it's a regular thing

Another late night of Munchkin so I'll try to make this as detailed as possible while still being brief.

Cold. Still very cold.
Contributed a great deal to the first part of lit class, not so much after I dozed off. Chatted with Trevor a lot before and after.
Turned heat way up in illustration.
We were assigned to draw Vienna festival figures in space using references.
Lots of time spent making the windows good.
Not much time spent making the piece interesting except for a guy in the distance.
The usual crew rocked.
Went to Whole Foods for lunch.
Chicken and potatoes was cheaper but I should have just gotten a burrito or something.
All out of bagels and creme cheese.
Not having lunch is very expensive.
We got out early.
Napped.
Watched Anton Corbijn music videos.
Made cupcakes.
Went to Karen's and decorated cupcakes with piles of icing.
Munchkin crew came over.
Surprised Phil with birthday cupcakes.
Diana won.
Game took two and a half hours.
I didn't go far.
We also played the movie link game.
Then Robin and Diana went home.
We stayed up and drew.
Adam gave me some more glass pieces.
And we chatted.
Then we all went our separate ways.

Also, Karen gave me an application to work so I am going to get that filled out and turned in soon. MONEY!!!

rahful

A haiku:
rain in the city
bundled up and hunched over
anticipating

I walked to school as Karen was driving me home from the Spiegelman lecture tonight. It was bracing but still still with an enjoyable crispness to the air. We (Cece and I) arrived to class just on time even with the momentary scare that Diana provided by going BOO when I was walking.

We had the model with the lovely tattoos and she had many great gesture poses in which she presented many fun angles to draw. She is very knowledgeable in how to place herself and how to hold poses. She is quickly climbing to the rank of my favorite model. We did a 30 minute pose and I was amazed at how I have reigned myself back. I got the slant of the body correct, the stand looked accurate, and she was in relative proportion. The contours were a bit of a disappointment but it does show real growth. I love how Morgan is really beating the technical stuff into us. Nary a soul in the class even ventures near shading now.

Karen has acquired herself a fancy corner studio. I am looking forward to jamming with her in there. Maddison and Daniel helped her get a desk for her space. Jen is also moving into a studio. The Stevens Annex is going to be a rockin'! Karen has already set forth the layout plans.

Jen and I went to Baja Fresh for lunch. I find the checkered decorations there very peculiar. Like, the food is in a race or something. My chicken quesadilla was most filling and warm. The weather was taking a quick turn for the worst and even with my layers and scarf, it didn't give me much protection. It is time to move to my pea coat. She took me to Reading Frenzy and another little independent book shop. Both had wonderful hipster zines and a beautiful array of independent comics. I caressed many of them but oh woe, I must curtail my bad book buying habit.

Rain was coming down and we hitched a ride on the streetcar to school. I put on my best Russian accent (which wasn't that good but still funny) as we shlumped our way from the streetcar to school. I proclaimed how in our day we had to walk 10 blocks in the cold with only our hoodies for warmth. We ended up loafing in the library until painting started. Karen is borrowing my Scott Pilgrim volumes and is already half done.

Painting was just playing around with the frisket. I think I was a little lazy today but I was also groggy and as usual, tired. We drew hands and masked them and played with washes. I think once I add in lines to my piece, it will look really cool. The mask didn't quite cover as completely as I had hoped but it was much better than the type I was using. It didn't get the paper mushy like the cheaper kind. Our next assignment is an intense poetry illustration thing. It is a large scale piece with a smaller, spot illustration on the other side. We have about 2-3 weeks for it. I have high hopes for it and I will try to push myself to have more detail.

Class was over and Karen and I hopped in her car and zoomed to the Bagdad Theatre for the Art Spiegleman lecture. She parked at Fred Meyer even though she TOTALLY WASN'T SHOPPING THERE!! Jim was waiting and I collected my will call tickets and was dismayed to find the theatre not even a fifth full. Who would have thought that the only Pulitzer winning comic artist couldn't fill a venue within half an hour of it opening. I guess the weather or location kept people back. If it were at Powell's, it probably would have been packed. Karen and Jim grabbed some food and we got a spot on the left side.

Art Spiegelman reminded me, from a distance, of Dan (Stengel that is). His talk came mostly from a presentation of panels and images taken from Breakdowns. He said he had not slept in a few days but kept it together for the most part through it all, including the question and answers. He detailed a brief history and his own personal introduction to comics. Breakdowns is a reprint of a book he put out several decades ago. With it comes a 20 page introduction and an 8 page afterwards. They had pre-autographed copies selling for 30% off and, well, I'm a sucker for a comic deal. I didn't wait to talk to him in person but he is a relatively young comic dude, he will be around. One woman said that she had asked him 15 years ago how he would talk about Maus and the Holocaust with his children and she asked again how he did just that. It was a wonderful talk all around and even though I technically overpaid, I would have been fine with the price if that was what it was. Actually seeing artists and hearing them lecture is just as important to the overall study of art as practice and technique is.

