A quick update on what’s been happening lately…

• One of my co-workers was fired. Apparently while I was busting my hump at work, doing what one is supposed to be doing (you know, working), he was visiting personal websites, doing research on rents in other states, and (to my knowledge) chatting up his girlfriend on the web, all on company time. Mind you, this is just the little I was told. There might have been a lot more he was doing that none of us were aware of, but yea… that pissed me off to all hell. I come to work to friggin’ WORK. I need this paycheck, but apparently he didn’t need it that badly since he didn’t seem to take the job very seriously at all. The funniest thing was that when he first started, I started to feel like they valued him more, even though I had been there longer. LOL.

• Audi finally did remove his name from the lease. Yea… Whatever. I guess we’ll just have to see how long this relationship lasts, huh? *sigh* Lately I’ve been feeling like he wants nothing to do with me. I feel like he’s avoiding me, and even though he says he’s not (the few times I’ve brought it up), the distance he’s giving me is loud and fucking clear. For example, right now he’s gonna go clean one of his old rims (in an effort to make it more salable). But why is he doing that NOW? When I’m home? And I need HIM? He can’t do that during the day when I’m at work (earning a fucking living, by the way)? He has to do it now when I’m here and obviously in need of some TLC? UGH. It pisses me off that even with saying it out loud, he just doesn’t get it. Am I constantly doomed to want my partner more than my partner wants me?

• Ballistic Publishing finally notified me about my copy of Exposè 8. I’ll be getting it in the mail in early September. I’m very excited about this, since being printed in this book is a VERY big deal.

• I got my cartilage pierced as well. And unfortunately, since I simply did not know any better, I got it done at Claire’s. This is apparently a very very VERY big No-No. I found out after the fact that the piercing guns they use cannot be sterilized completely, and that the harsh jerking action of the gun itself could cause nerve damage. Ugh. So yea… lesson learned the hard way. Here’s to hoping I was one of the lucky ones and I don’t have any complications. Well, I should say, any MORE complications. For about a week, I thought my left ear might have gotten infected. But the swelling and redness eventually went away with some Wound Wash Saline and heat compress TLC. Right now, all four new piercings are behaving nicely and look like they’re healing properly. *fingers crossed* I’m planning on getting two more lobe piercings, right above the other two, on my birthday. But this time, I’ll be doing it with a PROFESSIONAL piercer and not at fucking Claire’s. I don’t know if I’ll be getting anymore. I’ve been thinking of getting my right eyebrow, but we’ll see about that.

• I’m absolutely IN LOVE with my new car. So far, everything has gone smoothly with the paperwork and red tape surrounding the owning of this new car. Since my mom works for Liberty Mutual, she was able to guide me in all the necessary insurance paperwork, and one of her co-workers was kind enough to handle all my paperwork. I’m going from no payments on my car, to a helluva alot of payments. Haha. Well, it’s not so bad, really. I’m paying $227 monthly for the car, and about $180 monthly for the insurance. Now… off to make it my own. I’m trying to find something cute and VERY lightweight to hang from the rear view mirror. In my T-Bird, I had a little plush bunny rabbit finger puppet, but I left that behind with the car. As much as it pained me to do so, I had to. That, along with the car itself, brought back too many memories of the past. I need to move forward and not look back. I’ll probably go to Walmart or Target tomorrow and see if I can find anything. I did manage to buy a sun visor for the front windshield today, though.

I can’t really think of anything else to discuss. *sigh* I’m gonna go vent my frustrations by killing some demons in Devil May Cry 4.

Ciao!

Art, Audi, Family, Job, Life, Rants Audi, ballistic, cartilage, cobalt, contest, ignored, iPad, lease, lunarpages, piercings, work

So it seems today was certainly the right day to go to Goodwill. Luckily for me, there is a big one right by my job. I dropped by primarily to find some new (so to speak) jeans. Thankfully, I did; I found two pairs that seemed like they had been custom made for me. Woot! But the added bonus to these finds was, as the title suggests, the music I found.

Before I get to those, though, my 3rd book cover has finally been made public. You can see it here on Amazon.com. I’m so excited to have my name on another book cover, and am so grateful to both Random House and Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. It gives me such a feeling of accomplishment to see my art on display. Which reminds me, I hope Random House sends me a copy of the book like they did the last two times. *crosses fingers* Teehee.

Anyway, here’s the CDs I bought today at Goodwill for $2 each:

Ah, yes… one of my fave down and dirty industrial bands. I also found a MLWTTK single, but I decided to buy this EP instead.


Yep, found two albums from The Church. I just couldn’t pass them up. They were in brand new condition, practically. The wonderful employees at Goodwill even managed to put a piece of electrical tape on the case so that no one could steal the CD and leave the case behind. LOL.

I absolutely LOVELOVELOVE Roxette. They may not be in my top 10 bands usually, but they’re definitely up there. Every song they made is a hit. Every last one.

