>> When You Believe in Things You Don’t Understand – Oils

Rebekah’s work is fabulously whimsical. It brings to mind children’s book illustrations and dream imagery all rolled up and garnished with a hint of surreal. Her palette is colorful, bright, and packs a powerful punch to the observer. Her subjects are always engaging and inspiring. The details are intricate, but not so overdone as to detract from her compositions.

>>The Eclectic Nurse – Oils

I enjoy her art simply because it speaks to me. It’s well drafted, nicely composed, and in general leaves me with a sweet taste in my mouth. I yearn to know the story behind each image, and I find myself getting lost in the piece trying to explore all of it at once. There tend to be fun surprises to discover in each one! It would definitely be considered an “illustrative” sort of style in my book.

When asked about her inspirations for her work, she responded with a small library’s worth of artists! Her first and foremost one was Caravaggio which is clearly reflected in her work with dynamic posing and astute use of the Chiaroscuro technique. Others that she cited include Arthur Rackham and J. W. Waterhouse.

>>Words Take Flight – Oils

Rebekah’s portfolio can be visited at CatchtheRedBalloon.com but her blog is where all of the fun and magic happen. Right now she has a contest going on, you should go check it out! I also urge you to follow her on Twitter; she is very friendly!

Images used with permission, please do not distribute or use them in any way!

Being set up to function is great, but I still have another task in front of me: city-living. First, I’ll note that I haven’t really done much city exploring, living, driving, visiting, etc. Most of my life has been comprised of the suburbs, having a car, and living in a sprawling apartment. I’ve avoided city driving like the plague, and just haven’t visited big cities like I should have by this point. My life has been turned on its head with this move, and finding a new groove is probably going to be a bit more like waking up and discovering that I’ve grown a third arm.

The biggest challenge thus far has been getting around without a car. Good god, why didn’t I drive that old jalopy Taurus I had across the country so that things could be easier, you ask? Well, first off, where would I put it? One of San Francisco’s many lovely features is parallel parking. Have YOU ever tried to parallel park in a Ford Taurus? Might as well try to drive a Pontoon boat in a bathtub. Also, parking costs money. Gas is outrageous out here, nearing $3.60 a gallon AND it means city driving. I’d rather skip all that, thank you. Oh, and I think it would’ve died on me right around the Kansas area, and I’d still be there, looking at nothing but fields and cows and fields.

But what’s the alternative? Using public transit. This is also something I’m not skilled in. I remember using a real bus and train for the first time when I was visiting Montepulciano, Italy. What sort of American gets to know public transit in a foreign country? This one. Anyway, being that I can’t afford a smart phone, I also get to navigate the endless sea of options with nothing but a map. Guess what OTHER skill I’m horrifically deficient in? If you guessed sarcastic tongue-in-cheek writing, you’d be wrong.

I had plenty of adventures using Muni, ACTransit, and BART during my first week here in San Francisco, but most of them came complete with a companion who had a smartphone, so life was simple. Today, however, I ventured into the world on my own armed with only my crappy map and a prayer! I managed to meet my friend in one piece, which surprised both myself and her.

I ventured from my part of town all the way to the Marina, and then downtown to secure a few things from Bed Bath & Beyond. Now, being that I don’t have a car, you might think I was cautious and prudent about the size and weight of things that I would need to lug onto the public buses which tend to be crammed like sardine cans. Again, you’d be wrong.

Needing a place to store my art supplies, I decided to buy some plastic drawers to store them in, as well as some canisters for my flour, sugar, etc. I also ended up buying a variety of other sundry thinking “Hey, I need this!” as opposed to “Hey, I can’t carry this easily– especially not on a bus!”

