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lavonia

Not Dead Yet
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Deviation Spotlight

Artist // Traditional Art
Badges
Two Scoops: Exclusive Robert Rodriguez Blackberry Badge
Super Albino Llama: Llamas are awesome! (365)
My Bio
I grew up in rural Mississippi in poverty. I have always been one part dreamer, one part do-er. So I spent my childhood chasing the sun through the trees and drawing unicorns and bugs and birds with colored jewels in their foreheads. A lot of fantasy has always worked it’s way into my life. It was the place I could go and always feel safe.

I attained a bachelor’s degree in art (many studio hours in Printmaking) but by my graduation my health was failing and my life plans were detoured. I was diagnosed with an extremely rare kind of cancer, adult spinal ependymoma. The mass in my spine is inoperable. I’ve undergone radiation and sustained tremendous nerve damage and in doing so lost the ability to walk.

My art is hopeful and sad and finds itself hidden deep within the fantasy genre. It ends up more personal than I would like, such as weeds that always come back no matter how hard I prune at it. I’ve been influenced a lot by stories and fairy tales and poster lithographs, especially the 1900’s illustration and woodblock eras from Western and Eastern printing. Also, now manga and comic artists and film artists such as Miyazaki. Audrey Kawasaki’s wood treatment method appeals to me in my art and life, a need for something old and ancient, something with patina on it. Lastly, video games have made a huge influence on my life, so I am always pulled toward that RPG world, again something old but something fantastic.

In many ways I’m tremendously reclusive. I don’t think I made a conscious decision to start making art that was extremely personal but it somehow became my means of communication and conversation. Making a beautiful piece is part of my perfectionist personality, making a piece that says something personal is my way of connecting. I do that through a formula of one part reality, one part fantasy.

Favourite Visual Artist
WLOP, Camilla d'Errico, Tara Mcpherson, Audrey Kawasaki, Chiara Bautista.
Favourite Movies
Spirited Away, Alice (British version), Memoirs of a Geisha, LOTR, Labyrinth, Howl's Moving Castle, Nausicaa, Practical Magic.
Favourite TV Shows
Samurai Champloo, Star Trek, Bob Ross Joy of Painting, Claymore, Escaflowne, American Horror Story.
Favourite Bands / Musical Artists
Enigma, Conjure One, Daft Punk, Black Mages, Yoko Kanno, Japanese composers.
Favourite Books
Fairy tales, myth, history, science.
Favourite Writers
Neil Gaiman, Stephen King.
Favourite Games
Currently playing: Final Fantasy, Zelda, Guild Wars 2.
Favourite Gaming Platform
Varied. PC, Playstation, Wii, Phone.
Tools of the Trade
http://lavonia.net/Materials_FAQ.html
She lives!!! I'm doing well so far. Next month they'll let me know how much lungs are performing. They pulled around 15 clots or so out, some as large as 6 cm. My heart had healed to having some mild enlargement but compared to where it was they are very happy. Full heart failure is a 100% percent mortality rate, except in the case of lung clots. The surgery was developed fairly recently, so I benefited from a lot of science nerds and surgeons' hard work. I'm trying to hit the bike (have a special wheelchair bike) about 30 min a day now but the leg muscles especially are pretty spongy. My arms are in decent shape, rebuilding muscle. I have to spend ALOT of time every day to the recovery process. I have some other issues that have to be dealt with as well but I'm a survivor. Now I have a abdomen scar, a spine scar and a nifty chest scar. It's left not much time for art. I am going into the studio though, trying to practice a small amount each day. I've also been moving
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I still currently have core because there is no way to cancel it before the clock runs down on it. I will never spend another dime on Deviantart's behalf. When I started Deviantart all those years ago, it was a place where people could put out their own unique work. I did my best to support the platform at the time. It's basically AI prompter central now with few places for actual artists to go. DA jumped right in to pick clean the carcass of its own people with Dreamup. Not to mention the ethics and slap in the face of using our work to make their shitty AI app without permission. It nickled and dimed it's adoptable creators without giving them a safe space away from AI. It's put up paywall after paywall. I have 20 years experience in Traditional Media and EVERY time I check the section somewhere it's between 25-40% AI. Soul crushing experience, every time. The AI paywall pedophilic adjacent content is super gross with little to no moderation. Basically, opportunists
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Spring for me has finally brought some good news, I've found some pain management that is actually working and it's not a temporary pharmaceutical fix like an opiate.  It's been sort of a tsunami of goings-on.  It's nice to feel like I can handle things now without breaking.  We are remodeling the bathroom/bedroom to make it accessible for my new rigid wheelchair.  It's be a massive undertaking and wholly time consuming.  I apologize for that.  It's a hard concept for most people to understand, I've not been able to go into my closet in the last 5 years.  The door frame is too narrow.  Little things like that take a hard toll on the psyche.  
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Profile Comments 1.3K

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What a beautiful gallery you have.

Thanks so much for the fav! if you have the time, please check out the rest of my gallery! ^_^ watches/favs/comments are very appreciated! Heart


And Merry Xmas! Holidays
Thank you for the favourites!
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llama loveHere's a Llama, special for you!
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Please check out my gallery when you can.
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Please check out my groups!
V--flower | AllTheStamps
| CrazyVocaloidLuvers
Thank you very much for the fav.! :) 
Thank you for the favorites!  I'm really glad you enjoyed my photography!

Your drawings are absolutely lovely :heart: