Matilda Duke

Post #113: Baltimore life 2011

2011-02-21T12:54:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from my phone of things I've been up to in Brawltimore.

^Hipster.^

Post #112: Illustrator

2011-02-21T12:19:00.000-08:00

Here's a color study I did of a pine cone on Adobe Illustrator.

I was supposed to portray them as "good" and "evil". Radioactive green is evil, right?

Post #111: Patrick Gannon

2011-02-08T11:58:00.001-08:00

Cool cut paper illustrator that I found today during EMAC:

http://www.pgannon.com/pgannon_boaryear.htm

Post #110: Art Dump

2011-02-05T07:49:00.000-08:00

Here's a few pieces of art I made last semester. I still have so much to photograph. Bleh.

Post #109: Painting Class

2010-11-02T08:50:00.000-07:00

Here's an in-progress picture of one of my paintings I'm doing:

We have to find a piece of artwork by a "master" that we admire, then we have to paint only a section of it and try to discover the artists process.

I did a piece by James Jean called "Excavation". It's really weird how the colors change when it's printed in a magazine compared to the image on his website.

I'm so tired. I don't get much sleep anymore and yet there is still so much work to be done. Right now I'm doing some idea sketches for an illustration assignment where we have to make a feature image and a spot image for a magazine article we were given. Right now the class I'm succeeding in and enjoying the most is my oil painting class which is a huge surprise to me. I'm far more excited about that then illustration. I just feel like I'm always failing at illustration and I just want to receive some sort of positive feedback for once in my life in that class. I would enjoy drawing class if I had enough time to do the assignments. The work never ends. IT NEVER ENDS. I can't wait until Thanksgiving Break.

Post #108: Studies

2010-10-25T09:38:00.000-07:00

Here are some small illustration studies; I had to illustrate two proverbs. There about 6 inches x 4 inches with acrylic paint and micron pens. I have this little moleskin that I've been afraid to use, and I'm really glad I used it for these. I think I might use it for small oil or acrylic illustration studies that I do.

Hell Hath No Fury Like A Woman Scorned

Into Every Life A Little Rain Must Fall

Post#107: Lady Gaga Alejandro Makeup

2010-10-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

Better pictures soon (maybe). I tried to do Lady Gaga's makeup from Alejandro :)

Post #106: Video

2010-10-20T16:16:00.000-07:00

Here's a bunch of work from my Elements of Visual Thinking class. The video is a self portrait of myself through what I'm afraid of, and the images are of an environment that I had to create for an object that I chose to carry around with me for a couple of weeks.

Post #105: It's been a while, blog.

2010-10-20T12:05:00.000-07:00

Hey blog, whaddup? I was reviewing a lot of my older posts... I used to be a cool blogger that updated all the time. Like my end of the year blog from senior year was fucking awesome. It was amazing. It blew my socks right off, out of my window into the Commons courtyard. You should read it it you haven't. I'm so insightful, haha. I love reading. I think everyone needs to read. Lately I've been feeling very not creative but then I read my blog and I feel like a creative, insightful, genius. HONESTLY, GUYS. I think what is important as an artist is having confidence in yourself. And courage. Confidence and courage are so important, but not so much that you become pretentious.

I've been doing a lot of art. I have so much. It's fall break and the Meyerhoff Cafeteria is closed this weekend. What the hell? How am I supposed to eat? I went to the grocery store yesterday and bought some food so I could survive. I had food, but trail mix and green tea can't really allow a human to survive for so long. I made tortellini with three cheese tomato sauce. Yum.

My apartment is empty for fall break, which at first thought was going to be super awesome until I realized... I'm lonely. I'm glad I rented a studio. Oh yeah, hey guys, I rented a studio! Awesome. Cool. Chic. I love it because no one bothers me. I really don't like being bothered when I'm trying to do art. Especially when people interrupt me when I'm spacing out, or as my roommate likes to translate from a Chinese saying "going spiritual" (if you're wondering it doesn't not have a good connotation in Chinese). Honestly, when people interrupt me when I'm thinking I want to punch them in the face. I think it's one of the rudest things someone could do to me. Something that irks me is that I'm not allowed to wear headphones in any of my classes which is super distracting. I suppose it's good because I can hear the advice the teacher is giving to others, but I like to close myself off from people when I work. Speaking of which, I took a few pictures of some stuff that wasn't put away in my portfolio. Cool. Chic. Inventive.

I've been watching an obscene amount of project runway. I love it.

I want to have a little chat about illustration. So lately I have to say illustration sucks a lot. But then one illustrator, Nomi Chi, reminded me that you just have to approach it your way and it won't suck. I love her illustrations, they are so interesting and I love the way she has painted them. I was in an illustration rut but then I saw her work and it inspired me. I just can't stand how critical my illustration class is. It's so upsetting. I'm just going to do some really awesome illustrations that I like and my teacher will just have to accept it. If I ever go into illustration I feel like I'd have to be a gallery illustrator only.

Post #104: Illustration Blog Homework

2010-09-07T08:27:00.000-07:00

So my Illustration class has a blog where we post our weekly homework. This week we had to illustrate our favorite food in a medium we haven't used or aren't comfortable using. I illustrated mine in watercolors. I tried to approach them in a way I'm not used to: layering. I'm really impatient and so layering took a lot of waiting and time. I also drew a cat because I'm not so great at drawing animals :P Overall I think my illustration class had my favorite homework assignments. The other part of our assignment for this week was to do five illustration sketches based on a noun and a verb we chose out of a bag. I got "bottle" and "create". I'll post those idea sketches later (I didn't scan them when I was in the library today).

So far I really like MICA. They have great resources for students to use for art and for transportation. There is this shuttle called the college town shuttle that can take you all the way to Towson (20-30 minutes away) to go shopping at the Michaels, Target, Walmart, etc. There is also a Save A Lot down the street from my dorm, but I don't know if I would buy their produce....

It's weird to be a minority. In the MICA community I'm not a minority, but when I go walk around Bolton Hill I feel like I'm the only white person.

Post #103: Baltimore, Watch Out for Me!

2010-08-05T16:36:00.000-07:00

So I'm compiled a list of activities that are recommended to do in Baltimore. When I do one of these things I will take a picture and blog it as it's own post :) Will update as I think of more things.

#1: Move into my MICA dorm!
#2: Visit the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore
#3: Visit Walter's Art Museum
#4: Visit Edgar Allan Poe's Grave
#5: Visit Druid Hill Park (World of Warcraft, lol)
#6: Read your favorite book under a tree in Fort McHenry
#7: Go to Little Italy! (And eat spaghetti!)
#8: Play Volleyball at Rash Field

Here's my East coast to-do list:

#1: Visit New York City/ Times Square
#2: Attend the Colbert Report
#3: Visit Pratt

Post #102: Just Kidding.

2010-07-11T21:54:00.000-07:00

Just kidding. I did get a score. I got a four, but they still damage my artwork so I still hate them. And their whole system of grading is so screwed up. It's so MESSED UP. It's like a corrupt government.

HORRID, simply HORRID.

Post #101: I have been pooped on by the AP exam.

2010-07-03T16:25:00.000-07:00

I got my AP portfolio back without a score. Three of my pieces got damaged when they were shipped so they didn't grade them at all. It really sucks. I worked hard all year long to be shat on by the AP exam. I already learned that their system of grading is fucked up but because my portfolio (which is marked fragile) was handled poorly I get penalized. But I really don't care about the score as much as I care about my artwork. I'm so upset that two of my pieces got crushed and crumpled (which makes them useless). I'm a little upset about my wax piece but I know that I can fix it with a blow dryer or something. On top of that one of my art pieces was sold that wasn't for sale. It kind of feels like after all the happy times of the merit awards, college scholarships, and graduation are over I'm being brought back to reality.

Post #100: I didn't think I'd make it this far...

2010-06-18T21:41:00.000-07:00

One hundred posts... I'm a beast. Since school is over I can do obscene not school appropriate posts, right? Well I won't make this post like that, but watch out. So my attempts to make a final video like I did last year have flopped and not worked out, so here are my answers to the questions.

THE GOSPEL OF ART

ADVICE:

Create art that you enjoy making and are excited about. Don't settle for an idea just because it's the deadline for a concentration statement. If you aren't excited to make art then no one will be excited to look at your art.

FAVORITE PIECE:

Uh. Uhm. My favorite piece this year would have to be my book that I bound. I put a lot of effort into it. But the thing that I like most about it is that even though I put a lot of time and effort into it I didn't feel like it was a burden. And I really enjoy it because I get just as excited looking at the different coffee stained pages as the people I show it to do the first time they see it. That sounded pompous. I'm sorry, but that book is off the hizzle. I think it should have gotten a gold key. Amen.

I LEARNED GOOD THIS YEAR:

I learned not to expect great things from a piece in it's idea form. I feel like a lot of artists have these expectations of a piece before it has time to develop itself and become what it's meant to become. It's like expecting your unborn child to become a pianist and then the child decides it wants to become a physicist. Then the parent with these expectations become dejected. It could potentially be equally as great or better, but because your expectations are otherwise you force it to be something it's not. Once the piece starts developing in a certain direction then encourage it and lead it to a final stage that is greater than your original idea.

TAKE AWAY:

Take away lumberjack day for all other art classes. That was sacredly holy to seniors of 2010 only.

FAVORITE 2009-2010 MOMENT:

Probably Lumberjack day. I'm not going to lie, but a lot of this year I felt really uncomfortable with the class. I feel like we didn't get to know each other well. I really wanted to but I realized I have trouble starting conversation with all of you guys because I psych myself out. But Lumberjack day wasn't awkward in any way to me. I felt comfortable. But I have a feeling it's because most of the people there I had already had in my art class for at least 3 years... In some cases more like 6 years.