This one now marks my second album from Jesus and Mary Chain. I’m not a huge fan, but I knew I couldn’t pass up buying it.

This one was brand new; still in its original store plastic wrapping. Yea. This one was a no-brainer. This marks my third album from Gravity Kills.

Mwahaha. Yes yes yes. I couldn’t believe when I found this, and am glad I am still adding to my ever expanding Depeche Mode collection. And just for the record, this is now the 10th album I own from Depeche Mode.

I’m not a huge AC/DC fan, but the bands that were chosen to cover their songs made this a worthwhile purchase: Electric Hellfire Club, Die Krupps, Spahn Ranch, Pigface, Razed in Black, Sister Machine Gun, 16 Volt, and more.

I might just go back next week and see if I can find some more CDs. Hehe.

Art, Fun, Life amelia atwater-rhodes, book cover, goodwill, goth, industrial, Music, new wave

This is something I need to get out, simply because, if I don’t, I just might get a brain hemorrhage and pass out.

Digital art is like any other skill: it takes a lot of time, a lot of practice, and a lot of dedication. It’s not something that anyone can just pick up after five minutes of tinkering with Photoshop or Illustrator. There are two and four year schools dedicated to the study of Digital Art, both as a technical skill and as a historical exploration. There are galleries and museums that document the growth of Electronic Media, Video Art, Digital Art, 3D animation, and much more. Any TV show, film, video game, commercial, or cartoon you see has a massive team of people, each with a dedicated task, that helped make that piece of footage possible.

So when someone implies to me that Photomanipulation is not that hard, or fix this little thing here, or whip something up, it makes me want to punch myself in the face just so I can go unconscious for a few hours.

I have dedicated 10 years of my life to Digital Art, both the study and practice of it.In fact, my current reading is New Media Art by Reena Jana and Mark Tribe [link] and next, I plan on reading “Art of the Digital Age” by Bruce Wands [link] . During the 8 years (yes, 8 years) that I attended college solely to learn more about Digital Art, I spent every free moment I had outside of college learning about Digital Art. I didn’t stop. I pushed myself all the time, taught myself what my teachers didn’t or couldn’t, and still today, I know I have room for improvement.

It’s difficult to stop people from assuming that because I’m using a mouse and a keyboard, or that I have “undos” and a History feature, that somehow my artwork is less worthy of being considered art. No matter where I go, I run across someone who thinks that because I know Photoshop well, that I can just wave a magic wand and do something in 2 seconds flat. It doesn’t work that way. Even Digital Art requires an idea, a method, trials and tests, and eventually, a solution.

For a long time, I used Photoshop 5.5. If it were up to me, I’d use that for the rest of my life. But ever since my hard drive failed and I started using the company laptop at home, I’ve been using CS4. Apart from a few features that I nodded my head and said, “Neat”, I didn’t do anything any differently than when I had 5.5. Why? Because I pushed myself to learn new and different ways of doing things. If I didn’t have a feature that could do what I wanted, I came up with a new way. I’d try again and again and again until finally I got the result I wanted. This wasn’t a simple process that took me a few hours. I’d sometimes spend a week, almost nonstop, working out how to achieve the look or effect I wanted.

Why did I explain all that? To reiterate my first point: Digital art is like any other skill: it takes a lot of time, a lot of practice, and a lot of dedication.

I wrote a Tweet recently where I stated, “I want a one woman show during Art Basel. I want to make digital art museum-worthy. I want it all. And I’m gonna make it fucking happen.”

I especially meant that second line. I want to make Digital Art museum-worthy. And yes, I’m gonna make it fucking happen.

Thank you.
*steps off soapbox*

Art, Life, Rants Art, digital art, photomanipulation

So yea, life has been pretty cut and dry lately. Go to my job, come home, do more stuff for the job, and work on art. That’s it. I’ve been obsessing over a new painting that has dominated the majority of my free time. LOL.

Fortunately, I DID take time of out my routine to spend some time with my family this past weekend. My parents, brother, and his son came up from Miami to visit my cousin, so I headed over there, too. We celebrated Mommy’s Day late, but it’s the thought that counts anyway. Shouldn’t matter what day it falls on, you know? We had plenty of good food, and the day was surprisingly drama free! I spent most of the time with my parents, aunt, and grandma just chit-chatting. My godkids and nephew were all playing together on the Wii, and my brother and cousin were hanging out on the second floor. Everybody just stayed in their own little space, and because of that, no arguments broke out. A MIRACLE, I tell you! Haha.

Today, I went over to my cousin’s again, since she had invited me to join them all at the pool. Soooo, I went out after leaving their house yesterday to buy a new swimsuit. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a true matching pair, so I bought a top from one set and a bottom from another. Yes, yes… I actually bought a two piece and may I just say I look DAMN FINE in it?? ;D The hubby commented on how good I look in a two-piece bathing suit. Teeheehee.

