a fresh start to my day

jumped up this morning and decided to shoot something
i've been eyeing for the past few days.
i was blessed to find something even more interesting.

a quick glance backward, a few steps forward

the end of this year is approaching and so many good
things have happened in the past six months.
i've met a lot of people who have helped me grow as a person.
i've met a lot of awesome artists who are helping me grow as an artist.
i have been given the opportunity and resources to develop
and run an afterschool art program.
i 've gained a measure of clarity on my life and what i'm capable of.
i've gotten a lot of garbage out of my head,
which will help me get a lot of garbage out of my life.

thank you:
ratasha, mcelvanes of various shapes and sizes,
khalilah, develon, antoine, de'angelo, and others.

now i will go on to become an even more phenomenal person.
i will

1. put God first in my life
2. learn to value who i am and what i can offer others
3. stop limiting myself
4. be consistent
5. be non-apologetically Chad
6. determine exactly want i want and need
7. don't be afraid to ask for exactly what i want and need
7. remove the clutter from my my life
8. make myself valuable to others

and there are some things i'd like to have and do.
i will:

1. take more short trips
2. go to Africa
3. shoot hundreds of pictures of my closest family/friends
and variuos mothers-to-be
4. get an iMac computer and an a 120G iPod classic
5. hold the baby Glovers

those who pave the way

wanted to ref illustrator, james elston, since i "sampled" his work for a new collage piece i'm working on. i'll post that soon enough, but just wanted to give a shout. his work is simple, but it's really cool. i like the mechanical line style. something i want to incorporate in my work.

...a walk around the block (Plaza)

trying to regain direction.
the work of ryan, dia, and e.lisha have inspired me to get back shooting more of what catches my attention or my eye.
to put Jesus' words in a somewhat different context, "the lamp of the body is the eye. if your eye is focused, your whole body will be bright". i want to focus on creating work that i respond to, if i'm fortunate, you'll enjoy it too.

"don't quit your day job..."

hours are being cut and things
are getting tight.
it's about time to find a new way
to pay these bills.
don't think i'd do so well as a stripper
and i'm too old, skinny, nervous, nice, etc.
to start "pushin' weight".
any suggestions?

"I thought you were dead..."

i created this blog so that i could keep track
of myself and make sure i was being productive.
though i haven't posted in a month, i haven't been
bullsh... (well, not as much as i could've been), but
unfortunately i wasn't able to blog what i have been
doing this past month.
i finished these three new pieces from the AphroWoman series:
Class of '77 and Glamorous.
I got to show these at the Johnston YMCA's
annual Professional Women's Luncheon.
I also got to hang Glamorous in Antoine Williams' "Minority Report"
exhibit at the Art House in NoDa.

i'm now working on two new AphroWoman
pieces and another mixed media piece called... well, we'll see
that soon.

thanx to Antoine for letting me hang my pieces anywhere near your work at the show. i got quite a bit of encouraging feedback.

this month, i want to start re-focusing on my photography and design work.
now that i've said it, i'll have to jump on it.
latr.

Procrastination

web surfing to pass time in between periods of productivity.
here's something cool i found.




ok... back to work.

Kewl Azhel

some random shooting with my new homie, e.lisha.
we got to build on life in LA vs. NYC, Native Tongues M.C.s, and the joys of odwalla fruit smoothies.
overall, a very kewl experience.

AfroWoman - The Most Recent

a new commissioned piece - acrylic on wood.
i'm enjoying the learning process with painting
and creating. so much i want to do with this series.
it's gonna be a busy month.

He Changed The Game

Kanye and that Takashi Murakami are beasts.
This video is an inspiration to me as an artist.
I can't see this whole video not being conceptually fleshed out
before the release of the album, but the album art work
has random elements spattered throughout.

It would be so dope to release parts of a project as if
they were a whole just to later inform the masses that it is actually
a part of awesome series of works that fit together.
Then people could run around the world trying to link
up with people that have the other part of my artwork.
At the rate I'm going, my mother will simply have to find my
grandmother and one of my cousins to put the whole thing together.

ahem...
and without any further ado...

Yo, Son!! Check This New Hotness!!

Battlecry video created by Develon Douglas of Vocal Visions.
I'm in it, it has some hot chicks, and a dope beat, so automatically it's hot!!
But then - ON TOP OF THAT - it has meaningful content!!
Can you believe it? If not... watch!!

Inside the Artist's Studio

I got to capture a few images of calligrapher, muralist, award-winning children’s book illustrator, and friend,
Catherine Courtlandt McElvane, working on one of a series of Kidrobot's Munny Vinyl toys - this one having sold
at Niche Market's Vinyl Toy Exhibition on Sept. 5. I personally love Munny's and anyone who has watched Catherine's workflow
would agree it is amazing. I have to get my hands on some of her work, as i believe she'll blow up like Takashi Murakami.

snaggin' shots

got a chance to do something i haven't done in ENTIRELY TOO LONG...
i got to shoot a photographer. awesome experience and i'm proud of the pics.
i need to do what i need to do more often. thanks jasiatic!

oh SNAP!!!

i'm amazed at the power of focus.
i still often lack in focus,
but i've been amazed at how many people
i've recently been able to connect with - all of whom
are people whose work i've been paying attention to
or set my mind on in some manner or another.

my connections are really inspiring. and as i increase my
focus, i'm sure even more great things will come my way,
both in quantity and quality. AWESOME!