Something to say.

Since the beginning of winter break, my last winter break of my whole life if I don't ever pursue another degree, I have been absolutely working my ass off. I can honestly say that, aside from a couple of nights of plans, every day before and after I'm at my job I've been doing artwork, advertising my artwork, selling my artwork, and exposing myself to anyone who will listen to me. I feel like even my small paintings have increased in quality and that my larger paintings have become easier to complete because of the constant activity I've kept up in the past month.

My life in the past 30 days has revolved around art. I've completed at least 8 finished paintings and at least a dozen finished pieces, made plans for a fundraiser that includes my art, took down and painted a 30-foot mural, made three different fliers for Blick and had two of them printed in thousands to distribute throughout Boston, had my own acrylic jewelry produced with the intention to sell, made plans to go to the San Diego Comic Con in July, re-learned how to use half-tones, made three drawings by online requests on one of my art profiles, sold three prints of my artwork along with 5 finished paintings, created banners/icons/buttons/ads for my etsy and blog, and became well-practiced in Illustrator and Photoshop once again. I'm also going to be on the cover of a comic anthology created by a team of artists that I'm thrilled to even know, let alone be trusted to advertise their artwork along with mine.

I got a call from my Dad today telling me he's proud of me. A couple of weeks ago, I showed him this blog and my recent artwork, and for the first time in as long as I can remember, he told me that I'm fantastic and that he's so impressed by how far I've gone. He even printed out one of my paintings to show to the neighbors. I don't expect my dad to be educated on every moment of my life, but for him to recognize how hard I work and to actually like the art I make (even the weirder stuff), I'm absolutely blithe.

I feel like I finally got time to make the art I wanted to make on this break. I had the extra time to pursue ideas and markets I wouldn't have otherwise thought of. I've had immense support from Andy Fish, Jared, Lindsay, Mark Reusch, Alycia, Alex Carlson, Kate McElroy, Sarah (my roommate), my Mum, my Dad, my sister, my cousins, my boss, my District Manager, and so many other people it would take too long to list.

So thank you to everyone for being so excellent and believing in me. I finally feel like things are moving in the direction I want them to, and the last 6 months of my life have been the most exciting yet. Don't give up on me now, guys.