Keep in mind that today was really hot in San Francisco. The locals have been wishing for summer-like weather for the past few weeks, but instead of just warm weather, Georgia decided to come with me to stay in San Francisco. With temperatures soaring over 90 degrees (and that’s soaring here, where air conditioning is hard to find), not only were the buses way over crowded, but they were hot. So here’s Sweet Suburbiette (that’d be me) overloaded with plastic bags and boxes from Bed Bath & Beyond, stumbling to the bus stops, sweating in waterfalls, and wondering how she’s to fit on when the bus pulls up and it’s already so crammed that people are standing in the stairwells.

The moral of the story probably ought to be that I shouldn’t buy so much stuff when I have to use public transit to get around. Probably. In reality, here’s what’s in Joie’s head: Lesson learned! Next time I’m just taking a Zipcar!

It was incredibly stressful figuring out plans for getting here as well as juggling my first semester of classes online. I’ve not yet figured out how to get my beloved corgi here, and so it breaks my heart to have my mom watch her back in Georgia until I form a good plan. I want my fluffy bunny butts! It started pouring at the Atlanta airport as soon as we were yanking all seven bags out of the car at the dropoff point, so both Joe and I were soaked to the bone. The airport and its security really makes me anxious, so that wasn’t any fun either. Our flight was delayed, and we didn’t get in ’til 1 AM. We had to take a taxi to my new place and sleep on an air mattress in an unfamiliar room on the corner of a busy, loud street. There were no window hangings so tons of streetlights made the room bright.

There were several miscommunications with IKEA, and I ended up not getting any furniture until four days later. When my boxes began to arrive my fears about shipping my computer came true, and it was completely smashed up when it arrived. The box had been dropped so the case was broken and the processor fan snapped off. The fan then proceeded to bounce around and damage parts of the motherboard. I then managed to cut my thumb badly while trying to open some cheese. At least it wasn’t a trip to the hospital, but oh man did it hurt! The worst of it all is that Joe is heading back to Atlanta tomorrow, and I’ll miss him terribly.

Unfortunately, no matter where you move, unforseen things happen and there is always a lot of stress involved. Besides those few bad things, the city is quite nice and I love the weather. I enjoy my new roommate, and am starting to make some new friends. The public transit system is rather comprehensive (and way better than Atlanta’s). There are always tons of things going on as well– yesterday I attended the 2nd Annual San Francisco Food Festival, which was quite awesome. I’m still getting settled and getting all my supplies for my first on campus semester, and I think all in all it’ll be a grand adventure!

Besides, I’m on my way back to Atlanta for Dragon*Con weekend– GeekFest 2010 will make everything better!

Cristina’s website showcases her three corgis (Cody, Nikita, and Dockers) and her photography of said corgis. They’re precious and her photography is great! Go check it out! She has some never-before-seen corgi artwork of mine featured in her article, plus lots of other fun things to look at. You won’t be disappointed!

I have quite a few other prints available, including Naiad Sentinels, Empyrean Eyes, and the Three Ballerinas series. If you see something else on my website that you would like a print of, please let me know! I can have almost anything made into a print. Just leave me a note in the comments!

This of course also gives me a bit more free time to work on artwork, which is great because I’ve got a new commission, and a possible chance at illustrating some children’s books.

I’m also in the midst of printing new business cards, and some bookmarks of my art to have a new offering in my Etsy.com store. I also think it may be time for a nice facelift for Joieart.net. New era, new design! I hope to have some new artwork very soon!

I’m excited to announce that I’ll be in an art show and expo next starting TOMORROW right here in Atlanta! I will have prints of my art available for purchase, as well as some originals for sale and viewing. There’s a good chance I’ll have my worktable set up as well, so if you come you can see me painting and drawing in action!

I’ve got TWO new prints up for sale, Autumn Ballerina and Hipp-po-po Toe. Hipp-po-po Toe has JUST been released tonight and is the newest piece of art I’ve done! I’d love for you to come see it in person.

If you’re interested and want to know more information, please visit March of Dimes to find a location to walk in your area or to make a donation!

Edit: I managed to raise $175 in just under 48 hours for the cause! Thanks everyone!