hi

hi

Saturday, March 1, 2008

prevues of coming attractions

I just saw In Bruges. Amazing film, I loved it. In fact I would go so far as to say it is one of my ten favorite films of all time. It really got to me and even now, a few hours after seeing it, I still feel affected by the film. It is really misadvertised. It is being played as a hitmen in hiding film, which it is, but it is so much more than that. I had heard that it was spectacular and this was why I didn't wait for it to be at a larger theatre I was familiar with, I went to see it at Cinema 21. Actually, Cinema 21 ended up being really close and easy to get to, I sometimes think the 20+ blocks on the west side are farther away than they really are. The cinema was a little cozy one theatre place with cheap concessions and compfy seats. I think I may just become a regular (it is also a few blocks from Michael's new place and hes one of my movie buddies so whoo). 2008 is a great year for movies. The movie was set in Bruges and featured so much of the beautiful architecture and paintings. I really want to go to Belgium now.

The museum trip was cancelled due to excessive homework constraints. I rode off into a well lit Portland day and picked up more paper from Art Media. Outside the store I was greeted with rain. As I rode furter, more rain. I was very nicely wet when I arrived at school. Riding was hell as I could barely see from all the rain in my eyes. I am so good about having my rain pants with me, but this time was a horrible exception. The print lab isn't exceptionally warm either.

Matt stopped by the lab for a visit as I was trimming my paper and etching my plate. My edition of my etching is all screwed up, not one are the same size so I should correct that so they are all equal. Waste a lot of paper in doing so but I need to be more careful about lining up my prints. My other plates are having issues retaining their ink so I have to figure out how I am going to manipulate the ink so they are not all light and hazy and generally bad looking. I need to take a break from the bigfoot plate because right now it looks sort of crappy now that I have etched it. Baaah, I'm started to stress, this is no good!

Then I went to see In Bruges by myself. Really quick ride home (and clear) and actually coming back on 18th seems easier than coming back on 13th.

of Mario and Mops

Cidney is in town this weekend, she left PNCA for Evergreen but we forgive her. She, Tabitha, Chelsey, Karen and I were up late reading bawdy poetry aloud and playing Mario Party. Up really late, blimey why am I still typing! Robin was over as well but she left earlier. She, Karen and I, while waiting for the others to arrive, watching Princess Bride. I love that movie but now I see more of the dated features (thanks to Karen's running audio commentary). Still wonderful.

At work I am learning to pace myself so I don't have as big of a chunk of time at the end. Sure I am making my way through Choke pretty effectively but I'd rather be paid to work. Choke is barely holding my interest. I mostly want to finish it just to finish it. I barely care about the characters and even though I know there are developments I still feel like it hasn't gone anywhere and isn't going anywhere (unless there is an apocalyptic ending). My dustpan and brooms were in the supply closet so that was good.

Comic class was okay. Mostly just Peanuts stuff and I didn't really have much to say. I feel awkward speaking up in class. It is so early and right at the end of the week as well so my thinking abilities are not that grand.

Day had a slow start but it ended on a fun note. Now for the weekend! Cidney and homework, yaaay! Hopefully more hanging with Cidney and less homework because I somehow magically get all my homework done in an hour (homework is: printmaking, short painting, and studying art history).

Friday, February 29, 2008

hitting the (pink) bottle

How ever smart you think I am, I am evidently not that smart.

So in drawing we were just working on our pieces further (the critique was postponed until more people decide to show up). I was working on mine and I noticed the ink wasn't mixing with the "water" that I had poured out of a bottle I found. Surely a bottle with clear liquid in an art room must contain water? Uh huh. Anyway to find out what it was I decided to take a wee drink.

It wasn't water.

A little later I whispered to Lindsay about how my stomach wasn't feeling too good and I explained why. After her initial Trillian-why-are-you-so-stupid look she asked me to show her the bottle. She said that it smelled like soap (and it tasted a little like it) and that I should probably take some tums and eat some food. So I went and bought some tums and Pepto Bismal and munched munched munched. My stomach felt queasy for the rest of class but once I arrived home and ate some pasta my health improved. Later Karen advised me on how to test things you are not sure about. Her scientific process involved dipping your finger in the substance and testing your finger. I've learned my lesson (no I haven't, I did the same thing in my chemistry class years ago). Mom, don't worry. I'll play it really really safe. The bottle wasn't a "this is used for chemicals" bottle and that is why it confused me.

