Hi, my name is Michele. I'm a recently married, gunsmith, artist from Charlotte, North Carolina. What a weirdo already, huh? I'm one of the few people in Charlotte, that's actually from Charlotte, I have lived and worked with my husband for the past three years, and despite what you may think of my occupation I actually really enjoy yoga.
Things had been going smoothly for a while, but this year has been rocky at best and it doesn't seem to be getting any easier. I do like my job, I've never truly hated it (just certain people that happen to be there) but there is one rather large and glaring problem with my employer: they're relocating. Far away. It's not been formally announced, but if they are trying to keep it a secret they are doing a terrible job at it. Many people are quitting and there is absolutely no effort to replace any of them, and the temp workers have been told this place is no longer temp-to-hire. Those aren't the only signs but that's all I feel like explaining.
I'm not exactly sure what caused this situational nosedive. Last year we made plenty of money, we paid rent, lived easily and even saved the funds for a nice wedding.
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| Dawww we be so happy! |
This year has been so cruel in contrast. On top of the fact that we will both lose jobs when this place closes up shop and takes off, my husband has been moved to third shift. Adjusting to sleeping alone has been rough. It doesn't feel right having a king size bed all to myself.
All things considered we'd like to avoid the unemployment line. I've done some looking around already, he has too. The job market is slim pickings around here for someone like me. I didn't exactly go to college, although, to be fair, going to college hasn't exactly helped some of my friends out much either. It just seems to be the unfortunate state of the country at the moment. I might go back to school if things really don't work out, but for right now it's just finding something to hold me over so I don't become unemployed. Mostly I've been looking at the conventional types of jobs, but then I got a fortune from a fortune cookie.
Cheesy, right?
What is said really caught my attention though. It's probably a saying I've heard ten thousand times in other ways, but I liked how it was put. It said, "a ship in harbor is safe, but that's not what ships were built for." Maybe this is just how I've been treating my art, like a ship in harbor. Perhaps this is the reason why I don't make enough money off of it to survive and why I feel like I need a regular full time job to continue living comfortably. I suck at getting attention anyway, but I'm not confident enough in my artwork to really go for it.
Well the time has come, this ship's gonna sail. I figure I have until August or so to get my ass in gear. I'm going to build my portfolio.
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| Lines by Ace Continuado. Commissioned for the first annual Alamo City Comic Con |
I've also been trying very hard to improve, not only my color skills, but my painting. Textures, values, anatomy, movement. I'm still far from perfect. There's always room to improve.
This is my progress so far!
The mission of this blog is to keep me motivated! I must continue to improve and I must put together a portfolio. If I'm not drawing, I need to write my little heart out. Write about the things that inspire me, work on my own original comics while I'm at it. Whatever it is I'm doing, I need to keep the creativity going. I need to be discovered to live off of my artwork. I will be keeping you guys updated with my progress as well as a few random anecdotes and adventures as they pop up.
I'm feeling ambitious! Let's do this!
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