Computer still having issues. Nathan can't provide any answers. Dang, what am I going to do?
Comic lit had a great discussion about Persepolis. However, Trevor has a problem in his question asking. Sometimes he puts two questions together and then people only answer and focus on the second one. I wanted to talk about my feelings towards the veil but we skipped over it for the second question. I think that Americans have a problem both with trying to humanize Middle Easterners and with having such vivid representations of Religion. Yes the full body veil is extreme but it isn't like we don't have extremists in our own culture of sorts. It is how some people show their faith, I may not agree with how they do it but that is up to them. No one should be forced to represent themselves a certain way either. And every time he mentioned how popular it was, I thought that it probably isn't once you step out of your circle. In Bremerton, who would read a comic about a girl living in Iran in the 80's?
But yeah, pretty good discussion. There is some strong groupings in the class so I feel a little left out but that should change.
We got out early so I just went home. I got yet another package today, this one from mom and dad. It was a box of delicious (seemingly selected by choice) See's! They look so great, and as I have been eating them they have been great. Whhooo!!
Lindsay and I had a long talk about what I didn't get to discuss in my lit class. I left for work a little late, but I had to find my key pass so I have a good reason.
Work was very very dull. Really dull. I got everything done, even though I have that nagging feeling I was missing something. We ran out of trash bags so I couldn't finish that job. I had to locate my broom and dust pan (people keep taking them). The trash bags in the MFA studios were full up. During my break I accidentally took a nap. During my extended break I read Gaiman and McKean's Violent Cases and this other comic I forget the title of (Matt leant them to me). The artwork was great in both of them. Nice quick reads. I also finished up Warren Ellis' Crooked Little Vein. Yeah he really should stick to comics, the book was fast paced but a little dull and the writing's quality was uneven and was leaning more towards the shoddy side. But still, I finished a book! Finally! Now to resume a book I have totally forgotten about. Raw Shark Texts seems good to pick up (I read a few pages, which were awesome).
Film night was cancelled so I rode up. Lindsay and I decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner so first we tried West Cafe but they were full for the night. So we trekked over to Masu and had some GREAT sushi. We had tuna, shrimp, uhm..something with cream cheese and a "caterpillar". Really good stuff, the chefs really know what they are doing. A little pricey but it was worth it. Masu is such a nice little place tucked away on Burnside.
We returned home and played some makeshift games of Yahtzee. Very fun, never have played it before. Ibanez was freaking out. Then Lindsay left to go see live painting at a club a friend of hers works at and I stayed in and watched Lost and House! Lost is great again. Really drawing me in and there doesn't seem to be any filler. The flashback was brilliant. Sayid had a few too many walking-toward-the-camera-all-gung-ho moments. Love this show, but not enough to really bother watching it as it airs, the online television quality is too good. How could I ever watch fuzzy TV again?
Time to sleep. I have a busy weekend ahead of me. Have real homework and outside of class projects to work on. Was going to hang out with Chelsey at some point. Oh and read some more because reading is awesome!
hi
Friday, February 15, 2008
Jen Lee knows Kung Fu
I am having computer issues. Nothing to do with the internet or running programs. Mostly just for some reason I am blocked from getting into my main account, where all my files are. Yeah, it really sucks. It might have something to do with my drives desire to be a backup. Anyway, it is no fun using the guest account to do all my work from. I talked to Nathan about getting it sorted out and I couldn't do all the steps so it is still stuck. Then Nathan vanished so I couldn't ask him about it. Tomorrow I will ask.
Drawing class was one long critique for our collages and still life’s turned something else. It went pretty well. Modou liked my Bigfoot and suggested an artist to me. Some said more than others. Some people irked other people. It took me a while to start saying anything but I eventually got into the groove. I like being in a class with a wider variety of people, it really makes the discussions about the work more personal. There were a fair number of people missing again. One didn't return during break (probably didn't do the assignment).
Karen and I took part in the installation going on and texted back and forth (it is a cable system with clothes pins and paper). After that I sat at a table on the second level and chatted with Karen and Chelsey. Chelsey said I should talk about her more in my blog. So yeah, Chelsey is a really cool person. She went to CK, my rival High School. She is taller than me, she cuts her own hair, is undecided about her major, lives with Mel in Goose Hollow... Uhm. Yeah she is really neat.
