February is Black History Month.

We've made great strides in the celebration of taking steps into the future and the possibility of sitting at a table of brotherhood of equality, but we yet have a long way to go. As an uncle of two half-black nieces, it is my fervent wish you take heed and listen to the babies on the come up. Listen to the voices amplified. Understand the mistakes of the past so we can not repeat moving into the tomorrow they deserve.

Eventually, we might be able to sit at that table Dr. King spoke about. In the meantime we have the elegant poetry of Ebony Stewart. The prose of Jill Scott. The business mind of Casey Brown. The history being told by Kaitlyn Foster. The justice being kept by Benjamin Crump and the Honorable Miss Ketanji Brown Jackson. Listen, and hope can be found, it abounds all around.

It says "A caterpillar can't understand butterfly language".

It's here: https://shatteredelegance.net/product/butterfly-language/

View the full project on my Behance here: https://www.behance.net/gallery/160435489/Repeating-Patterns

I am humbled and profoundly proud to showcase this body of work; It's taken literally years to build this up to show the world.

My repeating, seamless patterns are finally ready as a full 24 pieces and I'd be honored if everyone would take a moment of their day to look at it and maybe drop an appreciation and/or comment.

It's been years of hard work and I'm over the moon that everyone gets to finally see it all in action!

View the full project on my Behance here: https://www.behance.net/gallery/160435489/Repeating-Patterns

2022 Artist & Handmade Gift Guide

This holiday season, there’s never been a better time to support creatives in every regard. This list is near and dear to my heart. I am all about Community Over Competition and when you have a dollar, there’s more than enough to share.

This is a small, but thoughtful list of small businesses, creatives, artists and artisans that I personally order from, adore and use. They work all year long and have products I own, use, know and like. Give'em a view. I have a couple of my own items in there to check out too. I search all year and save for this and enjoy putting this together. It's been a tradition for me for three years running now.

Read The Blog Post Here

I'm so excited to finally have released my premium handmade watercolor paints!

This has been a journey of chemistry, trial and error until I finally had a paint I'm truly proud of. It began with a series of questions, such as "Can I make watercolor paint from actual Rose Quartz?" and "Can I make watercolor paint from freshwater pearls?", evolving into making watercolor paints from Henna, gemstones, flowers and more.

Even trying Amethyst:

Henna in a high fantasy metals set:

Wild colors like:

And color shifting using Elytra Beetle Wings:

I'm thrilled that many of them are available to buy on my Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ShatterTheElegance?ref=seller-platform-mcnav&section_id=33946737

I cannot tell you how excited I am; I can't believe they Frontpaged my recent artworking that used my own Handmade Watercolor Paints. I made those paints from scratch and created this piece, so it's beyond surreal to be featured on the front page. I am one honored man right now.

The Piece: https://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/jarrodjvandenberg/my-own-handmade-watercolor-paint

The Paint (released on Tuesday, 11th): https://www.etsy.com/shop/ShatterTheElegance

I just seen a piece of my work was featured on the frontpage of Newgrounds and I couldn't be more excited or honored. Seriously, I was freaking out.

Given the topic, it's not surprising it's been bombed, along with a bunch of my other works. Talented or not, it's not about what others think, it's about the impact for me. I have been shocked how toxic this site can be. It's sad that most artists aren't supporting other artists. I don't think I've ever given anything less than a 4 star in my entire time here.

Regardless, it's a highlight and something that really lifted me up; I'm such a backer, fighter and believer in the Black Lives Matter movement and I am truly proud of my piece and Colin Kaepernick for fighting. The level of systemic racism has gone on for over 400 years in this country and it's time to bring it into the light and fix this deadly problem once and for all so we don't lose any more like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor or Sandra Bland. BLM is the good fight, the right side of history and something I'm very proud of my fellow American's for doing.

Maybe someday we'll sit at a roundtable of brotherhood in peace, but for right now, No Justice, No Peace. Period.

I'm so excited to be new to NG and I'd like to stand on ceremony and bid you all a fond hello and I hope to contribute to this community in a talented way.

I've been on here for a short time, but I'm quickly learning that the possibility of addiction to this site is possible and likely.