The Big Art Photoshoot with the insanely talented Haley Varacallo

This last Monday (May 15th) I had the honor and pleasure to get many of my artworks properly photographed by the insanely talented Haley Varacallo (www.haleyvaracallo.com. It's been something I've needed to do for YEARS but various roadblocks made it difficult. Many of these kinds of "upkeep" tasks tend to fall by the wayside because they feel daunting or overwhelming. But not anymore! I just wish I had known Haley before selling so many Micro Paintings- would have loved to give them the same treatment.

There were two main objectives to this photoshoot:

1. To finally (FINALLY) get high quality images taken of my larger paintings so I can get to work creating the Limited Edition, high-quality prints that incorporate the elements that made the originals pop: neon ink and gold foil. I also want to see about possibly making all the linework have embossed, raised elements- but we'll see what I can accomplish. I really want to try and get them ready for DragonCon this year.

2. Get really high-end photos taken of all my current supply of Micro Paintings so I can properly showcase them on my website and shop. I've been struggling to figure out how to present them here and think the first place to start is with getting those quality images.

The day was exhausting but incredibly fun. Both Haley and Samson (www.samsonsmith.net) were awesome and made the experience memorable. Check out my tiktoks detailing the experience here:

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRKWeovF/

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRKnQAc6/

And there will be more to come!

WELCOME TO MY NEW SITE!

It has been needed for a long, long time. Years, even.

This is going to be a bit of a rant- apologies in advance. But let’s start with a very important point:

Squarespace is garbage.

Garbage that keeps growing more rancid with each passing year. Each “interface update.” Every “efficiency” they introduce that breaks previous styles. Their never-ending push to “streamline” their website creation program has made it entirely unusable for anyone who wants even the slightest modicum of flexibility. Back when I first put my site together they provided me with a TON of it. Sure things weren’t perfect, but you could ad

just how galleries worked within a template, turn on and off universally accessible features (like light-boxing) and a host of other customizable options.

However when I attempted to update my site years later they had re-done their entire website editor and removed SO MANY of those options. Choosing a starting template - which you were forced to do - would seal off certain preferences and force you into VERY specific layouts. And those layouts were often not correct for some of my series. Because of this I left my website alone. Nothing I could create from their increasingly limited and generic New Templates could provide me with anything better.

I would go back periodically and attempt to re-design it over the subsequent years but the trend was consistent: the options would get MORE limited and LESS user-friendly. Their desire for “innovation” had completely ruined their platform. In my opinion, of course.

And then COVID hit. And I was suddenly without any freelance work, all my art shows were cancelled and I lacked all motivation to create new paintings. To fill the sudden abundance of free time I did many things: had countless anxiety attacks brought on by my hypochondria going into over-drive during a pandemic, exercise, baking, vigorous and prolific self-love, and finally looking into alternative platforms to FINALLY update a site I fell out of love with AGES ago. My old site was “fine” but it was also dated and didn’t properly elevate or showcase my work. It had been almost embarrassing to direct people to and I haven’t uploaded any newer works to it in years.

This is when I happened across WIX. And while it is also a very imperfect, problematic (and often buggy) website creator it was also a THOUSAND times more flexible and usable than Squarespace had become. I actually found myself having fun and getting excited by what I could do. Each page could have multiple types of galleries to better suit the work. My Shinrin Kami page, for example, needed a gallery type that would properly showcase my larger works - but I also had Mini-Kami paintings I had done a while ago (before my Micro Painting Series) that wouldn’t have really fit into the space with the more detailed, fuller works. WIX solved this issue by allowing me to make a separate gallery on the SAME PAGE that worked better for those tiny pieces.

Then I hit roadblocks. I got back into my art. I got freelan

ce work again. And the kinks/imperfections/bugs I hadn’t worked out yet became too much for me to handle without additional know-how.

So my New Site sat languishing for another couple years in the editor, unfinished. That is until a few weeks ago when I happened to meet a truly talented and wonderful guy by the name of Samson Smith (www.samsonsmith.net). Over the course of our introduction he revealed that he’s helped other artists get their websites created and I immediately jumped at the opportunity. Here was someone with far more experience with these finicky programs who could realize my initial blueprints and hammer out all the issues/redundancies/etc.

So here we are! FINALLY. A new site. A new platform to showcase my work in a more modern way that truly allows my vision to breathe. I hope you all like it and I look forward to this becoming a more actively-updated platform.

Thank you again to Samson for getting me across the finish line on this (and Haley Varacallo for some of the lovely photography - www.haleyvaracallo.com). It was a decade+ overdue.

And fuck SquareSpace. That sinking ship can rot.

Kami Series: Mosu Kami to Saku

To those who have come seeking to delve deeper into the world of spirits: Please welcome the newest addition to the Kami Series: Mosu Kami to Sakura.

The first thing you will notice in this painting are the Mosu Kami (moss spirits) milling about the misty woodland setting. Mosu Kami are social creatures with generally kind natures. Physically, they appear somewhat mysterious: their figures are shrouded in a soft blanket of moss-like hair that blends seamlessly into the ground beneath them. When frightened they can practically collapse until all that is visible is a soft blanked on the ground- though when this happens they will often poke their gently glowing eyes out to see if the danger has passed. Often times Mosu Kami will congregate in large numbers from all over. This results in a celebration that can be felt outside of spiritual nodes for reasons I will explain in a moment.

While there are well over 10,000 species of moss found on earth, nearly all their representative spirits have similar physical traits (this is much the same for all species sharing common history- though exceptions always inherently exist). Their personalities and properties have far more variation, however. Take, for example the Mosu Kami represented here. As I said above they are typically kind, social creatures. What differentiates them from, say, most Cave Mosses is that these spirits have the capacity to heal creatures of both the physical and spiritual plane. The simple intentional touch of their manes will often re-invigorate and energize fellow spirits- and can help heal wounds/sickness of physical flora/fauna. The strength of their abilities varies from spirit to spirit and there are definitely limitations (they can’t resuscitate the fully deceased, nor can they repair damage as severe as decapitation) however if all that needs healing is a minor sickness or bruise they can help.

When not in a spiritual node one can still benefit from the healing effects of Mosu Kami. While resting in a mossy bed people have been known to suddenly feel strangely energetic, light and happy. Their allergies diminish and their headaches clear up almost supernaturally. When that happens there is a very high likelihood that a Mosu Kami has decided to rest on their knee and join them in their contemplation.

One final note: if you look closely enough you can see a couple other Kami in the misty background. One such creature is a Sakura No Ki Kami (a Cherry Blossom Tree Spirit) resting up against the tree that bore it, acting as a guardian spirit.