I finished Bigfoot and sprayed him and then went home. I deposited some cashola in the bank and when I arrived home I encountered my computer being a little prat. I spent about an hour and then gave up and read some of Fun House. I finished Epileptic. It was a very sad comic. Almost hopeless but still strong. It is so personal that it is almost hard to imagine all of it existing.
I returned to school early and returned some library books (three were returned, I still have about seven at home). Then I sat about with Kristen, Chelsey, and some other cool people. They made Valentines and I pretended to read Persepolis (I've read it already, I just need to review it for class tomorrow). Classes got out and so I booked it to my painting class. Well not booked it, but I can't really take some of the PNCA crowds. They are nice people, I am just not a crowd person.
Situating myself in the corner, I ended up not leaving room for Karen or Jen to sit near me so they made their own little duo elsewhere. My painting needs some work but the mist does blend nicely. I am beyond pleased with how the mountain men turned out. Go me! Some really great work present in the class. And someone kept freaking out whenever they were approached. I don't like naming names but...yeah. She needs to chill. The assignments in the class are so fun now, I can't wait for more! It really is an illustration course.
I met up with Jim after class and he walked me home (aww, sweet I know) and we sat about, ate dinner, and chatted for a few hours. There was some venting all around about various frustrations. Lindsay brought home a delicious cake. After giving me one of his woodblock prints, Jim headed home to work on an essay.
Karen beckoned me up to her place and I finished my Persepolis response (it needs some work, but oh well) there. After that, and some cupcakes Jen brought, we sat about and girl talked for hours.
Pretty busy and pretty fun. Tomorrow is Friday. Another long one as well (they all will be pretty long, but I love me some movie night). I don't plan to print though, just read and nap.
Drawing class was one long critique for our collages and still life’s turned something else. It went pretty well. Modou liked my Bigfoot and suggested an artist to me. Some said more than others. Some people irked other people. It took me a while to start saying anything but I eventually got into the groove. I like being in a class with a wider variety of people, it really makes the discussions about the work more personal. There were a fair number of people missing again. One didn't return during break (probably didn't do the assignment).
Karen and I took part in the installation going on and texted back and forth (it is a cable system with clothes pins and paper). After that I sat at a table on the second level and chatted with Karen and Chelsey. Chelsey said I should talk about her more in my blog. So yeah, Chelsey is a really cool person. She went to CK, my rival High School. She is taller than me, she cuts her own hair, is undecided about her major, lives with Mel in Goose Hollow... Uhm. Yeah she is really neat.
I finished Bigfoot and sprayed him and then went home. I deposited some cashola in the bank and when I arrived home I encountered my computer being a little prat. I spent about an hour and then gave up and read some of Fun House. I finished Epileptic. It was a very sad comic. Almost hopeless but still strong. It is so personal that it is almost hard to imagine all of it existing.
I returned to school early and returned some library books (three were returned, I still have about seven at home). Then I sat about with Kristen, Chelsey, and some other cool people. They made Valentines and I pretended to read Persepolis (I've read it already, I just need to review it for class tomorrow). Classes got out and so I booked it to my painting class. Well not booked it, but I can't really take some of the PNCA crowds. They are nice people, I am just not a crowd person.
Situating myself in the corner, I ended up not leaving room for Karen or Jen to sit near me so they made their own little duo elsewhere. My painting needs some work but the mist does blend nicely. I am beyond pleased with how the mountain men turned out. Go me! Some really great work present in the class. And someone kept freaking out whenever they were approached. I don't like naming names but...yeah. She needs to chill. The assignments in the class are so fun now, I can't wait for more! It really is an illustration course.
I met up with Jim after class and he walked me home (aww, sweet I know) and we sat about, ate dinner, and chatted for a few hours. There was some venting all around about various frustrations. Lindsay brought home a delicious cake. After giving me one of his woodblock prints, Jim headed home to work on an essay.
