This past month has just been insane. I'm finally poking my head out of the workload, and the end is in sight! We're getting ready for our end of the year exhibition and internships, which is super exciting!

Also spring weather: you can come out anytime now?? We had a random abnormal heatwave last week, let's just say I got to take out my flip flops out of the closet for a day or so - now I'm back to my winter coat and boots. :( waaahhh

I finally got to sit down and do a study, very speedy but HEY not my fault days only have 24 hours. I don't think I'll be able to go to life drawing for a little bit, so I'm totally going to kick myself into doing more studies on my own (I got lazy relying on it all the time!).

Approx. 2 hours

Study of woman with a quirky pose and a really long forehead. Also very detailed jewelry ahahaha

To finish off - I got tagged by Pauline @ Journal Illustrations and Musings to answer some questions! ;)

1. Favorite ice cream flavor?

Hmmmmmm. Cookie dough! 

2. Favorite book (or movie)?

Right now I'm really into the A Song of Ice and Fire book series. But Harry Potter will always have a special place in my heart. ;) Movies: pretty much anything classic Disney and... Mean Girls. hahaha

3. One thing that you love? (thing, not person) :-)

My laptop! C:

4. What makes you smile?

Many things! Funny cat videos, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and coffee, to name a few.

5. Where was your best vacation?

I loved my trips to Florida and Paris, but they were dance trips - not really a vacation. ;) So I'm going to say my backyard.

6. What color is your car (if you have one) or your bike?

I don't have my own car, but I drive my mom's a lot. It's black!

7. If money was no object, what is the ONE thing you would do?

Travel!

8. Where do you feel most at home or ‘connected’ to the world?

... Probably at home! 

9. high heels or flip flops?

Flip flops all the way. I love heels, but I love being comfortable a lot more.

10. If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be?

Hmmm, I wish I were more assertive sometimes... 

11.What are you most proud of?

Ahhh what a question! Actually, I'm really proud of my mom for kicking her smoking habit. 5 months and she's still going strong. :)

Wowwww what a long post. Next one will hopefully have more art. 

No art right now, just an update on life:

This morning my 101 year old grandfather passed away. We found out he was not doing so good yesterday, and then already this morning it was over. As much as we've been expecting it for a while it still comes as a shock, and no matter how much I told myself it wasn't going to be a big deal when it happened, it still really hit me. Even if we were never overly close, he has always been there. It's just a really weird feeling. 

January 21st 1911 - March 19th 2012 -- May you rest in peace (you sure earned it!)

... In other news, I am still super busy with college (not really a good time for me to attend funerals buuuuut life is life). I also haven't been able to go to life drawing, or have been at home much... hopefully I'll catch up on my drawing soon!

It's March Break for me, yaaaay! Though it hasn't really felt that way at all... for one, I've been going to college anyway to work on my things so I don't fall behind, and life-wise things haven't exactly been going well! My mom got a cyst in her ankle removed a few weeks ago, and though there were no problems during the operation, her recovery has just been for the worst. Turns out her foot is super infected and she's been in and out of the hospital all week/hooked on a portable IV at home. :( Not exactly the best winter we've ever had, with her shoulder injury before Christmas (today was the 5th time I've had to drive her to the emergency room since fall) and our whole basement flood ordeal. BUT at least the weather hasn't been so bad?

On a lighter note, I officially have a spot at Animaritime 2012's Artist Alley again! C: The tables were all filled up in the span of a day, which is like, insane. TIME TO GET CRACKIN'

Life drawing this week went okay for me, not my best but not my worst either. We didn't do a lot of short poses, and the ones I do have didn't turn out that great. SO here's the longer stuff:

10 minutes - super classy pose!

10 minutes

20 minutes - creative pose ;)

Here's something I painted on a complete I'm-tired-of-working-on-my-resume whim earlier this week, but I'm really fond of it for some reason. Funny how that works...

Approx. 3 hours

Finally, I contacted VanArts today to find out when I could start applying for the Sept. 2013 session, since I'm planning to take care of that this summer. Apparently I can apply anytime and they've already accepted some people? ...I'm worried. 8| 

So this is my last day at college for 2011! I came early to finish up everything and prepare for my *last* presentation this afternoon, but now I'm left with two hours to kill (can't remember the last time that's happened to me). I've been seeing everyone do this everywhere on DA and Tumblr, and I did it last year, so here's my art summary for the year. :)

January - March: This has probably been the worst art period of the year. I was in a relationship at the time, so between that and college and work and dance I literally drew maybe once a week? And forget painting (I painted nothing during February, the only thing I'd been working on was a comic thing, which I totally gave up on anyway). When I look back on it, I'm not sure how I managed to forget about everything I like doing for that long!

April - June: Things definitely got better, though I was still very busy! I pushed myself to paint different things during this period.

July - September: Probably my most productive time of the year-- summer is awesome for that. C: After Animaritime I was super motivated (funny that a whole weekend spent drawing only made me want to draw more), and it stayed that way for most of the season.

October - December: I've definitely slowed down because of college, but I've also been a little art-blocked. However I've been getting through that by doing more studies, which was totally worth it, and now I am feeling very inspired. :)

So, overall, it's been a pretty good year! I think the improvement is more obvious in the second half, when I really kicked things into gear and pushed myself to paint things I didn't normally paint (like actual backgrounds trololol), and experimented with techniques and settings.

2012 will be about studies, studies and more studies, since I need to have a portfolio by the end of summer! And prepping for the con begins like NOW so I am not stuck doing everything 3 days before again. ahhhhhhhh

... in other news I am so close to freedom I can almost taste it and tomorrow I am going to sleep all day oh my gooooood @w@