My First Week As A Full-Time Artist.

Well, here it is Sunday. My first week as a full-time artist is complete. Things I have learned:

1) I am already tired of people (friends!) making comments like, "It's not like you have a job" or "It's not like you have anything to do." Umm, I'm sorry. I have a TON to do. Technically I'm working 12 hour days, but it doesn't feel like work. I'd like to see someone start their own business and claim they have nothing to do.

2) My worries about finding motivation to "work" were pretty unnecessary. I actually found myself waking up super early because I was so excited to start something.

3) Online pizza ordering will be the death of me. Why must they make it so easy? And enticing me with coupons? Evil.

4) Time management is tricky with you have 1000 ideas whirring around in your head and you want to start them all at once. Some days I'd go to start something, then start something else, then do something else, then five hours later remember the first thing I meant to do.

5) It is such a great feeling to not have to use the days to measure how close to the weekend it is. Every day is equally great. Usually at this time on Sunday, my friend Amber and I start texting about the "Sunday Feeling." That's the sinking feeling we would get knowing the entire work week is only hours away. I never want to feel that again and am determined to help Amber find a million dollar idea so she won't have to either. Be on the lookout for the "Champeg" in the future. It's a champagne keg. We are going to invent it.

I could go on and on about all the realizations I had this week, but I want to share some pictures of the Outer Banks. That place is BEAUTIFUL. We could hear the ocean from the roof of our house. It was amazing.

I loved the cactus-type-things that grew all over the island.

The beach was just gorgeous. I've only seen the ocean from various parts of Florida and the Bahamas before... I loved all the plants/fences/rocks/lighthouses by the water in NC.

We may or may not have done an astronomical amount of drinking.

The waves were pretty intense due to Hurricane Leslie being parked directly east way out over the water. At night they glowed GREEN because of bioluminescent creatures or something?? And when you kicked the sand it looked like green sparks. One of the coolest things I have ever seen.

Taking walks in the evening light was like magic.

One day we woke up to watch the sun rise. It was nothing short of miraculous and looked like the sky was on fire. I took approximately 75 pictures!

This week I worked a lot on altering the ocean pictures to sell on Society6. I have been tossing around the idea of opening up an Etsy shop for my altered photography... thoughts? I am nervous about the printing process because it seems like everyone prints differently. 

I have also been teaching myself to make patterns by drawing things on paper, scanning them in, then repeating and coloring them in Photoshop. Here are a couple of my favorites:

It can be kind of a tedious process but really really fun. I discovered the website Design Seeds via Pinterest and have been pinning color inspiration like crazy. Websites like this are helpful for people like me who get ideas in groups of 1000 (apparently I really like that number today) so nailing down color schemes can be next to impossible. I am so grateful to have such a resource! 

All in all it was an amazing week and I can't wait to have 1000 (heehee) more just like it. This weekend got a little crazy; my best friend came to visit and we went to campus (I live right by Ohio State University) to tailgate for the game. Things of course got crazy, so it has been nice to quietly work and recover today. On tonight's agenda is watching the Emmy's at my fabulous chef friend's house where chili, shrimp, and bruschetta are waiting. Again, life is good. Hope all is well with everyone out there and here's to another amazing week for EVERYONE! :)

The Last Hurrahs

Oh boy... we are really down to the wire now. This week is my last week of work. Kind of nice that today was a holiday; now there are only four days left. In four days, my only commitment will be to creating. As those days creep closer and closer, my fears of running out of money and not being able to make enough money are annoyingly growing stronger by the day.

One would not guess that based on my actions: I just spent a three days weekend in Chicago helping one of my closest and most amazing friends (and I don't just say that because she reads my blog... she really is amazing. Hi Amber :)) move into a new apartment. Her new place is amazing: tons of space and lots of natural light. Being there while she was moving in really got my mind going... I'm not making any decisions any time soon, but the more I think about it the more I become convinced that I want to live in Chicago. At least for a little while. There is something about the noise, the lights, the constant activity of a big city that is so incredibly inspiring. If I am not tied to a specific city by a job, why not try and live someplace else? So much to think about lately.

On top of that, I am leaving on Saturday to spend a week in the Outer Banks with my brothers and some friends in a large vacation house full of liquor and about 20 other people that I do not know. Talk about a last hurrah. I am so excited to have a week to unwind, lay by the pool, listen to the ocean, feel the sunshine, party like I'm 21 again, and most of all daydream about new art to start creating the second I get home. This is all so unreal.

In other news, I have really been getting into using Society6 as a place to post and sell my photography. There is a really strong sense of community among the artists there and it is pretty amazing. You follow people and have a news feed, like a lot of other social networking sites. When someone posts a new piece of art, people can "promote" it and comment on it. The thing that gets me the most is that almost all of the artists reply to peoples' comments thanking them. Where have the words "thank you" gone nowadays? Where have manners in general gone for that matter? I have always been very big on manners; they are a very simple way to be courteous and show that you can treat strangers like human beings. Anyway, I have found that I really enjoy altering my photos by adding textures, then finishing them off with little phrases in subtle type. Here are a few example of the final products:

I have soooo many pictures from the past year to play around with and so many little phrases and quotes floating around inside my head to use. I'm super excited to take pictures at the beach next week too. Lately there are just countless things to be excited about. That is how life should be, right? :)