We were able to salvage some pictures off the memory card, which is apparently on the way out. It’s a four year old memory card, and has seen its fair share of photos.

So as promised, there are some new paintings on display in the gallery.

There’s another (bigger) group exhibit coming in late October, which I want to be a part in, so it’s back to painting I go.

I had been frantically painting over the last few weeks so I could have new works to show at the Old Fire Station Cafe Gallery, in Preston. Which was the main reason for not posting.

It went well, and there was a fair amount of people there.

Anthony and Nicole came over before the opening night was to begin, but I wasn’t very talkative as I was stressing out about the Exhibition. Sorry guys! Nicole took some photos of Jazz, and the Exhibition. I’ll post some photos when I get copies.

So yes, I was stressing. I was stressing about the people that would be there, or wouldn’t be there; I was stressing about the speech; and I was just stressing in general! Haha.

Had dinner there, which I highly recommend, as the Old Fire Station’s food is quite palatable - actually, it’s damn nice. Sunk a couple of bourbons, which didn’t help the nerves at all.

Angie and Jennifer showed up not long after the night had started, which was good as I was unsure whether they would attend.

Unfortunately, Lisa and Debbie couldn’t attend. It would’ve been good to see them, as I haven’t done so in some time. But it’s understandable given that they would’ve been up to their arm pits in small children.

Eventually I started calming down, and by the time I had to give a small speech I was eager to get it over and done with.

That was such a huge weight off my shoulders - I felt so much better after the speech was done, then I started enjoying the night for what it was.

Thank you to all who showed up!

I did have some photos of my new works, but it seems that the digital camera has malfunctioned, and I can’t even access it, let alone copy files over. Ugh.

This past fortnight has been a timesink.

Not in a bad way, of course. It’s just that I’ve been neglecting this site a little bit.

I’m currently thinking of changing the colour scheme, and banner for the site, but am yet undecided - though if I choose to do so, it’ll still be a while away.

At the moment, I’m working on six different paintings at once (and one completed), in anticipation of the upcoming group exhibition in October. I can multitask!

I’m shocked and amazed.

Unfortunately, two of these paintings consist of oils - while I love working with oil paint, it dries incredibly slow. So whether those two pieces will be ready by then, I don’t know.

Being able to paint again has truly been awesome, and I can’t believe how much I missed it.

I was meant to post about this the other night, but suffered a lapse in memory when I did end up writing.

I’m having a little trouble deciding on my future.

It has been a fair while since I withdrew from classes mid year, and I’m still unsure how I should approach my life, and my career.

Do I focus on financial assurance, or chase my passion?

I have always wanted to be involved in the games industry, doing level design, animation or just concept art. This was a childhood dream, but now, something has changed. I want to further my art work, but not to the mandate of Company X.

Painting has shown me self-expression - expression is something that I’ve been avid in doing since I formed my own identity (you know, what everyone does during their teens).

Why can’t I do both?

I can’t… In 2007, while I was studying full-time, I did not paint a single thing (if my memory serves me correctly - if I did paint something, it wouldn’t have been completed until now). I neither had the time, motivation, or want to do so. School left me drained, creatively and physically.

That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy TAFE. I loved it, it was great.

But here I am, now, contemplating a serious move to being a ‘professional artist’.

The downsides? A lack of money, people calling me a slacker.

The upside? Self-expression, freedom.

I don’t know… It feels like a conundrum.

Just a quick note.

I have added some drawings to the gallery. There aren’t as many as I would have liked, but it’s what I was able to scan today.

Thanks for visiting! =)

Thursday was mum’s graduation (an Art Degree), and unfortunately she could only invite two people - so naturally she invited dad and I.

Due to a faulty wrist-watch, we arrived a little late to the graduation ceremony. It seems dad’s watch was running slow, so while we thought that we had plenty of time, we actually didn’t.

I think the venue was called the Dallas Brooks House, basically it was a large auditorium with three tiers (or levels) and it must have been two-thirds packed. The reason being because it was not only the class graduation, but graduation for students from completely different fields.