Karen beckoned me up to her place and I finished my Persepolis response (it needs some work, but oh well) there. After that, and some cupcakes Jen brought, we sat about and girl talked for hours.
Pretty busy and pretty fun. Tomorrow is Friday. Another long one as well (they all will be pretty long, but I love me some movie night). I don't plan to print though, just read and nap.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
the poor get slightly less poor
I'm not so keen on the online game/forum Gaia. I was when I was...fourteen? Fifteen maybe. It is sort of colorful, silly, and overall a time waster. Anyway some people might say about it, "You can't pay me to play Gaia!" When it comes to me, you can. $75 is a nice sum. That was what the focus group was for. We showed up and talked about online games and our interests and then we played the game (Gaia Battles or something). It was cutesy but nothing really original. Our insight was that it needed something original that was a draw otherwise it was just good for the people who play Gaia right now. But yeah, two hours of talking and playing a test game and then I rode home $75 richer. Yeaah!
It was cold riding to and from the place but not raining. Chinatown and Oldtown scares me after dark but it wasn't so bad. Being around non-art school students was a big shock for me. They are so...same dressing. It was weird.
Today was fairly long and short at the same time. One of those busy days where you get up later in the day and end up without a breather till 9:00pm.
Printmaking had a quick overview of where our prints are (we have time to work on them before we turn in the series, that is awesome). I am starting to move on to my next prints but I have a couple more (nice) prints to make. Got some good advice on where my print is (nice lines, etc). The class is small but the variety of work is so broad. After that we broke for lunch.
I ran into Diana and we went to the Sports Bar and Grill and got some warm eats to go. I had a grilled chicken sandwich that wasn't really worth the price but it was fun slobbering over the meaty food in the PNCA commons. The garlic fries were superb, almost worth it. Anyway, it is fun to treat yourself to a full meal every now and again.
While walking across the commons I encountered Jack. He extended his hand in what I thought was a "bro tap" (or whatever it is called when you bump your fists together in form of greeting) and so I returned his tap. Then he told me to, "hold you your hand." So I did and he dropped a chocolate into it.
Returning to class we went on a little walkabout trip to look at some local print galleries. Saw some great pieces at the first place we went to...and when we left it started pouring rain so we just went back to PNCA. I was working on my bedhead look but it just became drenched rat instead. Oh well. I sprayed the back of one plate (after cleaning it up a little). He gave us a hardground demonstration. We have to combine hardground with one of our other techniques. I'll probably use it with the sugarlift. I'm not sure what my next prints will be exactly. Maybe Bigfoot related... I prepared another plate from getting it cut, filed, sanded, scrubbed, cleaned, and all the way through to spraying the back. When I went to spray it I ran into Matt, Michael, Jim, and Robin on my journey to the spray booth. I'm working on one 6x9 plate and one...larger. I don't want to say 12x18 but that might be the size. I think that will be the sugarlift as there will be more room to work with the medium. For tea time I had Sweet Wild Orange tee. I prefer the pomegranate but it was quite tasty.
Free yoga started today but I couldn't make it because of the focus group. I just relaxed and home and had some nibbles before riding out again. It would seem I am more likely to now make two back and forth trips to PNCA (or a similar distance) in a day than one trip, even though only Tuesday and Thursday really warrant the journey. My legs will be in better shape after this semester than after the last one! Whoo!
Celia sent me a wonderful package. The letter in it made me a little homesick. I am missing all the little things she is doing with the Big House. Now I will only see her place grow in leaps and bounds. She gave me a wonderful and comfy shirt with the package (and wonderful, and much needed, lip balm). It smells like her, the shirt does. I would say it smells like home but it smells like Auntie Celia specifically and she is a part of that home.
It made me sad.
It was cold riding to and from the place but not raining. Chinatown and Oldtown scares me after dark but it wasn't so bad. Being around non-art school students was a big shock for me. They are so...same dressing. It was weird.
Today was fairly long and short at the same time. One of those busy days where you get up later in the day and end up without a breather till 9:00pm.
Printmaking had a quick overview of where our prints are (we have time to work on them before we turn in the series, that is awesome). I am starting to move on to my next prints but I have a couple more (nice) prints to make. Got some good advice on where my print is (nice lines, etc). The class is small but the variety of work is so broad. After that we broke for lunch.
