Portrait of Jaron

I started this digital portrait about a year ago and keep on coming back to it as I learn more about digital painting.

Ode to a roommate

This room is an island, floating on the beat of car radios and the wooshing protest of air resistance against on coming traffic. Four bedroom walls are covered in newspaper clippings that serve as cheap insulation from the emotional frigidity of a sickly sweet Indian Summer. Thank you for entering reality by walking in the door. I wasn't sure before but I know that you're planning, sincerely planning, to be here a while longer. That after the oranges and yellows of September decay to bare bones, morning gray you'll still wake up in the bed next to mine, fall into slippers and shuffle off to the soft duet of toothbrush bristles and a low flow shower head. After all, your name's on the lease. More importantly, more legal and binding than flimsy little penned in words, is the once unfamiliar scent of organic, French soap that has made it's home in our closet.


yeah I try to write sometimes... feel free to comment or criticize :)

flyers

Unofficial business cards I drew out for when I sell arts and crafts things at school. I made them by doodling in an old Lisa Frank notebook and writing my info on the back. Most of the designs got handed out yesterday but I managed to save my three personal favorites long enough to scan them in. Later this week I'm planing on printing out some more of these fliers on the computer... parting with the originals is too painful but I liked the fact that all of the cards were very different from each other so I'll try to keep at least some variety in the printed versions.

I'll buy you flowers

Sketch of Black Eyed Susannes (digital)

good quote

“To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.”
William Henry Channing
1810-1884

parasol/ humane society thrift shop

A few weekends ago my fiance and I found this thrift store a couple blocks away from his apartment. The whole operation is run out of this one woman's eight car garage and proceeds benefit a local program offering free neutering of pets and captured stray cats and dogs. Yes you read right, it's an eight car garage. It was her ex husbands idea to build it and it was her idea to use it as a charity shop after they separated.
The great thing about thrift stores in suburban areas is that they are influenced by what I like to call The Bored House Wife Effect. It's not caused by housewives specifically, it's just that the suburbs have a high proportion of women, employed out side the home or not, with free time. In their free time many of these women like to make their home more cozy, which leads them take up needle work, crochet, knitting, sewing, scrap booking and any variety of activities that involve gluing fake flowers onto other objects. Bored women in the suburbs have a tendency to over estimate their supply of craftiness and spare time. This means that a great deal of craft supplies are passed along to second hand retail. As a result the humane society thrift shop, humbly marked by a simple sidewalk sign reading "garage sale", offers a great deal of yarn, ribbon, baskets, fake flowers and plastic beads for sale at absurdly low prices. So even though it looks fancy, I got this parasol for about $2 worth of materials (including an old umbrella ribbon flowers and thread) and a couple hours of sewing.

Before I forget

today is my birthday