A semester’s worth:

I am finally finding myself with moments of free time.  I almost forgot what they feel like.- I’ve been attempting to absorb all that has happened in these last 4 months before I dive into lengthy posts about how much life has changed (and yet as I sit in my philadelphia living room, in my fiance’s pajamas, staring at the same Christmas tree we put up every year.. not much on the surface has).

I’m going to break down the last four months into different posts, all while trying not to overwhelm anyone that might wander over to this little blog.  For now, a summary might do.

This semester I..

-heightened my work ethic to a level I never knew it could be at

-started 21 paintings (most of which are near completion)

-completely changed my understanding of composition and began to incorporate it into my work

-painted larger with each painting assignment I received (a very big deal for me)

-learned and pushed myself to paint faster

-began bringing my personality into my paintings

-relearned human anatomy and fell back in love with it

-remembered why I like drawing so much and improved my skills ten fold

-questioned the art world more than I ever thought I’d even care about

-had multiple break-downs and build ups

-made a few friendships that I hope will last for years and years to come

-understood that I really don’t like most of the artists I am “supposed to”

-understood that I really don’t care about what I’m “supposed to” anymore

-learned that my style of painting isn’t really anyone’s cup of tea in the art world

-learned that my style of painting is an enjoyable cup of tea to real human beings

-learned that I’d rather have my art connect with the latter

-learned to not take offense to other’s reactions to my work

-came to the conclusion that I don’t care how tight or neurotic my work is.. because it feels good to make it that way

-attended more artist events that i can ever remember going to

-photographed each one of those events

-ran, fixed and jump-started my school’s twitter, tumblr and flickr accounts as well as maintained my own

-photographed 5 different weddings and edited (and am still editing) 6

-continued to run my photography business and booked 3 more weddings for 2012

-am in the middle of a “rebirth”, if you will, of my photography business

-attended a human dissection class and found the experience far more heavy than I imagined

-had some of the best philosophical conversations

-had some of the silliest conversations

-rediscovered myself as an artist, friend, fiance and human being

I love it here.

[more to come].