WOW!! 300!!! THANK YOU!!

I'm only being somewhat facetious. In comparison to the thousands (and sometimes millions) of page views that others have gotten, why should I be so excited?

For me, '300' validates the reason I joined DA in the first place. I wanted a safe place to explore and create art. I'm a husband and father of two small kids, as well as the only paycheck provider in the house. I really enjoy the work I do, but at the end of the day it doesn't fully satisfy my creative itch. I needed an appropriate outlet to create and display my work, and I believe I've found it. I'm the owner of my own virtual art gallery. It won't ever pay my mortgage, but it keeps me happy. For me that's worth a lot more than money.

So, I want to thank all of you that took the time to embrace my art. Whether you were just passing through, making comments, or welcoming me to your pages, you had an impact on me.

I've been working on a project for work for the last 9 months and the first phase is finally complete! The system is up and running! Now all I have to do is help train several hundred employees on how to use it. That should take another 6 months.

Thank god it's the weekend.

Today's my daughter's fifth birthday. I also leave for a week long business trip tomorrow afternoon, right after her brthday party. This means that my wife and I have been running round like headless chickens for the better part of the week trying to organize her party. Did I mention that today we're going to her new school's meet-and-greet? And by new school, I mean new-it was just created and will open it's doors for the first time this September 5th.

In the end, things will work themselves out, but until then....




AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's been a frustrating day for me, for a lot of reasons. Money, lack of sleep, my kids acting up, blahblahblah... It doesn't help that I wasn't doing the one thing to help, which is art. Actually, that's not quite true. I wanted to, but I wasn't able to decide. My brain was spinning too fast and t's only in the last couple of hours that I'm calm enough to focus. My latest submission is a result of that. It's not a perfect piece, but I like it none of the less. I stuck with it, and now it's here. Some days that's the most you can ask for.

Hello, everyone. I'm NewOnEarth (or NOE for short). I've been checking out DA for several weeks now and I decided to join! I'm impressed with the amount of talent being shown on this site. It's been an inspiration, especially since I've taken up art as a hobby. In a perfect world I'd be using Photoshop, but I can't afford it. Instead, I use the GIMP, which is 100% free (which fits right into my budget!). I'm still learning the basics of the tool and what I'm capable of doing with it. I'm hoping that all of you will be generous in your support and criticism of my work as I (hopefully) continue to develop.

Thanks for having me here!