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Hello. I’ve been in commission land for the last few months and am happy to write I will soon be out of that land and entering a new kind of land, one where I can focus solely on my taiga project, aka do my own thing.

I’ve had fun working on the commissions, but it doesn’t give me quite the same spark as working on my personal work does.

This is a snapshot of the last commission I completed, which is a sketch of the customer’s late cat, Scooter:

When I haven’t been working on comissions, I’ve been reading a lot about the taiga and searching for some inspiration. Lately, I’ve gotten into reading about luna moths. They are so special and sweet! I’ve been playing around in Photoshop trying to put together a digital sketch that includes them, and I was thinking maybe my next taiga drawing could look something like this?

The composition still needs some tweaking, but this is the main gist of what direction I’m thinking of going in.

Beyond this drawing, I’ve been wondering how to include more writing into my artistic practice. Some part of me is really itching to get back into writing stories again, like stories that are kind of surreal and fairy-tale-like in nature and based in the taiga. But not the actual taiga, more like my own dream version of the taiga.

I started taking a poetry class recently, so this will help get me back into a consistent writing schedule. (I hope.)

Well that’s all, so bye!

Finally finished this one. Making it was a struggle and it seems somewhat unresolved to me, but I’m still going to keep it in the series. You can’t win every time. And if I were to devote my energy to making every taiga drawing the absolute best it could possibly be, it would likely take me fifteen million years to complete this series, and I don’t have that kind of time.

It may take me a few years to complete this series, though. Life’s been so zig zaggy. Sometimes, like in the summer, my goals are clear and I’m moving towards them in a straight line and everything’s fine. And sometimes, like lately, I’m inhabiting some sort of dense fog and I can barely see my hands, and I don’t know what my goals are, much less who I am.

I’m motivated, though, right now. I am ready to turn my life into a clear picture. What are my goals? What would I like my future to be about? Who am I? These are the questions I am looking to answer.

Hello there. Stopping by after what’s been a while, I see.

I lost some of the momentum I’d built up over the summer, mostly due to a job change.

Turns out I love my new job, so much so I willingly allowed it to take over my life for the last few months. It’s been fun.

I also had some complications arise relating to the infection on my hand, which delayed my ability to draw.

My hand’s all better now, albeit a bit scarred.

Here’s my most recent completed drawing. It was done for my cousin, Ayla. =)

That’s all I have for today. Until next time, enjoy this beautiful, emotional, and magical piece of music.

My poor blog I can tell has been collecting dust.

These last few weeks have been somewhat crazy.

On September 15th, a tiny wound on the back of my hand became infected. The infection seemed miniscule. I thought, “oh, I’ll just get some presciption level ointment, and it’ll pass.” But actually, it didn’t. It became persistent, red, and mean. And then I started getting tired, feverish. And then I was like, “great, it’s finding its way into my bloodstream.” And a course of oral antibiotics later, I can barely even remember what I was doing before this infection found its way into my life.

I haven’t done too much drawing as a result. I’ve instead learned a lot about wound healing. I’ve been fascinated with watching my atrocious-looking scab slowly morph into pink regenerated skin. Hopefully I don’t go backwards in the coming days! I would hate to have to take more oral antibiotics. Not a fan of them.

As seen here, I have not made much progress. I’m currently wrestling with some compositonal issues. I’m not sure what to do with the area to the left of the coyote’s face or with the coyote’s shadow. It may be a while before I finish this one. I’ll need to start my snow leopard commission soon if I want to finish it on time, which will likely involve putting this coyote on the backburner.

Goodbye for now!

Hello!

The St. Louis Park Art Fair went amazing! I truly couldn’t have wished for a better experience. It exceeded every expectation and even hope I had. I am so, so grateful to have been able to participate and meet and talk with so many wonderful artists and visitors. =)

This was the first time I’d ever been to the Outdoor Recreation Center and it was really cool to see it in person. It’s an interesting space, and kinda perfect for an art fair.

And I got my first official booth photo, too, which I am so happy about!

