LadyHazy

It's good to be back. Where did the past few years go? Seems like life ate it all up. Sure, I've been posting erratically but, still, it's just not the same.

I'm doing some major housekeeping on my account. Been cleaning up my watch list, mostly removing people who are inactive and such. Then uploaded a few things off my personal sketchbooks. Several years ago I decided not to post any more sketches here but I just couldn't stand seeing all that old work on my front page. So sorry about that.

I hope to post new art very soon. Not saying any specifics yet as I don't want to jinx it.

To the new watchers: Thank you for following me!

To the old ones: Thank you for bearing with me for all this time!

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I really appreciate your watches and faves!

I still feel delighted every time I get them, even if this account has gotten rather stale - which is a bit of an irony since I have never been more productive artistically than I am now. But the stuff I'm making is mostly sketchbooking rather than finished art pieces. I consider these very important in my development as an artist, but they're not something I'd like to dump into my dA gallery anymore. (If you'd like to take a peek into my sketchbooks, you can check out my blog. Echoing that blog is my twitter and my tumblr.)

I'd really like to say that I have a lot of artwork coming up here, but that remains to be seen. There are plenty of plans, but seeing as I'm working a full-time job and all it's hard to tell if I'll have the time to work on anything other than my sketchbook!

In the meantime, much love to you all.

So, as you know, I have already made the commitment to make more art. I've signed up for Sketchbook Skool and am keeping an art journal. 

I've thought about uploading the first few pages I drew today but I decided I don't want to bother you all with my unfinished stuff. If you'd like to see them, though, you can check them out at my Wordpress blog, That Lazy Crazy Lady. My first entry is on our first homework: buying art supplies and the snack that came after that.

Just a teensy bit of shameless self promotion.

First of all, I've pretty much neglected my dA account (not to mention my art) for a year. I've been super busy bounding all over the country for my new job. (Which, ironically, I took on because I wanted more time to make art. But more on that later.)

So to make up for that whole year, please allow me to thank you all for the watches and the favourites. It means a lot to me that some of you still appreciate my art (for all their flaws) even when I'm not posting new art regularly. I wanted to post a nice, polished thank you painting but with all the deadlines upon deadlines at work, that's not going to happen anytime soon.

Anyways, here's the thing: For the last ten years, I've been pretty much focused on what people call "career". So I went to college, took a job related to my college degree, realized that the job ate too much of my personal time, then took a job unrelated to my college degree, and then realized that this one is eating way more of my personal time than the previous one did (but still, I don't miss the night shifts).

That "personal time" was mostly used to make art (and reading books, and videogames). During the brief time I was unemployed, I even managed to make a small living with crafty stuff. That's what everyone said when they asked me to cross out my application for an art degree. Just get something professional. Don't waste your brains. You can do art in your free time, anyway. 

Well, I've had ten years to think about it and right now, I am calling bullshit. 

I've realized that in the end, art is the only thing that I really want to do in life. And this is not because I'm particularly talented. On the contrary, I don't think I'm really at a level where I can realistically make art for a living. It's just that I love doing it. Nothing makes me happier than drawing the things around me or mixing paints to make pretty colors. Nothing can make me more fulfilled than spending hours and hours on a papercraft project that requires not just creativity but also a tiny bit of engineering. And that's even if they suck or if they don't turn out the way I imagine it.

I'm making the decision to prioritize art. Everything else from now on will be secondary.

As commitment, I've signed up for an online art class to oil my gears for all the work this is going to take. I'm also planning on saving up so I can take a creative sabbatical where I lock myself in my apartment for an indefinite period of time doing nothing but make stuff. It may sound impulsive, but I've done the numbers and it's incredibly realistic. (It does help that I live in a place where the cost of living is cheap.)

Long story short: I hope you won't mind that I'm back to annoy y'all. I actually considered making a new dA account to start afresh. But I figured there's really nothing wrong with this old one and I don't want it to become a waste of space (like my two old dA accounts).

HOORAY!

Tomorrow, we launch the book that we have been working on for the past six months.
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I wrote four stories in this book. It was a lovely opportunity to be able to work with seasoned journalists from Mindanews. Already, we're working on the second book, whew!

(On a different note, I hope to be able to put out something art-related soon-ish if I don't suddenly get sent off for more interviews in the next two weeks...)

That is all.