I ran into Diana and we went to the Sports Bar and Grill and got some warm eats to go. I had a grilled chicken sandwich that wasn't really worth the price but it was fun slobbering over the meaty food in the PNCA commons. The garlic fries were superb, almost worth it. Anyway, it is fun to treat yourself to a full meal every now and again.
While walking across the commons I encountered Jack. He extended his hand in what I thought was a "bro tap" (or whatever it is called when you bump your fists together in form of greeting) and so I returned his tap. Then he told me to, "hold you your hand." So I did and he dropped a chocolate into it.
Returning to class we went on a little walkabout trip to look at some local print galleries. Saw some great pieces at the first place we went to...and when we left it started pouring rain so we just went back to PNCA. I was working on my bedhead look but it just became drenched rat instead. Oh well. I sprayed the back of one plate (after cleaning it up a little). He gave us a hardground demonstration. We have to combine hardground with one of our other techniques. I'll probably use it with the sugarlift. I'm not sure what my next prints will be exactly. Maybe Bigfoot related... I prepared another plate from getting it cut, filed, sanded, scrubbed, cleaned, and all the way through to spraying the back. When I went to spray it I ran into Matt, Michael, Jim, and Robin on my journey to the spray booth. I'm working on one 6x9 plate and one...larger. I don't want to say 12x18 but that might be the size. I think that will be the sugarlift as there will be more room to work with the medium. For tea time I had Sweet Wild Orange tee. I prefer the pomegranate but it was quite tasty.
Free yoga started today but I couldn't make it because of the focus group. I just relaxed and home and had some nibbles before riding out again. It would seem I am more likely to now make two back and forth trips to PNCA (or a similar distance) in a day than one trip, even though only Tuesday and Thursday really warrant the journey. My legs will be in better shape after this semester than after the last one! Whoo!
Celia sent me a wonderful package. The letter in it made me a little homesick. I am missing all the little things she is doing with the Big House. Now I will only see her place grow in leaps and bounds. She gave me a wonderful and comfy shirt with the package (and wonderful, and much needed, lip balm). It smells like her, the shirt does. I would say it smells like home but it smells like Auntie Celia specifically and she is a part of that home.
It made me sad.
Wooly Men of the Mountains (work in progress)
Gouache work in progress for Painting Techniques. The assignment is to invent a landscape that joins together two sections of pre-existing landscapes.
bigfoot (and other like creatures)
Okay yeah. I was right. We did the collage wrong. It also wasn't due today. He wanted lots of little pieces assembled and not the shapes cut into the forms. Everyone had theirs done and no one had it like how he wanted so obviously it was his fault for not being clear enough. Grr. Oh well. Outside of that, the drawing class went pretty well. We spent 45 minutes drawing a single still life. I drew a glass vase. It ended up fairly decent. Karen and I passed a couple notes back and forth commenting on how the dead silence in the class resembled detention (not that I have ever been). Really really quiet. Even when he leaves the room no one talks. We are trying to form a community but no one extends themselves.
The next part was we had to do a quick sketch of a set up of this still life he made with tons of mannequin parts (mostly legs). Then we took the sketch and adapted it into an organic shape. So I drew some trees and stumps and logs lying about. And Bigfoot lying behind the logs. Little did I know Bigfoot would be a theme for the day. I completed my drawing and was very satisfied with it. I was saddened we didn't critique them in class but we will probably get to it on Thursday.
After class I hit up the library for another armload of books. Love that place, lots of great references about. Have to know my stuff!
Home was a lounge about. Nibbled on some snack food, watched youtube videos, and looked through one of my library books. I had to leave early to print out something for the painting class and buy some gouache. The gouache was picked up at Art Media. I bought the 8 piece set (which has two yellows, two reds, two blues, a black and a white...but no secondary or tertiary colors) and a tube of burnt sienna to round it off. I had to use my "emergency" card; which is to say my Key Bank debit card, onto which all my paychecks go. It is sort of my savings but hey, saved them for when I have to buy painfully expensive art supplies. Art supplies which I didn't really use because I still had remnants left over from the gouache tubes that came with the portfolio starter set I bought last semester! Well once I started using them (hey look a teacher that shows you how to use them without burning through your tubes) I knew I had made a good buy. Really like the medium now.