Along with the art class, there were hospitality students, builders, social workers and so forth - the ground floor mostly seated students.

The ceremony had some speakers, then the degrees were handed out to the students. I was so proud of mum, and if I had not been taking a picture of her receiving the award, I would’ve whooped as loud as possible!

The ceremony itself took around an hour and a half, and afterwards we all went to the ground floor for finger food.

The scene was chaotic, it seemed everyone got out of all three levels at the same time - it was shoulder to shoulder. I didn’t like that at all.

Overall though, it was good. Dad and I were there to support mum, and I don’t think we did a bad job of it. Mum looked the part in her graduation gown, and degree in hand.

Good on you, mum! Congratulations. =)

Friday night was our group exhibition *cough*shameless plug*cough*, and yes, I am going to keep plugging it until the end of the exhibition, which is April 30. =)

But I digress, Friday night - it was both nerve wracking and exciting. I haven’t exhibited anything since 2006, I believe. So it was good showcasing some unseen pieces. During the night I was incredibly nervous, I sat in my chair, frowning at my food while munching it down. And my speech, well, it was minimalist. lol

I’m an incredibly bad speaker, and I squirm whenever I’m the centre of attention - well, unless it’s intimately, then I love it. But anyway…

I would say the night was successful, people enjoyed themselves, the paintings were incredible and proved to be a talking point - and we, the Three Palettes, enjoyed ourselves. Unfortunately Lisa and her family couldn’t attend, which was a bit of a let down, but I guess it’s my own fault for sending out all of my invitations last minute (read: a couple of days before the event).

I want to thank all of my friends who attended the exhibition, it meant a lot to have them there.

I’ll be adding some content to the gallery page, specifically the digital art gallery. A lot of that work was done in a stage of my life when I thought fractal images rocked my socks, the inner tripper in me still thinks that though. Keep your eyes peeled, and enjoy!

Let me start off on a completely different tangent.

Yesterday, Lisa added my site to StumbleUpon and within hours, I had 144 views! When I loaded up my stats, I saw this huge rise in the graph - and I was sceptical.

“Is this some sort of bug?” I thought. Looking at the referred websites, I quickly noticed that most came from StumbleUpon - thank you Lisa, and thank you little plugin (not only have you given me such entertainment, but now you’re pimping out my website). =)

Tomorrow, well, I should say today is the day of my group exhibition and I am decidedly cool. Which, as I know, means that I’m shitting bricks on the inside. There’s going to be people, and they’re going to be focused on us, and there will be lots of people. Did I mention the people?

I mean, this is one of the things that I want from life - I want to be an artist, so therefore, I have to deal with crowds, and mingling. Gah! I’d much rather be a reclusive artist.

I’m excited though, although not all of them are new works, there are some that have never been exhibited. I want it to be a successful night, and I want people to enjoy themselves.

Meanwhile, I’ve been playing the PS2 game, “Killzone”. Intense, yes? Vomit inducing ugliness? Also a yes. It’s proving to be a challenge, and a fun one at that. I’ll post a review sometime. Sometime (like the “Resistance” review?).

Today, I got to see how the paintings are set up at gallery, and all in all, it’s looking pretty good. I’m nervous, but I think I feel a tinge of excitement too. It’ll be good to show off some of the work that hasn’t been seen yet.

So yes, I helped set up… You know, by standing around going “that looks good” and generally not being all that helpful really. My poor dad was doing the bulk of the work. We spent a bit of time there, though.

I met Maria, who is showing her work in “The Three Palettes” exhibition coming this April 4th, at the Old Fire Station Cafe Gallery in Preston. *cough*shameless plug*cough* She’s pretty cool, a bit of a character and quite talented. I didn’t know what to expect from her work, but I was impressed.

Knowing that this exhibition is coming up, it’s giving me the drive to paint - but all that I’m producing feels below par.

Finally, after much lazing around, there are some paintings up in the gallery.

That’s not all there is, so stay tuned over the next week!