Modou painted on one of the German girls works and she let out a pained sound in between a moan and a scream. He erased part of Lindsay's work. He liked my work but the class is wearing us thin. It is random and all over the place and I'm not sure how much I am really growing from it. Hmmn.

Brilliant sunny day again. I worked a little after class in the print lab washing the sugar lift off my plate. Took longer than I expected it to but it came off decently enough. At home I just kicked back and stuffed my face with food and pink liquid. Also did my reading for class. Mostly Charlie Brown and Charles Schulz stuff.

Painting was the same thing as on Tuesday. I came right on time which meant I came too late to grab a desk. Karen and Jen scooted theirs together and I sat between them. I only managed to get about 70% of the models skin completed. The hands looked great (Annie gave me a compliment about them) but it was largely unfinished. I can't paint fast.

After class I returned to the print lab and applied aquatint to my plate, heated it, etched it, and did a quick print. A continuing education student was in the class and I asked him quickly about applying the aquatint and he gave me a scare when he said he had never seen anyone apply it like I was about to (well I think there was an error in communication and he thought I was applying it to a print that had sugarlift still on it). Now afraid, I cranked up the aquatint box and placed my plate in for a few minutes. It went in and out without much of a hitch and it melted on the hot plate quite evenly. Etching went well, as did removing the aquatint rosin and hardground. I did a quick print just to see what it looks like and it looks wonderful! I can't wait to etch it further with hardground. It needs some clear definition into what is going on but the tree looks fab. I will etch it tomorrow but no printing.

Rode home, read some more about Schulz, Lindsay came home from her daaaaaaaate and we gabbed, then we watched...yup you guessed it, Project Runway! Tomorrow is a new Lost episode online for me to watch, I'm so excited! These weeks are a real busy crunch time but I think it is almost over.

My stomach is all better. I was almost hoping to burp bubbles but no such luck.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

joy

Yesterday's sickness is today's happiness. The sun was shining, it was warm, I went for a walk, and all was grand!

Managed to get up a little early so I could start my day off right. Arrived at school on time with an idea for my sugarlift firmly in my head. Sugarlifted that sucked in about fifteen minutes and set that to dry, after that dried I applied the hardground and left it to dry. Smoothed out the other print and reapplied the softground and did a press with some dried flowers I had picked up. Etched it and printed it. Burnished the face and background. Printed it again. Burnished it again. Printed it again. Holding off on the burnishing and will do another test print. Did the rest of the edition for my etching. The hardground was still not dry so I will tend to that tomorrow. Was busy all through class (and about fifty minutes after) but still I feel behind. Lots of printing to be done over the weekend. Oh well, better to do it right than to rush it.

During lunch I walked to Whole Foods to grab something to eat(also to enjoy this radiant day). About two blocks from school I called my papa and our phone conversation took me to Whole Foods, through picking out food, through the cash register, back to PNCA, setting my stuff down in the print lab, grabbing a spot in the commons, eating my lunch and when my lunch was finally over we said our goodbyes. Diana, Lee and Chris stopped by and we chatted briefly and I shared my grapes. I skipped off to class in a supreme mood.

Yoga was really really tough this night, but I feel good.