10 YEARS, MAN:

I think in ten years I will still know Jackson and Karen since we are going to college together. By the end of college we will have known each other for 10 years. I feel like once you've known someone for ten years you won't ever get rid of them. But that wasn't meant to be taken in a bad way, haha. I hope that I still know a lot of the people in my life in 10 years. Aside from that, I know I will still be creating art. But some really sick side of myself hopes I'm in some sort of Hunger Games esque world where the general population doesn't really rely on the safety of technology and has to fight against some sort of oppression. I feel like the world has become less interesting and exciting because of the new technology age. You can plaster yourself all over your social networking site of your choosing or hide and protect yourself from the outside world. I really think that humans need to become more in touch with their animalistic side. I think there is something interesting in humans limits being stretched because of adrenaline. We aren't really given a chance to try and survive in this world. Truly survive. Not like I'm out on the streets and hungry, but I'm out in the wilderness Bear Grills survive. Now that I have sufficiently sounded like an ass, I will continue on to my quotes.

"There was no planning. No time for planning. No time for a future. But then life spans started to getting longer, and people started having more and more future, and so they spent more time thinking about it. About the future. And now life has become the future. Every moment of your life is lived for the future--you go to high school so you can go to college so you can afford to send your kids to college so they can get a good job so they can get a nice house so they can afford to send their kids to college."

"You keep expecting people not to be themselves. I mean, I could hate you for being massively unpunctual and for never being interested... but I don't give a shit, man, because you're you. I'm too obsessed with a reference Web site to answer my phone sometimes when my friends call... That's okay, too. That's me. You like me anyway. And I like you. You're funny, and you're smart, and you may show up late, but you always show up eventually... stop thinking Ben should be you, and he needs to stop thinking you should be him, and y'all need to chill the hell out."

I hope that my attempt at being insightful was insightful.

If you were sitting right next to me then you would have heard me slam my book shut directly after I typed that sentence. It was refreshing.

Post #99: Audrey Kawasaki Print Has Been Framed!

2010-05-08T18:20:00.000-07:00

Post #98: Goals

2010-04-26T19:03:00.000-07:00

These are for me, not for you. It helps to see them written (or I suppose typed) down...

MONDAY APRIL 26TH:
-Finish BSCI Scholarship Form
-Finish all art pieces.

TUESDAY APRIL 27TH:
-Prepare all artwork for show
-Turn in necessary forms
-Make art show video.

WEDNESDAY APRIL 28TH:
-31cent scoop night at B&R :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( BOO!
-Fall into a coma

Post #97: Painting my room but, more importantly, child prodigies!

2010-04-18T20:21:00.000-07:00

I'm currently re-painting my room after several years... I would have posted pictures and talked about it more except for the fact that would be boring. I don't think the fact that I'm re-painting is interesting to anyone but myself.

Right now all of my stuff is in the living room. It's pretty great. The space is large so it's a betterplace to paint than my actual room. Speaking of which, I'm s***ting bricks right now. Lot's of stuff to do. So little time. Ten days, actually.

Here's a video of a Japanese child who plays ukelele very well and looks really cute doing it. I'm amazed at how well he plays at 5 years old (I think). And he looks like he has so much fun doing it! I want to be his age again and I want someone to give me a ukelele to play.

Post #96: The April Jitters

2010-04-11T18:04:00.000-07:00

So my computer has been acting like a royal pain lately, so I don't know how long I will have on the internet before it starts freezing and beeping at me.

I'm really sad that I'm going to be in California during the AP art show. I have a concentration that I'm proud of this year, and not being able to see it all assembled on a wall is kind of disappointing. But on the other hand I don't want to miss watching my cousin get married and being able to hang out with my sister there. But anyways...

I found this video through the stumbleupon application for the updated version of Mozilla Firefox. It's inflatable street art! His monsters are so cool. The movements the wind gives them makes them look like real monsters. More of this type of art needs to be integrated into society. Especially at school. I think in the hallway by the A-wing they should write something like "Lakeridge, home of the Pacers!" really large in street art text. I admire people who work hard to make the world more beautiful.

Post #95: Ease Your Storm

2010-04-02T22:53:00.001-07:00

A Tell-Tale Heart

Sonnet-- Silence

Post #94: *****

2010-03-31T16:50:00.000-07:00

SON OF A BISCUIT.

Post #93: Spring Break Is OVER.

2010-03-28T20:43:00.000-07:00

I love looking at sketchbook paintings. This is a sketchbook watercolor by Amy Sol. It makes me want to buy a watercolor paper mole skin and do mini paintings. Mini paintings in your sketchbook don't have to be perfect. I also love it when the artist doesn't paint all the way to the edge, and shows a bit of white page on the border. When I go to Alaska this summer I think I might bring some graphite and colored pencils, water colors, and a mini sketchbook and do a lot of sketching. What's nice is that I'll be on a boat, so there won't be any obligations to be in a hotel room by a certain time, or stick with the people I go on the trip with.

So now I'm going to go off onto a different video game tangent. I got Final Fantasy XIII for Playstation3 last week and I'm addicted to it. It has the best graphics of any game I have ever played. Period. The art in it is amazing. The game play is great too. I'm usually not a huge fan of turn based game-play... but I feel like this is a mixture of turn based and real time. Kind of like World of Warcraft. Except an RPG. Anyways. I'm always a big fan of Final Fantasy games. The graphics and art are usually way beyond their time. I find that I want to play it every second I'm not doing something obligatory... like working. And sleeping. I think this game has the cheesiest characters to date, though. Snow (which is a huge buff blonde guy with a dew rag) is always referring to himself as "the hero" going on tangents about how they have to save Cacoon (their "Earth"). But the game has gotten me to think a lot about how technology is taking over the world. In their society entire towns are surrounded by technology, they turn wild animals into technological beasts, and there isn't any green ANYWHERE! It made me feel like when Neo comes out of the matrix into the real world. I feel like we will probably get to the point where we don't even live life, we are just batteries fueling technology. With everything going digital, it seems that people aren't appreciating nature. And it's far to easy to just pull up a profile about someone online and know things they have never told you directly. And then there's the fact that our generation is getting more awkward and socially challenged with face to face encounters. It makes me want to go be a hermit in Ireland or something.

Post #92: Technology Ruins Romance by WongFuProductions

2010-03-22T14:48:00.000-07:00

This is one of three videos in WongFuProductions Technology Ruins Romance series. I love this one, and the one in Spanish.

Post #91: Eric Fortune

2010-03-15T20:04:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been really inspired by Eric Fortune's work. I like his illustration style, and it makes me want to sit down and do more large-scale illustration pieces. Maybe I'll do that style for one of my pieces in April. The year has gone by so fast and I just want it to slow down just a bit. There are still things I want to do before I graduate and go to college. I'm really excited for college, but at the same time I feel like I need to make sure the rest of my time in high school is spent well.

I feel really lame for not doing a sketchbook entry for two weeks in a row, but it's been hard with college/scholarship applications and family visiting. I wish I could have some time to just chill out. My print should be here soon! I'm so excited! This weekend I went to Powell's and bought a light switch plate with Alphonse Mucha's "Job" on it. It's so cool.

Post #90: Los Angeles

2010-03-07T22:09:00.000-08:00

Right now I am kind of regretting not applying to some California art schools. It seems like my favorite artists are always participating in exhibitions or hosting solo art shows in California. The art magazine Hi-Fructose is having an exhibition for their 5th anniversary, and two of my favorite artists, Amy Sol and Audrey Kawasaki, are participating. I wish I could go so badly. I really envy them. I hope that some day I will be fortunate enough to have my art featured all over the world like they do. One thing that I really enjoy learning about, as well as art, are foreign cultures. I like learning how to speak new languages and experiencing new places. In my future career, whatever that may end up being, I know that I want two things: a chance to be creative and the ability to travel. During college I am going to try my best to make sure I study abroad. I don't care what country I may end up studying in, as long as it isn't Canada, Mexico, or the United States only because I've been to those three places.

Speaking of Audrey Kawasaki, my print should be here in the next couple of weeks! Exciting!

Another artist that I really admire is Michelle Phan. She isn't the typical artist, though. She is a make-up artist and beauty guru on YouTube. She is able to travel a lot because of her do-it-yourself success on YouTube. Even though the internet can seem bad and all consuming these days, it shows that it is a valuable resource. But what really pisses me off is that I want the concealer she uses, called Amazing Concealer, but it's 48 dollars! 48 DOLLARS! I'm not going to pay that much. Even MAC charges less than that, and MAC is the queen of overcharging customers. Her Barbie make-up tutorial is one of my favorites. I love the coastal scents 88 color pallet that she uses in the video. I have both the shimmer and matte pallets! A good buy. Her voice is hypnotic. You'll understand:

Post #89: Haven't blogged in 10 days :(

2010-02-28T11:50:00.000-08:00

So it's been a while since I've updated. I've been trying really hard to find a website where I can use an html generator to make a new layout for my blog. I've finally decided that I'm going to have to learn how to use CS3 or buy dreamweaver. I mean, dreamweaver would be helpful in the future. I don't doubt that. But these types of programs always cost a pretty penny.

Lately I've really wanted to bind another book. I might start doing that during my early releases again. It was a lot of fun. Especially with this book (right picture). Everything was hand made, dyed, sewn, stained, etc. It made me feel like this book was mine. I was thinking about binding a book with an open spine and then gessoing the cardboard cover and then doing some encaustic for the cover. I might coffee stain the pages, too, but I'm not sure. I want to find some other ways to stain paper. I feel like if I were to do encaustic covers, I would have to keep an open spine on the book. You can't really bend wax. I tried staining pages with pomegranates a while back, but it was really sticky business and all of the pages stuck together. :/

I'm starting to get to the point where I'm really over high school. Everyone has reached their comfortable stage as seniors, so no one branches out and tries something new. No one changes because they have found their niche and a routine that works for them. No one is forced to try something out of their comfort zone. The Lakeridge environment has gotten really old, and I'm ready to go to a new place to meet new people and gain new perspectives. I feel like I'm stuck in senior limbo. I don't want to be in senior limbo!

