Update on my life and brief update on projects

I'm struggling to write an introduction to this.  My thoughts are disorganized and chaotic.  I haven't had time to just sit and think let alone construct a coherent post.  So bear with me; this won't be my most eloquent entry... but hopefully it'll at least make some semblance of sense.  I'm going to basically bullet point my life hopefully you'll be able to follow it.

So this ended up being very long; so just skim through and read the topics that interest you; I even made the headers for each one stand out :D

A to Z blogging Challenge

I participated in this challenge this year... because I LOVE having to much to do in my life... I guess? The challenge itself has a day in May where you're supposed to blog about your experience, I obviously missed that.  I just didn't end up having time.
So the rules of the challenge are this: blog everyday except for Sundays in April.  The first day of the month the subject is the letter A, then B and so on through the whole alphabet.  People participate in this challenge and do everything from crafts to writing to even technical information and this year I found a blog about accounting.  You can post about any subject, as long as it relates somehow to the letter of the day.
My original plan for the day was to use it as a way to get better at fast digital paintings, I set a time limit and found a reference that had to do with the day and quickly painted it.  The hope was that I'd be able to improve my painting quality and speed.  This is something you do in figure drawing all the time, figured it'd work with digital painting.
This lasted until the letter E I believe... and then after that I had to switch what I was doing and I just posted old art that related to the letter.
What I learned: look at your whole life before participating in challenges like this.  I was just thinking 15-20 minutes a day; that wasn't a big commitment.  I was to busy to find those minutes though.
Next year: I really want to participate in the challenge again; because it is a good way to force myself to post every day.  I think though I might pick a subject now and work on the art throughout the year So I can just enjoy the challenge and have more time to look at other blogs.  I won't have the same crazy schedule in life so that should help a lot.

Graduation

This is a thing I did.  Well kinda.  I'm like 95% graduated. I walked, I did my best to look adorable, I smiled from ear to ear.  I got my diploma holder and all of that.  It was honestly a great experience.


I'd just gotten a new small camera and was playing with it in the hall before we marched in. So all of my little selfie pictures are blurry. Thankfully the pictures taken with my real camera and the professional ones look great. Unfortunately these are the only ones I have right now that I can share. 
It was almost overwhelming how happy I was that day.  I've been working for this degree for so very long, it felt like I was never ever going to get it.  But I did.  Well like said, at least 95%. 
It is still an awesome feeling to have walked.

BFA Project

This should be a post by itself... but the short version of it is this:  I haven't had my show yet, this is why I'm only 95% graduated... I have probably a month, maybe 2 months worth of finishing on this project that I need to do. 

This little outhouse has been my learning piece.  Each time I need to learn something new in blender I come back to this and work it out on this smaller piece before I do it on my bigger sets.  This one has been completed to the point where I printed it out and we (my youngest sister and I) have been figuring out how to build it.  We've learned a ton in this final phase and need to go back and adjust some thing on the digital model to make the paper model work better, but it is coming along. 
I could go on, but this blog post is already super long.

Moving

Yea, we moved.  Not only did we move we bought our first house!!!

isn't it cute?  This is a huge step for us, and we're so happy we were finally able to buy a home.  This move has made it so I've barely lifted a pencil, digital or otherwise.  Moving is such a huge job and we're not even remotely done moving in yet... 

My Studio

I've not really had one for years.  Where we lived before I had a wall in our bedroom, it is just the way life worked out; but I did my best to make the space work.

you can see my mattress in the lower left there.. kids had spilled some orange soda on it earlier that day.  Why did they have orange soda on my bed?  Yea, see if they'd ever answer that one.

Now I have a whole room to myself.  Not only that it is a big room.  This is pretty amazing for me as my studio/office has always shared space with something else, storage, laundry, living room, a baby room.  BUT NOW I have my own room!!! That I share with the girls, because they needed a place to do crafts, but still; it's pretty awesome.  It is also a mess and no where near set up.

I'm getting there, but honestly other rooms in the house have had to take priority (like the kitchen and the kids play spaces and all of the bedrooms... ok pretty much the whole house).  It's part of running a family; if the rest of the home is pleasant and functioning, then my private space stays private lol.

Other Things

These just don't fit well other places, but 2 other things that have contributed to my crazy schedule have been the trade show at my college I participated in: 

And a really cool commission project that I completed at the beginning of the year.  (below are 2 out of 30 illustrations I did)  more on this project later.

It should be obvious but the two drawings in the white frame are mine; not the amazing painting behind them.  This commission project was displayed at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.  Pretty awesome huh?  Ok; yea there where there at the museum, but they were a part of a wedding.  The project was so cool; they named their tables after famous women in history and wanted illustrations of the women to have around the room and at the tables.  They even made a little book with info about the women.  Honestly it was a super cool idea; looked like it was pulled off pretty well.  I wish I could've seen the wedding decor with my little pictures in person.  The photos I got were pretty awesome.

Oh yea I also took a business class about running a small business.

Family

Actually not going to post much here about this; because I don't like broadcasting publicly family stuff; but boy have we been busy with the kids school and stuff like that!!

My point:

The past couple of months, really the whole year have been PACKED.  So I've not been great at posting anything online.

What's next?

Good question I have several projects on the horizon; but for the next twoish months I'm going to be doing nothing but BFA stuff and unpacking. I hesitate to announce anything else on my list until those two things are done.  I'm going to *try* to at least post a drawing or a progress shot from my show and update this blog maybe once a week?  Maybe bimonthly it depends.


Anyway- that is the update.  Sorry it is so long!!

Alicia