November 2018

I didn't really have a lot to say in last month's blog, and the same is true for November too, but here's what I have, anyway.
With the festive season approaching, my job has been crazy busy (especially the madness that was Black Friday) and in all honesty I've had a bit of a tough time with it lately. However, I am still on the hunt for another job, just got to keep on with that, as always.
This month also marked my third year celebrating Thanksgiving - it was a very relaxed and mostly quiet one, me and my wife spent time watching the parade on telly, followed by a meal and a good game of 500 rummy at the in-laws'.
Something I've done rarely with this blog is to pass on music, old or new, that I'm really into at the moment, usually because it doesn't occur to me. However this month there is one song I've been listening to a lot, "Love It If We Made It" by The 1975 - it's rare to hear a current sounding song that actually addresses subjects that really matter, as well as being not too shabby musically, either. Give it a listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnLxhG3pD10 (WARNING: explicit lyrics.)
As always, I'll leave you with some artwork - this one being a reminder that just because I don't live in the UK anymore, it doesn't mean I can't still celebrate Bonfire Night.
I hope my American followers enjoyed their Thanksgiving - it's almost hard to believe that when my next blog comes around, it will be Christmas, not to mention the end of 2018. See you then.

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.

September 2018

I can't really say too much about September that wasn't already said in August, apart from the weather gradually starting to get cooler, not to mention a lot wetter too. Here in Connecticut, we got the remnants of what was Hurricane Florence, and to say that we got lucky is an understatement. Wishing all the best for those in North and South Carolina, and the Bahamas, that were affected by the storm.
Still no luck with the job search, I'm afraid. Work is work, as always - and this month marked a year since I started my job, and having a permanent job has been quite the adjustment in a lot of ways. I've certainly had to change quite a lot of my habits, that's for sure. However I think the biggest change to come out of this job is becoming confident enough to be able to stand behind a counter and interact with people, I certainly never thought I would ever be able to pull that off, and I still don't think I'm perfect at it, but it's safe to say that I surprised myself there.
This month wasn't all about work though, and in my opinion no month should be. Or year, even. How about your entire life? You have to be able to play too, otherwise what's it all for?
September 28 marked 6 years of me and my lovely wife as a couple, and every year it's always strange yet humbling to look back on all that we did in the years past, especially all the hoops we had to jump through to get to this point in time. We celebrated it with a trip to Bridgeport, mainly to visit the many animals at Beardsley Zoo, but also for a walk down the beach at Seaside Park. (I recommend it for the view of Long Island Sound.)
While we're on the them of anniversaries, I also want to give a very special birthday shoutout to my dear grandma, she turned 80 on September 25, and I am happy to say that she is still going strong. (Love you and miss you very, very much.)
On the artwork front, I've completed a couple more Fyfe & Sparkplug comic pages, as well as some of my regular short comics. I'm still having trouble getting back to working on my website, so I really need to get cracking on that one.
I'll leave you with an example of one of my scenery pictures - doesn't looking at this waterfall make you want to dive in for a dip? See you at the end of spooky season.

August 2018

It would be very easy for me to say that August was more or less a carbon copy of July...because it was, bar a couple of things.

My work situation is pretty much the same as before. I've still been looking for another job, but so far no luck on that front. As always, just got to keep at both of those.

The weather on the whole was still very warm this month, although a couple of thunderstorms towards the middle did cool things down just a little. It sounds like my area got off lightly compared to others though, from what little pieces of news I heard.

What made August a little different was that I actually got a whole weekend off towards the end of the month - it meant that me and my wife were able to take a much needed getaway. I'll give you two clues as to where we went, it begins with "Rhode" and ends with "Island".

Artwork has been...lacking lately. I've been spending whatever downtime I have chilling at the beach, with all the warm weather, think I might be turning into a beach bum (until the weather gets colder that is). As nice as that has been, it has made me less productive, especially in regards to the F&S comic, plus a certain website that should really have been live by now. I've never been the best self-starter, to be honest.

I did recently complete the latest feature length Bob & Flyer comic however - the entirety of "Operation: N.E.C.T.A.R" is now available over on my Tapas page for you to check out.

August 30 also marked a milestone for one of my comic series - "The Surf Club" has now been going for 10 years, and to mark the occasion, I will be posting all the comics to my Tapas page, starting right from the beginning. I also put together this comic to mark the milestone also.

Enjoy what's left of the summer, see you same time next month.

July 2018

I can safely say that this July was a very mixed bag.