Post #88: Concentration Pieces Thus Far

2010-02-18T14:13:00.000-08:00

*Click to make bigger.

So these are all five of my completed concentration pieces so far. I'm really digging the coffee staining/shellac backgrounds. I like them so much that I'm thinking about changing the old man piece and the crow piece so that they have more of that style. I feel like they don't fit in with my other pieces. I'm not happy with the very bottom one. I like the burnt hole being the frame, but I want to change the person up. I originally wanted to paint her in acrylic paints, but I lost all of my paint brushes (that I have now found), so I had no choice but to do gouache and watercolor. Any ideas?

Concentration Statement: My concentration is art pieces inspired by 12 different pieces of Edgar Allan Poe's writing. I will take a poem and create an art piece inspired by the plot, words, concept, or images that are inspiring from the poem or short story and will express the inspiration I get from Edgar Allan Poe with color, subject matter, and composition. Each piece of artwork will be named after the title of the poem or short story.

Post #87: The Bonds of Love

2010-02-15T20:11:00.000-08:00

Post #86: Art and VlogRamen

2010-02-11T19:27:00.000-08:00

Dear Art Class, Ms. McBride, and Kelsey,

So, as observed by my sister, Kelsey, I really don't post any art on my blog anymore. Well, if I do post art, usually it belongs to another. Anyways. I have decided to try and post 3 pieces of art that I haven't previously posted on my blog each week. This resolution includes pieces that I have done work to, such as the picture for this post. Once I run out of images that I haven't previously posted, that means I will have to create 3 different pictures that are not the same to post on my blog every week. Cool, right? I mean, I have an abundance of free time since I'm no longer taking math and, for the most part, college applications are totally fin. I feel good about my resolution.

As observed by Ms. McBride, I haven't done any video editing. None at all. Guess what I'm doing this weekend, other than working? Editing videos! I was very discouraged in my quest to create informational scholastic videos, fun vidoes, and art tutorial videos because of one 30 minute video I needed to edit. This man, though full of very interesting facts, was very hard to sit through a second time. I had to not only cut out the unsubstantial parts of this video, but review it several times for timing, appropriate times to cut, etc. So, as a motivation to continue these projects, I've decided to start small and go big. Start with the short and end with the long. It will help me get back into the groove of editing and, hopefully as I become more savvy, take less time.

AS WELL AS VIDEO EDITING THIS WEEKEND, I plan on creating a new layout. This one is seriously getting old. I'm going to try and obtain dream weaver (I think that's what it's called?) and try and make my own template, instead of using the ones provided by blogger. Not that they aren't nice, and all, but I really relish the idea of taking advantage of the option to create your own template.

Lately I have been watching vlogs on YouTube. What is a vlog? It's basically like this (blogging), only in video format. The trend, as made popular by the VlogBrothers, is for two people to alternate posting videos on a shared YouTube account as a way of communication. This is typically used for two people who do not see each other often. Why do I bring up the VlogBrothers? Well, not because I like them. (Sorry to those of you that do). It's because there is a similar project, VlogRamen, that I do enjoy. My interest, for the most part, is in Michael Aranda. He is one of the two friends, the other being Stefan, doing a video communication project on YouTube. Because he went to film school his videos take on a more artistic approach to vlogging. On his main channel, Michael has done some great videos; my favorite involves making music from trash.

But the question I wanted to ask was, do you think it is okay to post volgs for the public to see on YouTube? Because, really, it is a personal correspondence between you and someone else. In fact, your lives really don't concern the internet public unless you want to get their opinions. You can still communicat via video through skype and privately sending videos through Facebook messaging. I don't think I have a problem with vlogging on YouTube. I certainly wouldn't post anything too personal; such as my address, phone number, or any personal and/or serious topic.

It was a long post. Hope you guys didn't get too bored ;)

-Lindsay

Post #85: Try a little tenderness.

2010-02-08T21:25:00.000-08:00

I want a new blog layout. I need a new blog layout, but I lack the technology at my moms house for a new blog layout, which I wanted to ring in with a video. I can't make a video without my editing program which is also conveniently on my computer at my dad's house. So, now, I'm stuck with just my t.v and my new-found interest in The O.C. Don't judge, alright? I'm always, like, at least 5 years behind the trends. I cannot help it. When it comes to The Breakfast Club, Pretty In Pink, and 16 Candles I'm at least 25 years behind. (By the way, does anyone else think that Molly Ringwald's prom dress in Pretty In Pink was kind of hideous? The shape of it was very unflattering)

Last week I was a shut-in and did some art. It was really fun. Every so often I get supremely tired with humans and become a recluse.

On a fashiony note, I feel the need to grow out my curly fro and make it a curly mane. Just thinkin'.

Post #84: PAINT BRUSHES M.I.A

2010-01-27T16:45:00.001-08:00

I'VE LOST MY PAINT BRUSHES. THEY ARE IN A CANVAS-COLORED PAINT BRUSH SLEEVE THING. THEY ARE ALL ROLLED UP.........

I NEED THEM.

I DON'T HAVE THEM.

WHERE DID THEY GO?

I don't know how likley it will be that I will come to class with a second concentration piece. I spent the bulk of my time trying to find my paint brushes, hoping they were at my mom's house. They are not here. They are not at my dad's house. And I have to go to work from 5-10pm. From 12:30-4:30 I was hoping to make some progress. I GUESS NOT. Uhg.

Post #83: Michael Aranda

2010-01-18T17:47:00.000-08:00

Someone who I think is pretty great is Michael Aranda.
He's the Shizz.
He's the cat's meow.

A more logical explanation of why I like Michael Aranda is because he does some really thoughtful and entertaining videos on YouTube. He went to film school, which pretty much means his videos are beautiful and somewhat artistic. I don't think there are enough people on YouTube doing artistic things. It's mostly vloggers, ads, commercials, music videos, and random videos. Anyways, I think you guys should check him out.

Post #82: I'M BUYING THIS PRINT!

2010-01-11T21:50:00.000-08:00

Audrey Kawasaki is having a timed print sale on January 23rd from 3-4pm pacific time. So basically during this one hour I can purchase a signed print by one of my favorite artists of all time!!!!!!!!!

For $100. But that is the price I guess I am willing to pay for a signed print.

THIS IS THE ONE I'M BUYING! (You can choose from two different ones)

Post #81: Uber Rad Gone Uber Wrong.

2010-01-11T21:02:00.000-08:00

Let me tell you about all the awesome things I had planned for this blog and art class today. I was going to make a super rad video for this entry. I had everything set up and planned out, then I got distracted with college websites and merit scholarship applications and this video never happened. I was also going to make a new blog layout, but that is still in the works so I suppose it could happen. I also started some pomegranate juice staining stuff. It's way different then coffee staining. That kind of just stated the obvious. I also came up with a new concentration piece idea that has to do with doilies. "Doilies?!" you exclaim. Yes, doilies. Don't worry, you will understand how it really doesn't resemble or have anything to do really with doilies. I would say it's more like a cameo than a doily. I WISH, WISH, WISH, WISH THAT I HAD MORE TIME.

More, more, more time.

I bought this awesome lense today at Best Buy for my camcorder, then I came home and tried to put it on my camera and the conversion applicator didn't fit. So I had to drive back to Best Buy and get my 5o bucks back. Uhg. Next time I buy things for my camcorder I'm bringing it with me and demanding that we open the package and ACTUALLY SEE IF THESE THINGS FIT. I showed them my camera, because they had a floor model of it, but I guess I will have to make them actually put it on next time. I think I have a 37mm lense, and these applicators only came with 25mm, 30mm, and 50mm lense converters. Obviously not what I have.

What is with the college websites giving you the vaguest information possible? SAIC's website tells me jack-s**t about their merit scholarship. I didn't actually find out that you had to submit a seperate portfolio for the merit scholarship until Sunday. The website gives you the most misleading information, so I e-mailed the admissions people. I will get my specific information, even if they do not wish to give it to me!

Post #80: ----

2010-01-04T15:08:00.000-08:00

Can it be summer now?

Post #79: Three Pieces

2010-01-03T17:21:00.000-08:00

All right, here are my three pieces. I will probably do some more finishing touches on them after I get back from work, but this is basically what they will look like on Monday. Time was what I struggled with most for these pieces. With my sister being home for winter break, I found myself wanting to go out and do stuff with her which was really distracting. My favorite of all of these is the girl (a.k.a Sonnet -- To Science). I think I might end up painting in her hair tonight. I don't think I'll be able to keep the coffee staining patterns in the hair with out it looking odd. The Raven and A Tell-Tale Heart are alright, but I think I should have pushed myself a bit more.

Sonnet -- To Science

The Raven

A Tell-Tale Heart

Post #78: Open Acrylics

2009-12-31T21:26:00.000-08:00

So last time I went to Art Media I saw this type of acrylic paint I'd never seen before called open acrylics. I read the pamphlet, and apparently they dry slower than regular acrylic paint. I bought a couple of tubes of it, and I have to say I actually like them. Sometimes I feel like acrylic paint dries too fast, even with the slow-dry formula stuff. I want to continue to experiment with this type of paint. I would also really like to start using oils. Maybe for January or February's pieces I will try it. I should probably finish my concentration pieces for winter break first...........

Post #77: Art progress and Movies!