I probably won’t use pro panels again, though. Moving and transporting them… hurts. And I have bruises all over my arms and legs as a result, lol. Last night when I got home, I literally passed out on my couch I was so tired. I think in the future I may invest in a mesh wall tent or something that is lightweight and small enough that I will not have to use a U-Haul and risk being squashed. They did do a wonderful job though of keeping my things safe from the wind and my god, when they’re put together, they make for quite a sturdy structure.

Now, I’m back to the grind, working on drawing. I would love to have my current drawing done by the end of the month. I suppose I will see if I can manage this! If not, no worries.

Here’s my progress so far. (It’s still a bit a mess!)

Well I’ll see ya!

So yesterday I decided to take all the furniture out of my living room and set up a “rough draft” of my art fair display in there. Will say it was some sweaty work and today I am so, so sore and tired… But I am happy to have done it because now I have a good idea of what framed works I want to show and in what manner. Here are some photos of the set up!

That last photo is two projects I made while in college, ha. The first is my senior thesis, which is a handmade box containing “a week’s worth of dreams.” In the box, there’s seven handmade artist books, each representing one day of the week, and each artist book consists of an illustration of a dream an original character had that day. The second project is a handmade zine (first version was an artist book, but I’ve since made it into a zine) consisting of 8 sad girls in sad situations.

I really hope with time I can get back into making artist books and zines. I really miss that.

I also want to learn how to sew better and make little plush dolls and creatures. I am thinking maybe I can start working on that in the winter time when I’ll be stuck inside due to the cold?

For now, I’m just drawing away! My coyote drawing is coming along and I’m aiming to have it done by mid-September.

Okay, well that’s all so I’m gonna go and leave here this pretty and comforting song for anyone to enjoy in the meantime,

Things have been insanely GO GO GO lately, and I apologize for my lack of updates. I am going to do my best here to get this blog up to speed with what all’s been going on.

First off, a couple weeks ago, I took part in an art fair called “Bi+ Fair”, which was organized by the Bisexual Organizing Project, an organization I’ve been casually following for a couple years now. They sent out an email last spring about whether any bi+ artists would be interested in taking part in a DIY art fair and, as a bi+ artist myself, of course I said yes! =)

Sadly, I forgot to take any pictures while at the fair, but I do have a picture of my table set up, which I took in my art studio the night before.

While at the fair, I was able to talk with the other artists there. Going by my memory, I believe there were around 6 or 7 other artists. Unfortunately, I did not grab the business cards of all these artists, which I regret, but I will share the work of a couple whose names I remembered!

Below is a piece by Casper Warren. I actually bought a print of this piece and am very excited to soon have it on my wall. =)

“The Lighthouse, version 1” by Casper Warren

I also really enjoyed the work of Ayshia Yaeger. I’m wishing I could have snapped some photos of their work while at the event because, not having an Instagram myself, I don’t have access to images of the work they had displayed! However, after doing some Google detective work, I did find one image that gives a glimpse into their artistic style. Please click their name above to see more of their work via Instagram!

Since the Bi+ Art Fair, I’ve just been toiling away at tasks relating to the St. Louis Park Art Fair. Especially, I have been figuring out how to move Pro Panels around without killing myself and destroying all the objects in my apartment, which has been fun, haha. This actually reminds me… last night I had a dream I had just arrived to the St. Louis Park Art Fair to set my booth up, only to realize I had forgotten the Pro Panels! It was basically a, “oh my god, you’re running LATE and you forgot THIS” kind of panic dream. I guess I must be nervous on some unconcious, well now conscious, level.

Alright, I think that’s all I’m going to share for now.

Hey, things have been alright. I’m busy, but in a way that has been highly enjoyable. I’ve spent nearly every day this last week working nonstop on things I want to display and sell at the art fair in September. I’m thinking my main focus for that fair will be art prints, original artwork, zines, and artist books. I already have some things stocked up from previous art shows and fairs to use, but I’m hoping to expand on those things and include some artwork I’ve long had stuffed in various boxes, sketchbooks, and portfolios. Many of these poor little drawings have not seen the light of day in years and I’ve taken it upon myself to bring them back into the world. I matted and packaged a bunch of them today and it makes me so happy to see them all spruced up and shiny new.