The assignment for this week is to take two dissimilar landscape sections and stick them on a piece of watercolor paper and paint the blank space as if to join the two landscapes together. A really cool assignment and we can put whatever we want in the landscape. Mine is a cloudy mountain (taken from a photo of mine from Toyama) which joins to a rice field and it has mountain dwelling, Bigfoot-esque people between the two. I even worked on it for a few hours tonight because I love the painting so much. I don't want to rush it at all. It still has a few of the creatures and the clouds to be put it but I love the way it is looking. I wish both the photos were mine but they are not so I can't really get full credit for it.
Someone was saying some stupid stuff in class (not naming names but if you were there, you know who I mean) and I was saying that she was reading too much into it and that Cookie Monster just loves cookies. Anyway we were being a bit loud (I was working all the time!) and the teacher told us to keep it quiet for fifteen minutes. A tad embarrassing but it wasn't my fault. Next time I will sit farther away from the igniter of Sesame Street disputes.
I went home, ate a dinner of leftover French toast, Oreos, and milk, looked at my art books, and painted. Didn't get anywhere on my sketches for printmaking but I will work on those...tomorrow. I have to prepare the plates anyway so no biggie. I'm a little ahead anyway and I know what I want to do. Sort of.
Yay Wednesday is tomorrow! Printmaking + paid focus group!
The next part was we had to do a quick sketch of a set up of this still life he made with tons of mannequin parts (mostly legs). Then we took the sketch and adapted it into an organic shape. So I drew some trees and stumps and logs lying about. And Bigfoot lying behind the logs. Little did I know Bigfoot would be a theme for the day. I completed my drawing and was very satisfied with it. I was saddened we didn't critique them in class but we will probably get to it on Thursday.
After class I hit up the library for another armload of books. Love that place, lots of great references about. Have to know my stuff!
Home was a lounge about. Nibbled on some snack food, watched youtube videos, and looked through one of my library books. I had to leave early to print out something for the painting class and buy some gouache. The gouache was picked up at Art Media. I bought the 8 piece set (which has two yellows, two reds, two blues, a black and a white...but no secondary or tertiary colors) and a tube of burnt sienna to round it off. I had to use my "emergency" card; which is to say my Key Bank debit card, onto which all my paychecks go. It is sort of my savings but hey, saved them for when I have to buy painfully expensive art supplies. Art supplies which I didn't really use because I still had remnants left over from the gouache tubes that came with the portfolio starter set I bought last semester! Well once I started using them (hey look a teacher that shows you how to use them without burning through your tubes) I knew I had made a good buy. Really like the medium now.
The assignment for this week is to take two dissimilar landscape sections and stick them on a piece of watercolor paper and paint the blank space as if to join the two landscapes together. A really cool assignment and we can put whatever we want in the landscape. Mine is a cloudy mountain (taken from a photo of mine from Toyama) which joins to a rice field and it has mountain dwelling, Bigfoot-esque people between the two. I even worked on it for a few hours tonight because I love the painting so much. I don't want to rush it at all. It still has a few of the creatures and the clouds to be put it but I love the way it is looking. I wish both the photos were mine but they are not so I can't really get full credit for it.
Someone was saying some stupid stuff in class (not naming names but if you were there, you know who I mean) and I was saying that she was reading too much into it and that Cookie Monster just loves cookies. Anyway we were being a bit loud (I was working all the time!) and the teacher told us to keep it quiet for fifteen minutes. A tad embarrassing but it wasn't my fault. Next time I will sit farther away from the igniter of Sesame Street disputes.
I went home, ate a dinner of leftover French toast, Oreos, and milk, looked at my art books, and painted. Didn't get anywhere on my sketches for printmaking but I will work on those...tomorrow. I have to prepare the plates anyway so no biggie. I'm a little ahead anyway and I know what I want to do. Sort of.
Yay Wednesday is tomorrow! Printmaking + paid focus group!
