0 "Everything is shit. Except you, love."

I've been neglecting blogging for a few weeks, so apologize to those of you who were biting your nails for a new post (and by "those of you," I mean my mother). I've been trying to juggle everything at once and wish there was more time in the day to devote to working on what I love doing the most, which is usually drawing with colored pencils until I am too sleepy to see straight.

December is quickly approaching and in addition to having to do holiday shopping/crafting for a bazillion people, I have to find time to: paint my parents a 3x4 foot blue heron (I mean really, mom, 4 feet?), hang an art show at MilkBoy Coffee for a slimmed down reappearance of "say hello to my little friends," and go on two engagement shoots per weekend since I would like to ideally start a photography sole proprietorship by January.

Even though I've only had a DSLR since late September, I really love taking photos and it gets me out of the apartment more, which is good since I was growing comfortable being a total hermit. If you know me at all, you know I am ridiculously shy and mask it by talking about the most inappropriate things I can think of, so these engagement shoots are (hopefully) helping me crawl out of my shell a bit and learn how to carry on a conversation without talking about vaginas with strangers. Seriously, if I go without talking about vajayjays for one day I will reward myself with endless chocolate chip cookies from Acme (which are oh-so delicious).

I am booked through February with engagement shoots and have a handful of paid second shooter wedding photography sessions scheduled, which I couldn't be more giddy about because I'm a sucker for romance. I have a few e-shoots scheduled in NYC, which means I get to visit my brother more often and have my travel expenses paid for by the couples. Insert me doing a happy jig here ______.

On the topic of traveling, I flew on a plane for the first time this week (!!!) with Open Air and despite a minor alternator mishap (!!!), it was a pretty darn memorable experience. At first I was really nervous and my hands were visibly shaking, which I blame on my parents because they instilled a fear of flying in me since I was a fetus (don't try to deny that shit, mom). Once we were about a mile up in the air, I stared down at the little houses and hummed "Little boxes on the hillside, little boxes made of ticky-tacky" in my head and was just grateful for the unique experience of having my first flight be on a private, swankalicious plane.

I realize I'm just rambling to myself at this point, but I think I'd like to start posting an "illustrator/artist of the day" again. I did daily "artist of the day" posts in college when I religiously updated my LiveJournal (haha) and I really miss delving into what's new in contemporary art. So you may be seeing a lot more of me around this neck o' the woods. Or I might get distracted by a cute YouTube video of a sneezing panda and completely forget. Anything's possible.

Until then, here's the artist I'm hearting today (actually for months now, but whatevs):

Steve Powers, who created the project "Love Letters," a love letter painted on the walls facing the Market elevated train in Philadelphia, with the murals of over 40 local and international artists.

Powers' work is currently on exhibit at WhiteWalls SF, where "ESPO (Exterior Surface Painting Outreach)" is on display through December 5th. His dedication to making the world a better place might sound like an impossible task, but Powers has made his mark by bettering the lives of teenagers from troubled housing projects. From teaching art in Ireland to fighting for human rights in Guantanamo Bay, in general, Powers is spreading a whole heck of a lot of love.

"Everything is shit. Except you, love."