Humble origins?

I stumbled upon Stockton, CA (my hometown) on wikipedia, and found some interesting stats:

-Central Connecticut State University surveys from 2005 and 2006 ranked the city as the most illiterate of all U.S. cities with a population of more than 250,000.

-In 2005, Forbes magazine listed it as having 6,570 crimes per 100,000 residents^[8] — the highest listed;^[9] and 0.8% of engineers within total employment^[10] — the lowest listed.<sup>[9]

As I posted before, I know it's one of the miserable cities in the nation. Sigh. Despite the fact that my hometown sucks the living creativity out of me and I only spend about 7 days out of the year there even though I'm only about 90 miles away, I still spent 18 years of my life there and I have to credit it with helping to shape me into who I am today.

If anything, it certainly makes me appreciate what I have. I've been able to get an amazing education at Cal, find 2 rewarding jobs in the arts, live in San Francisco, and go for another go at higher education in order to follow my dreams. I'm nowhere near where I want to eventually be, but even getting this far would have been super difficult without the support of friends and family back in Stockton.

Additionally, I don't think I'd be who I am if it wasn't for the high crime rate, the poverty, the conservative thinking, the racial tension, and all the other things in Stockton i complain about. When you grow up in that environment and manage to escape it (although is San Francisco all that different?) it makes you appreciate what you have a little bit more.

Hmmm, not sure what else there is to say. Stockton exists as a very complex place in my heart and mind. Hmm, back to work for now I guess.</sup>

Engagement

So first off, I apologize to all those who see this post and say "WTF?" I have told some of you already, and if I haven't I apologize. I may have not told people because to us, the engagement wasn't a big deal. There was no bended knee, no asking permission from parents, no magical ring surprise. Now, this isn't to say that it isn't a big deal to me and Eve. It is, but in a way, it also isn't. We just sort of decided that we were going to get married in a few years. So even for a wedding invitation-nut like myself, the Save the Dates won't be coming for a while. Anyway, the main reason for writing this post is due to the topic of rings (or as of now, the lack thereof.)

There is no diamond ring because a)Eve doesn't like sparkly stuff (not even glitter), b)of all the spilled blood associated with diamond mines, and c)all the competition and crap socialized into the comparing of engagement rings.

However, I just read this post on feministing community on one woman's reconciliation with her engagement ring. I think it's beautifully written, poetic, and generally awesome. It didn't change my mind about a diamond ring (like I said, Eve doesn't like the sparkles), but it was a nice thing to read on a Wednesday afternoon.

PS - We are looking at rings, but we're not fans of gold and big fancy jewelry in general. We're also looking at necklaces, tattoos, and VERY nontraditional wedding rings (steampunk anyone?)

Wolf in wolf's clothing

This was a recent try at doing something really graphic (as in 'not rendered' as opposed to 'explicit'). I originally did a quick sketch in photoshop with the intention of fully rendering it out, but I liked a lot of the linework and decided to keep it pretty simple.

The title is "Wolf in Wolf's Clothing." Get it?

My portfolio

So I finally made a carbonmade portfolio. I put up some new stuff that I don't think I posted here, but if you want something more organized that deals directly with my art (and less of the politics, rants, etc.) here you go.

Also there, I just added three new pieces to the illustration section which I've been working on for a few weeks now (some of the original sketches, etc. were done..I finally revisited them!). Hope you enjoy.