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Saturday, March 6, 2010

Stephen Fry 3 - Host



Stephen Fry final for Illustration Fall 09. Stage Three: Host.

Black, sepia, and gold ink on paper.

the metalheads return

Ahh Friday. Sweet, blessed Friday.

You betcha I slept in.
You betcha I ate lasagna.
You betcha I watched Six Feet Under.

I also started sketching out some preliminary ideas for Odd Owl. Just some owls and this lady. Nothing major. Took a bath. Read the Esquire article about Ebert. Got really sad about the article.

At 9ish, Katie and I headed towards Burnside. We knocked on Mel's window. Katie went to The Matador to get a table and I waited with Mel while she got some boots on. A night for a couple drinks with pals. Pals being Katie's high school friend Jeff, Leah, and Leah's Texas friends and metalhead roommates who were at Karen's party. Had some drinks, a lot fewer drinks than the metalheads who were swirling hair about and going "YEEEAHHH". The art students on our end of the table chatted, I don't know what those guys were talking about. I drew on a napkin, Mel joined. Gossiped a little bit. It was fun. Mel and I bounced after Matador though. It was midnight and didn't want to leave all the apartment cleaning to Melissa.

Tomorrow I shall print up a storm! My goal is two colors. Ideal would be three.

Friday, March 5, 2010

blaaah

Had a good ink day in class. We mostly played with scale on the page. The last drawing(s) was/were to draw multiple figures together so they would recede into space and all that. I drew all 16 poses in one composition. Looked pretty awesome.

Critique in illustrated lasted from 11am to about 4pm! Ahh so long. Spent a good amount of time on every piece. Had some great discussion about intent and place in the market and how things work as a portfolio. My critique went decent. Not too bad, not like "oh wow this is amazing". It worked and that was enough. Nothing really failed in class, and there were some dynamic images (Josh and Janessa have great use of color). It was long. Martin bought us milk and cookies. Don't know what else to say. Very draining.

Ate my lasagna for lunch. Sat with JP. There was karaoke in the commons. Wayne Bund killed it as Tina Turner.

Then I talked nerdy with Dominic and Kim and Michaela.

Long long critique.

Next project is Odd Owl for Carmen. I'm really excited for that. That is something that will be more art and composition focus.

Went home. Just sort of crashed for the rest of the day. There was more karaoke at Chopsticks but I didn't feel like biking to 27th and Burnside. I hate crossing on Burnside. Have to do some screenprinting and reading this weekend but that seems about it. Back to sketching for Illustration, a break for Figure assignment (my piece got on the wall and Martin complimented it). Yeah. That will be nice. I love printing so it doesn't feel like homework really.

Today is First Thursday. Can't be bothered.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Stephen Fry 2 - College & Actor



Stephen Fry final for Illustration Fall 09. Stage Two: College and Actor.

Black, sepia, and gold ink on paper.

Stephen Fry 1 - Youth



Stephen Fry final for Illustration Fall 09. Stage One: Youth.

Black, sepia, and gold ink on paper.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

miss understanding

Great news! I didn't fall asleep during class!

Sucky news was there was a major misunderstanding based on things I saw and said and what really happened and I admitted my mistake and made amends but it still sort of sucked and put a damper on the day. Don't want to go into details because now is the time to work past it but argh.

Looked at folk/craft art slides. Tabitha talked about some painters and this lady who hauled stumps from the rain forest to call attention to climate destruction and all that (never mind the amount of damage she did removing the stumps and transporting them to London).

Flipped through Sight & Sound during lunch. Apparently Touching the Void, the rock climbing video we watched in class a few weeks ago, is one of their top 30 films of the decade. Cool.

Joey did a piece where he had a cell phone photo of this url he found, a projection of this video of a guy chugging a 40 (that was what the url linked to, it was filmed at the spot where the url was inscribed) and a map quest shot of the area. We had a long discussion about relics and documentation and how watching the five minute video made us sick because he just chugged and coughed...uhhg.

My critique went decent enough. The main complaint was that there were not enough positive cards to assign to the places, and that 8 different opinion cards was not enough. I said that if there were more, people would still be limited to what they had in their hands. We played the rounds and talked about it through the rounds and how while some places get this majority opinion there are still the minor opinions that exist. "Stereotyped" came third for most of the places but never won. Northwest Industrial is for sure destitute, North Portland is naturalistic. Still, not bad for a theory and practice critique. And it was fun because we all sat on the floor and played.

Then we took a break and rescheduled to meet at the Portland Art Museum at 3pm. Hurray for biking within blocks of my apartment, only to head back for yoga!

We had open reign to check out the contemporary art (which has a lot of landscape and western things) and the current "Disquieted" show. Kirsten(not Kristen) and I wandered together and had many discussions about the pieces. She is a good art viewing buddy. Enough opinions to have a discussion, not enough difference to squabble. Just how I like it. Daniel extended our time to 4:30 so we really got a chance to look at the pieces. Disquieted had some good singular pieces, but as a whole it seemed a little all over the place. The artists selected all had the same theme, sure, but just because they have something in common doesn't mean they work as a wandering through it all whole. Saw a Longo and a Murakami and all that. Lovely art.