2009-12-31T11:13:00.000-08:00

So here's an almost finished picture of 'Sonnet- To Science'. I have actually been working in my room lately, which is weird. I never work in my room. But I got a new iHome for Christmas, so now I can have music in my room. That's probably why. And I actually have a surface to work on since I got an art board (see picture) for Christmas as well :). For this one I used a lot of facial muscle anatomy pictures as reference. I really like some of the coffee patterns where I'm going to put the hair, but I'm not sure how to incorporate them in with the hair. I might just paint over them. I'm having a hard time coming up with ideas for the next two pieces. If I have initial ideas, it's easy to get them done. I got this one done in a day (not counting the coffee staining). But the ideas I've had haven't been working out. I think the next short story I'm going to get inspiration from is "A Tell-Tale Heart".

So this winter break I have been watching a ton of movies that I've never seen before. Last night I watched (5oo) Days of Summer, which made me so sad! It might just be me, but Joseph Gordon-Levitt is starting to look like Heath Ledger. He's grown up so much since 10 Things I Hate About You. I also saw The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles for the first time. They were so good! I bought them with my Christmas money. I also watched American Sweethearts, which wasn't really amazing, but it was a good way to pass a couple of hours. John Cusack has a really great voice. One of those voices that enunciates well. I also saw Avatar and Sherlock Holmes in theaters. Both were really good, but I liked Avatar better. I actually didn't think I would like Avatar, but it was surprisingly very good, and very similar to Pocahontas. That's okay, though. I liked Pocahontas.

Post #76: Coffee

2009-12-27T13:41:00.000-08:00

So I've been coffee staining my paper for my piece inspired by "Sonnet- To Science". The last piece I stained got stuck to the kitchen table because I forgot that wax paper is verrryyy important to the coffee staining process. So this is try number 2! Yes! I have officially applied to University of Oregon and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Yesss! And I can recycle my essay for SAIC and use it for MCAD. Double yes. So far my break has been super busy doing family stuff. I manage to do a little bit of homework/art/college applications each day. I have been so responsible over winter break. I'm very proud of myself. Usually I leave everything for the Sunday before we come back. NOT THIS YEAR! I really like taking a whole week off of work for no reason. It makes me want to do it more often. But then I wouldn't get any money, which would be saddd. OH! For Christmas, my dad got me this super nice drawing board and massive art portfolio. I was very excited. The one thing that was terrible about my Christmas was all of the sweets and cookies and candies and ice cream that were around the house. It makes me want to snack on them instead of eating real food. :(

Post #75: Concentration 2009-2010

2009-12-13T16:35:00.001-08:00

My concentration is art pieces inspired by 12 different pieces of Edgar Allan Poe's writing. I will take a poem and create an art piece inspired by the plot, words, concept, or images that are inspiring from the poem or short story and will express the inspiration I get from Edgar Allan Poe with color, subject matter, and composition. Each piece of artwork will be named after the title of the poem or short story.

Post #74: Horrified.

2009-12-12T10:27:00.000-08:00

I was showing my tea-stained book to my mom and grandparents the other day and they asked me what I was going to do with it when Scholastic was over. I replied that I didn't know, and that I would probably use it as a sketchbook. Then they suggested I use it for.... for a photo album!

A PHOTO ALBUM?!

NO!

I AM NOT USING THE BOOK THAT I LOVINGLY MADE TO PUT PHOTOS IN! That's just taking it straight from art to quiche. If anyone did that with a book I made them I would be heart broken. Of course, this conversation made me realize that I will never bind a book for someone who won't do art in it. And if I do bind a book for someone who isn't an artist, I'll make sure that I'm not too attached to the craftsmanship before I give it to them so that they can make... a photo album....

Post #73: Portfolio

2009-12-11T10:29:00.001-08:00

Scholastic Portfolio is complete!!!!!!!!!!!!

Post #72: My Life is Over

2009-12-06T16:27:00.000-08:00

I just made this go from throw up to ruined in 10 minutes. I want to kill myself. This is so horrible. Why did this happen? I hate backgrounds. They always make my paintings look worse. I'm so upset.

Post #71: Crazy Sunday and Multi-plane panting

2009-12-06T13:48:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning to no power, so Buster and I built a fire that pretty much failed because the large logs wouldn't light, no matter how many small pieces of wood and newspaper I put in. But in the middle of this struggle the power came back on! Yes! The wind keeps knocking down my dad's flower pots that have larger trees in them, no matter how many times I put them back up straight. The top layer of Buster's water bowl outside is frozen over. But today has been good, even with that.

Buster has been observing me paint. I have a whole set up down stairs in the kitchen (this was before the power came back on) so I can have enough light to paint. I've got music blasting on the surround sound down stairs :)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I really want to try doing multi-plane painting. One of my favorite artists, Amy Sol, wrote about a multi-plane painting that she did on her latest blog entry.

Post #70: Complete Chaos

2009-11-29T20:50:00.001-08:00

This is a photograph of my brain right now. Everything is flung out everywhere; I can't mentally process anything. Thanksgiving break wasn't a break at all. I worked on college applications, artwork, homework and I also work worked. Although I did all of these things, I didn't make as much progress on my artwork and my college applications as I wanted to. I got a good start, but it's all really hard to handle all at once. When I get stressed, I get anti-social and mean. I avoided human contact as much as possible this weekend, and went as far as turning off my cell phone and chucking it into my closet for two days. So basically avoid me as much as possible until I'm finished with my college applications and portfolio for Scholastic, because I will be no fun. I thought I would be able to finish all of the rest of my Scholastic pieces this weekend, but I guess not. I'll have to work in every bit of my spare time to get everything finished on time. It would be nice if I didn't have to work all the time. Or go to classes on Wednesday nights. I feel like I always have way too much to do. The art piece in the picture wasn't finished at that point in time, but now it is. I have a feeling Ms. McB will give me a hard time because there isn't a cohesive background, just some special coffee staining. But I like it how it is, and I have no idea what I would do for a background anyways. I would really like to skip all of my white days for the next week. I would, too, if only pre-calculus wasn't so hard to teach to yourself. Pre-calculus, I've written about how you ruin my life for the second time in this blog. Leave me be! If I drop math for second semester, will it say I dropped the class or will it just say that I completed only one semester? Because, really, I have a feeling that the schools I'm applying to don't care if I took four years of math.

Post #69: Mutant Cherries

2009-11-24T18:33:00.000-08:00

SO Candace and I were at the bank today, and I saw these really weird cherries on this tree by Wells Fargo. On my way out to the car I picked one off of a tree and brought it back to the car. After further examination I wanted to peel off all of my skin after touching it. IT LOOKED LIKE IT HAD SEVERAL OPEN, BLEEDING, WOUNDS THAT WOULD NEVER STOP BLEEDING. I wanted to die. I felt like I was going to get this open, continuously bleeding welts on myself. It makes me want to throw up just thinking about it. They looked kind of like those things above, but the hexagons weren't all puffed up like the ones above. We ended up throwing it out of the window of the car when we got to a stop light because I couldn't look at it anymore. Why was such a creepy plant ever created?! WHY!?

Post #68: Artist Heroes Year 2!

2009-11-10T14:43:00.000-08:00

#1. Audrey Kawasaki

Title: If Only You Were Here
Style: Art Deco, Anime-esque, Linear

I had to put Audrey Kawasaki up this year, too, because she is my all time favorite artist. She uses wood panel for almost all of her pieces, has strong lines around her subjects, and almost always draws females. I like the Audrey's use of space. She leaves a lot empty, especially in her doodles in her sketchbook. I also like the subtle value change on her figures. It inspires me to learn how to use oil paints and spend more time paying attention to detail in my art. I admire her combination of a very linear, design-like quality of her figures with the medium she uses (oils, acrylics, and graphite). Her figures also have a mysterious feeling to them.

#2: Joao Ruas

Title: Haunted 11
Style: A mix of comic art and Romantic styled art. I'm pretty sure all that the type of drawings for the comic-magazine Fables is one style (since this is similar to James Jeans stuff, and he did some covers for Fables)

I like Joao's use of detail and realism, with a modern and comic twist. His view's of certain objects, like the scarf and jacket in this piece, have a romantic (almost like marble sculpture type of look, except on paper) and overly detailed look to them that draws me to his work. But, since he does do art for Fables, a lot of his work involves certain concepts or fantasy. His perception of value and shadow are beautiful.

#3: Amy Sol

Title: Dream of a Distant Cousin
Style: Comic and Surrealism

What draws me to Amy's work is her incorporation of the grain in the wood into her her. She does all of her acrylic and oil paintings on wood panel, and all of her watercolors on paper. All of her work has a surreal quality to it, whether it be flying whales and seals or animals running a street vendor paired with a female human. Her style is very storybook. The situations she puts her characters in also create a sense of story that makes the viewer want to ask more questions, or make up their own story to the scenario. I also like the immenseness this piece exudes.

#4: Eric Fortune

Title: A Want To Believe
Style: Surrealist

What I appreciate most about Eric's work is the surrealism. All of his pieces have a surreal quality to them. Something else that is consistent with all of his work is the realistic value paired with a little bit of his own personal style shown in the
human figure. His figures also have the marble-statue like value to them like with Joao (#2). I like his style of illustration. Especially in this piece.
The value and posture of the hands are amazing. I also like the vacant look in the subject's eyes.

#5: Antony Micallef

Title: Head
Style: Painter/conceptual

I like Antony's loose brush strokes on all of his pieces. He doesn't get too tight on the details, and appears to use a large brush. A majority of his pieces are also black and white. Antony did a study of heads that were all loose and abstract, like this one. They almost looked like heads from dead bodies, shrunken heads, or zombies. Parts of the head, usually the eye area, would be left with little detail and other areas would have more detail. It reminded me of mummies. The brush strokes have a lot of emotion in them, which I think is important if you are going to make art like his. Sometimes how you paint something instead of what you paint can convey a deeper emotional message.

Post #67: Paint the sides of your canvas!