Here’s a couple photos of some those drawings while I was in the middle of getting them ready…

And here are a couple of some drawings all packaged and ready to go!

That may be all I have to share. I haven’t done too much else lately. The smoke from the Canadian wildfires that is currently lingering over my home state has put me in a quarantine-like state. My lungs have made it quite clear to me that they hate this smoke, and that I need to stay inside. Otherwise, I will pay. And in some sense I have already paid, having thought yesterday I could get away with a trip to the grocery store and with running my window a/c unit while I slept. Yeah, nope. Lungs were not happy about that.

Okay well I’ll write again later.

Night Tree Icicles (graphite, 8.75 x 6.5 in)

Hello. I’m all done with this drawing now. It’s drawing #7 of what’s going to be a large amount of drawings (don’t know the exact number yet) for the Taiga Series. I’m feeling pretty tired from working on it, ha. Like I kinda feel like I just got run over by a truck. As much as I enjoyed working on this, I am happy to be moving on to the next thing.

On September 11th I’m going to be taking part in the St. Louis Park Art Fair and I’m so excited! It’s been a long time since I’ve been in an art fair. The amount of things I need to do to prepare for it I’m finding is overwhelming, but I like that. After a year of quarantining and nothingness, it’s refreshing to have a massive to do list. I will do my best to update here more often as a way to hold myself accountable with my progress! I want to be sure I get everything done.

A few weeks ago, I visited the studio and art business of a local artist here in the Twin Cities whose work I’ve always admired, Heather Renaux (https://www.heatherrenaux.com). All I can say is the visit left me incredibly inspired. It also left me with this clarity I have been searching for all the last year, like, I left realizing I knew what I wanted to do with my art. I want to have an art business! Like really have one, not half-have-one, like I have over the years. Getting a glimpse into Heather’s art practice was like getting a glimpse into how I could one day make a full-time living from my art, if I could manage it that is… I’m definitely ready to try. I feel like I’ve been treading water for years, not really knowing how to apply my art to the real world. But now here’s something that’s giving me all the feels and motivation. Maybe this is it!

Finally got the whole composition filled in. I’m still in the early stages of this, though, as one might be able to discern due to how underworked the values are. While there will be a lot of hard whites and blacks in this piece, there certainly won’t be this much. Or at least that is my plan. I guess you never know what curve balls a drawing has in store for you until you’re in the thick of it.

I can’t wait until I get done! I sketched out my next piece for the Taiga Series and it’s going to be a coyote! I really, really want to work on the coyote, so I admit I’m feeling a bit in a rush to get this one done!

Life has felt strange lately. I think it’s because of how transitionary everything is right now. I walk into the grocery store and suddenly I see visible faces alongside masked faces. I drive through downtown during rush hour and find myself in a grid lock because… I’m now no longer one of few people who commutes to work. I see crowds on the TV, in person, I see people out and about. There’s more energy. But also confusion, like… what?

And then there’s just my own self. My own body. I feel like I’m in some kind of transition, too, like I’m trying to acclimate to my post-pandemic self. Maybe I feel like I’m some kind of in-between person. Like there was Pre-pandemic Me, and then there was Pandemic Me, and now here’s Post-pandemic Me, and I don’t really understand her yet. Like she sometimes thinks she can go right back to being Pre-pandemic Me, but then she remembers that Pandemic Me came along and changed her in ways that are permanent. Pre-pandemic Me is somebody she can only have remnants of, not all of, and Pandemic Me is somebody she must accept and invite in, even if that person scares her on some level, because that person was sick a lot. How to integrate the experiences of the last year and a half? How to navigate now? How to just be okay with where I’m at, and where I’m going?

I’m hoping this all gets a little easier with time, both personally and societally. Much of it will depend on the nature of the pandemic here. Will things get bad again? Or will there be steady improvement?

Anyway, that is all I’ve got.