Hello hello and happy new year! Hope the holidays treated y'all well and that the start of 2023 hasn't been too outrageous yet. I've been juggling several things.

Let's start this off with some upcoming things I'm a part of:

-This Friday, January 20th, I'll be at Hollerhouse for their Haint Paint Party, set up and painting along with multiple friends. I'm pretty excited for that. I just dropped off some more inventory for them last weekend, too.
-The next day will be the first Defining Bodies figure drawing meetup of the year, hosted by a newer member.
-Next Saturday, January 28th, is a big sale going on at both Mountain Empire Comics locations. I'll be setting up at noon in Bristol to sell some stuff at a discount, as I'm making big inventory changes this year. There will also be a stunt performer from the third Ninja Turtles movie there that day signing autographs!
-Next month I'll be modeling some for a sculpture class at ETSU. I never took sculpture and sucked at any attempts at making 3D art, so it'll be a fascinating experience, I think.
-Starting March 10th, I will be teaching a comic character creation class for teens at the Arts Depot twice a month! I still need to get more details on that!
-My first market of the year will be the State Street Spring Equinox Market on March 25th! As I'm transitioning to new inventory, I'm not sure what that'll look like yet but hopefully I'll have it figured out by then.
-The next weekend, April 1st and 2nd, is ETSU-Con!
-On April 3rd I'll be hanging a Defining Bodies group art show up at Elderbrew! The opening reception will be Saturday the 8th at 6:00PM. I'll have more info on that soon, hopefully.
-April 7th is the opening reception for another group show, Neo-Appalachian at Hollerhouse, which I'll have a painting in.

So...a pretty full schedule currently!

Don't forget: Next month is the second annual Pouncepunk Art Challenge hosted by Richard Graves and myself! We've both been hard at work on new art for it! I'm currently sitting on ten finished pieces, with two others in progress at the moment. Eight of those pieces have been shared on my Patreon, so please consider subscribing if you want an early in-depth look at what I'm making! We've been distributing the prompt list all over, Richard sent out a press release, and we're hoping it'll be even bigger than last year.

Oh, another gig I've picked up: on top of my own Burst Reach newsletter (please subscribe!) I'm also a guest contributor to nudist historian Evan Nix's new blog Planet Nude. My first piece over there is a (NSFW) review of my favorite nudist film, 1938's Unashamed: A Romance. Please check it out! I have a whole list of other things to write about and review as well.

One of the last things I finished in 2022 was this Lil Nas X portrait, and it'll be my first new print of the year once I move some more older prints. I'm making a big change with prints this year, switching sizes to 8x10 and 11x14, and this will be the first thing available in both sizes soon! I just...have to order more supplies first.

I'll also be making new buttons, new stickers, postcards, and new comics as well! I'm back to work on issue 7 of Slimepunk in a consistent capacity, and things are moving with Lost Machines again too. I finally remembered to post the complete first chapter of Lost Machines last month to Patreon, where it will be available exclusively. Chapter two will go up...later this month or early next month? I'll be printing the first two chapters together this year for shows as well, possibly in March.

I'm working on a new painting series too, inspired by my minicomic Debris Field. Hopefully I'll land a solo show somewhere for that. Last year's An Explosive Instrospection will be a part of it. SPEAKING OF THAT PAINTING, I was accepted into the Johnson City Public Arts Banner Exhibition for this year and a banner of it will be made and displayed! Hell yeah!

So yeah...busy busy with making art. I didn't make a whole lot of money last year, but I'm determined to do better this year. You can help me out, not just by commissioning me, joining my Patreon, or buying things from my Etsy shop, but also just by sharing my work! It would be very much appreciated if you did.

Oh. Here's the last Defining Bodies online pose for 2022:

I should also mention: on top of inventory changes and new work this year, I'm changing up my approach to social media a bit. Thanks to the proliferation of AI image generators hoovering up and using people's work without their permission, I got rid of my ArtStation account altogether (not a big deal since I barely used it anyways) and have stopped using deviantART. To that end, I'm also cutting back on how much art I share on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Tumblr. I'll be sharing more progress and detail shots, or photos of originals, with proper scans and things being kept here, on Patreon, and in my newsletter.

(Pouncepunk will be an obvious exception, and there will be others like it too of course)

Okay, I think that's enough rambling now. Back to work. Take care!!