Welcome back.
I haven't regularly used dA in a while now. Like a decade. For some time there, I was hardly making art at all, only occasionally doing some photography.
This year the world went to hell in a hand basket, but I've actually gotten back in a habit of creating. So, hey, better pull out the passwords and dust off the figurative shelves. I deleted hundreds of old posts. Ugh, when I got interested in photography in my twenties, I was eager to share everything, thinking "Hey this is a cool angle," or "I like these colors. Maybe others will too." But most of what I was posting was well, not that special. I found a few things I still liked enough to hold on to (or to save until I can download them onto my personal laptop).
And while my earlier paintings and such weren't awful, there just weren't many of them.
Now the challenge is to go through my files and find things that I should have actually be uploading over the last ten years. I lost quite a few photographs when a computer crashed a few years back (nothing like having that happen to convince you $10/mo for Drive isn't that awful), but I have a good bit to work with.
What prints are worth selling? Do I need to invest in a proper logo? Can I just use dA in place of a website? How the hell do I manage to get followers?
And now to start checking in on people again. Can't be a part of a community if I don't actually interact with its members can I?
Those of you are still here after all this time- how are you? Are you still creating? I hope you're well.
Devious Journal Entry
Updates and such
The last year has been nuts. Theft of my camera/computer equipment. Bell's Palsy. Bipolar. Alternative school. Art school. New studio.
Things will seem a little calmer when the studio is completely up and running. I've got the floor primed, started painting it. Then, all I'll have to do is touch up the walls, cabinets, and move all my stuff in, then I'll be in business. Exciting. Terrifying. Fun!
School is proving more difficult than I expected... Not because it's actually difficult, but because I'm so busy. I'm trying to not become an art school drop out, but it's looking more likely than not. Fingers crossed that I can hang in there for a while.
Here's to quitting the day job before I die.
My son, who was diagnosed as bipolar at the age of 4, has finally starting doing better... almost four years later. The right combo of medication, patience, and schooling seems to be paying off a bit. That's not to say that we don't have bad days, but they are becoming less and less frequent. The mood swings are almost consistently stable, and the violent tantrums have nearly stopped. (knocks on wood)
I've been unmedicated for a year now. Still no suicidal thoughts. I have started to have more frequent "down" days that I did for the majority of last year, but they tend to be tied more to stress than to no good reason at'all. I may soon be looking for a new medication, but I won't be doing Seroquel again. There simply are not enough hours in the day to sleep 14. The idea is to want to live, not to avoid living by sleeping. Ugh.
School at the Art Institute online has proven fun, and not terribly difficult. HOWEVER... Not only was my brand new laptop stolen last May, the following new laptop gave out on me as soon as my most recent classes started. So I spent the last three weeks trying to scrape through class only having an hour or two a day to put into it. Not to mention that a new (refurbished) motherboard for my Pavillion was over $500. I couldn't have purchased a comparable machine for that, but it was money that could have better been spent on my...
New STUDIO!!!!!!!!!
I signed a lease in January for a small studio space just off the square in good ol' Carrollton, GA. I got a heckuva deal on the space, even though it needs minor work. Mostly, just a coat of paint, one piece of wood on the cabinets, and filling in some holes in the bricks/tiles. (Meaning, nothing I have to hire a contractor to do.) I expect I'll lose my arse on this adventure. But. It seemed like the right thing to do. Life has become stale. I hate my job, and though I will be keeping it for some time, I dream of shooting enough people to work only out of my studio.
Photography: the only business where you can shoot people and not typically go to jail for it.
The home life is still unstable, but I'm managing. Unfortunately, with putting all of my eggs into this bright red basket (studio), should I HAVE to move, it won't be something I can afford. Here's hoping we can make it at least another year.
Website coming soon. Portrait specials coming soon. Dinner at friends only hours away. Twenty minutes left on the clock. Today. is. a. good. day.
Better late than never, eh?
I've been accepted at the Art Institute!!!! So excited. I'll be doing the Online Photography program via Pittsburgh's campus. I'd like to go to the Atlanta campus in person, but the drive back and forth would be ridiculous, job aside.