of all the friends I’ve loved before

As you may know, I am seeking work. I want to work as a social marketing coordinator or graphic designer for an agency, in-house creative department or continue independently as a freelancer. My preference is to join a creative team where I can gather real world experience and embark on a career. You know, a real job in an office with people, pressure, deadlines, health insurance, paid vacation, lunch breaks, reviews, promotions, holiday parties, overtime and a boss.

I want the whole career experience.

I have been focused these past 15 years on raising my daughter, Claire. It’s been a great job, my most important work and I wouldn’t have done it any other way. She’s a great kid, albeit a teenager and not overly fond of me at the moment, but she’s confident and capable and doesn’t need me to be a mothering hover. She will be much better served if I earn her college tuition. You know what I mean?

In an effort to keep up my software and drawing skills, I have been holding contests and making cartoons of my facebook friends for prizes. It started when I posted a cartoon of myself which received positive feedback and was followed by a couple portrait requests.

jennifer

Jennifer was the first person to request a cartoon of her own. I obliged and after posting it on facebook I asked my people to guess who it was. That’s when the fun began for me because only 8 of my 156-odd facebook friends know who Jennifer is! Her mom was the first to correctly guess that it was Jennifer but she waffled and then retracted, saying the chin didn’t quite look like Jennifer’s. LOL! That’s how come Julia became the winning contestant and received her own cartoon.

julia

When I posted Julia’s cartoon it was correctly guessed right away, and though I was happy to know I got the likeness correct, the sporting component was kinda lacking. It was too easy but still fun and inspiring, apparently, because I spent most of yesterday at my computer drawing cartoon portraits . . . or chatting on facebook . . . or emailing and the day flew by!

lindsay

My favorite cartoon so far is the one I did for Lindsay. She’s a young woman I met at one of my art shows, a fellow artist and facebook friend who makes beautiful jewelry out of sea glass. She really liked my self-portrait and requested I do one of her too. I am particularly fond of the color palette in Lindsay’s cartoon and I like that she’s doing something in the picture besides just posing, it’s an action shot. This posting had the potential of being very gamey because none of my other facebook friends know Lindsay, they would’ve had to do some sleuthing through my friends list to figure out who she is–probably the reason nobody would play with me: – (

caitlin

Caitlin was the first person to correctly identify Julia’s cartoon and she did so within seconds of my posting it! She’d be good on Jeopardy. What was really fun about this particular contest was that my smart friend Kathryn who doesn’t even know Caitlin, correctly guessed because she perused my friends list and identified my subject. Way to go Kathryn! I’m going to do your cartoon next, you lucky duck! Well . . . maybe I better do Jennifer’s mom first. She was the first person to identify Caitlin’s cartoon and is a returning participant or playmate. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do. But you’re next Kathryn, and perhaps I’ll throw a celebrity angle into your game because you’re so often told you look like one . . . and we’ll see if my fellow fb gamers can see it too.

I’d like to give my friends here a round of thanks. Thanks for playing. Thanks for being my friend, and of all the friends I’ve loved before, you are the first ones to receive a cartoon portrait by a girl who wants to be employed as a graphic designer some day, so . . .

me