrum in my artistic endeavors. Being presented recently with a new design opportunity has caused me to reevaluate what it is that I want to do with my talents.

I went to college and pursued Visual Arts because that’s where my passion lies (apparently). I got a degree in Graphic Design so I could get a job (ha!). I minored in Photography because, well, the art curriculum of the college required that I have a minor concentration. But I’ve grown to enjoy that art form as well.

At the end of the day, though, I create things because I can and I enjoy the challenge that comes with the visual problem solving and coming out with a creative and aesthetically pleasing solution. When I see the effect my work has on people, how they enjoy and appreciate it . . . well, that gives me the drive to create more.

This new design venture, though, has me diving back into the world of design. It’s a little scary, slightly overwhelming. After a while, those feeling will pass, and I just have to dive in and see where my skills take me.

Art is never finished, only abandoned.
—Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)

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Just purchased Corinne Bailey Rae‘s new album, The Sea. It is amazing, bittersweet and all around awesome. I also purchased OK Go’s Of the Blue Colour of the Sky. It’s nice and funky. They’ve progressed in their sound, but it’s still distinctive, so it plays like a natural evolution.

So, I turn around and go back home, thinking I can take my sister’s care instead. I get in and start pulling out of the driveway. I shifted into drive and found that the steering wheel was virtually unresponsive. I go back in the house and ask my sister about it, and she tells me (mumbling from under a mound of covers) that maybe it needs more steering wheel fluid, and at my protestations, of course she doesn’t have any available.

So after briefly weighing my options, I decide to just drive my car to get the tire changed. But, guess what? The battery has suddenly died. *head desk*

So, In this instance, it would be great if I knew how to change a tire and jump off a car. :/

Yeah. It was rough.

Last night I set up a store front on Etsy (artgyrlshop.etsy.com) to sell off some of the fan art that I did this past summer. I put up four pieces initially and one has already sold, so that is very encouraging. The funny thing is that it costs money to make money, initially, at least. Once I made the sale, the reality of shipping the item in a timely matter quickly set in. I had planned on mailing it off today, but, because of the weather and the fragile quality of the paper, I did not want to risk taking it outdoors, exposing it to humidity that could cause the paper to curl and wrinkle.

I did go to Alabama Art Supply and purchase some clear plastic sleeves at 35 cents a piece—I bought 10.  So, the art is all sealed up and waiting to be mailed. Now is the task of getting a study cardboard envelope in which to mail it. I don’t have any lying around, unfortunately. Still, I consider all this as a business investment. That feels so weird to say, but it means that I’m getting serious about my craft and publicizing the services I have to offer.

I’ve been thinking about this seriously for the past few weeks, and I will be creating some art pieces specifically for cards and prints. My mother gave me some encouragement when I spoke with her today about my plans. She was helpful in pointing out that I already had a few old graphics that I could easily put on notecards. Hopefully I can start producing these in the next week.

It’s good to get these things sorted out as the new year approaches.

You may also notice some slight changes to the layout of the blog. The new header is the most obvious thing. The old one has been up for about a year now, so I figured it was due for a change. After fighting with WordPress for the better part of 2 hours I finally got the upgrade installed and every thing working properly. There were several moments when I came a hair’s breadth away from taking my frustrations out on my poor MacBook *pets*, but I’m glad it didn’t come to that.

…and then there’s that novel that needs to be finished.