Needs more layers and more subtlety, but I'm pleased with the way it's taking shape.  I'll frame it once it's done and put it above my bed.  

  With starting a new company (www.eascustomcanvas.com), I am left asking myself about social media.  I don't like social media, but is it necessary for a business?  I had social media for years and was given the illusion of connection.  I've got my site here which I write on and update all the time, but what about facebook or instagram or linkedin?  I say no to them and here's why.
  Everything I've gotten in life has been a result of direct interpersonal connections.  Talking one-on-one with friends or if I haven't met someone: reaching out to them politely with my request.  I'll be the last of the holdouts because I'm more interested in talking and painting than sitting for hours in front of a screen.  I'm writing right now in front of a screen, which I admit the irony of, but I'll keep my interpersonal connections in the real world.
  There's a lot of benefits to social media also.  I had friends over in parts of the world who I could only connect with via facebook.  To me, this is a sacrifice which I believe in and has benefited me so far personally and in my career.  Who knows.

These are my thoughts for the day.

  I just started a self portrait, which will be my last work as a 24 year old because I turn 25 in May.  I haven't made a self portrait that I've been proud of since I was 22 so I'm putting a lot of effort into this one.  I'm also using a canvas which I have prepared myself, but which has warped during sizing, so it's not the best canvas that I've ever made.  The canvas isn't good enough for a commission or gallery painting, so this is the best thing I can think of to use it for.  I have another canvas that's also warped, which I'm going to use for another portrait.
  Painting people is a separate challenge from painting animals, but I enjoy both equally.  It's also very different to paint a self portrait as opposed to painting someone else; it's always very psychological to paint yourself.
  I also started this self portrait because I want to keep painting as much as I can.  I don't like wasting time and I feel a pressure to try as hard as I can.

  A warning to anyone who uses TD bank's free pens: they have acid in the ink and will turn brown and burn through paper.  I opened up my college notebook to find pages of brown, burned through ink.  I used to take my notes with TD bank's pens because they're ubiquitous and free, but I'll stick with good pens from now on.  Don't write or draw anything nice with those pens.  Maybe TD will read this and change their ink formula.