Need a good night sleep so I can tackle tomorrow. I'm up for critique with Modou and I will be putting in some hours in the print lab.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Lindsay is strong, awesome, and I ♥ Her

Lindsay and I were outside Goose Hollow hooping with her new LED hoop. Karen was watching from above and suddenly we decided to just walk to the park and hoop there. And by we I mean just Lindsay and myself, Karen was being a poo and didn't join us (something about having homework to do). So me in my pajamas and Lindsay with her hoop, we went down to the park on Park Street (in front of the Portland Art Museum) and hooped to our hearts content! It was a great deal of fun. Just chuckling and hooping back and forth. Some homeless guys showed up, they were nice just a little drunk. They hooped a little but failed. One also failed when he asked me for a kiss and I stepped back quickly and said, "no". Lindsay stepped in and was all, "Can't you see my shirt says Detroit? And I'll shiv you and leave you for dead in the park." She was very calm about saying that, I can tell she has practiced. So we left that area and hooped elsewhere. A cute boy showed interest in the both of us (and he was neither drunk or homeless). Both of us were pretty exhausted and sore so we headed back. We arrived home at the amazing time of 10:22pm. We hooped long time!

So today was tough to get up. I wasn't feel too hot and my mind was all jumbled about the time on my clock. I arrived at school on time and ready to work. Then we spent an hour talking about art, what were are as artists, how we feel about the Portland scene, have we ever been to Europe, how to be elitist without being pretentious, and so on. The conversation was dominated by mostly five or six people and Lindsay brought up the fact about how we are all dead quiet in the class. It was an interesting conversation, Modou is full of praise for us all due to the fact that we are here. I'm one of the few that has consistently been there everyday. I didn't feel like it today but I was there.

After break was a quick/not so quick critique of our projects thus far. Modou's class (and Modou himself) ends up being a Russian Roulette critique. He isn't the best at being objective about work and has clear favorites and clear what he wants to see and what he doesn't want to see standards. Well, they actually are not that clear. That is what makes it so nerve wracking. I didn't have a critique today but Lindsay did. She was up last and up until her all the pieces were mostly favorable (there was one piece that was a collaboration that he wasn't OK with). Her collage and mixed media skull was said to be, "unbelievable." And when asked to define it, Modou couldn't come up with a clear answer. Half the class was silent, one fourth was confused about why this piece was suddenly not right, the other fourth jumped on the fear bandwagon. I sat in confused and shocked silence. Lindsay took it amazingly well (she is very strong and awesome) but still, I think for many people it came out of nowhere. All of a sudden a piece is unbelievable, what?

Left a little stunned, went home, and enjoyed a very lovely nap. I wasn't feeling too good (a little overheated) and really needed the rest. I don't think I am getting enough. Need to allow a little more on Sunday. I'm worn so thin by Friday and it is almost Wednesday and I have so much to do before the week ends. I don't like having so much work centered around the end of the week, I like it at the start.

In painting I sat apart from my usual bandit's and focused on the model. We are painting clothed figures. The first drawing ended up with her feet cut off so I drew it again, much smaller than needed. I am happy with the result (except the models breaks ended up with her draped clothing changing constantly) but it was far too small to work with effectively. I can mix skin tones pretty well now; all it is is yellow and orange with a little red, a little blue to mute and subdue the saturation, and a little bit of green. Who knew? Annie said to do another painting, this one much larger, in the next class instead of working on this one (which I finished so I'm cool with that. I was feeling much better at the end of class and rode off into the night quite neatly.

Arriving home I had to deliver much hugs to Lindsay. Then we watched Project Runway. Santino is such a jerk, but by being that way it allowed Daniel to leave with much dignity. He was so selfless in the end and went on a high note. He is so set career wise now. Go him! (We are on Season Two, and yes we do our homework).

Then we went hooping!!


Lindsay hooping during her lunchtime performance.


LED hooping


This be me, I am so awesome.

Monday, February 25, 2008

hoop da hoop da Trillian don't feel too good

Oh boy, I was chilling at Karen's (NOT doing a comic jam, amazingly). I was just relaxing and hanging out and reading a comic. I like having her here, it gets me out of my apartment and away from distractions. But yeah, I was reading The Invisibles by Grant Morrison and I got into it in a big way and was having such a hard time putting it down because so much changes between issues. He is really an amazing author, but I'd be a liar if I said I understood it all.

I don't feel so good. Karen, Lindsay and I went to Fire on the Mountain and somewhere between the wings and the deep fried twinkies, something didn't settle right so I'm going to keep this short and lay down and rest something fierce.

Art History really makes me want to just travel around Europe and museum hop. I don't think I can pull it together for France right now. I'd rather just go to Belgium.

