Oh dear... I really let this one slide! That last post happened two months after I started my most recent position. Since then, a lot has happened, and is happening. I know few people probably follow this blog, but I'll update anyway!

After many ups and downs, the facility I work in was bought by a small pharmaceutical company called G&W Laboratories (after being merged with Waston Pharmaceuticals after being bought by Acatvis). This meant that after months of stressful audits and tours, we finally had some job security, but it also means that now we are working harder to reintegrate the old and change over to the new. We also don't have the funding of a big company anymore. Meaning longer hours at work. Meaning fewer hours at an art desk. :-(

On the hobby side, I picked up volunteering at the Schiele Museum (a tiny little gem of a natural history museum that hides in Gastonia, NC) with the folks in Collections. I have never worked with such an interesting group of scientists. They are so enthusiastic! And it is infectious :-) they might even have inspired me to go through with a Masters in Zoology and enter the scientific illustration field through a back door and networking.

I have been specifically working with the Malacologist there to illustrate common Piedmont NC snails. Who knew there were so many minute differences in land snails? I am learning a lot, to say the least. You might have seen some of them posted on Google+. If not, here is one of my favorites.

This is Striatura meridionalis. It only grows to be about 1mm wide. Yup, that small. 

I am now trying to get the Triodopsis page done, which will compare the aperture (a major diagnostic feature and where the snail comes out) views of some common Triodopsis snails. It is slow, but coming along. I'd like to have all the sketches done and transferred to illustration board and then take a whole Day to volunteer and finish them all in one day.

Also on the list of things to do is to make a functional portfolio website. I have the domain name but haven't done the web hosting. Sigh. Any suggestions?

Horse Mask photos

This is basically what the wire armature looked like.

Paper mâché ... Newspaper and paper towels, Tacky glue. 

Layer of white paint... Then beading and cloth

And that is pretty much the most recent photo. I still need to put velvet on the back and attach ribbons to the sides... It's so close I can taste the completion! But I am also hitting the creative wall called artists block. I need one more whole day or work on it, I think... Or another week of an hour per day... 

Long time, no Post

Well, hello there Bloggy friends... how are you all?

Being four months shy of a year since my last post, it isn't surprising that a lot has changed since my last post.  Read on if you care to know... or just wait for the next post with art photos!
     the backstory/history/a year in review/excuses for not posting:
          I completed my Fall classes (Color and Comp, Photography, Graphic Design Studies) in December last year and continued to work at Scotsgrove Stables for the next few months.  I began looking for employment late in January after my notion of immediately applying for and getting into grad school got the passenger side front quarter panel smashed in when I got into an accident and had to think about a new car... and it's payments and maintenance...  I also realized that, while I love my parents, I needed to really think about moving out!
          SO, job searching began.  I applied for jobs in natural history museums and the like for a while... but that seemed to be striking out by March, so I started thinking further afield.  Through the grapevine, I heard about a hiring company called On Assignment Lab Support, through which I applied for a job in the microbiology lab of the generics pharmaceutical company called Actavis.  I made no secret about my lack of specifically microbiological skills, but I studied for the interview and focused on the skills that I did have, and apparently they liked what they saw because I got hired!  Yay, full time job!!
          The only hitch was, the Actavis location is in Lincolnton, NC... So guess who has moved?  I haven't gotten everything squared with being an NC resident since my "temporary" status hasn't been removed yet (I'm still technically an employee of On Assignment), so until THAT changes and my job security is on the more secure side, I'm not putting ALL my eggs in one basket.  But I am putting a lot into this basket.  I am now going into my 4th month at Actavis, and I am still learning the ropes and constantly engaged in new things!! Also, David has gotten a job up here and is moving in with me in August (wow, I'm super excited/nervous about that!).
          And through all of this, life has been roller-coastering with friends having big life changes, birthdays happening left and right, trying to stay in touch with the family and barn people I love... I think I have a good excuse to be exhausted... but somehow that creative streak just begs to be let out, so I try to give it what I can.  That means that art projects move slowly (think grazing tortoise slowly), but they are happening!

      I will hopefully be posting pictures soon.  They will be of a horse mask that I have been working on since January-ish, photos from a visit to the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens, and maybe some pics of a somewhat-top-secret project that I can't tell you too much about ~.^ yet.

     Look for another, more picture-involved post soon!

Thanksgiving trip

I went down to Charleston, SC for Thanksgiving with the family, and to meet my cousin's fiance.  It was a pretty good time, and I used the opportunity to take some photos.  These are my favorite spontaneous portraits.

And these are some of my favorite scenery shots.

Lawson's Fork Creek in Glendale

Our class went out to the site around the Goodall Environmental Studies Center for a photo shoot.  These are some of my better ones!

I went on something of a "walkabout" twice today--once because class was cancelled, and then again when I got home.  I am trying to show you guys how I see the world around me.

New portfolio theme

Prof. Hiott has approved my switch from a barn themed portfolio to one that is more natural history. A "naturalist" was once described to me as a person who asks 2 things: what is it? And how does it fit into the natural world?

I have photographs that got me thinking about this series, but they aren't on my phone. I had planned on taking photos outside this afternoon, but the rain kept me in. Hopefully tomorrow will be more productive!