Hello! It’s been a weird summer, so here’s the really summarized catchup:
- This website! Isn’t it pretty? After years of broken New Year’s Resolutions to use my still-Web-1.0 crap website, I finally decided to do this right (for my skill set, YMMV). I studied the art websites I liked, drew what I wanted on paper, and paid an old podcasting buddy, Matthew Wayne Selznick, to make it for me. He guided me through choosing some options, then built this website and taught me how to use it.
- RedBubble store. I still have one! Friends and fam on FB might remember that I was closing it because they were changing pay structures. I expected to be assigned the lowest tier, where I would essentially never reach the minimum payment check. They assigned me to a different tier, so instead of leaving, I’m pruning older designs and resolving to add new designs more regularly this year. They have IP agreements with some big names for approved fan art, and I have too many ideas!
- I’m working through a backlog of online beginnerish art courses and a DIY Art School online-based curriculum by Alex Huneycutt, aka @Radio_runner. It’s pretty rigorous, and it’s going to take a few years. To be fair, regular art school would take me just as many years to work through on a PT schedule, but this PT endeavor isn’t fiscally ruinous and is compatible with having CFS.
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Click to see full-size pic I sewed what might be *the* peak-Chris project. These elbow rests are velcroed onto my wheelchair arms so they don’t get smashified going in and out of the trunk. I used leftover fabric: the yarn ball print is left over from a quilt that a friend made for me in trade for calligraphy, and the thick striped cotton is from an old summer shirt. And possibly the best part? They’re sleeves to hold pencil packs, so I can carry more art supplies without contorting to reach the bag I hang on the back handlebars of the chair! Mwahaha! Perfect craftiness and additional art storage on the go!
Most Fascinating Reads of the Summer:
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- Nonfiction: The Bird Way by Jennifer Ackerman. I’m listening to the audiobook, because most of my story-available time needs my hands and eyes, like chores, driving, cooking, and drawing. The narrator is very clear, and the info is interesting with a nice narrative presentation. Quirky animal fact stories, so my jam.
- Fiction: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, the author of Jonathan Clarke and Mr Norell. A friend explained it beautifully as “a soap bubble of a book” that has a little interesting world inside, and the colors are pretty, and it floats by very quickly. It’s impossible to explain anything about the plot without spoilers.
- Comics: The DC series The Spirit World. Not enough titles reach respectfully into non-Western cultures’ mythologies and traditional stories. This series is a great example of that. A friend was excited about it shortly after issue 2 came out, and my LCS got the back issues for me. These days, I usually wait for a trade paperback to compile a meaty chunk of story, but because this is a new title that I really want to see succeed, I’m getting monthly issues. The nostalgia of getting issues is really nice.
So… that’s the news from this summer. Feel free to look at my available work to date on my RedBubble designs page or poke around this website and see the online course projects I’ve been working on in different mediums.
Here’s to a great autumn!
Chris F.