2009-11-06T14:06:00.000-08:00

I've started to paint the sides of my canvas's black. It completes the piece.

Post #66: School Ruins My Life

2009-11-02T18:09:00.000-08:00

I don't think that math teachers understand how much their classes ruin peoples lives. Or the English teachers, especially the uninspiring ones, who assign homework that doesn't even make me think deeply about the text or the world around me. These brownie point assignments piss me off. I learn nothing from them, which leads me to this question: Why should I even do this? Aside from the fact that I need the grade to go to the college I want and get the scholarships I need, what mental merit do I gain from this? It just makes me angry, because there are things I think are more productive and I would learn more from if I didn't have all of this homework from these classes. I have actual books that I would love to read instead of 5 lengthy, and mundane, articles on Lord of the Flies. And I actually read that book for English! I'm pretty sure I'm the only human being at Lakeridge who has completely read every single English book or story ever assigned.

Anyways, I would like to not be jumping through all of these hoops. I want to be able to have time to create art, read books that I will enjoy, and learn about things on my own terms! I hate learning about things that people "think is a great piece of literature", when I think it's a great big pile of s***. And the thing is, I'm so tired from school and from thinking about the prospects of actually having to do these assignments, that I either find some stupid little way to put it off, or I fall asleep. I'm so angry! School makes me so unhappy. Sitting in classrooms with unmotivated people, or learning about pre-calculus is just so uninspiring. Word of the day: uninspiring. Maybe I should just say "F*** it!" and not do any homework. But I always feel offended when I get a grade other than an A or a B. I don't think I could pull that off. It hurts my pride too much.

That's what has been on my mind. I just bought two books I'm really excited to read today. I'm adding them to my pile of books that I've acquired over the past few months. I just have to pony up and finish The Whistling Season, which I think, to be completely honest, isn't that great.

I hate censorship at school, too. Another reason why school ruins my life.

Post #65: Cracker Montages (part one and two)

2009-10-28T13:22:00.000-07:00

Post #64: The Internet Stalks Me

2009-10-28T13:16:00.001-07:00

I think they know something about me, since every ad on youtube for me is World of Warcraft.

Post #63: William Park Videos... Finally!

2009-10-25T21:50:00.000-07:00

I'm finally posting the William Park videos!

Post #62: NAHS Open Studios

2009-10-18T17:37:00.001-07:00

Open studios was so much fun this Saturday! Ms. McBride, Karen, and I along with 5 other members of NAHS went to Portland and talked to various artists in their studios. I have four videos of artists talking about their art and their processes, along with one video about the weather. Which was very, very rainy. Haha.

RAINY!

MAGGIE CASEY
website: maggiecasey.com

KATIE SIMPSON SPAIN
blog: www.katiespain.wordpress.com

ILAN LAKS

Post #61: Lyrics and a Poem

2009-10-14T21:31:00.000-07:00

The lyrics I chose was from the song "The Libertine" by Patrick Wolf. I really like his songs, and usually in his lyrics he can say some pretty good things. Especially in his latest album. But, this is from one of his earlier albums :)

The motorway won't take a horse
The wanderer has found a course to follow
The traveller unpacked his bags for the last time
The troubadour cut off his hand and now he wants mine

Oh no, not me.

The circus girl fell off her horse and now shes paralysed
The hitchiker was bound and gagged, raped on the roadside
The libertine is locked in jail
The pirate sunk and broke his sail

But I still have to go
I've got to go, so here i go
I'm going to run the risk of being free

The magicians secrets all revealed
And the preachers lies are all concealed
And all our heroes lack any conviction
They shout through the bars of cliche and addiction

So i've got to go
I've got to go, so here i go
I'm going to run the risk of being free

And in this drought of truth and invention
Whoever shouts the loudest gets the most attention
So we pass the mic and they've got nothing to say except:
"Bow down, bow down, bow down to your god"
Then we hit the floor
And make ourselves and idol to bow before,

Well i can't
And i wont
Bow down
Anymore.

No more

I chose a poem by Edgar Allan Poe. Ever since I did my Night of the Notables project on him in 6th grade, I've been very interested in his writing. He's a pretty cool guy, minus the fact that he was an alcoholic. But I don't think he would write such interesting pieces with out that. Or if he never married his cousin. Or if his cousin/wife never died.

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow:
You are not wrong who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand--
How few! yet how they creep 
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep--while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

Post #60: Most recent sketchbook page

2009-10-12T18:09:00.001-07:00

I love the sketchbook page I did for this week! Here's kind of a poopy picture of it:

Post #59: I hate blog templates.

2009-10-11T22:52:00.000-07:00

I really want to write my own html, or just make my blog more of my own rather than just a template blogger.com provides. But writing your own html is so hard! Ahh! Well, if anyone has any good tutorial websites on customizing your blog, please send them my way. This video makes me laugh, every single time.

Post #58: Unfinished Art Dump

2009-10-10T15:45:00.001-07:00

Here's a few pictures of some W.I.P's I have laying around.

Post #57: A-Z 5 favorites

2009-10-04T15:07:00.000-07:00

Movement

Generation Gap

Atmospheric

Pounce

Despondency

Post #56: Twitter Stalker

2009-10-03T17:19:00.000-07:00

So I just recently found Audrey Kawasaki and Stella Im Hultberg's twitters. So now I have one more way to see their in progress works! I'm such a twitter/blog/facebook stalker. But I suppose that if people really didn't want others to do that, they wouldn't have these things in the first place. You guys might notice a lot of my recent stuff is a little bit similar to theirs, but I'm okay with that. I'm still playing around with my style.

Audrey Kawasaki: http://twitter.com/AudreyKawasaki
Stella Im Hultberg: http://twitter.com/stellaimhult

Okay, so I've been deleting a lot of my music off of my ipod because I'm tired of the songs coming up when I put it on shuffle. A lot of it makes me want to go back into time, look into my own eyes, and tell myself: "Why the FUCK are you downloading that? Stop it, right now." Right now my all time favorite song is "Help, I'm Alive" by Metric. It reminds me of a book I read this summer, and then re-read a couple of weeks ago. Listen, but don't watch here.

I'm really sick right now, and not in the good way. Strep throat is a bitch, and apparently I'm a "carrier" so I'm susceptible to getting it without symptoms (except this time there were many symptoms). Anyways after passing out twice and calling in sick to work 3 days in a row, I think I'm getting better.

Post #55: Misc Art Dump

2009-09-28T20:39:00.000-07:00

I just uploaded a few pieces to my blog that haven't seen the light of day, and one from the Jesse Reno workshop. Two of them are sketches from when I went to hipbone this summer, one is a self portrait (it gets it's own paragraph after this), and then the piece from the Jesse Reno workshop. Which was AWESOME! I was really upset I was late, but we literally backtracked on I-5 three times. Slight lefts my ass, map quest! Even though as a piece itself, I don't think it's that impressive, I am really attached to it because of what I learned from it. I want to keep adding details to it, but I'm not going to rush it.

ANYWAYS, so the self portrait is something that I did during early August, because I hadn't done an observational self portrait for literally a year. Do any of you have a piece that once you finish it, you just can't bring yourself to look at it? I don't think the self portrait is technically poor (other than the proportions being kind of off and my eyes being too far apart), but I just can't bring myself to look at it. It's been facing my wall on the drawing board for a month and a half, and I just looked at it again tonight. I still don't like it that much.

Post #54: My Summer 2009

2009-09-10T15:45:00.000-07:00

Ohoho, part two of the "My Summer" series. See "Post#1: My Summer" for part one.

*Will add pictures when I take them*

Today I went to school and it felt like summer never happened, which sucks. School always does that. I hate Pre-Calculus. And my English class. Bleeehhhh!!!!

So, anyways, I'm pretty sure if you've read my summer entries you already know a lot of my artistic struggles and goings ons. If not, here's a crash course: I started out my summer really depressed that I didn't sign up for SAIC's summer program in time, therefore I got into a class but didn't have a place to stay. Bummer. I heard about all my friends who went to classes and I was really, extremely jealous. But, then, I had a revelation. Professional artists don't take classes to be successful, and just because I didn't have an instructor critiquing me doesn't mean I still can't grow as an artist. After that I felt really good. Extremely good. Slowly, I got back into my groove. I started by staining paper with tea and coffee, and then I started to go to hipbone, and then it turned into me bringing my sketch book everywhere. Different ideas for paintings and urges to start them are always on my mind, but now I was actually DOING, instead of planning. That's my problem. I spend way too much time thinking instead of just starting. I was inspired by a lot of artists that I have found by reading Juxtapoz, Giant Robot, and Fructose ( art/culture magazines) and through those artists, found other artists on the internet (See links on right hand side under "artists"). I would say a lot of my experimenting with style is inspired from Audrey Kawasaki and Stella Im Hultberg. As of now, I feel like they look too similar to their work, but you don't just magically have your own unique style. It takes years to develop. I figure that if I'm enjoying myself and the ideas come out of my own head, I don't really care. For once, I feel really good about the art I produced. There aren't any "I wish" 's that I ruminate about. I think I started feeling this at the end of Junior year after I finished my two hand paintings that Jackson and Karen posed for.

And on that note, I'm really excited for this year. I want to make it better than last year, if that's even possible. Our class last year was amazing.

OH! I'm planning on including way more videos in my blog this year. I'm just waiting for my Corel VideoStudio Pro x2 to come in the mail. I'm so excited!!!!

Post #53: I've been thinking...

2009-09-03T13:04:00.000-07:00

Which apparently is a momentous occasion, since it's the title. Anyways, I was talking with my friend Candace last night about our toy statue. We concluded that it was really weird that we got a gold key for a media that neither of us really does, and how the judges must have thought we were trying to send a message when we were just gluing toys onto a painted piece of wood. Like the barbies, for example, were totally sexual and we really only did that to laugh. Same with the soldiers, who were doing heinous things to each other... It's funny. I want to do a project like that again. Something I'm not totally serious about. Just doin' it for shits and giggles.

