Winter-Evening

I now work full-time as a Graphic Designer for a local marketing agency. I passed my 1-year anniversary with Sage Marketing Group here a couple months ago, and am very pleased with my position overall. There are some drawbacks, however. Working full-time, especially almost exclusively in front of a computer is sometimes draining. Due to my more sedentary lifestyle this is the first time in my life that I have actually worried about gaining weight. However, the downsides are few and far between, as I get to create art (and "art") for a living. I have learned a new valuable skill in the form of website design, and continue to improve my design skills. Sometimes my traditional art technique suffers, though this is made palatable by my other duties at work. I am the resident Photographer and Illustrator at work as well, and get to flex those muscles every so often. I try to do more fine art on the side, but working an 8-5 job is tiring enough that I have less time and energy at home to focus on art. I also focus a lot on keeping my new marriage healthy because, to be honest, my wife is more fulfilling than anything else and worth more energy that my own side projects.

I keep telling myself that I'll get back into serious fine art once I get a full-time job (preferably a career).  Well, It's been over a year since graduation and I've been limping along on part-time work and contract jobs.  The job market is still crazy-competitive (weren't we supposed to be recovering?), and I've been lucky to have what few jobs I have been able to get.  Well, it's time for me to start doing serious fine art again, job or no.  Who knows, maybe even just doing fine art will develop into a job.  I am starting with digital paintings of the landscape near where I live, but I am also working on "real" drawings and paintings again for local art shows and for myself.

[This journal entry has been removed due to questionable content]

Yes, that institution known as Art School has passed yet another semester with me.  I survived, despite taking four studio classes at the same time.  In fact, I will boast, I excelled in every aspect of my studies.  Many of my traditional works come from this and last semester, and through them I have cultivated new skills as a traditional artist.  I also completed many self-portraits, which, when combined with all of these self-serving "I" statements show that deep down I really am a conceited narcissist.  Oh well, so were many of the other great artists throughout history.   

From the french parcour, which roughly translates into obstacle course, is the non-linear use of the urban landscape for feats of self improvement that the landscape was not intentionally designed for.  While this is by no means a new idea, it has recently been granted this name, and having a name or title this activity will become much more widespread, getting couch potatos back into the gritty streets where they belong.  The rise in publicity of this activity will encourage an antidote to the widespread problems of obesity.  It will evolve a stronger species, and most important of all, it will keep people in a healthy childlike mood far past childhood.  Being a proponent of movement arts of all forms, I am greatly heartened to see a new art emerging that needs only the city (a natural landscape for many) as its prop.