Last weekend I participated in my very first convention: The Alternative Press Expo! Also known as APE. The experience was many things for me being a first timer. I shared a table with my good friend, ~cre8vsteph, And tried my best to sell my artwork to the masses (which is really, really, really fucking hard). It's crushing to see people walk by your table and seem to not even notice it, and it's really funny how quickly you forget what it's like to be on the other side of the table when you're behind it. But conversely, there is nothing more lifting, no feeling more incredible than to see a total stranger like your artwork so much that they buy it. Above everything else, in the end, it was a tremendously fun, albeit humbling experience. There was so much talent at the con and there were so many people I was really glad to meet. All in all, they were good times. Coming out of the con, I have a good idea of where I want to go and what I want to accomplish with my art. Now it's just the matter of figuring out exactly how to do that. Thank you everyone who's added my stuff to their favorites. It means alot to me.

The last few years after college really took a toll on me, artistically. While I've been working in the industry in that time, personally: I've felt next to dead as an artist. At times I could find a spark, a flicker here or there, but nothing sustainable. I felt as though my voice and spirit had left me... As if I were no more than a husk: shuffling through life, pretending more than being.
Not Love, nor travel, nor a forced hand could shake me from my silence. I don't know what it has been then, in these past few months, that has struck me. Yet, here I am: more productive than I can recall in recent memory. I am sketching and painting with a novel fervor, and while I have been slow in gaining momentum, I am assuredly loving every moment of it. I have kindled a fire within myself that is burning clean and profound. I find myself getting lost in my work again. When I cannot work, I eagerly wait for when I can. It is a powerful joy that I had thought lost forever. I only wish that I could work fast enough to keep up with the ideas that come to me! I hope this momentum maintains. That I continue on this stretch for as long as it will bear me. I truly feel as if I have finally emerged from what has assuredly been, the second-longest block in my life... I very truthfully hope that it was the last of such length.

So I've been firing up the furnace in preparation for WonderCon 09. Last night I just remade and ordered a new set of business cards, something I've been meaning to do it for a long time now, it feels good to finally do it! My REAL goal, however; is much more ambitious. At the risk of jinxing my plans I think I've finally excavated myself from the art lull of the last year. I feel like I've been doing more illustration and sketching in the last few weeks than I've done for a long time. But what feels different is the way I feel about doing it. I'm more motivated, more energized and more satisfied by it... fucking finally. That said, I hope to put a book together for trading around with other artists at the Con. I really want to focus on expanding my network. If I can get that done by February 27th... I'll be so happy.