Anyways, school starts soon and I'm excited, but also really pissed. I'm excited for art class (yey!), but not so much for math and the environment. School would be so much more comfortable if they decorated it. I know that's a horrible idea money wise, because of two reasons: 1) Students would destroy and deface any of the decorations the school buys, and 2) they probably should be spending their money on more important things. I'll deal with it.

....

Somehow.

I'm planning on buying an Alphonse Mucha and an Gustav Klimt poster. I'm really excited. I'm buying "Zodiac" by Mucha, and probably "Water Serpants II" by Klimt. I haven't really decided which one I like the best by Klimt yet. And I feel like Mucha's "Monaco, Monte-Carlo" is a really popular poster to get. My sister has one, Candace has one. Plus I really like zodiac related art. They didn't have any Audrey Kawasaki posters, probably because her prints are super expensive and she is alive, therefore she still makes money off of them. If I had a spare $300 dollars around, I would buy her prints (that's not even framed, and I'm pretty sure it's for a small print. A very SMALL print). But as it is, I have to go to college and pay for gas money. Maybe when I'm an adult. That's so sad. It's so far away. Financial stability is so FAR AWAY.

Post #52: DELETED

2009-08-27T00:49:00.000-07:00

POST #52 DELETED.

Post #51: Opera, stuffed kittens, and a frustrating video camera.

2009-08-18T17:35:00.000-07:00

So, the quality of this video irks me. I'm having issues with my video camera right now that frustrate me to no end. I was at the beach in this one shop, and they were playing this really strange operatic music. They also had weird stuffed kittens.

Post #50: POST NUMBER 50?!

2009-08-18T13:22:00.000-07:00

Wow, I'm a rock star. 50 posts. Suck on that! So, right now I'm trying to say positive things. I'm conceived as some what of a negative person, but that's because I don't feel the need to say the things I like. I should start doing that. In celebration of this being the 50th post, I'm going to write 50 things that I like.

♥1. My white glasses
♥2. My friends. They keep me spontaneous.
♥3. My sister. She's my one of my best friends.
♥4. Tibetan prayer flags. They are so pleasing to look at.
♥5. Books. BOOKS!
♥6. Bouquets
♥7. Hanging out obscenely early in the morning.
♥8. caPItalizing wHEn ever i wAnT tO.
♥9. Spell check, my life would be a confusing place without you.
♥10. Paint! PAINT! Buying paint, using paint, look at paint.
♥11. Drawing.
♥12. When you have an AWESOME idea for a painting and it ends up amazing.
♥13. The AP art class last year, I'm going to miss the seniors a lot.
♥14. M.A.C perfume. MmmmMMmmm.
♥15. Crimsony-red colors. Red velvet cupcake.
♥16. Hiking in torrential downpours.
♥17. Going to hipbone. Stressful at first, but when you get your groove you have it.
♥18. Driving to 4 different locations from Tualatin to Beaverton to find one movie.
♥19. Book binding.
♥20. Cheap art stores.
♥21. The Hunger Games series. It's so good. You should definitely read it. The sequel comes out 9/1/09
♥22. Tigers. They are my favorite animal.
♥23. My strawberry air freshener.
♥24. Getting lost, and then finding your way back.
♥25. The days where everyone you encounter is in a pleasant, giggly mood.
♥26. Waking up to school being canceled because of snow.
♥27. Playing Rock Band II with 3 of your favorite people.
♥28. Dogs. Specifically, my dog Buster.
♥29. Taking two hours out of your day to sit on your carpet and think.
♥30. Leaving your camera's at home and just having a good time.
♥31. Gnocchi. Delicious.
♥32. Peacock feather earrings.
♥33. Winning free stuff.
♥34. Endearments from unexpected people.
♥35. Just sitting around and talking for the first two hours when you go to someone's house.
♥36. Not logging on facebook for two weeks.
♥37. Waking up early (before 9) because you were ready to wake up.
♥38. Getting a lot of tips at work.
♥39. Unexpected sales.
♥40. Strawberry soda.
♥41. Cleaning my room.
♥42. Rubbing watercolor paint brushes on your cheek.
♥43. Organization tools. Plastic boxes, dvd towers, etc.
♥44. Brainstorming.
♥45. Baked Alaska's from Papa Hayden's.
♥46. Having my own car.
♥47. Gold nail polish.
♥48. Having really awesome conversations with someone you hardly know.
♥49. Genuine compliments.
♥50. Having a day that is completely free of engagements.

Post #49: Hipbone

2009-08-05T20:00:00.000-07:00

I went to hipbone today with Kelsey. I had a gold mine of drawings; I'm so proud of myself. All of long-term (15 minutes +) drawings turned into quality pieces for my breath section. Even though I haven't been to a figure/life drawing in forever, I really think that my skills have improved. Who said you needed to take a class to become a better artist?! You just must practice and think with a different frame of mind. Afterward my sister and I ate heap-loads of Burgerville. Mmmmm. It was a really good day. I'm glad I went with my sister, I learned a few things by watching someone else draw.

Post #48: Make up

2009-08-04T01:18:00.000-07:00

I love makeup, and I tried doing something on the wild-er side. I can't wait to order the faux eyelashes, they look amazing.

Post #47: Going, going, gone.

2009-07-26T17:19:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving for a week to Camp Sherman during the 100+ degree weather.
I hope I don't die.
On the bright side, maybe I will sweat off a few pounds. Haha.

Post #46: Scary Exercising Women

2009-07-22T23:09:00.000-07:00

I went to George Rogers this morning and drew the scenery. It was a fun trip, except for the synchronized exercising women who practically jogged, hopped, and shuffled around me the entire time. I felt like I was their human sacrifice, and they were doing tribal dances before they killed me. Anyways, one of them asked me if I was doing my drawing for the city... That kind of struck me as odd.

Post #45: This Feels Like School All Over Again

2009-07-22T06:53:00.000-07:00

I am so tired.
It is 6:53am on a Wednesday summer morning.
Shoot me.
Where was the energy I had yesterday?

Post #44: My Friends Are Trying To Kill Me.

2009-07-22T00:05:00.000-07:00

We are going to the park tomorrow at 7:00am to draw after I worked until 11:3opm. If you hear about a dead body tomorrow, it's mine.

Post #43: Self Portrait! TONIGHT!

2009-07-18T15:03:00.001-07:00

I'm going to paint a self-portrait tonight.
Tonight!
After Work!
Which means it will be 11:30pm at the earliest...
But That's okay!
No worries!

Post #42: Tea and Coffee Staining

2009-07-12T18:21:00.000-07:00

Today I stained some pieces of paper from my sketchbook with Tea and Coffee. It was my first time trying it, so I mostly just experimented. Currently, I'm staining two new pieces of paper while my first coffee page and my first tea page are Drying. The tea smelt delicious*, but I hate coffee so the coffee smelt gross. In fact, my fingers smell like coffee right now. I wish the smell would go away. I was inspired to stain my paper by some of Audrey Kawasaki's drawings. I think I also am beginning to Prefer drawing on paper that isn't white. White Is Scary. I think that drawing on this type of paper will benefit me in the future. Hopefully.

Mygoals haven't been going quite as well as I thought that they would, but I suppose it is going better compared to if I never made them at all. I have now limited myself to one Soda a day, instead of the two or more a day I drank the three days before I made that goal**. My art goal has gotten itself a shaky start. Today was the first real day that I did anything creative that had a product to show for it. But it has only been two days. Maybe I should create Punishments for myself if I don't follow through with my goals... That would make things interesting.

*It was Stash's English Breakfast Tea.
**To my defense my mom just bought a case of orange soda and a case of strawberry soda because of some special sale. So, yeah.

Have a lovely rest of your Sunday!
Lindsay

Post #41: The Amazing Enlightenment

2009-07-09T14:24:00.000-07:00

Like Duke Rainbow Wing, I've decided to go on a quest. I'm making goals, coming to resolutions, and discovering how real artists work. They don't have teachers!; they don't have grades!; and finally, they don't have to pay thousands of dollars to attend a pre-college class at an art school. I've decided to make art by myself, and be my own mentor. It's almost like... self discovery. I will not be coddled! I can do this! So along with this enlightening, I've also decided to make goals. One thing I know all too well about myself is that I come to resolutions, create goals, and come up with ideas; but following through is where I falter. So I think if I write out my goals then I can be more successful.

Goal #1: Create more art.

How do I plan on fulfilling this goal? Well, here's how:
-Do art for at least two hours every day. This can be several pieces, a sketchbook page, or a piece of observational art. I want to keep in mind concepts while I'm doing my art, but I also want to make sure I keep drawing from observation. Each week I hope to have at least one, solid, idea for a painting. This way I can have several pieces of art for my breadth section, several ideas that could inspire a concentration, and my pace at creating art will become faster. I will also get in the habit of sitting down and drawing every day.

*The art doesn't necessarily have to be 2-D art, I will make an exception to doing sewing or 3-D art.

Goal #2: Facebook is evil.

I don't know if this is a goal, exactly, but it is a concern of mine. My goal, which I stated in a status on June 29th, 2009, is to not waste time on facebook. Along with not wasting my time on facebook, I refuse to post stati (plural of status?), pictures, notes, etc. Why did I come to this drastic resolution? Facebook is a waste of time, creates internet relationships that are never acted upon in real life, and publicizes my life to the 130 people who are my supposed "friends". I would have to say I only really want to publicize my life to the 3o people who are my friends in real life. People use facebook to brag about themselves, and the things they do (at least to the high school and college community). They post certain stati and pictures to alter the way people think about them and most of the time, the people they want to look at it don't care. It's putting your own little personal world on the internet for everyone to see. The only way I justify blogging is that people have a choice to come see what I say, or they don't. Facebook forces the information on you.

