Planning some future trips!

One of my annual goals is to visit a new country every year! 

I know the economy has been a bit crappy (to say the very least) this past year or so. Things have been tight all over the place. Even with my Pilot Car job the work has been slow despite the promise for extra renewable energy funding. 

But this is not gonna stop me from going somewhere outside the country before the year is out! 

I am thinking that Puerto Rico would be a fun and not too expensive place to visit for New Years Eve. I already have a couple of friends interested in joining me.  Much to plan!! :P I should talk to Jorge on where to go and even where to stay. I'm considering couchsurfing, but I don't know how comfortable my friends would be with the concept or how much of an option THAT would be during a major holiday... 

For the following year I will be joining some TravBuddy friends on an interesting roadtrip around the entire country of Iceland. More details to come on that as time goes on! Lauro is responsible for most of the planning. A highly desired talent of his :P At the moment I know I may be doing some of the driving and there is a volcano to be visited and perhaps climbed?! :P:P

Its good to know people :P

Spoke with the Director of the Robbinsville Library this morning about hanging the rest of me Brazilian photos in the community room for the month of this September. She asked my mother, who works at the library, a month ago to have me contact her about possibly showing my work in the Fall. I brought one of the photos with me to show her the size and to see how they will fit in the given area.  

I'll be displaying them shortly after Labor Day along with my bio and contact info. It will be good exposure of my name and work. 

Yesterday I dropped off the two prints for the GA Exhibit to be framed and learned that my Frame smith, Paul, is now on the Board of Directors for Artworks, a local Trenton art space and artist organization. He strongly recommended that I submit my work to the board for review. Paul thinks that I could get another show with better public exposure for sales. 

I think my photos of Abandoned Rural spaces would be perfect for submission.  :P:P

All in all it is definitely good to know people who know people. 

Where I'm From!

I thought for sure that my work wasn't accepted for the "Where I'm From" exhibit in Swainsboro, GA. The notice was suppose to go out earlier this week. Like 4 days earlier! I was tempted to email the gallery and inquire if the lack of communication meant that I was correct to assume that my photos were not accepted. However I chose not to because I understand that many galleries really prefer not to have their emails and phones congested with information starved artists. I don't blame them. I have seen artists behave terribly when they learn that their work was not accepted for exhibition. Women much older than myself throwing tantrums and insults because the painting they worked on wasn't picked by a juror who is unfamiliar with their local reputation. 

But my work was accepted!!!! 

In fact TWO photos (featured below) are to be exhibited this summer! The focus of the exhibit are images taken and or created by artists based on the theme of the area they call home. The director felt that as artists we take a lot of inspiration from our environment. As soon as I saw the prospectus for the exhibit I knew that my photos from the rural abandoned houses would be perfect! I passed up applying for other art competitions so that I would have the funds to enter, print and frame the images for this show. 

I have never shipped artwork out to an out of state gallery before, but there is of course no better time to learn then the present! 

Discarded in TX (08)

A Man's Castle (09)

The Moving Vegan!

Its official!

This Summer I will be moving from Central NJ to Baton Rouge, LA!

I'll miss NJ. It is, in my humble opinion, the best state in the country :P. But the reality is that I am not growing here. Life has been feeling a bit stale lately and I think a new environment will be what I need to clear both my head and heart so that I can make some very necessary decisions regarding my future.

I'm not looking to settle down or follow the same life path that many around me have chosen. I'm not actually sure what it is that I am looking for, but I know that I am not happy where I am at in life. 

 

Broken Hearted....

When I hear what I hear I feel like an only child..... 

How can two sisters be so different? She has no idea now, but her actions have burnt holes into an already shaky foundation. 

I feel so powerless and useless. What can I do?? If I speak to her it causes problems and she takes my wonderful nieces further away from the family. If I say nothing then the problems fester until they explode. 

I can't watch the pain she is causing my mother much longer. Its breaking my heart. 

Current Exposures!

I just received an email from the Gallery 125 in Trenton, NJ informing me that my photograph "Bonfim Wishes" was accepted for a group photography exhibition this September!!!

Sold!

I sold a photograph from the Brazil exhibit!!

When I made an inquiry to which photo (mostly because I was too lazy to reopen and then rewrap each photo) Ruth, the Gallery Director, responded that it was "The Lady" (pictured below) and explained how it came to be sold.

"When we were hanging the show, an older gentleman from the congregation who was raised in the Caribbean  was there.  He  was quite enamored of that picture.  He went on and on about how it reminded him of his grandmother and family gatherings, etc.  He was just in love with the image.  I really wanted him to have it so I told some of his friends.  They all pitched in and bought it for him.  I'm told he was thrilled with the surprise."

I am so honored that my photographed gave someone this intense feeling of happiness and that he had such great friends to pitch in and purchase it. Truth be told if I knew the older man loved it that much I would have just given it to him... But I am still happy to receive a check for my first sold photograph!

The Badlands are not so bad...

Finally I was able to visit the Badlands of South Dakota!!

This would be my second attempt. The first was thwarted by evil grey skies and vicious rain...

The Badlands were amazing! Beautiful eroded earth formations surrounded by miles of soft grassy plains! Plenty of colors to satisfy any artists palette. Some views were so stunning that I found myself sitting on top of a hill a few times unable to look away. At one point Mike, a fellow visitor, came up and we struck up a conversation on how thankful we both were for National Parks, otherwise condos would have been built and no one would be able to see how genuinely gorgeous this country is.



I have no idea what this giant puff ball thing is. Its not a dandelion.... but perhaps a mega dandelion!! :P:P 

watch for cacti!!!