Then I went home and tried to stay awake and read Man in the High Castle. My talking points in my response are: Did PKD not know about Unit 731 when writing the book or do the characters just not know about it. Funny how those Germans made great technological advances by not developing the television. Having the fictional novel of our awkward history within the book gives Philip K. Dick a blank check to write what he wants with convincing suspension of disbelief.

scary

Finished my illustration work. Well I'm satisfied with it, I probably will put in some more work between now and Friday but if I get back late from the Spiegelman thing and don't have time, well I won't worry. I am on the ball! And I even got a late start on it.

Watched The Boys From Brazil today. It irked me that I figured out the twist about an hour before it was revealed. For being a Nazi hunter, the lead wasn't too bright. Also, for being a two hour flick a lot of the characters were not fleshed out. But it didn't feel like a two hour movie so it was paced well. Next on my rental list is Dark City.

Read half of my assignment for lit class in one sitting. Man in the High Castle is really holding my interest and I can't wait to read more of it. Even though it is required, it doesn't feel like a chore. Also I am actually reading a book from my personal library. Fulfilling my New Years resolution to read more!

Karen has informed me that they are now hiring at The Gap(where she works). I am going to go for it. Lindsay also sent me some one shot postings for events at PGE Park. It didn't say anything about pay, just "compensation" so I don't know what that means. But I'll think about it.

I had a nightmare about zombies.

maus is in the haus

So I received some creative input and the reason why my cakes end up baking screwy is that I have them too high in the oven.

My week has started again. Before I know it I will be keeling over into my bed at 5:30pm Friday afternoon.

We had Kate in figure drawing. Kate is a horrible model. She falls asleep and snores and moves about and twitches and shifts without warning. She is grumpy and doesn't use a model blanket when she sits on stuff. I'd love drawing her is she was a good model, but she isn't. So following the David Sedaris doctrine: I am free to dislike her as much as I like because she sucks. Seriously, she is not worth what they pay models. Argh. But we didn't have to draw her that much today as we were mostly absorbed with critique and chat. I loved all the warped perspective drawings. Morgan did a baby perspective about how as they look around the color shifts (if it is real or not, I need to look it up to find out). There were lots of Chinese ones, a few fish eye, and a couple cave painting. The drawings were also incredibly varied and really showed the variation within the class.

I photocopied my comic club fliers and Karen helped me put them up around campus. Taylor had a couple up but I prefer mine as I think they convey the point a little better and have, if ever so slightly, something to do with comics. They are smaller and maybe are not as eye catching. In the future we need to photocopy on colored paper.

Oh man oh man, this design class is crap. She went through websites which, sure, had great examples but when I try to think about how she is explaining the importance well, I come away with nothing. While it is nice that I'm not having to go full steam in every class, I do wish that all this work actually amounted to something. She seems like the type to grade really hard out of nowhere. She doesn't even push people to present if they are not feeling up to it. This is a 300 level class people, you should have been ready to go a week ago! I was. I got up there and practically did back flips because Beardsley is so awesome. Karen and I drew a little comic expressing our feelings of the class. It was pretty funny. Karen's panels were the best ranging from: "this website was built badly but the type face will teach you everything about art nouveau" to "and this sexy number is a Morris. and why did he do it? Why not! this isnt lazy boy!". This is how the class is: here's a website. Here's an artist on the website. Look at this picture. ISN'T IT GREAT OH MY GOSH ITS AWESOME AND REMARKABLE AND MEANINGFUL AND TOTALLY CHANGED HISTORY. Here's another picture. Aaaarrrgggghhhhhhhhh!!!

Student council had lentil soup. This is just for Auntie B: I ate some and enjoyed it!!Rainbow didn't quite explain her reasoning about why the ticket system was bad but we got rid of it anyway. All though her point about how our money should be used for better things that food was a little silly because if you want the money spent on things that are not clubs or food, you need to put in a budget request for the thing you want and what it is for. If people don't do that then you shouldn't whinge about what the money is getting used for. The guy came in and explained why our Mac computer servers are horrible. Terry asked Diana (well not quite asked)that the issues of concern be put before the budget requests. There is a lot of upheaval taking place in student council. My job is just to get there early with Karen, move chairs, eat food, and listen.

I beat the system and got a 50 cent soda from the horrible 70 cents only machine. I don't know how it screwed up but I got a cheaper Dr Pepper! Hurray! We did a short critique on our portrait projects. They all looked good across the board and I think Karen and both the Erin's really stood out in terms of color and contrast. Jen amazed us yet again with her ability to make a person look like who she is drawing and have wonderful but not over bearing minute details.

We had a model for the rest of class. He just did one classic pose. My guy was rather orange and purple. I did a light orange layout first. No pencil! Karen's style is changing and the way she uses color is very interesting to me. I sort of ripped off Erin from Alaska's lines for the body hair of the dude. Class was very fun today. Bryan livened us up with theme songs from old shows sung on request. He reminds me a little of my friend Chris. Might have been because he was wearing the crowbar shirt. It was a joyful and relaxing way to end the day.

I figured out the knee problems I have been having lately. My bike seat is too long. I was sacrificing my joints for having my feet be solid on the ground. Just moving it a little higher up relieved so much of the aches that I have been feeling lately. If only I could do something about that knot in my back.

