Thank you. And yes, I am happy with it all. Not satisfied, but happy. My goal is still far away and I wonder if I will ever reach it, because with every painting I put the bar a little higher for myself. It's a school, a process of learning, developing and growing. Sometimes it is a tough school, since I have no riches whatsoever and find it hard to work on. But the economy of making is somewhat of a obstruction for me, as in: I feel that it holds me back from within whenever money's involved. With commissions there's hardly any room for experiment, I always work within the means of gained skills, insight and self-esteem.

What you are following is a transition from graffitiwriter to canvasartist. From big kahuna's painted in no time to small objects that come into existence over long periods of time. It's hard to go through that, but nothing good has come easy in my life, so it is not unfamiliar and feels like home to me. I like it like that, without any masochist intentions. In my surroundings people still do not understand why I am doing that and keep on bugging me with graffiti, but I ignore it and go on with my path.

Last year was completely dedicated to upgrading my little workshop which is also my studio-apartment. I live among the paintings, materials, books, everything breathes art here. There's no escape, which is in itself an escape from the outside world. Besides painting I have a part time job as bike-repairman for two days a week, that is where I go socialize, where the interactions are. Anyway, the upgrades consisted of better materials, like a professional easel, better paint and canvasses, insulation for my windows, everything to keep painting growing in a direction I want it to grow. Bonsai. Yeah.

This year there will be the start of a last transition, which has to do with the paint itself: from acrylics to oils, which is a huge step, both work wise and with the quality of the images produced. When that is established, which will take a few years, I can say that I have done learning the basics. Then I want to go level up producing museum-scale paintings. As in: 2 by 3 meters or so. The bang-effect with fine art is what attracts me. Coming from a really humble background, that is pretty much science fiction for the moment. But it is science fiction that can be reached and accomplished.

The fun thing is: more and more I am finding out that this way of life is really worth living, no matter how poor I am or how slow it goes. I find consolidation in who I am and with what I create. That is actually the biggest transition you are witnessing: one of self-acceptance and of a growing strive to make a very young Martinus's dreams come true. :-)

Hey, there! Welcome to Snapzu! :-)
Not really a feature, but the decency and friendliness on this website sets it far apart from a lot of others. Besides that, I am actually becoming friends with several people here, okay, online, but still. That says enough to me about the users. :-)
A nice feature is the way you can "level up" on this site: with nice cartoon figures, a very specified way of building up your points, for instance by helping people, by sharing video's, everything is specified and rewarded as such. It can be competitive. My former girlfriend and I were in a fierce battle in the background, just for shits and giggles. It can be very entertaining (to me). :-)
I joined up because of Reddit, like more users here and also to have a good alternative for lots of social media and news aggregators. I think the moderation on this site is done more by common sense, instead of opinion alone. Also the amount of interesting articles can be overwhelming, but that is a good thing. High quality content is favored in this household. ;-)