`Changes for the better (I hope)

I've realized that it has been quite a while since I had last posted updates of the happenings on my end. Well there's a very good reason for that! The last several months have been a whirlwind of madness, with the last month or so just a blinding kaleidoscope of movement, colors, and conversation. So let me break it down for you all so these cliff notes can catch you up on what all is happening. 

'Enter the Dungeon' design by Dawn Star Wood

Experimenting with something new

I had already had the mind set that this year would be the year I would try new things and perhaps practice in genres or mediums that that aren't exactly my strong point Among these is doing a cohesive series of images. One that is currently in progress is what I was calling The Queens of the 4 clans - My interpretation of the queens of the 4 suits in a deck of playing cards. With everything that has been going on, my work on the series has been rather erratic but I have been enjoying seeing the slow outcome of the images. A few friends have suggested that I write a short story of the images, which I am very tempted to do but we shall see. 

'Cockatrice Roasted Coffee' design by
Dawn Star Wood

Well it finally happened. After years of debating it with myself, I have started a little online shop via Redbubble. Making sure that I have pieces that translate properly into a digital format then get transferred onto an item has been a bit of an adventure and surprisingly challenging. So at the moment, I only have two designs available and both being Dungeons & Dragons related. The fist design was appropriately titled Enter the Dungeon, which shows a few common enemies that some players of D&D would face in a campaign. The second it titled Cockatrice Roasted Coffee. This design stemmed from from a conversation I had with friends over coffee about D&D creatures. Both designs were hand done in ink on Bristol paper. I do have plans on making more illustrations (and paintings if things will allow) available on items. So feel free to check those out and stay tuned to new stuff in the near future. 


Another new adventure is that on Monday, May 6th at 3:30pm PST I will be guesting on my dear friend Stacy J Garrett's Twitch Channel. We will be doing a Steampunk themed art stream. What started out as a joke suggestion of her reaching a particular donation goal on her stream, she would have me on stream painting something for her viewers, has snowballed into awesomeness. Her goal was surprisingly met and I have been hard at work preparing for this. Want to come and be part of the shenanigans while supporting another fellow maker? Then I invite you to tune into the stream!
Twitch.tv/stacyjgarrett




Ducktape fixes most everything

On the personal life part of things, it's been a bit of a roller coaster. Most things for the positive, thankfully. It's just everything that has been happening has not allowed for a full on acceptance of some things so it's been a lot of 'Yeah, everything's fine' kind of mantra happening. Of course, as I typed this, I was finding myself welling up with tears even though I was smiling. This was an indication to me that though I know logically that everything is fine or at least everything will be okay, the heavy impacts of this whirlwind I'm in is still not fully absorbed. So yes, there is a little version of myself inside of me screaming and scared but I'm pushing through the storm going 'I've got this'. With this said, I feel the need to apologize if the following batches of rambling makes no sense or feels unorganized.

Be it my friends or my family, I want the people around me to be happy or at least know that they aren't having to face the negativity being tossed at them alone. In the case of my friends, there's several that I know battle various forms of depression or anxiety which is just amplified with the things they're going through. I may not be able to put an end to what they're dealing with but I do try to give them an ear and a shoulder. Sometimes this comes in the form of helping figure out where miscommunication might be involved. There's always tension there but sometimes things work themselves out and hearing them laugh always makes my day. I wish there is more I can do to help but I have to remind myself that I also have myself to think about.

I also have a dear friend who has happily found the love of her life and they've been making plans for their future together, which makes me absolutely thrilled for her. Of course, with how everything's been moving, there has been that little version of me who's been scared. It's not a feeling of 'I've been replaced' but more of a feeling of 'I'm going to be forgotten'. Of course I know for a fact that this isn't true and that my friend will remain my friend, but this is one of those incidents I was mentioning where I have to repeatedly tell myself that everything is going to be alright. 

Recently, about a month ago, I received a call from one of my uncles that my cousin's mother had passed away. Taken by surprise, in the same call I learned that we had almost lost another one of my (from a completely different situation). Being the person that I've grown to be, I forced my feelings over the situation aside and made sure that everyone else was alright. Knowing that my cousin needed time to mourn, I held back commentary (knowing from personal experience when my mother passed that getting condolence messages compounded the emotions I was feeling). It wasn't until just recently, my cousin contacted me to let me know the news and apologized. I told her that she had nothing to apologize for since she literally didn't. I explained to her that our uncle had let me know and that I kept my silence because I knew that she needed to mourn and spend some much needed time with her husband and children. I let her know that she had the love and support of her friends and family so even with all of our schedules being absolute disasters, if she needed to talk that we would be there for her. 

On the At-Home front, the past month has been hectic. It started off with us getting a notice in the mail from our city that we were being warned of a violation - for parking one of our vehicles on our front lawn. We already had plans of expanding our driveway so that we could park both of our trucks there but the notice kind of kicked things into overdrive. So began the start of clearing out a section of the lawn, moving the soil into the backyard so that I can use it for my planter boxes, and trying to figure out how much materials we'll need to make the expansion. While we have this going on, we also decided to get started on other improvements our home has desperately needed. This has come in the form of new duct work, insulation (since, surprise, our attic barely had any), and getting measured for new windows. With the previous two finished last week, we are scheduled for the instillation of the windows here in another week or so. Of course this does not include having to schedule final inspection, not from the company we're working with, but our city itself since it would seem their requirements are just slightly different enough from the company's inspection where we have to have them come through to do a double check.

I think what what I might be getting at is more of a conformation to myself that even with all of the insanity that's happening on so many fronts of my life, that things will indeed be alright. May not feel that way sometimes and helplessly wanting to reassure my friends and family that it'll be alright for them as well, but I'm sure things will be. I also need to remind myself that I need to take time for myself and not take on everything alone. That aside, I will keep everyone updated on future events and shenanigans that I have going on in the background so stay tuned!

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