Goal #3: Get out into the art community.

Basically going to see more galleries and museums. I need to culture myself to more art, rather then browsing the internet for it. So many fabulous artists don't post their art online, and I want to get to know my local artists.

Goal #4: The Final Struggle.

I need to stop drinking so much strawberry and orange soda. And come up with an exercise routine. Once their is a routine, it remains constant. If I slack off, it all goes to shit. So basically I need to make a habit of gym visits and drinking less soda. Oh, and less sampling ice cream at work.

BAM. I hereby vow to start this routine on Friday, July 10, 2009.

Post #40: Incredibly Discouraged.

2009-07-09T12:41:00.000-07:00

I'm so artistically discouraged. I feel like I should be off at a summer college art program but I'm not. I don't even have any classes that I am taking. I was on the wait list for SAIC's program for housing, but no one canceled. Now when I just want to take a local class most of them are extensive 10 week classes that you attend once a week. I just want a day class, even. I can't take those 10 week classes because my parents have certain family vacations or activities that I am supposed to go to. I feel really stuck. I suppose I could just do observational drawings and paintings at home, but I really want the experience of a teacher pushing you to get the most out of you. I don't know what to do. The only place I know of where I can just do one class out of a whole series is the hipbone studio. Multnomah Arts Center already started their classes, same with OCAC. I feel like I'm doing absolutely NOTHING.

Picture (c) Audrey Kawasaki. http://www.audrey-kawasaki.com/

Post #39: Internet Window Shopping

2009-07-07T12:02:00.000-07:00

Oh my. I want these so badly. The sunglasses I can afford, but the shoes are a little expensive. Plus, they only go by .5 sizes, like 9.5, and then 10.5. I wonder if I would be able to stretch out a size 9.5 into a 10. But they are still $130.oo. I don't want to spend that much money, but thoseshoes are to DIE for.

Post #38: Home, home at last!

2009-06-27T01:58:00.000-07:00

I have been on the Islands of Hawai'i for a week and a half suffering from the close proximity of my mother. And the horrific, overly used phrases and mispronunciations of the white people vacationing there. I am a white vacationer, but I refuse to say 'Aloha' and 'Mahalo' to the natives for two reasons: 1) I am not a native of Hawaii and 2) It makes me, and the other people around me who use it, look like complete idiots.

I will discuss this in more detail once I get some sleep and have time to upload some pictures.

Mahalo and Aloha.

(I hope you understand the irony of the phrase above because it was intended.)

Post #37: NAHS and the End of School

2009-06-11T15:47:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's summer. I feel like I will be going to school

tomorrow, bright and early, and walk into my T.A class and do random

jobs around the art room. I'm really sad I don't get to do that this

summer... I have to say, that was one of my favorite classes this year,

I mean, aside from my actual art class. I hope that this video makes

you happy, because it makes me so happy. I hope my summer is like this.

Bonus for Zach from Beirut actually being present. I

am going to update my blog this summer! Once I purchase my birthday

present, a wonderful video camera, I intend to upload video blogs.

Well. More of them. Hopefully higher quality and that have taken place

somewhere other than my bedroom. If you haven't seen my facebook

propaganda (props to you if you check my blog more than my facebook),

then you should all know about the NAHS 2828 facebook group. If you

didn't know, I'll post the link below :}

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=90573915278&ref=nf

Post #36: Farewell for the summer!

2009-05-27T16:56:00.000-07:00

http://lhs.loswego.k12.or.us/z-mcbrides/AP/2009/09APbreadthconcentration.htm

Post #35: Finished Concentrations and Summer Art Programs

2009-05-11T10:46:00.000-07:00

Right now I am looking for a summer program. Bleh. I'm not expecting to get into Marie Walshe, so I'm coming up with a back up plan. So far I have only found classes at OCAC, but there aren't any oil painting classes (which is what I really want to do). I think I'll just research more on the internet to find local classes.

I HAVE BEEN CREATING ART, I PROMISE! I have been drawing and painting at home, but I just don't really want to submit them quite yet as a sketch book page. I feel really lame doing blog spot entries every week, but I am creating art. I PROMISE, I PROMISE, I PROMISE.

We have all happily finished and submitted our portfolios! Hurray! Here are my two final pieces. I think they were the two best in my entire concentration and I submitted them in my quality section :]

Post #34: Measuring my breadth section pieces

2009-05-03T16:08:00.000-07:00

I still need to measure all of my pieces of artwork in my breadth section and pick two more pieces from it for my quality section. Now that we have finally finished our concentrations that is the only thing I have to worry about. I feel really lame doing a blog instead of a sketchbook page, but prom was this weekend and I was really busy on Friday, so this is going to have to do.

The end of the school year is near, and that means I need to take the SAT's soon, and I need to make head way on school projects. Uhg. I'm just so tired. I'm ready for the three month break :/

I don't have confidence that I will get into the Marie Walsh Sharpe summer program. My art isn't what they are looking for. I might just stick around Portland for my art this year and see about some classes at PNCA or OCAC. If anyone knows of any classes or places to take classes please comment! I would love to take more encaustic classes or take a beginners oil painting class.

Let's get through this week!

Post #33: Greg Irwin and I have awesome conversations.

2009-04-27T21:51:00.000-07:00

Making fun of the term indie and the people who call themselves indie. Too much fun.
------------
Greg: so indie

9:49pmLindsay: so indie.

9:49pmGreg:
wait sorry

so
indie.

:]]]]
I just out-indied your message

9:50pmLindsay:
oh bitch
you are so independent
and original

9:50pmGreg:
i know
god damn

9:50pmLindsay:
that it's blowing my mind

9:50pmGreg
its great to be me"

Post #32: Two weeks of crunch time,baby

2009-04-19T22:24:00.000-07:00

I'm looking forward to the two weeks of crunch time. EXCEPT NOT. I want to redo 2 paintings and then I have to finish 2 paintings which means I have to create 4 pieces of art in two weeks. BAH! I'm going to be working my butt off. It kind of makes me want to cry thinking about it. Oh well. It will happen somehow. I made an awesome video for the entry, but then realized Windows Movie Maker sucks and can't do jump cuts. Boo. Boo for WMM. I bought the latest Giant Robot issue in hopes of finding more inspiring artists... Which I didn't. I'm going to try and hunt down the latest Juxtapoz issue to find new artists soon. I should probably just subscribe and save myself the time and money to find them. Here's another Audrey Kawasaki painting I like.

*EDIT* I FIGURED OUT HOW TO DO JUMP CUTS! YES!

BAH!

Post #31: Oil and Wood

2009-04-02T10:03:00.000-07:00

Hmm.. I've noticed that my favorite artists' pieces are all using oil on pieces of wood. Amy Sol and Audrey Kawasaki both use oil and wood and paint their subjects opaquely. Ooohh the patterns. I really want to learn how to use oils and try adapting their materials to my style. The only thing about oil is disposing of some of the materials. Then I would learn how to imitate their style. Bah. Maybe this summer I can find an oil painting class (possibly at OCAC or PNCA?). Or maybe my older sista can teach me. I think I like the second option, because then I don't have to pay anyone money. Especially since I have to save money because COLLEGE. IS. EXPENSIVE. English class is kind of bogus. I'm not supposed to listen to my ipod, but I am anyways because I really can't stand not to. Boo. BOO. I could be doing so many more productive things with my time then sit in the computer lab for an hour and a half. Like play Rock Band... Haha. I'm going to Wyoming tomorrow to visit my sister, Kelsey! I'm so excited! I might get some pictures for my concentration out of it if Kelsey and Eric will pose for me. For my next piece I'm going to do a picture of my mom when she was in her body building competition (ew). Perfect for the masculine female contradiction.

Post #30: Mershipop

2009-04-01T11:34:00.000-07:00

What?

I don't understand the title either.

Researching colleges is hard and confusing. There are so many colleges but I don't know which ones are good based on a name and a link.

D:

Money is an issue too. I've been putting a lot of my time into college research, as you could tell by Post #28.

Wah.
Ah.
Pity me!

Post #29: Inspired

2009-03-27T14:50:00.000-07:00

Alright, lets get to it. For our spring break assignment I went online to research artists who inspire me; one local and the other can be anyone (both have to be alive). Now that you know what this assignment is all about, here they are:

Audrey Kawasaki:
Audrey Kawasaki has always inspired me, ever since I discovered her art this summer. I really like the manga asian-esque style she has and the eloquence and beauty she brings to her subjects. Kawasaki is always trying to paint her muse, a girl who inspires her and she rarely catches a glimpse of. All of the girls she paints have a quality of this elusive girl she is trying to paint. What really inspires me is the constant searching for her muse. I'm very jealous that she has something she is chasing after in her paintings, and I want a muse of my own. I also love her style, the linear cartoonish quality juxtaposed with realistic shadows and an eerie quality to her girls' eyes. I would also like to try using the mediums she uses more. Most of her art uses wood panels, graphite, and oil paints. I had a hard time choosing which pieces of hers I wanted to post, so I recommend going to her website ( http://www.audrey-kawasaki.com/galleries.php?g=2&p_id=428&page=1 ) or her blog ( http://i-seldom-do.livejournal.com/) and checking out her gallery.

Jesse Reno:

Jesse Reno is the local artist that I chose (currently lives in Portland). I see Jesse Reno's style as street art meets primitive Native American. His pieces are very free and show a lot of risk taking. They give off the vibe that he has worked on them for very long periods of time, but he isn't afraid to add something, or change it completely to obtain the result he wants. I think what draws me to his art is the way he expresses himself. He isn't afraid to put words or tacky symbols along with his weird creatures. I also like the amount of time he spends with his pieces. He lets himself work on it when he feels like it is ready to be worked on, instead of completely finishing a piece before starting a new one.

