October 2018

If it wasn't autumnal enough in September, those leaves and temperatures certainly started falling this month. And that's before all the time change too. However it has still been nice enough to go chill at the park, which I'm sure I wouldn't be saying if I was in the UK.
What can I really say? Work has been work (busiest time this months and it's been crazy some days). No luck with job search, but I'm still looking.
On the art front I've been making more progress with the Fyfe & Sparkplug comic, as well as making a few Halloween themed pics of course - including this spooky Bob & Flyer comic.

See you in November.

October 2017

September was a month of changes, and this month was no different. I've been feeling the change weather-wise, as It's started to feel a lot more autumnal lately. In other words, getting colder and a little more rain too.
I've been working at my job for a month now, and as I said, it's been an adjustment, but that's part and parcel of anyone starting a new job, as is having work days that go better than others, but on the whole I'm pretty much used to it now. Admittedly I do wish I had a more consistent schedule, but that's retail for you.
The biggest change this month - big announcement in 3...2...1... - is that me and my wife have landed a new apartment (flat in Brit-speak)! It's been in the pipeline for a while now, and it was just at the end of September that we started looking for a new place. The first couple of places we saw didn't tick all the boxes, but the last house that we saw, a second floor apartment in a quiet suburb with two bedrooms, two main rooms, a garage and an outside deck, was the one we instantly said yes to. The real plus point about the place is that it's close to my job, and also close to the in laws' place, as well as two parks (including a certain park/beach I enjoy visiting a lot). That's not all though - we could have the keys by the start of November, so we could start moving in within a matter of days. Speaking of which, we've been packing up our stuff a bit at a time to try to make the move easier. I can't say I'm looking forward to that part, but as with any move, it will be worth it in the end - and to put it into perspective, it's certainly not as daunting as uprooting your entire life and moving to another country.
I couldn't end this blog without mentioning Halloween of course - so here's some Halloween themed artwork to see out this month. Wherever you are and whatever you're doing, hope you have a good one. Until November.

October 2016

Autumn has been in full swing now, and apart from an unseasonable spell of warm weather midway through the month, the temperature has started to drop quite a bit - this is crazy New England weather though, I should be used to it now.
Had some news on the immigration front - hopefully I should hear something around November, and I should also get my green card by February. This does mean that it will have taken a whole year to get this sorted, but either way it's about time. This also hopefully means that me and Nicole will be able to start planning a trip back over to the UK to see my family.
In the meantime I've been busy with doing artwork including commissions, helping around the house, going out for bike rides, competing in the bowling league (we're still up top somehow), selling stuff on Ebay and taking part in our weeklt community activity. I don't think I've ever been so busy as I am now, and while it keeps me active and productive, even a bit social (can you believe that?).
I can't forget about spooky season of course - this month is my first Halloween in the US. On one trip to Newport this month me and Nicole took a ghost tour around the city, whuch was quite interesting to say the least, and just yesterday we went to our first ever murder mystery party (I played a man cursed with pine legs), and while interacting with the other party guests was a bit of a challenge, it was a lot of fun and our hosts really went to town on putting it all together, I would definitely go to another murder mystery in the future.
On the artwork front, I took part in an art challenge called "Monster A Day", which was exactly what it says on the tin - I drew a monster each day of October, and it was a great excuse to draw characters just a little outside of my comfort zone - like this fire golem for example.

Until next time - and until then, don't let the zombies bite.

October 2015

The clocks have gone back, the days are shorter, the nights are longer, and the temperature's dropping - Autumn is well and truly here, and October has been very up and down for me - as well as very, very quick.

I'm still waiting for things to happen on a certain front, and the wait is getting to me a bit, but I'm just hoping that it will all happen eventually, as I have been doing for most of this year. I also had some very sad news in the last half of this month - I'm not going to go into detail about it here.

There has been one clear highlight this October - I went to a gig for the first time in 6 years, to Northumbria University in Newcastle, to see the band Fightstar for the third time, I previously saw them twice back in 2006. To be honest, I felt like I was the only person there who didn't have any company, but that was all forgotten once the bands started playing. Supporting Fightstar were Making Monsters, a female-fronted metal band from Ireland, whose singer Emma had one hell of a scream/growl on her; and Arcane Roots, an alternative metal band from the south, who had a very distinctive sound, not least because of their singer Andrew's high vocal range - both bands were terrific. There was an awful moment during Arcane Roots' set however - as they started playing, a lass in front of me fainted, and she had to be taken to one side by the event staff. I'd never seen someone faint before, it was canny distressing - I hope the girl's recovered since.
Now onto the main event - Fightstar were absolutely stellar the first two times I saw them, and they were exactly that this time, too, it was like they'd never been away (they'd been on hiatus for the last 5 years and only recently reunited). They played a mix of songs from all their albums, including some from their new album "Behind The Devil's Back". It also came full circle for me, as Fightstar's singer Charlie's brother Will joined them on stage to play guitar on some of the songs - Will was the singer in his own band Brigade, who I saw supporting Fightstar the first time I saw them.
For me personally, the highlight was probably when they played "Deathcar", the place pretty much erupted - but each and every song was brilliant, and I could tell the band were just having a blast on that stage.
It got better too - after the gig, I bought Making Monsters' EP "Attention" (which is excellent), and briefly spoke to their singer Emma who was at the merch table. I'd actually waited outside the venue to meet up with Fightstar after the previous gigs to get pictures and autographs, and I originally wasn't going to this time, but as they say, old habits die hard, so I waited with a bunch of other eager fans outside in the cold, and about an hour and a half later, they popped out, and I was able to get a photo with Charlie and Fightstar's bassist Dan (if either of you see this, many thanks again for that, and your set was absolute killer).
It was great getting to see Fightstar again, and experiencing live music again after so long - you really can't appreciate just how much work goes into putting on a gig and undertaking a tour unless you participate or you're either in a band or part of their road crew.

I'll leave you with some Halloween themed artwork featuring a couple of "polter-pests" - whether you're celebrating Halloween or not, hope you've had a good October.

PS: Click here to see my pics from the Fightstar gig.

Autumn's here, and the paintballs are flying

Well, if it didn't feel autumnal last month, it certainly has done this month - the leaves are falling, the temperatures are dropping, and the clocks have gone back - not forgetting Halloween, of course.

I'll be honest, I haven't really got a great deal to say about this month, as it's more or less been business as usual for the most part, to the point where some days have just felt dull and grey, and not just because of the weather - the only break from the old routine was a recent paintball session with my brother and a couple of friends, which was only the second time I'd ever been paintballing (the first time was 9 years ago as part of a Business Studies course at school). There were just six of us playing to begin with, but we ended up getting joined by a group from a stag party, who were a little bit hungover, one of them was suffering from whiplash from being in a car crash the day before, and the stag himself couldn't play as he'd had way too much the night before, so quite a bunch there!
Anyhow, it was all a good experience, even though I soon found out how much I really, really suck at paintballing, and those paintballs didn't half sting! It's the taking part that matters though, and the whole day out was much needed.

The paintballing wasn't the only thing that happened that day - I also had a first, attending a wedding via Skype - one of Nicole's friends was getting married, and she wanted me and my brother to be there. Obviously we couldn't be there in person because of the small matter of thousands of miles of ocean separating us, but we made the best of it, and the wedding was absolutely fine.

And that's pretty much it for October - if you're celebrating Halloween, with costumes or without, hope you have a blast.

I'll leave you with some Halloween artwork - Bob & Flyer looking a bit more ghostly than normal.