Can you believe that it is Christmas again, let alone the end of the year. It seems that this year has gone so quickly, especially the last half of the year.
Christmas is looking like it will be a fairly non-event here...which is probably going to be quite depressing on the day.

I'm still in the process of deciding if this year has been a good one or not, but I'm pretty sure that overall it has been brilliant. How do you feel your year has been?


Painting a custom dress that won Best National Costume at the Miss World New Zealand competition
Doing photography for cityvibes & getting to go to so many events because of it
Getting engaged (although it was one of those things that would eventually happen)
Selling a few pair of custom shoes & creating a bit of a name for myself

The end of 2009 has been all up & down for me. My dad lost a decent amount of money due to a scan, so is currently living with me...the place I rent is up for sale, so we have to decide if to move or to buy the house and this weekend just gone I decided to give up/stop/take a break from, photographing for cityvibes, as I'm not enjoying it (the scene) as much anymore. But this isn't to say that I won't be found on the scene or won't go back to photographing the scene at a later date.


I suppose that we are at the time of year when we set goals for the year to come, something I have been thinking about, and so far my list looks like this...

Start creating custom high heels
Have an exhibition of my art
Sell some art (not sure how successful I will be at this one) either originals or prints via DeviantART (all DeviantART sales go towards renewing my DA subscription)
Be more active when it comes to my art


What are your plans for Christmas? How will you be spending it?
Is it summer or winter in your neck of the woods?
What are your plans for New Years?
What are your goals for 2010?


Seeings as my subscription runs out very, very soon I thought that I would do one last feature of some of my favorites. Check them out and enjoy...

We have probably all seen the email now, but encase you haven’t…

FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE FOR ALL PRINTS BROUGHT THROUGH THE DEVIANTART PRINT SHOP FOR 5 WHOLE DAYS!!!

So stop by my shop and pick up something. Just click here.

In other news that is warm and fuzzy. On Thursday 8th October (after the NZ Vodafone Music Awards) I GOT ENGAGED to my partner of 7 years (see more reason to buy my prints...haha).
Before you ask though...No, he didn't get down on one knee; it was the other way around (although still no "on one knee" thing). And Yes, I have a ring; he brought it a few weeks earlier.

I found out later in the evening after I had asked him and what not that he had been thinking about it for the past 2 months, just that he didn’t know how to ask and I kind of beat him to the punch.

We are looking at doing the deed in October/November next year. It's a weird feeling...excitement and total fear all at the same time. It's such a big move to make.

So I think that is all for now. Will hopefully have a few prints up in time for Halloween...you know pumpkins and things like that!

suc-cess-ful [suh k-ses-fuh l]
–adjective
1. achieving or having achieved success
2. having attained wealth, position, honors, or the like.
3. resulting in or attended with success.

art-ist [ahr-tist]
–noun
1. a person who produces works in any of the arts that are primarily subject to aesthetic criteria.
2. a person who practise one of the fine arts, esp. a painter or sculptor.
3. a person whose trade or profession requires a knowledge of design, drawing, painting, etc.: a commercial artist.
4. a person who works in one of the performing arts, as an actor, musician, or singer; a public performer: a mime artist, an artist of the dance.
5. a person whose work exhibits exceptional skill.
6. a person who is expert at trickery or deceit: He’s an artist with cards.
7. Obsolete. An artisan.

What makes one successful artist different from the next is their level of success, where they decided to place the bar, how high they keep placing the bar, shifting it, and moving it, adapting.

We all have to adapt at some point. Things change, they never stay the same...or at least not for too long.

I have 2 months left of my DeviantART subscription and now I am asking myself am I successful or just not as successful as I would like to be?

It's the question that has plagued artists for centuries. We are so hard on ourselves that we don’t see how good we really are; even if we hear it a thousand times we never believe it.

How do I get seen more on this site? A question that still plagues me after 4...almost 5 years.

Anywho so I don't rant on any more...what do you think makes an artist success and do you believe that you are a successful artist?

Also check out the poll while your at it..."How often do you visit my page?". Click here to vote!

Another week (well not quite a week) and I’m still not 100% sure on the benefits of having a premium membership.
I seem to have more people visiting my page now (although there is no steady pattern to it) and it’s awesome to not have ads, choose how many thumbnails you view and change around the look of your profile, but other than that, I’m like a priest without a little boy; not quite sure what to do (I can hear the hissing from here).

As some of you might know I can also be found on the JPG website. Not overly active on there, but last night I submitted my photo "Ellie & The Radio" for Nostalgia in Issue 23. Would be awesome if you guys could check it out and vote.


CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR IT ON JPG

I have just started up a new blog called "119 Plus" on blogger.
119 days was originally the place of ramblings while a friend, ~Aflickion, was on his O.E. Leading up to his return & since his return I’ve wanted to continue blogging (like the geek I am), so now we have 119 Plus, the place where we rant on about music, events, art, fashion and whatever else comes up.
Click here to check it out.

Tomorrow I'm working as an extra on the set of Outrageous Fortune (a New Zealand drama); should be a fun day. Then it’s haul ass into the weekend.
Face painting for Roller Derby on early Saturday evening, possibly doing body painting a friend for Godskitchen, then there is the task of getting myself ready for Godskitchen. Hopefully manage to make it into Ginger Minx at some point over the weekend (it would be nice, but it happening is well…up in the air).

Then it is time to get ready to the New Zealand Vodafone Music Awards. I found out that I won a couple of tickets this afternoon, thanks to Vodafone. This all means that I have to find something to wear and I have to say it didn’t take much deciding. I’m not going to give it all away yet, but expect to see some new custom stuff sometime over the next week. Good way to get yourself out there huh?