Holding Back Birds Kickstarter!

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I've been preparing for a while and it's finally time: My Kickstarter for Holding Back Birds is live!

It was a long journey for me to get to this painting, ‘Holding Back Birds’, and the result is a big personal milestone for me. I’ve wanted to express trans themes in my art for a long while now, but had been afraid to- I’ve been fortunate enough to avoid aggression in my daily life, and worried that putting these themes on the page would invite that. Thankfully, my friends and mentors encouraged me to do it anyway, and I’ve had nothing but enthusiastic and positive responses in return, from all sorts of people.

I want to create paintings which show different gender experiences and trans bodies the way the human figure has been shown in art– as aesthetically beautiful and self-realized. Society has a tendency to either revile or fetishize trans bodies, and I want to offer something else, to normalize what is just another way of being human. This painting is the start of that, for me.

If you aren’t looking for a print or are unable to just now, signal boosting and sharing my work is always tremendously appreciated. It's your support which makes all this possible for me. 

Thank you so much, as always.

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Illuxcon 2015 Reflections

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I've been back home from Illuxcon for a few days now and have still been thinking about it a lot. Going there this past week marked 1 year since my introduction to the fantasy illustration community in person at my first Illuxcon last year. In some ways it feels like it's been longer than a year-- the fire of inspiration and determination from that initial introduction last fall has lasted me well. I was impassioned to grow not only as an artist but as a person, and I've spent so much of the last year focused on the next milestone I needed to get my portfolio ready for, that until now I hadn't stopped to really realize how far I have come.

I didn't realize it until I'd left, but this year I was much more focused on the people than on the art. The art was just as stunning as the year before, but I was hungry for connections with friends and to catch up with certain art directors, and it wasn't until I'd gotten home that I realized I hadn't spent as much time immersing myself in actual paintings as I might have liked to. But maybe that's what I needed-- and I certainly got it. There was a lot of vulnerability at IX last week, from artists sharing personal stories and showing personal work-- and I came prepared with the same. Every time I shared the personal story behind my Holding Back Birds painting (which I'll be posting in a few days), and was willing to be open like that, I was rewarded with someone being open and trusting with me in turn, and it was a tremendously powerful thing. I don't quite know how to express how that felt, to be leading these conversations that I was afraid to be having, and finding people light up with enthusiasm and genuineness in return.

But I know that I'm on the right path, both in my business and in my personal work, now. I'm really excited for the year to come, and I feel like the workshop I'm attending next week will only solidify that in place.

Once I get back into town, the rest of the year will be focused on commissions and wrapping up projects from this year. If you want a commission before Christmas, now is your last chance to let me know! You can find my info on that here. Otherwise, stay tuned for a bunch of stuff coming up this next month!