Monday, February 11, 2008
Madonna on the Rocks
The weather is improving (watch as there are downpours all tomorrow). I didn't really need my scarf riding back or my coat during class. It is nice.
Waking up at 9:30 on a Monday is the only way to go. Got to class on time and was at full attention. Except for the occasional doodle on Diana's paper. I'm getting so much inspiration from this class. Too bad my evening was sucked up by my collage. There are some pieces I really want to start sketching out. Whoo!!
During lunch this guy performed in the commons. Oh wow he was terrible. Just...uhg. We were way in the back but his horror reached us. It made lunch seem twice as long as it normally is. Ate my apple and sandwich is an irritated silence with a wide range of people that came and went (Lindsay, Jim, Acey, Jack, Mel, etc.).
I stopped by Storables on the way home to check out some of their storing selections. I think Ikea is the place I need to go to though. I picked up some sweet hangars that were 25 cents a pop and very colorful. The wire ones are damaging some of my shirts.
Relaxed a little and then set about doing my collage homework for drawing. Bleh, I don't like to collage. I am too messy for the likes of it. It turned out sort of how I wanted it to look like. Honestly I don't know what he expects from us so as long as I got it partially right I might be content. Though probably not.
Ate some tasty udon with egg for dinner. Num num num.
Now to read some Epileptic and sleep.
Waking up at 9:30 on a Monday is the only way to go. Got to class on time and was at full attention. Except for the occasional doodle on Diana's paper. I'm getting so much inspiration from this class. Too bad my evening was sucked up by my collage. There are some pieces I really want to start sketching out. Whoo!!
During lunch this guy performed in the commons. Oh wow he was terrible. Just...uhg. We were way in the back but his horror reached us. It made lunch seem twice as long as it normally is. Ate my apple and sandwich is an irritated silence with a wide range of people that came and went (Lindsay, Jim, Acey, Jack, Mel, etc.).
I stopped by Storables on the way home to check out some of their storing selections. I think Ikea is the place I need to go to though. I picked up some sweet hangars that were 25 cents a pop and very colorful. The wire ones are damaging some of my shirts.
Relaxed a little and then set about doing my collage homework for drawing. Bleh, I don't like to collage. I am too messy for the likes of it. It turned out sort of how I wanted it to look like. Honestly I don't know what he expects from us so as long as I got it partially right I might be content. Though probably not.
Ate some tasty udon with egg for dinner. Num num num.
Now to read some Epileptic and sleep.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
weekend (almost) wasted
Well I got a little accomplished today. I slept in, but still set my alarm so I wouldn't be crashed out till 3pm. I puttered around the apartment, cleaned a little, did the dishes (why do we have so many dishes?). Jim came over and hung out for a bit. Jim and Michael always seem to come in pairs. If I see one in the weekend, I will see the other.
Today just sort of drifted past. Nothing much went on.
There were some Scientology protests going on downtown that I slept through. Saw some photos from them, the worldwide ones. Scientology is a good thing to protest. It is so foolish. The creator himself said that the way to become a millionaire is to start a religion.
Another school week starts. Not as busy as last week. Just have to squeeze in some paintings. After I do my collage for drawing.
Today just sort of drifted past. Nothing much went on.
There were some Scientology protests going on downtown that I slept through. Saw some photos from them, the worldwide ones. Scientology is a good thing to protest. It is so foolish. The creator himself said that the way to become a millionaire is to start a religion.
Another school week starts. Not as busy as last week. Just have to squeeze in some paintings. After I do my collage for drawing.
short day. late night.
I slept in. Lindsay was out till 11:30 am so she called off work. We went out for brunch. I had French toast, sausages and hash browns. She had an omelet. I looked at recipes. I did my laundry. I went grocery shopping. I bought my favorite kind of juice. I made cream puffs and put whipped cream and chocolate syrup filling inside of them. They were okay, they need a heavier filling. Michael was coming over so I made rice. He got out of work a little later but the rice was still good. I whipped up some gyoza. Delicious meal. Michael and I chatted and lounged about late in to the night. Or early in the morning. Michael went home and now I am going to bed.
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