My Struggle Is Being Willing To Let Go Of Details, Of Not Getting Too “precious” With It. Getting

Second panel of fabric. Next step involves getting out my sewing machine so I’ve been avoiding it and fucking about with others projects instead.

First stage in a multi-step project. Hand-weaving fabric which I will then use to sew the body and limbs of a marionette doll.

Scarf for a cousin, #2.

A combo of synthetic and organic fiber, rather blasphemous.

copying pages from comix/manga that I like. kind of like master studies. trying to get the pacing and composition down in my own head.

pages after “Shadow Star” by Mohiro Kitoh, and “Akira” by Katsuhiro Otomo

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how do you feel about your bart/chris/bobby comic being low-key iconic in some circles? I just read it again and it really brings me totears

I'm glad you find the comic so meaningful.

On one hand, it's gratifying as an artist, to know that my work has resonated with so many people. Based on some of the messages I've gotten from people, the comic has been part of how they processed their own childhood experiences or part of what inspires them to start their own therapy. That's amazing! It's not like I set out with that being the goal of the comic or anything!

On the other hand, it's given me a small experience of "death of the author." I didn't conceive of the comic as a sweeping critique of the "nuclear family animated comedy" or depictions of violence, trauma, or abusive relationships in media. I have LOTS of complex and contradictory opinions on "difficult" subjects in art. I created the comic while taking a class on family and couples therapy, and was inspired by the class to explore how real family/relationship dynamics might occur if I approached these cartoons as real families. I think a lot of people get this backwards -- they see the comic as using a lens of psychology/counseling to critique popular media. My actual experience of thinking up the comic was using popular media to explore what I was learning about psychology/counseling.

That said, I recognize that once something is out in the world, I can't completely control how it's interpreted or used. The positive messages I've received greatly outweigh my ambivalence about how some people view/interpret the comic.

MY ETSY STORE IS UP!

I will be posting original art pieces for sale, like this one!

“original illustration - a kiss” available for $35 + shipping

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The life of a mixed media artist is always intense.

Three figure drawings, circa 2009 before I dashed my parents hopes by saying "I wanna quit art school, get a bachelor's in psychology, become a counselor with a focus on art therapy, and also I'm queer as fuck."

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Reaching that point in working on a piece where I lose any sense of reality and my brain just chants "I AM A GENIUS I AM A GOD" over and over. Well, working in customer service until 11:30 pm will certainly beat down that overblown sense of confidence. Off to work!

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More sketchbook pages, mostly done while taking notes in class. 

Also, a beautiful portrait of me by my six year old cousin.

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"Amateur Psychoanalysis"

self-portrait, acrylic on wooden board, 11.5 x 18

This is the first finished painting that I've done in over a year. It was inspired by the work of Jenny Saville, Francis Bacon, and Nicola Samori. My intention was to create a piece where only certain parts of the image were fully rendered, so as to show the various stages in a painting. In this case, only the left eye, the mouth, and the ear are complete; every other part of the image is left at an earlier stage of painting.

As for the title and the smear of the right eye... I don't know. They just kind of happened. Since the start of the piece, I envisioned the right eye as a smear of white paint. The title is how I referred to the piece mentally as I worked on it.

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