One month of art has passed.

11 months to go. The first month went well. I finished 2 new pieces, which was my goal. I would be quite satisfied with 24 new pieces in a year.

I spent more money than I anticipated, because my visa run cost as much as my rent, but I also hadn’t factored in that even though I’d stopped working, I hadn’t received my last paycheck yet. I revised my Excel chart keeping track of my finances, and instead of allocating $6,000 for the year, I allocated whatever I have beyond the bottom limit of what I need to keep in order to get back on my feet. So, I still have $6,164 to make it through 11 more months. That’s $560 a month. Not easy, but possible.

On the less promising side, the total money I got for art and any sort of donation was, you guessed it… zero. Making money is going to be hard. I’m not even sure it’s really possible. I’ll need to reach lots more people to have any hope of making money.

Incidentally, or not so incidentally, if you are feeling generous you can toss me as little as $1. I have a link in the right sidebar and under the “support” tab. Just click on the pig to go to Paypal.

$1 will buy me a Pad Thai, Nam Dok Mu (that’s a spicy pork dish), a fruit shake, or Som Tam (spicy raw papaya salad).

The main thing is doing the art, and I think both the pieces I completed are strong, and I developed or refined my techniques in both. If I could have magically just dumped $250 in a magic box and pulled them out, I would have. They were worth the sacrifice.

Also during the month I quit drinking milk tea, which was my addiction. I figured I was consuming too much sugar in the tea, and I also had to buy a lot of milk. Now I drink Oolong tea instead. Bitter.

Additionally cut down on beer to merely sharing one with my best friend in the city at dinner now and again.

When I’m not doing art I do a lot of research. By “research” I mean watching documentaries (mostly from Journeyman Pictures), listening to lectures (most from RSA), listening to new music (I have many sources for music), and looking up art techniques and tutorials. I call it “research” because it’s a process of amassing and processing information.

In order to stay relatively fit I have 15 exercises I do in my apartment.

This month I’ve already started 2 new pieces, though I’m only sure I will finish “The Human Fly”. I’ve become really interested in honing my more traditional art skills, so I might be doing the sort of images that everyone can appreciate or have a pretty good idea how to judge. It’s kind of like being a contemporary musician, and deciding to make some rock songs in order to practice musical structures.

Stay tuned and spread the word. If you like the stuff I’ve done so far, I think there are going to be new and interesting things on the way.

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