It was inevitable that July would be somewhat of a comedown after the high of June's travelling. Doesn't it always seem that your job is worse than it was a
before you went away on holiday? Unfortunately that's how it's been for me on the work front, still getting used to the management change, and the job just seems more stressful than ever. I have started to look for another job, however as anyone will know, that search could take months, if not years, so in the meantime I'll just have to try and carry on, like we all do.
The weather's been kind this month though, feel free to agree to disagree with me depending on how you feel about humidity though! I've been enjoying bike and beach time when I've been able to. Me and my wife also had a fun theme park trip on the 29th, to Lake Compounce (my first visit there), and I definitely recommend it, especially the Boulder Dash rollercoaster, which may be the fastest and my most favourite coaster I've ridden to date.
This month also marked a significant anniversary for me - a decade ago on July 21, I flew on a plane, travelled abroad, travelled to the US and attended the San Diego Comic Con for the very first time - you can watch my video blog about it right here.
On the art front, the F&S comic is still very much a work in progress, although I think I've recovered my art groove since the fun of the England trip. I do have some potentially exciting news regarding art as well, as I have been approached to possibly illustrate for a book - however that's all I can say about it right now.
I'll leave you with this Surf Club comic. Let's see what sort of weather August brings - hopefully not storms.

June 2018

To say that I'd been waiting for June to come along is probably the understatement of the year for me, and not just because of the start of summer. There was one occasion that happened this June that I'd been looking forward to for months.

Before that however, I have to get the bad stuff out of the way, most of which was the issues that I mentioned in last month's blog, stress at work and feeling disillusioned/frustrated with social media. However me and my wife also lost a member of our family - our pet turtle Chief, who had been with my wife and her family for 22 years. It was very unexpected, and while we're sad that he's gone, he did have a good long life, and he will be missed.

Now onto the absolute highlight of June - from the 18th to the 26th, myself and my wife flew across the Atlantic to visit my family back in the UK. While we were there, we revisited many of the places I remember, including my hometown of Crook, plus Durham, Newcastle, Tynemouth, Scarborough and Whitby. Getting to see my family in person again after 2 years was what it was all about though - I can't put into words just how good it was to see them all again and hang out just like old times. Just like it was 2 and a half years ago, leaving them behind again was hard, but knowing that we'd had the chance to get together again and make new memories helped to soften the blow. I really hope I don't have to wait too long to see them again in the not too distant future.

My artwork took a bit of a backseat this month, especially during the trip, however I did come up with this camping themed pic as part of an art jam, hosted by LaptopGeek92, over on DeviantArt. I highly doubt that there'll be camping involved in July, but hopefully there'll be some warmer days to enjoy. I'l let you know if there is, of course.

May 2018

I think the best way to describe my May is that it was equal parts frustrating, equal parts promising.
On the downside, I wish I could say that those frustrations with my job have gone away, but they're still very much all present and correct. There have been some changes and it's taking me some time to get my head around them, and that's all I'm going to say on that. I just keep telling myself that it could be worse.

Social media in general is just draining me, and I don't just mean DeviantArt. I feel like it's getting more difficult to keep up, and I keep seeing a lot of posts, trends and whatnot that I'd really rather not, and part of that may be related to a decision I made this month (more on that below). To quote a saying I read a while back (can't remember who coined it or where i read it) but it seems like we're all so much more connected these days, yet we're all disconnected too.

That's one of the reasons that on these warmer days, I'd rather be out bike riding to the beach and enjoying the sun instead of being stuck behind a computer screen waiting for the next notification (says the person who brings his phone everywhere with him). We all just need to take time to disconnect, because staying in cyberspace for too long is never a good thing. I have certainly been doing a lot of the the former on my downtime, and I honestly feel more inspired to work on artworks when I'm outdoors too, because when I'm outside at a park or at the beach, I feel there's less distractions than at home.

Being connected isn't always a bad thing though - which brings me onto more of the upside of this month, with a couple of announcements. Firstly, after many years of resisting the idea, I decided to open a Twitter account. I always swore off doing so because I didn't think there was any point of having another social media profile to annoy people withwhen I already had Facebook, but the reason I finally decided to join was simple - it's another way to get my artwork out there, and because a few of my DeviantArt friends use it too, so it's another way to keep in touch with them. Admittedly I am having a bit of "buyer's remorse" because of the aforementioned "social media drain", however I am going to give it a chance.

I haven't stopped there though - earlier this month I participated in the Fair Haven Family Stroll in New Haven for the third year running, drawing cariactures for people. This year I also handed out business cards to those who visited my table, once again, staying connected. I also had the seal of approval from two good friends of me and my wife, no less than the couple who were the photographers at our wedding. Please go and check them out, they are awesome photographers and great people, cannot recommend them enough: https://www.facebook.com/WillandKatePhotography/

Bringing this theme of connection to a close, I also decided this month that it was about time I had my own website, centred on my artworks. DeviantArt works well, but I have wanted a website with my own personal touch for a while. It is currently still under construction, but I will be sure to let you know once it is live.

As for artwork itself, I've gotten back in the groove with the Fyfe & Sparkplug comic, I really need to research how to get that properly published, so can someone please give me a gentle nudge in that direction? I'll leave you with this Surf Club short.