Post #28: College.

2009-03-20T09:56:00.000-07:00

Why are all the art colleges so expensive?! I guess since a lot of them are private it is far more expensive than going to an in state school, but I don't want to go to an in state school. Not at all. I've been researching art colleges online and they all look so wonderful. It's making me drool. But on average they are all about $27,000 a year! A YEAR! If I went to OSU then that would be more than four years attendance there (I think their yearly is $7,000ish). It's stressing me out. I know I could probably get some scholarships with my grades, and some with my art, but still. It's so expensive. I don't like the money system. Maybe there would be less greed in the world if we didn't have money, and everyone could get what they wanted when they needed it.

I'm still deciding whether I want to go to an art school or not. I'm currently trying to research careers that can combine foreign language and art. I was thinking about majoring in animation or film, because that is a universal language that can translate to any country. It is also something I'm interested in. Win-win, right? But I feel like that industry would be really hard to get into. I researched the average pay (90% of people in that career) have an annual wage of $30,390. The average American's annual wage is about $20,000 a year. So... If I do well in the animation world then I could potentially earn up to $92,720 annualy (10% of animators make that amount). I feel like that is a good range to live in. I'll have to ask my parents what their annual wages are. If I were to enter the film business, I'm not sure if I would want to be a film editor, film technician, special effects, or what. I guess the good part is that if I don't like what I'm doing, I can always switch the college I attend. It isn't that hard. I feel like I have the GPA to be able to switch colleges easily.

Yearly tuition for colleges I'm looking at:

SMFA: $26,950
MCAD: $27,000
Pratt: $29,900
SAIC: $30,750
OTIS: $28,346

If any of you know a University with a good art program you should most definitley leave a comment. I want to get out of Oregon and to a city.

I. Am. So. Confused.

Post #27: My idea pages

2009-03-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

This is one of my idea pages for a concentration piece I did. I love it sooo much! I always end up liking my idea pages far more than the actual piece of art they are an idea for. I love the messy color testing and the original pencil sketches. I think it's because it's new and fresh from my brain, where the real piece is just a copy of an original sketch. I'm a sucker for the original! AHHH!! Late reply to McBride's idea page entry.

Post #26: February Critique

2009-02-27T12:15:00.000-08:00

My Concentration is femininity and masculinity. I'm exploring what makes them up individually and how they interact and blend together in different people. Some people are more androgynous while others show dominant traits of one.

These were originally supposed to be two different pieces, but I think I might make them one. They work really well together, and I shall title them: Animosity. :] Anyways, these two pieces are to show conflict with feminine and masculine (more specifically males and females). I like the colors I used, and the black space. I think it escalates the tension. The sassy looks are amazing. What frustrates me currently is the shading on the male piece. I want to go back and rework some of it to blend it more, and push the value more. I also would like to go back and push the blues and the oranges.

I feel like I've really only done people in most of my pieces, and I don't know (at this point) If I could do a piece that wasn't a person since I only have 4 more pieces where I could have the possibility of not using people. AHH..

Post #25: James Jean

2009-02-16T17:52:00.000-08:00

I love James Jean's work. I like his painting style and how he draws the figure. His subject matter is also really good. I feel like all of those components are really important for art to be successful. Your art has to mean something. If your art doesn't mean something, who can connect with it? It is just something appealing to the eyes. Even if you are the only person who can connect to your own art, it's art worth looking at. So, what I'm trying to get at is... Make your art mean something to you. Do it. I dare you. I feel like if you are an artist, to make art what you are drawing, painting, sculpting... It already means something to you. It's the same concept with pieces you feel attached to, or you loathe. I really hate my snowman piece, but apparently that hate when I was painting it was conveyed in it and made people like it. I guess as long as emotion is in your art then people will find it interesting. I guess concepts like depth, foreground, color scheme, etc. are important, but by now they should be more of second nature. That's my rant for today. I've been thinking about that a lot.

Post #24: THE ZOO!

2009-02-11T08:04:00.000-08:00

It was snowing like a blizzard on the field trip. Twas crazy shit. It was so much fun though, and I got a lot of awesome pictures. I don't know if I really found anything that inspired me for my concentration, but I took a lot of pictures that have inspired me to make different pieces. I want to make a .GIF of some pictures I took on the sports setting. SOOO awesome. Our school camera's are amazing. If they weren't 600 buck a pop I would buy one myself immediately.

Here's the super duper adorable sea lion I took a picture of. I want to take him home and keep him in a tank in my backyard so we can be best friends:
I've never seen it snow at the zoo... The Penguins must be loving it.

Post #23: Videos :}

2009-02-08T12:51:00.000-08:00

This is so awesome. I really want to get a decent video camera and video editing software so I can do this myself.

New spin on unicorns:

Post #22: Don't Tell

2009-02-03T17:37:00.001-08:00

Don't tell...

I don't think my mom will appreciate these the same way you guys will.....

Post #21: Wow, I think I just found out what my concentration will be for next year!!!!!

2009-01-31T11:46:00.001-08:00

I think I will do a concentration about divorce. I am really well acquainted with that subject and I think because it means something to me that it will be more recognizable and powerful compared to my concentration this year. I was thinking about doing pen and watercolor for them all, and maybe writing a sentence or two in the illustration.

I will post more ideas for this as I draw them :]

So exciting. I wish it was next year now!

Quick memory from Portland field trip forever ago:

Post #20: You know those things..

2009-01-30T15:09:00.001-08:00

That leave a really great feeling inside after you watch them? This video does that. It makes me think of summer. -__________-
Why isn't it sunny?!
Why?!

I realy want to learn how to compile a bunch of images to make a video like that. I think that I would need one of those camera's that can take continuous shots... :/.
Incase this doesn't work for you, here is the youtube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTeyeBtGy_I
If you enjoyed that video, you should also watch his video named "Monday Yacht", or any of his vlogs. He is a great vlogger. So funny.

Post #19: Drawing on Eggs

2009-01-24T12:49:00.001-08:00

So I saw some photos where this person drew funny faces on eggs in people's refrigerators. So fun.

http://nocturnalmoth.deviantart.com/art/hey-what-U-starin-at-ohShit-102590998

Post #18: Portfolio Day

2009-01-12T11:24:00.000-08:00

Sunday was so hectic. So, so, so hectic. It reminded me how much I hate hanging large artwork and why I make smaller art work. Yes, yes. So hanging the scholastic show at PNCA was pretty fun, and went by super fast. I think that portfolio day was very reassuring, except for the PNCA representative. I really disliked that man. He acted like I was an idiot, and defined every single art term he said. Along with that he was rude when I asked questions about taking classes outside of PNCA. It could have been miscommunication, but it was still rude. I loved talking with the representatives from Cornish and Emily Carr. They were very positive about my work and the responses I got from my questions were great.

Post #17: It's abstract, you don't have to understand.

2009-01-05T21:05:00.001-08:00

I wonder if anyone has noticed the common theme in my concentration pieces that I have secretly thrown in unintentionally. I hope someone does, because it really makes me happy. Guess, guess, guess!. :} It felt so good to just paint and not have any restirctions on making it look like a certain thing.

My motto for these pieces are: It's abstract, you don't have to understand. Actually, these two pieces hold a lot of meaning for me, but I really don't care if anyone else understands, because all that matters is that I understand. I feel like art is more for yourself, then it is for others. BasicallythesepiecesareentirelyselfishandnotcateringtootherpeoplebecauseIreallydon'tcare. It's like modern art, there to piss you off.

Post #16: Concentration Pieces

2008-12-09T12:40:00.000-08:00

Thought I would update with my 3 most recent concentration pieces because of this screwy schedule the math department made me have. Not like I didn't hate the B wing before this, but really? Are you going to change my lunch so the sophomores can take their math test? Hurray for the fire drill though; it shaved off 10-15 minutes of math. Anyways, my concentration pieces. Here they are:

I thought they turned out alright for my first three concentration pieces. I would like to continue to work on my encaustic piece, though. The guy's hair in that one bugs me so much. I need to figure out how to fix it. The proportions on the face are off on the second one, but I really don't care. I think that that one is done, and I can leave it alone for a while (or maybe forever). I love the one of Cecilia most! I think it turned outthe best, and I spent the least amount of time on it. Go figure. If school would let me access deviant art I would upload these, but they won't so I will just put it on my flash drive. :P

Oh hey. Here's my final project from the MCAD summer program. I don't really like how the overall piece turned out, but I feel like I learned a lot while painting it. The product to me doesn't matter so much. What I learned while painting it was sooo much more valuable than the end result. I applied it to all of my paintings up to date. :]

Oh yeah, I just wanted to mention how much I hate being in the school library. And how much I dislike the B-wing.

Post #15: Internet Distractions.

2008-12-03T21:54:00.000-08:00

The internet is so distracting. I think it is because all of this information is at our fingertips on something so convenient, that being online for what seems like minutes can be hours. Today what did me in was editing my YouTube user page. And watching videos. Why can't I just do my physics homework?!

Post #14: Next concentration piece!

2008-12-02T18:54:00.000-08:00

So I was poking around the deep, dark, corners of the loft today and I found some awesome little pieces of wood. I was inspired by how tiny and cute they were, so I have thought up a rough concept for my next concentration piece. I think I may do one inspired by Audrey Kawasaki-- who does a lot of oil/graphite pieces on wood panels. Mine will be mini :) I don't want to make it too similar to her art, so I will add my own spice into it. But I love the materials she used and it is... very feminine. Oh I changed my concentration, it will just be femininity and masculinity. No versus. Just those two concepts explored. It will be conceptual as well as literal, though I don't know about literal since they are both a bit conceptual. :/ OH well! [Picture is (c) of Audrey Kawaski]