Intuitive Abstract Artist. Gay/Filipino/Scorpio/INFJ.

One thing I was terrified of having to do once I decided to pursue an art career was commit to stepping up my networking game. Anxieties and astrological biases aside I knew that the reach my work could have had to go beyond social media and this website (though they've been invaluable tools in marketing myself). Tackling this particular fear has snuck itself in as a goal this year. I didn't have any to start, other than to push myself and my art game as hard as I could. That this goal grew out of that push feels completely natural.

I've seen my own progress in the span of a little over a year, around the time I started this blog, and I become so fucking proud of myself. Yes, I sometimes compare my pace and my work to artists who've been in the game for far longer than I have, and I have to take a breath and a step back, burn some palo santo usually and remind myself that where I am is where I'm meant to be and is a wonderful indicator of the things I've accomplished in such a short amount of time, collectively, serving me now in this moment in time. Sometimes I get the best of me, but when I remember this I get inspired to keep pushing, I even get a little verklemped at times and I'm just like, talk amongst ya'selves, you know?

My involvement with Art Unites, providing marketing and graphic design help along with exhibiting/vending at a few events this year (with more still to come) has landed me opportunities with other collectives, organizations and individuals whose work is so overwhelmingly passion-driven that I can do nothing but be humbled that they've asked me to participate. And, like, I'm selling my work, you know? Connect San Diego just happened (blog post to follow on that) and Art Unites presents Art Night Casbah is happening THIS THURSDAY, where I'll showcase some new work.

I want to do more. I want to to talk to brands about my artwork, about travel, about projects that involve both. I want to do work for editorial pieces. I want to see people wearing a piece of my work, not as a print or a pattern, but an actual composition made to be commanded by the movements of the body to which it is attached. I want to FULLYYY sustain myself as an artist, Amanda.

I WANT TO SEE DRAG QUEENS WEAR MY ART.

I want to be more playful with consciousness, not demand things because I think I am owed them, but to humbly request so that yet another part of consciousness can express itself and learn more, make more. I think I may have been more afraid of the word “networking” than the act itself. Maybe I’ve always networked but now, because art is my life, anything that augments its existence is automatically interwoven into my day to day, and at this point it’s just a given that my network game expands because that’s what I want my work to do.