MatthewMeyer.net

Thanks to everyone who came by the May Fair to see me! The sun was bright and the heat was sweltering (and me without a tent!) but it was a fun event anyway. Turnout was high, and I was able to sell quite a few paintings, so it was a much better event than last year’s. I just hope my skin doesn’t peel off… my arms and knees got pretty badly scorched from sitting under the sun for 9 hours.

I’m sure a lot of people will be coming to my website for the first time after picking up my postcard or business card at the May Fair, so thanks for visiting! A few people have asked me if I have more paintings available since the fair, and the answer is yes, I do. I have a number of prints of “Flying Cherry Blossoms at City Hall” available, and just a handful of “Cherry Blossoms on the Schuylkill River” left, and you can buy them either from my web store or from The Japan America Society. Prints of Chickens of the World are also available on my web store.

I made a promise to fans of my work to do at least 1 more Japanese print before I move to Japan… and it’s in the works. This one is a night view of City Hall and I should have it done by mid-June. If I’m feeling extra fast, I may be able to do two more before I leave — but in any case, I will post an update here on my blog when I have new art.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by my booth, everyone! It was great to see so many familiar faces and so many new ones. Seeing the smiles on peoples’ faces when they walk past my chickens is the biggest inspiration to make more artwork. みんなーさん、ありがとうございました！

It was 3 years ago last week that I went to Japan for the first time (I’m enjoying looking back at my blog and re-reading what I was doing that month). At the same time, I’ve started counting down days until I start my job at AEON in Fukui. Today, there are exactly 2 months until I leave for Japan. I’m really excited, but I’m starting to get a little nervous finally… Yesterday was the Nihongo PhilaCon language competition at Villanova, and while I wasn’t a contestant, I was helping run it. I was listening in on the language contest (and feeling very nostalgic for Latin Certamen and Knowledge Bowl in high school) to see how well my self-taught level compared to level 1 and 2 high school students. I was pretty happy, but out in the hallway one of my coworkers, Kaori, made me aware of the limit of my knowledge… I know some basic stuff in lots of categories, but I’m severely lacking in-depth vocabulary. She quizzed me on basic vegetables, and to my embarrassment I hardly knew any! I’m now beginning to realize that it will be a lot more difficult living on my own in Japan than it was living with a host family… ^^” I’m really excited, despite that.

The Mayfair is coming up, and I’ll be selling my paintings at a very reduced price in hopes to burn off some stock before I move to Japan (any prospective buyers reading this? ;-P). I’ve been playing lots of Warhammer lately, building and painting plastic models, and I’ve begun to realize that’s been eating up all of my painting time and desire, and I haven’t done much drawing or painting recently… That’s really upsetting because I wanted to have a little more to show at the Mayfair. I suppose it may be for the better anyway, because I wouldn’t want to print up even more images only to not sell them (knock on wood) at the Mayfair. But I’ve got to keep in mind that painting toys is fun, but not so much productive. >_< Anyway, the Mayfair is at the end of the month, so once again I’ll be sitting at my crappy little stand, unfurnished because I can’t afford to, hoping to sell enough to pay for the spot!