Jellies

First, I love these green pictures! Quickest outfit shoot of my life, we just walked past this alley after lunch and snapped three shots with Trav's iphone. Chartreuse is good to me.

Second, I went on my first little bar crawl (to 2 bars) for my 21st this weekend with my friends! It was a lot of fun. I got a chocolate martini, something fruity with vodka in it (called a woowoo?) and a rum and coke. I was pretty drunk at this point, but I hadn't let Travis have a single drink while we were out so he could be the best designated driver possible, and we drank some more once we were home. This was my mistake. I was feeling great and super dizzy and the limeade/blueberry vodka things we were drinking were delicious. I fell asleep and then woke up half an hour later to go puke into the toilet.

I wasn't really hungover in the morning, which leads me to believe my brain could handle it but my stomach could not. Regardless, I'm making 3 drinks my mental limit now.

So about this outfit. Super simple, but I love it! These shoes are the coolest shoes in the world. I know some people aren't into the jelly comeback, but it's actually my favorite thing. Super comfy and clear and full of glitter... I love em.

Also, here are a couple art things from recently:

A couple's portrait set for Holly and Mike, who just celebrated an anniversary!

And this is just a sketch inspired by something on my tumblr feed (my go-to for inspiration) that will probably turn into a painting.

shirt: Old Navy, boys section

shorts: Goodwill

shoes: ASOS

brooch: handmade, in my shop

sunglasses: F21

Remix: Polka Dots

I forgot my memory card with this week's photos on it, so here's me wearing my handmade blue polka dot dress in three ways!

Polka dots

Freedom

Umbrella Girl

Art Theft and Why it Sucks

Okay I woke up way too early for a Saturday, so I'm going to write a post on something that's been on my mind lately: art theft.

I don't know how many of you heard about the whole Miss Indie scandal. I'm not going to comment on that particular situation right now, but I'm linking to it so you can read about it if you're interested. But it got me thinking, or rather, obsessing. As an artist, art theft as a concept is serious business to me. It seems like art (all kinds), as an intangible good, is really treated differently than physical stuff. I know plenty of people who would never steal from a store, but illegally download music or stream movies C'mon, who among us hasn't? It's so easy and anonymous. This same thing happens with visual art, in a way, which is what I'm going to talk about because that's the stuff I do.

 Recently, my sister has been stumbling across this piece of art of mine on tumblr. It was not linked to me, no source anywhere, and I'm pretty sure I only posted it to tumblr, and maybe deviantart. When I posted it on my tumblr, it got 23 notes. The version Emma found of it had over 1,000. "But Rachel, people are seeing your art! Isn't that a good thing?" Here's why it's not:

Messy hair girl got over 2,000 notes when I posted it on my tumblr, and as a result I got 21 new followers. That's 21 more people who will see the new paintings I post, see that I'm selling them on my shop, and potentially become customers. Basically what the owner of  that other tumblr did this: Saw my art on my site, and liked it. Why thankyou! Then instead of clicking reblog like everybody else and therefore letting it link back to my site, he/she (let's be real, only chicks like my art) copied and pasted it into their own post so it would link back to them.

This isn't even actual art theft. She never outright claimed it was hers (though you can argue that not sourcing and going out of your way to make it look like it came from your site is claiming it). What it is is selfish and mean. People do this all the fucking time, I've had it done to a few of my pieces (that I know about) and it's bullshit! I know why they do it. To use my pretty art to get attention and followers for their shitty tumblrs. I can't even believe this, since their tumblr is just a hodge podge of others' work. I don't know why they think they're entitled to (my) followers and (my) recognition when their blogs involve no creative work of their own.

Too mean? Maybe.

I do want to say that I have nothing against tumblrs or blogs that just highlight others' work. I run one myself. It's when people take others work without credit that I get mad. I also did some research on this girlie in particular, and some of her stuff is sourced. She is probably not a d-bag in real life. She is just another person who didn't think about this stuff.

And I haven't even gotten to real theft. Once it's real, and you're making money off of someone's work, then you're not just stealing recognition. I'm going to try making a living at this crap, guys. If you steal my work and make money from it, you're like, stealing my groceries and electricity. And, duh, it's disrespectful. If you like my work, tell me! I love a good ego boost! Don't use it behind my back, ya meanie! I of course think this applies to certain fanart that gets sold, like I discussed in this post.

I've heard before that some people would consider their art being stolen and put up for sale flattering. But would you really be flattered if someone took your work and called it theirs? Would you be flattered if someone took money out of your pocket? Would you be flattered if someone stole your shoes? Would you be flattered if someone stole that essay you worked so hard on? No way!

I do want to make a couple of points before I close out this lecture. I think you can argue that people who steal art and put it on other things to sell are still creating. They're making something new that this artist never would have. But, I mean, it's still wrong. The company or individual could have asked permission, or agreed to pay the artist a percentage of every sale. NBD, right?

I also don't assume that art thieves are necessarily bad people. Not only in the case of the tumblrers that don't source you, but the more serious offenders that steal knowingly and make money off your work. (Some of them probably are buttheads but) I'm sure plenty of them know-not-what-they-do. That's why bitchy rants like this need to happen, so that people can be made aware of it. So people can know that it's wrong and that it hurts feelings.

I really need to make a damn watermark for my stuff.

