I saw that a lot of people here on dA offer Christmas card exchanges. This year, I'd love to jump on the bandwagon. However, there are a few things I have to tell you beforehand:

Please note that I probably won't be able to write more than 10 cards, because
a) it's going to be pretty expensive to send a lot of them to the U.S. and the like when you live in Europe (approximately 2.50 $ per card!) and
b) my cards are usually handmade, thus it'll take some time for a card to get finished.

Those of you who are interested in an exchange with me, please leave a comment here and I'll make a list. Then, I'll need your address (in a note) and you'll get mine in return.
I'll start working on the cards as soon as possible so you'll get them in time (or probably way too early - you never know with air-mail). And don't forget to let me know once you received your card!


The list:

1.)
2.) (address received)
3.) (address received)
4.) (address received)
5.) (address received)
6.) (address received)
7.) (address received)
8.) (address received)
9.) (address received)
10.)


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I'm back. And I'm feeling better.
Thank you all for your kind comments. I still am pretty busy with exams, but I'll try to drop in regularly.



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I noticed something this morning: it's Eleanor's birthday today. She's turning two (respectively forty-something in her world).
Wow, it's like I treat her like my own child. Am I crazy?



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I just checked my messages and stumbled upon a poll about kids and whether you like, dislike, love or hate them. It is a question that we are often confronted with, that all of us have already been spending some time on. Do we like kids, do we not, ...?
I cast my vote and read the comments that have already been posted. They made my heart sink. A lot of people picked "I hate kids". This fact made me so angry and sad. I'm a student of educational sciences/pedagogy and ever since I started my studies, I see educational phenomena from a different angle: I try to find reasons why people act the way they do. I observe and analyze them.
I met fellow students (studying the same branch of study as me) who thoroughly hate kids, I often see mothers slapping their children in the street or yelling at them just to make them stop talking, I realize how anti-children societies and their representatives are. And I'm asking myself: why? Why do you want to learn how to instruct children when they are a pain in the ass to you? Why do you pick a job "for the same reason"? Why are there so very few opportunities for parents to learn how to treat their kids right?
I felt inclined - no, I felt the urge to add my two cents. Here's what I wrote:

"Kids can be capricious and unpredictable, they can get on your nerves, but consider that most parts of the behavioral pattern result from parenting. Who shapes their habits and character in the first instance? The parents!
I see that I'm overly outnumbered in this poll, but I love kids. I find it very exciting to see how they develop and change (in such short periods of time). Besides (and I think most of us would agree to some extent): childhood is the most eventful time of our life!

I would really like to know why so many people dislike or even hate kids - often for no apparent reason. We've all been kids after all! Do you hate yourselves? Hypothetically speaking, you should.

To me, "hate" is defined as utterly loathing something, to the extent of denying it the right to exist.
Kids can't think like adults or adolescents do, they can't fully estimate the consequences of their actions. They make mistakes. Everybody does!

You wanna blame them for making mistakes, for not being the way *you* are? Blame the adults, blame the parents. Adults do so much more harm to this world and to you (e.g. shitty parenting). Consider this."



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I know some of you are waiting for requests, commissions, art trades, pictures in general, not to mention an update over at ff.net. For the time being, I unfortunately have to delay all kind of artwork. I'm stuck in exam preparations, which leave me hardly any time to breathe.
I'm very, very sorry. Please don't be angry with me, I'll try to get around to drawing every now and then.



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