:please stand by:

My desktop computer's in a shop for some much-needed upgrades, so this'll be the first week in a long time without a real entry. I believe I'm done with the pencil drawing I started last week, too, so you'll just have to wait until next week to see it. See you here?

:faded traces:

Winter is limping along to hopefully a quick end, with the calendar proclaiming spring right around the corner. With it ends my choice of working only in black & white for the duration (not counting Chinese New Year). It was an interesting experiment, although I'm not sure if it did much "good." The world is pretty black and white this time of year anyway, and we saw waaaaay too much white. It actually made me not want to photograph it.

I hope I can find something really colorful to signify the change. I was trying to find some Indian Holi celebration for that, but I wasn't able to find any public festivals in the area, at least not through a decent internet search. Perhaps it's not meant for "outsiders."

I'm also taking a Facebook detox, at least until the end of the month. I'm really focusing on how I spend my time, and what I want/need to do, and while I don't think I spend an enormous amount of time on there, it's still time better spent doing other things. It's sad that it's become the main form of contact between people today. Others lament it along with me, yet they don't answer my invites to hang out in real space. We'll see if my absence is noticed. Probably not.

And I'm also just trying to follow the maxim of "you're an artist, so make ART." Just started a pencil drawing, mainly to see if I still can do it. I didn't honestly think that I can't, but it's best to keep in practice nonetheless. I'm copying a photo of a Suicide Girl, one I wouldn't mind photographing as well. Don't judge. I'll probably link to her page once this is done so you can compare.

Forgive the crappy camera shot, hopefully my scanner will show it more faithfully when it's finished. I'm treating it as I do most pencil drawings now, working in layers, first with softer H pencils, then darker B pencils. So this is still pretty pale at the start.  

Two days in I noticed that the hand was a bit off, so I had to erase and redraw it. Glad I caught that now and not later. Another reason to love digital, true, but that's not the point with this one.

Lucky for me Blogger has rescinded its recent "adult content policy" decision, or maybe this wouldn't be allowed. The internet's fear of nipples goes on.

:doldrums:

Even though I spent the majority of the weekend scouring thrift and consignment shops for props for an upcoming photoshoot (for starters I'm looking for an "interesting" chair), I am disappointed that I have nothing really to show, other than a few shots of winter's continuing grasp on us, even with today being a scorching 50 degrees.

Maybe this foreverwinter is affecting me, but I'm dismayed at my lack of productivity this year so far. The ideas are there, I can see them in my head, and there are plenty of sketchbooks full, but something is not getting my arse in gear and producing. Lists of what to do don't help, though I continue to make them. Little notes of inspiring or intimidating quote soon become part of the background.

Too many distractions? Perhaps. No, definitely. I've always been a voracious reader (bought way too many books at the afore-mentioned thrift shops), so I don't see that as a bad distraction. The internet, definitely, even when I start out with a worthy goal in mind, soon you're tumbling down various rabbit holes. Attempts to quit cold turkey usually fail. I've cut back a lot on several culprits, but this is a part of our lives now. How much of it we let take prominence is the tricky part. I see many not giving up any resistance and swear not to be the same, but sometimes it seems like I just want to get over-stimulated with images, sound and information.

I've been contemplating, trying to figure out where it changed for me. My younger days, so much of my life was spent in creating. And it was just the joy of making it, or following the urge that I still can't describe except when it's denied me. Part of it now I think is "reward" and recognition. Sure I liked when my artwork got attention and praise, even more if somebody wanted to buy it, but when did that become the more important thing? It has no worth unless it gets "likes" on Facebork or it sells? Yes, I like all these things, but it shouldn't be the only thing.

Somehow, I need to get back to just the joy of creation. Which is partially why I started writing this blog. I think I get too impatient for the finished result, which is probably why I lean more towards photography now. I think, as I stated recently, that I need to return to more traditional media, like pencils or paint. We'll see what I come up with by next week.

:presence:

The winter continues its death grip on us. And, in its own way, on me in some aspects. Nothing for show and tell this week, partly because an attempt to venture out in the Boston area for supplies and such this past weekend failed miserably. The shoddily plowed streets and parking lots and people's sudden amnesia as to how to move in traffic in the winter defied all the errands that I had in mind. This crap can't melt fast enough for my liking.

So I guess I'll do one of these updates of where I'm scattered and squatting on the web. I've actually been wondering lately if less would be better, plus there's also so many more places online to showcase one's work, I wonder if we've reached a saturation point. Then I would read that perennial story about somebody who put up the equivalent of a one-page website, got "discovered," and is somehow a millionaire artist now. So I'm still wondering how to get the attention of the right eyeballs.

Case in point, got an email today from one site I'm on, barely, called SeeMe, saying they'd like to promote my work...if I upgrade to a "Pro" account, of course. I'm not saying they shouldn't make money through their websites, it just seems that there's many who prey on creative people with the promise of success. Cashing in on your dreams.

Well, that said, other places you can find me and my artwork:

DeviantArt - Been on here about ten years now. Artwork available as prints and other ephemera.

Instagram - It's been well-documented on here how quickly I got hooked on this.

Flickr - "normal" photos.

JPG - Best of the "normal" photos

Model Mayhem - photography involving models, which you might guess from the name.

Etsy - right now just postcards available, but I'm going to put more original artwork on there. I'd like to try and sell my dolls through it, but I can't imagine them getting through the mail safely.

MixCloud - I just joined, so there's only one mix up there right now.

Fine Art America - Another print site, that I have yet to figure out how to make work. They regularly show what has sold, and sadly it seems to be mostly "normal" stuff, or worse, paintings and such that are clearly copies of somebody else's photography.

There's a place for me somewhere, I'm sure of it.