Okay guys, thanks for reading this. You didn't have to, and it's really great that you did.

Rooftop

I took photos on the roof today, which my Mom absolutely hated. I didn't have to tell her I was going to, but I thought if she heard a loud thud, she should know to call an ambulance.

I used to sneak out here when I was a kid, until I got caught.

You guys know those days where you just don't feel like it? I worked the second half of the day, and left feeling tired and yucky, and not at all like doing anything creative. So I dressed up and climbed onto my roof with the camera (rational solution?)

It helped a little. I still think I need a bubble bath.

I am wearing my new favorite lipstick, though! It's Glamazon by Tarte in Fierce, and it was way more than I usually spend on a lip product. But it's also perfect, so I think it was worth it! It's nice to treat yourself sometimes. This stuff lasts all day, feels great on, and is the perfect orange-red. It's not infallible if you plan on eating really messy or making out or something, then it gets smeary.

dress: Dillard's (old old old)

necklace: flea market

bracelet: handmade by me

Late

I forgot to do a pictures-from-lately post on Sunday, so here it is now!

 A cat and an outfit.

Chillin with Travis downtown.

Lookin fly.

For some reason I got a ton of pictures of Kit this week!

I love taking pictures of the road.

My two favorites!

My birthday presents :)

Used the car as a tripod for this sucker.

SNUGGLE BUGGG

21

 

What is up guys? I am officially 21 now, and I had a really nice birthday weekend with my family and Travis.

I had to work in the morning on my actual B-Day, but I woke up to a little pile of presents on the dining room table. My loot included: a sewing machine, jelly shoes, a RADICAL necklace (from Travis), and prints from some of my fave artists.

These photos turned out a lot grainier than I wanted, but I really loved this outfit, and it was about to rain so we were rushing under the storm clouds!

We went to Goodwill, where I got this dress (I hemmed it with the new sewing machine) and to the mall where I treated myself to some fancy lipstick and new bras. On Saturday we went out to eat at one of those Japanese places where they cook the food in front of you and it all tastes delicious, and then my family surprised me by taking me to get Mindy Kahling's book that I've been wanting to read for so long!

Oh and of course I bought my first alcoholic beverage. Travis came with me to the ABC store where I got a bottle of vodka. I offered up my ID to the guy at the counter freely, and he threw in a tiny bottle of something pink with the label "Kinky" for my birthday. So that was creepy. My mom made us all peach fizzes! (Limeade + peaches + vodka in a blender) YUM.

As you can see, Trav is back from Italy and I am just pleased as punch to have him.

dress: Goodwill

shoes: ASOS

radical necklace <3: I'm your present

On Travis

shirt: Target

pants: Zara

shoes: American Eagle

Anyway, thanks for all the birthday wishes on my last post, u guyz rule.

It's My Party

You guys I am so excited to complain at you today!

First of all, today is my birthday! (No that is not what I am complaining about) but it means that the phrase "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" rings true. Now, keep in mind that I am writing this post on the 18th, so that's not entirely fair. I'm planning on going out to eat with my family, maybe making a cake, and opening lots of presents! Since it's my 21st, I'm going to go out drinking (PARTAY) next weekend with the bros.

Okay so now I will complain.

You may remember I wore this dress 2 months ago. It's from American Apparel, and I mentioned that it was too small for me. Well, I returned it. And the dress that came back to me was a size Large, but that was about the only thing right about it. It was in the wrong color, had a thread loose, and still had the anti-theft sensor on it! You know, those things you can't remove? I was peeved, obvi. AmApp charges $70 for their dresses (mine was on sale and my Mom pitched in), and this is the kinda customer service I get? It gets worse. I sent them an angry message, and got NO reply for 2 weeks. Then the tracking info on my package disappeared. I sent a second message, and they replied to this one to say "Yeah we don't know where your package is," but at least I got the apology I wanted. They eventually found it and the lady who helped me got me the right dress and sent it. So here it is.

It's just such an expensive store, and one that I'm supposed to feel good about purchasing from (all American made, hello!), but they really handled the whole thing poorly. I don't know if I'll be shopping there again.

At least it is a really pretty dress and the whole ordeal is over with. Look how over it I am:

Next order of business:

Today a girl emailed me asking me to lower my prices on custom portraits. She had bought one at $15 before I increased the price to $25, and was asking for a discount code. Maybe she didn't intend to be rude, but man. I was deeply offended by this! She was basically saying to me, "I don't think your art is worth what you are charging." Which, I mean, that's fine, you don't gotta like my art, but it's the difference between not liking someone's outfit and going up and telling someone they dress ugly.

I realize most people don't do art, and art is valued weirdly, but to get my point, think about this: If I spend 2 hours on a portrait for $15, that's $7.50 an hour. That is like, minimum wage, and I'm not even including supplies! Like, gurl, you are equating my art that I work really hard on with bagging groceries at Bi Lo. It was just Dis. Re. Spect.

BTW this dress needs to be taken in lol. I am between a medium and a large there, apparently.

Okay I am really glad I got all that off my chest. Now I am totes ready to go have a beautiful birthday, full of Japanese food and cupcakes.

I'll leave you with this: Today I went to get my license renewed. The only reason I didn't mail it in was because of the way dated picture... I was 15 and in the worst of my awkward teenager days. So here is the new one, guys.

It's like they try to make you look unattractive.