07/11/2008 14:51:02

Don't loose hope, you're really good! I love all your work! Just keep showing your stuff, no matter what...you'll get discovered. You should show your girls to video game companies, they would like it, maybe even hire you too!

07/10/2008 13:31:32

   By the way, the people of Chicago 'got' what my work was about, especially the orientals.  They'd say "007!"  "Superheroes", "Secret Agents", and a group of Asian girls even named almost all the models I used.  This is what my full-sized women with weapons paintings were all about, and nobody got offended.

07/10/2008 13:29:09

  The Chicago Show (Old Town Art Air) tanked.  I lost almost $900 doing the show.  One sale for $300 kept it from being worse.  The fear has gripped the US consumer.

      Started a real job working for FedEx Office yesterday.  The pay isn't great, but I need to do something.  And I'll be working a lot of evenings, so goodbye to my social life, to a certain extent.  And I could have gotten out of this state, but my friends here were hard to leave.

04/29/2008 02:03:55

The latest 2 images above are not my usual stuff;  I did a mural of jungle animals for a baby's nursery.  The mother elephant and the bab are about a third of all the work I did.  It was enjoyble, but only took me over a week.  I was hoping for about 3 weeks of work.

     Now I'm hammering out one or two more of my life sized "Girls with Guns' paintings to take to the Old Town Art Fair in Chicago in June.  If this isn't my last art fair, it may be a a very rare appearance.  Looking for steady work either in the creative fields somehow, or just a regular job. This country is in economic trouble, and in some ways, some of it is going to be permanent, I fear.  Less disposable income, etc..

04/24/2008 19:22:30

   Hello, pals.  ArtbyCedar, nice to see your lovely face and smile here on my page. I wanted to post a thread today, but it's not in 'expanded form', but I feel like doing it here, I guess.  I think it's time to give up the art full-time.  I've been at it over 20 years full-time.  I learned a lot, and went places and  met people I wouldn't normally have met.  But the cost has been high, very high due to things I won't discuss here.  And 'cost' has many meanings.  I've been looking for 'real work' for the past 6 mos..  I can't keep up the fight anymore, though I will try to paint at least some of the time.

        The world and the U.S. is changing, and it doesn't look too good.  Art is less appreciated now, unless you're a blue-chipper.  the newer generations seem to be more into the digital amusements, phones that take pics, etc..  Stuff done by hand is seen as an oddity or a hobby. 

      I went past the 50 mark a while back, waiting for things to get better and take off.  For brief periods, like 5 scattered years, they did.  I did not lose faith in my talent.  I lost faith in the art business - some of the dealers, the public's ignorances and attitudes, and too many of those "I can't afford your work, but DON"T EVER QUIT, because you'll make it someday" folks.  Well, someday I might be 60, 70 or 80.  

        I enjoy reading your comments and profiles here, and some of the enthusiasm you have for you work.  I remember when i felt like that.  If I can give any advice, make sure you get enough balance in your life - friends, partners, social life, hobbies, activities, etc...  Often I put most of my eggs in one basket - my career in an attempt to make it happen. 

    Sometimes I'm amazed that my work sold, and that people would lay out money for it.  But often it wasnt' enough.  I'd been debating leaving this state, but I've got a friend who's got a job lined up for me, and i realized that i would have a tough time leaving the friends I made up here.  So I'm gonna stick around a bit, and maybe move later, when I can get some graphic design and digital software training, and line up a decent paying job that can use at least some of my skills, and then move.  the way the economy, mortgage crisis, globalization, is going, make just jumping to another city without a job lined up, or no contacts, or depending on my art (not to solid) seem Insane and imprudent.  Haven't posted in a while.  Did a mural with some cute jungle animals, and it was fun, and I'm doing maybe my last art fair with my new work in Chicago in mid-June.  One last chance for a large audience to see my work. After that, who knows?

03/27/2008 22:57:44

Whooo--hooo!  LOL! 

03/21/2008 11:13:15

Yep.  Working! 

03/13/2008 16:39:01

I just now am reading your response to my comment below.. better late than never! I did see alot of the influences in your art, both asian and bond- esque; the way I depict asian women is usually soft and gentle, no edge. I think there is a huge market for erotic/deviant art and am glad you have had success with it.