The pool was fun for the most part. There was almost nobody there. Two women came along who apparently couldn’t bear to see the little girl they brought along playing with my godkids (stuck up bitches), and ended up taking her away after only being there 20 minutes. Later on, some guy  and a kid (I’m assuming it was his son) sh0wed up. The kid was nice enough at first, but apparently was bothered by the fact that my godkids wanted to play with him. Seems he said something to Sabian and Sabian left the pool looking rather glum. We decided to leave soon after that, since it seemed we had overstayed our welcome. LOL. Fucking people piss me off. It’s bad enough that Sabian is a sensitive soul. We went back to the house, ate some lunch, and watched “Aliens in the Attic”. It was actually REALLY entertaining. I thought it was going to be just another dumb kid’s movie that I, as an adult, wouldn’t enjoy. But I was pleasantly surprised.

Anyway,  I want to get back to that painting. Ciao! <3

Art, Family, Friends, Fun, Life Art, Family, godkids, mother's day, painting, pool

The roller coaster of emotions has been climbing steadily upwards; here’s to hoping it plateaus for a little while and stays elevated, eh? Hehe. For the past week, things have just been calm, quiet, and enjoyable. There’s been no drama between me and the hubby, very little drama at work, and I even managed to finish what I consider my best digital painting yet. Just click on the preview image below and it will open in a new tab/window:

There’s really not much else to update on, except maybe that the hubby bought some more gear on eBay yesterday. Here’s to hoping it arrives safe, sound, and in complete working condition. =]

I’m off to watch some Inuyasha, and then get some sleep. Ciao!

Art, Audi, Fun, Life Art, Audi, gear, painting

Yes, today was one of those days. You know, the kind of day that is just endless excitement, chaos, and hilarity from morning to night? Yea, the kind of day where you’ve facepalmed yourself so much you might just end up unconscious.

Read more…

Art, Entertainment, Family, Friends, Fun, Job, Life, Rants birds, doctor, miami, parents, stomachache, trip, vomiting, weekend, work

So, thanks to my new job, and the very generous and kind offer by my new boss, I am able to take home my laptop from work. I’ve now got a mini-station set up in my bedroom, where I’ve got internet access, and my 500gb drive hooked up. For the time being, I’m back in full swing, and hopefully, I’ll be able to buy that new hard drive soon. I’ve uploaded a new photomanip to my deviantart.com account. You can see it here: Summoning of the Muse

Both Random House US and Random House AUS have approved the images they’ve commissioned from me, and if all goes well, sometime this week I should be getting paid. Once that money comes in, my hubby and I will have a very nice financial cushion to sit on.

I’ve got to do some updates to my website, preferably today. I don’t want my site to just sit there, and I’ve definitely got some new art that I can add. I’m also thinking that, since the Random House US commission has been approved, I’ll add that image to my commissions as well. Although, I think it might be best to wait until the cover is out, and it has all the text on it, but I can always replace the image later.

Anyway, I need some food. Off to have myself a bagel. Yippee!

Ciao!

Art, Fun, Job, Life Art, hard drive, Job, laptop, website

I got the job, ladies and gents! Yippee! Today was my first day of work, and I gotta tell ya, it was pretty damn sweet. The job is basically this: Photograph the abstract metal art pieces and sculptures, edit the photos so that they look spectacular, and prepare the eBay listings for them. The main goal that the studio is aiming for is to make the images look as close as possible to how the pieces look in real life. A lot of times, people will see the images and think that it has blue or orange when it really doesn’t; it’s simply a light reflecting the wrong color onto the piece. My job is to correct old images and take new photos with the correct lighting and camera settings for the best final result. I spent the majority of the day taking photos, which is like heaven for me, since I love doing that anyway!

One of the nicest things about the job is that I get paid on Tuesdays. That means next week on Tuesday, I’ll be getting my first paycheck, which is so desperately needed right now, even if it will only be about $240 for Friday, Monday, and Tuesday. I work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 9 to 5. I’m so excited! Hopefully now, with the money coming in from the two book covers, and this job, I can finally fix my DAMN CAR! LOL. Until then, my wonderful hubby Audi is driving me to and from work.

Tomorrow, my parents are coming up to visit my family in West Palm Beach, and Audi is gonna drive me over there so I can spend some time with all of them. Later on in the evening, I’m going to the movies with the neighbors to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D. Audi’s really not in the mood to see it, but he said that if I wanted to go with them, that it would be cool. Heh. What a party pooper! ;D

Anyway, that’s pretty much it for now. Still waiting for a final confirmation from Random House, and planning on enjoying my weekend before *giggle* going back to work on Monday! XD

Ciao!

Art, Audi, Entertainment, Family, Friends, Fun, Job, Life alice in wonderland, Art, Audi, car, Family, studio, work