Pencils Selfie

I’m not sure why but I decided to do a self portrait. I’ve not done one in two or three years. What inspired an update? Dunno. I think I just wanted to see if my skills up up to snuff. Turns out they’re rusty. Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud of the finished product. Three iterations, a couple of frustrated hissy fits, and too many hours later, I finally came up with this. A bare bones likeness ready to paint.The lesson here: practice, practice, practice, practice, practice . . . Oh, and stay in school, kids.

Doing a self portrait is a good test of skill. Like a Jedi assembling their light saber; it’s a coming of age/testament of ability sorta thing. One of the largest hazards is fretting over a picture’s likeliness. A conflict arises between artistic intuition and visual logistics. For the uninitiated, a debilitating obstacle. If one has been slacking on practice, like moi, the atrophied skills show up in the final product. Again a reminder, practice, practice, practice and so on. Next week: the painted version.

Alright business. The shows in San Fransisco and Oregon are confirmed, depending on inventory, Sacramento soon after. Do I say more? It’s bad business to promote without firm dates and times. Seeing as how the shows may or may not conflict with other facets of the personal life. I’m gonna take a more cautious approach and keep my big mouth shut. Please afford me the time and space to iron out the whole process of business man versus private life. I will certainly be more vocal when and where shows happen, just as soon as I’m more comfortable and confident in the process.

Lesser facets of business include finalizing the truck purchase. Just waiting on a better deal from those greedy monkeys, what with their greasy fees buried in legalese. I’m sitting on four choices and, depending how contracts and bargaining goes. This whole fiasco should be closed out by the end of the month . . . Oh yeah, and a shiny new car to sing lullabies to.

Then we move onto art-capades. Minor materials, heavy framing, and show preparation will be happening over the next month. Work and school are still in the cards. Possibly dating, I mutter with mixed emotions. The reason I bring it all up is two pronged: the blogging forecast has these issues, and secondly, it’ll be a challenge finding time for that important important practice, practice, practice.