Art Spiegelman is in Portland Thursday night. I grabbed some tickets as soon as Karen said she would drive me. I got one extra because I thought Jen would be free but turns out she is busy. I'll figure something out. I sent a mass message out to my pals to see if anyone is available. It will work out, Spiegelman is the important part of it anyway.

polka dot poser

I modeled for Karen this afternoon. Just some stuff for her to draw from for her woodblock and figure drawing assignment. Mostly me sitting around in my yukata. She promised me cookies in return. We sat and chatted about comics and collaboration plans. She was working on a painting of our boy Tesla, who is now going to be in my thought web via Christian Bale and David Bowie. We also poured over my thought web and that was added on to (L. Ron Hubbard lived in Bremerton!).

I have started writing down all the images I'll need. They are currently in chains in an excel sheet with marks indicating if I have found an image or not. There are still parts not yet transcribed but as just finding a hundred images took a long time and I don't need to finish it for a while, well that isn't so urgent.

Robert was kitten sitting so I got to pet a little grey striped kitten named Dinah. I set up a little cardboard fortress for her to play in.

I had some meatballs, pasta, chocolate, and lots and lots of sunflowers today.

sketchbook drawings: eric, thomas, and olivia

Thumbnail sketches from my sketchbook for the literary character assignment. Top left is Thomas Lang from Hugh Laurie's The Gun Seller. Bottom left and top right is Eric Sanderson from Steven Hall's The Raw Shark Texts. Bottom right is Olivia from Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination.

Also I accidentally uploaded the larger, not resized scan. So heads up before you click it: it is a big file.

Graphite, ink, and watercolor.

glasses → buddy holly → six string samurai → red elvis → elvis → las vegas

Last night I went up to Karen's to play Munchkin. Phil, Adam, and Diana were there as well. The first round was Star Munchkin and I forget who won. We had cider and miny peanut butter cups. The people below us knocked on the ceiling because our walking around was too loud. We went to talk to them because seriously, we were just walking around. A poor sleepy guy opened the door even though it was his wife who obviously knocked. He spoke for her even though she knew English. There was another altercation in the hallway but I won't get into that. The second round combined Star Munchkin and Munchkin Fu and we were playing to 20 levels and with Super Munchkin rules once you got past 10. Phil died at 19 and lost all his cards and a couple levels and Karen won in the end. Lots of late night fun.

I had a good long sleep in which I dreamed that I was on lunch break and in the forest. There was a cheap cafe where I tried to get food but they were really aggressive and served me used plates instead. I found my way to Sting's house and tried my best to not be caught. Eventually I was and I had to get back to PNCA because I only had three minutes to do so. Somehow I was on the other side of the river and far south. Sting's helper gave me a floaty and directed me towards the nearest on ramp for the water slides. It was a huge auditorium witm people waiting to slide into the slides and get where they needed going. I got through easily enough and found my way near school in no time at all. I walked past this art sculpture building that has shown up in my dreams before. There is always a group of people raving about it as they enter on the ground floor and I am always above it looking down. Strange.

I woke up as I was using the water slides as transport for a second time. Seriously, how awesome would water slides be as transport?

I finished up the season of The Wire and watched Pushing Daisies and Dead Like Me. I bypassed plans with one person to hang with another who cancelled on me when it was too late to start plans with the first person.

I also worked on my thought web. I have the rough draft almost done. I started with Artemisia's painting of Judith slaying Holofernes. It goes to bible stories, Artemisia, female painters, that Threadless shirt, and beheading. Here are some sample thought threads:
threadless → hipsters → american apparel → risque ads → dolce and gabbana → fashion → project runway → heidi klum → germany's next top model → america's next top model → the transgendered contestant isis → jenny saville who paints transgendered people → female painters → artemisia
or
beheading → marie antoinette → sophia coppola → francis ford coppola → dracula → bram stoker's dracula lived on piccadilly street → the royal academy of art is located on piccadilly street, london → jeff koons' cracked egg won the grand award at the royal academy of art in 2008 → jeff koons did a sculpture of michael jackson → celebrity sculptures → kate moss recreated in solid gold, said to be largest since the egyptian era → egyptian art → pyramids → alien creation of pyramids myth → aliens → alien movie → giger → giger's sketches for dune → dune → sting → sting is a (part time) vegetarian → david bowie is a vegetarian → david bowie as halloween jack wears an eye patch → eyepatch → chihuly → artists who have other people do their work for them → jeff koons again → jeff koons is/was married to a porn star → gloria steinem is against porn → she founded Ms magazine which prints offensive ads in the back and encourages people to write in and complain → risque ads → those edgy anti meth ads → jodie sweetin → full house → john stamos → rebecca romiji-stamos → x-men → stan lee → bit parts → peter jackson → santa in hot fuzz → edgar wright → blood and ice cream trilogy → cornetto → unilever → axe → old spice → bruce campbell → sam raimi → spiderman → kirsten dunst → marie antoinette → biopics → artemisia