big meanie, little thursday

Did I mention that Auntie Brynne sent me a little gift of skirts and tights? Well she did. I put on my black tights, my brown lace up boots, and my new short velvet blue skirt. It was very short. It was manageable to walk and trot in. Biking was tricky. But I managed. Felt like being fabulous. Natalie later confirmed I was fabulous.

The first batch of critiques was both harsh and good. Martin wants us to do our best and to get there he needs to be honest. My critique came at the end of class. Anyway, yeah. We reviewed our pieces for an hour and a half. Danny is doing Maori. Kristen is doing some horse tribe. Cassi and Chase are both doing some variation on Mayans. Madeline is doing uhh...something not quite Mayan. Beth is doing something to do with Alpacas. Luis is doing Mexico City youth subculture. Rachel is doing the Inu, I believe they are called. Samala is working with some Celtic imagery. And yeah, I think that is about it. Martin smiled as he commented on the thrashing he gave the other class. I think the German's have a word for that. Oh yeah. Schadenfreude.

I treated myself to Quizno's for lunch. Needed something serious to eat. Sat in the library with Kristen and looked at the Taschen book Cinema Now.

After lunch, Martin gave us a little shpeal on reference photos and for the next hour, a costume model came in and we took photos and had him pose and follow our directions. Our model was a little man with spandex and some bizarre things to wear in his tote. Like a unicorn costume. Uh... yeah. Still it was fun. Got some interesting photos, but I don't know how I will use this reference. Good to have a library of photos though. During his posing, the model consumed a banana. He stuck for a while in a stage with the huge wad of banana in his mouth. It was gross and too much for me to take and I had to turn away. I was teased and Martin joined in.

My stage two critique was: will my voice come through if I did a monotype? Why are you doing monotype? Are you attached to that medium? The cricket players are not that dynamic, there is a lot more you could have done with that concept. Probably will do the young married couple?

So my plan is to do the young Trobriand married couple. I will paint it, but use a very limited pallett. And then BAM right out of left field, I'll spend my time in monotype on Tuesday making the piece in that technique. Just to show how it would be. HA! It's time that I started figuring out how I will image make with this new medium anyway. Just playing around with it doesn't do anything for me.

I hung around after class and annoyed the remainders with my prattle. Danny and Kristen mainly. Just "look at this website" and "now look at this website" type stuff. Granted, they were cool sites. Eventually I got on my bike and went home. Harder going back in a skirt and than going to. Ate a pile of carrots and a bagel with shmear for dinner. Not the best but I keep forgetting to buy pasta sauce.

I packed Grandpa's suitcase with my hot boots, comfy shoes, and two changes of clothes. I am going up to Seattle for the weekend. Going to hang with Llyw, give him some Hammerpress posters, maybe watch a movie, probably play Rock Band, and overall have a relaxing time. I'll be back late afternoon/early evening on Sunday. See you guys then!

the (nose) runs

Woke up fine. Well no major cough or soreness. But my nose was drippy. I woke up at 5:20ish. Guess that is what happens when you go to bed at 9. Just sat in bed and read and went to shower at 6:30. Nose was still drippy. Super drippy. I left my toilet paper at home by accident and had to get through History of Laughter with just the paper from the bathroom. My nose is red and in horrible shape right now. Bleeh.

In class we finished the Galifianakis video and talked about it. Watched the Letterman confessional and we talked about the context. A lot of context.

Between classes I went to Safeway and dropped a twenty on antihistamine, ibuprofen, and tissue. It took forever to kick in, but from 1pm to right now I've been just barely snuffly. Booyah.

Printmaking was looking at artists' depictions of various Greek myths. Castiglione (or something) and the invention of stippling. Lots of Zeus and the ripple effect of him becoming that swan. It was fun. Important to recognize certain figures.

Ate half my delicious sandwich in the library. Had a small coughing fit that got a concerned look from this cute fella. I insured him I was fine and left to avoid leaving too many germs behind. Talked to Fawn, who showed me the ad she made with my black and white illustration. I'm getting a cool, hard Grant for my work for her. Booyah. I gave her the originals and all rights to use of them. I think that is fair.

Walked to Whole Foods with Daniel W. He cut his hand while working. It's got the cool dark stitches. Seems almost fitting considering his thesis is about Frankenstein. I'm starting to feel a little bit of warmth from my thesis creeping in. Finish my Junior year and then that's it. Sat on the loading docks and chatted to Sivonna. She is doing India for her illustration project.

Rest of printmaking was more of the same mythology. Our theme for our print collection has been locked down: pain & naked ladies. Because pain runs through most art through history, or naked ladies. Sometimes both or one causes the other. I think I'll do a silkscreen portrait of Nomi Malone from Showgirls.

Oh, I just remembered how to make that instant cinnamon toast spread. Cinnamon + sugar + shaking, put on toast. Mmmmm.

I missed a call at 11:06 (because I was in class) from the Goose Hollow front desk. They had my keys! Hurray! I rode home and collected them. I should make them a thank you card for being so helpful and following through like that. Maybe it would encourage them to do more of the same for other people.

Watched the Tuesday episode of So You Think You Can Dance. Nibbled on carrots (healthy eating!) and drank orange juice. Nibbled on pills to keep me not drippy.

Yoga was intense. A lot of hamstring work. I couldn't hold a lot of the lunges and my right foot started to cramp. It was rough, but it was probably better to do it than not do it. Keeping healthy. Exercise. Good eating habits. Lots of rest.