Lindsay did a hoop dancing performance during lunch today. It was very cool. She did lots of neat tricks and had some great routines. Shes a very cool roommate, I'm very fortunate that I'm not with someone that is freaking out all the time or bugs me about me leaving my pencils on the table. I have pictures of her dancing, eventually I'll post them. But now: sleep.

p.s. Lindsay's LED hula hoop came in the mail. It rocks.

p.p.s. Celia: Lindsay says she learned how to make her own hula hoops from http://www.hooping.org/ and she learned tricks off of youtube.com

we be jammin

Karen is vile. She keeps luring me into comic jams. Not as late as last nights jam but still, a jam none the less. Today was full of stuff so I didn't get to do a separate post for Yesterday...

Yesterday

I slept in. Like I normally do on Saturday. This week really took it out of me and when Friday rolls around I am exhausted and I hate the fact I have to work. It isn't that great when I can't sleep in before my shift. My sleep schedule is really out of order and having that lit class tucked in right there are the end...bah. But yeah, I slept in. I lounged about. I read. I watched MORE Project Runway. I am almost done with season four (just the finale and the wrestling episode) and I think season two is next. Lindsay came home early but she wasn't up for Clue.

I didn't apply on my moustache (nor have I looked at the photos from the Clue Party) but I did straighten my hair. Just trying out a different look. We started late because Diana was held up making sweet potato fries. She was an awesome Mrs. White. She also told us that we were still playing Clue wrong and with the "correct" rules, it still took us two hours to complete one game. I guessed myself out early so I could make some Gyoza (my final batch, it was a hit). We played the next game as a shorter, house rules Clue game. Kris was there, he was Sergeant Gray and looked downright adorable. I must say, he and Kristen are cute together.

After the second game most of the people left but we managed to lure Diana into crashing at Karens for the night and so we comic jammed! The pieces sort of fell apart when we got to the 2:15 am mark but they were still hilarious. The one I started had some horrible/really deep dialogue, Diana's involved this kid eating plants and his family was demonic, and Karen's was about me "getting a clue". Yeah it was super fun. I leant some blankets and pillows to Diana and then went to bed.

But before I slept, I saw a big TV in the free zone. I plugged it in and it was unable to turn on so I left a note saying, "Next time leave a TV that turns in without a remote." And drew a frowning self portrait. Then I slept.

Today

Set my alarm to go off at 11. If I didn't I would sleep through the game afternoon Karen set up as part of her RA duties. Also I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if I was up that late. I pretty much got up, showered, got dressed, and went straight to helping Karen set up.

It wasn't a big turn out (Karen, Michal, and Myself...oh and amazingly Lindsay came down for it, that was awesome) but to those who showed up, we had our picks of the left over food. I have TWO BIG THINGS OF JUICE!! TWO!! And some pita chips. Whoo. Awesome. We played Pay Day. Karen beat us completely but I came in at a fairly decent second. I think the next RA arranged event will be a Comic Jam.

After the game session Lindsay and I cleaned house a little and we brought up the dresser that was left in the free zone in the parking garage. It is a pretty decent dresser; no spider webs or weird smells. We will use it for general supplies that we can't stuff else where (ie: probably my stuff). My lamp is on top of it and now our living room actually has nice lighting. Amazing! We took a quick trip to Safeway. I ate a couple Otter Pops and Fruit Roll-Ups(they were on sale). We watched Project Runway. And then I went up to Karens.

I worked on my painting and then she was all, "Oh Trillian, take a break. Work on this jam comic. You need to let your painting dry." And I caved and worked on a comic with her. SHES VILE! A vile vile woman. But she fed me so...I had to oblige.

I'm going to throw a "how to make gyoza like Trillian (even though it is Llyw's recipe)" party. Basically, I show people how to make the filling and how to put it in the wrapper and how to fry it and how to wrap it for the freezer. All that stuff, and if they pay me they can take some filling home with them.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

sleep sleep

It is almost 3am. I just had a long clue night and an even longer and later jam comic session. Full details tomorrow morning. Right now: sleep.