I finished my stage twos with so much time to spare. I'm still stuck between images, but I've figured out a composition a little more. Either a silk screen of Trobriand cricket players or a monotype of two Trobriand newlyweds (well they are holding the bowl of cooked yams that indicate they are wed). Finished it while watching the Wednesday episode of So You Think You Can Dance. I'm sad that the other Kasprzak brother got cut, but I see why. This new season is shaping up to be intense and awesome. Can't wait for top 20!

illness takes in

Woke up with a sore throat. Through the day it progressed into a slight cough, achey and warm body, and headaches. It was hard to focus during printmaking but I still managed some things. Played with color. The day just sort of scooted along in a haze.

Ate some microwave noodles. I'm now getting sick of them. Listened to this mix tape that Chris Peeler made me before I left for college.

Not much else to report. I'll be going to bed soon. Get lots of rest. Let my body recover and heal.

The fire alarm went off last night at 3am. It sucked.

Went to Safeway after school. Got meat and a brick of cheese. Bread and bagels. Orange juice.

I don't want to get sicker.

dialects, covered up and not

James Marsters was on Lie To Me! And the latest episode of House featured Ramachandran's mirrorbox to aid the pain felt by people with phantom limbs. Way cool! Heroes wasn't good. But now Sylar's back. Yay.

Ate oatmeal for dinner. Not very filling. Need to get food. Actual food. Next time I visit home, I should bring my big suitcase and fill it up with food.

Yoga went quick. Lot of hip openers. Light on some of the lunges. Went pretty well. Fawn loved my illustrations. On Wednesday we will sort out the moneys. I agreed to do it before she mentioned she would pay me, hehe. I don't know what a good rate would be for two little illustrations. But she does have all the rights to them and can use them however she wants. That's something.

Allegory allegory. We have to write a 4-10 page allegorical story. I was thinking about swimming and how when it is gray, you can't tell when water becomes sky. Dunno what it would mean. We did some exercises and then I got a headache. And OH CRAP I TOTALLY FORGOT TO UPLOAD MY IMAGES, crud. I scanned them in and everything. I just got caught up with making sure the yoga stuff was 300dpi that I forgot to put the images on homeroom. Damnit. I'll see if I can get them up tomorrow. Email Daniella about it.

Fflur Dafydd came into class today. She is one of five visiting writers. If you couldn't tell, she is Welsh. She had a beautiful accent. She talked about her first English novel, Twenty Thousand Saints, and how it is rewritten from Welsh but when she was translating it she decided to change characters around and all that. It sounded very interesting and almost familiar. She even sang us a few songs and played a guitar as well. Very lovely Welsh lady.

Critique went better than I expected. Had some comments about layout, but that was about it. Some real nice comics were made. Nice rendering and etc etc.

I wore my new boots. Got some oos and aahhs from some of the gals. Fawn told me that sometimes stores on 23rd give their excess to William Temple House, and that is why sometimes you find great finds there. But I don't think these are at all new. Boots and my sparkly shirt. Thought I would get the week off to a fashionable start. I'm trying to wear the things I don't commonly wear. Break the tee shirt + sweater + jeans + Chucks/Romeos rhythm I got going. Clothes clothes clothes.

Yoga Illustration for Fawn - 2 of 2

Commissioned illustration for Fawn Williams, Yoga Instructor.

Roughly 6"x4". Ink on top of graphite sketch with watercolor added for value. Used a photo of Fawn for reference.

Yoga Illustration for Fawn - 1 of 2

Commissioned illustration for Fawn Williams, Yoga Instructor.

Roughly 6"x4". Ink on top of graphite sketch. Used a photo of Fawn for reference.

sunday day

2am and right on Sunday night schedule.

Got up. Lounged around. Katie informed me she was sick sick sick. When I was close to her, I felt ill, but when I stepped away I got better. Proximity induced hypochondria. Thankfully she left.

I drew two illustrations for Fawn. Two yoga ones. One was black and white, and the other had some color. Based after some reference pictures of her. They ended up really good. I'll scan and post them tomorrow. Promise!

After a wee while I got around to my comic. Got it finished. It ended up looking rushed, even though it wasn't. It really needs a wash of some sort, but I didn't want to add a wash because I might screenprint a few copies for the family. But now it looks incomplete. Some of the stuff feels like it is hard to separate. Anyway, yeah. Doesn't look like much. Oh well.

Watched Strange Days. A Kathryn Bigelow directed film. Very intense but awesome. Mace was one badass chick. Some good action there. Ralph Fiennes and Angela Bassett are cool.

Productive day but not my best work.

Ran out of food again. Need to get pasta sauce. And toast.

This is a cool website for movie posters: www.wrongsideoftheart.com

pizza, hot wings, and movie. the life.

I'm starting to think these long weekends are not such a good idea. It's impossible to just get the drive to pick up the pencil. Once I get the drawing in my lap, I just get started and I'm off. Just have to get to that point. Thankfully, I have enough to do tomorrow that I won't doddle. Have the Yoga ad to do (did I mention that was paid?) and the comic (just black and white, moreso just big and not detailed) and the ever present response. Tuesday? Nothing. Wednesday? Also nothing. Thursday? Phase two. So between now and the end of the week, just one major homework piece to work on. The work load is good right now.

Jay came over for a late afternoon hang out. We split halvsies on pizza and hot wings from Bellagio's and put Science of Sleep into my computer and chilled out. It was fun. Even though she was allergic, Jay really liked Luna. Lots of purrs. From the cat. She left for homework.

And then suddenly it was time to go to bed.