Then it was zip zoom back to school. Yoga had a lot of stretches, which was nice, and some different toss ups on the familiar poses. It went really fast.

I was starving but I really wanted to make lasagna anyway, so I picked up some cheese and noodles and sauce. Costs a lot to get four pounds of cheese, but when a single lasagna will last probably to Sunday, that is a good deal. It also prevents me from buying lunches which cost 5-7 bucks each time. Damn you over priced pearl!

Zip zoom back home. Simmered that sauce. Boiled those noodles. Mixed the cheeses. Spread the sauce and then noodles and then cheese and then sauce and then noodles and then cheese and then sauce and then noodles and then a final cheese sauce layer. Got some foil from Robin, popped that sucker in for thirty minutes at 375. Removed foil and cooked for another 10. Let cool for 10 more. Cut a piece for Robin in thanks for the foil. Then dished myself a massive serving and it was SO GOOD! So worth the wait. It cooked perfectly. Had another serving but I only consumed half of it.

Great way to end a wonky day.

Trill by Acey

In class illustration of Trillian done by Acey Thompson.

mix and match

The critique on our figure pieces went really well. Kevin and Jenna had some great uses of wash. We just went around and talked, nothing too heavy. It was Camara's birthday so we gave her a group hug and sung her happy birthday. Then we drew Nicole for the rest of class, just one pose.

Silk screen was a combination work/helping Anthea print/slide show. First chunk was open work time. I exposed my Homeland assignment onto my screen. For lunch I rode up to 22nd and Raleigh. I just had a craving for fish & chips and knew the Frying Scotsman would satisfy. I fished out all my dollars and the majority of my change and bought the haddock and chips. Chatted with the chef before scooting the 17 blocks back to school. Soooo good. I need to make the trip more often. Perfectly made. Battered just right. Ah. Worth the trip.

Christy showed us this great slide show about these printmakers in Brazil who do a lot of wheat pasting of posters. They go around the world and work and put things up, they even redid Durer's Rhinoceros print to scale and posted it. Really epic piece.

Then work time! In between printed layers of my Homeland piece, I went to JP and got my illustration stuff all printed out. Like a champ. Go me! My cards look okay. Not perfect. I helped Anthea load paper and pull prints. I messed up a couple, my fingers didn't feel like working properly. I dunno. The book covers look great in their final format. As pieces, not so much. I'm excited to play the card game. I got my screen ready for the first color of my poster. This is the celery piece. I think I have mentioned it. Just worked and worked.

At around 5:15 I went to chill with Karen in the studios. Helped her put up a curtain. Chatted with BT. Anthea was having a beer at Deschutes Brewery so we joined her. Well, we thought she was leaving from school at 7pm but turns out she was there. No biggie. We had a good chat about postering and punks and art thriving with corporations. I had a chicken almond salad. I can't wait to eat the left overs. Karen purchased a pitcher of Black Butter Porter.

Episode of Six Feet Under. Episode of Lost. Another Six Feet Under. Blog. Sleep.

Monday, March 1, 2010

otherwise, things are good

Slept in till 11am. Had some oatmeal, bacon, and tea. Got all dolled up. Rode into school at noonish and parked it at a computer in the library. Worked for three and a half hours, listened to music, and got my digital work done! The pieces came together really easily. I did the face book jacket first and then copy and pasted the text and background into the second one. All I had to do was color the icons in, and that took no time at all. I don't know how I feel about the boxes though, but I'm happy with it right now.

Feels good to be ahead on everything. Yoga was good. Struggled with the lunges. Went home. Watched some QL. Wrote out the rest of my cards. I'll be in bed before 11:30pm tonight. Feels good.

Just have to print the cards and print the illustration stuff. I also have some other illustration book keeping to do, but that can wait till Wednesday. It isn't anything majorly major.

My next illustration is some band for Carmen's band Odd Owl. I am very excited for that.

I was shifting my jade plant around and it broke in half in the glass. I put it in more shallow water but bit by bit I am sure I am loosing it. Not good.

Tristram Shandy Book Layouts



Book jacket designs for The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne.
The space to the left and ride will fold over.
15"x7.25". Photoshop with brush & ink and pen drawings.

four day weekend!

I had a super productive day! Thankfully I didn't find out Existentialwhatever was canceled till late in the day. Had I known I could sleep it, I might not have been as productive. As is I got to a really good place with my piece for the figure. It needs a little something extra, I just don't know what. But I dig it. Sorta. Not really that complex of an image but oh well.

Watched Go on Netflix. I'm really into movies that take place over a single night. It was a little better than good but not all that great. Nothing I'd write home about (even though this blog is technically me writing home about all that I do). Also watched a few more episodes of Quantum Leap on Hulu and Being Human on Megavideo. Loving Quantum Leap so much. Sad Hulu only has about three seasons of it, still plenty of good watching to be had while working on art, which is what I do while watching tons of stuff.

Also got a good chunk of the art done for Homeland. All the place name cards are done, and the borders and back side of the cards. I'm doing a cardgame, didn't I say? I'm going to screenprint the cards to make them all uniform. So all I need to have ready by Tuesday is the designs to put on my screen, and I am halfway done with that. AND the drawing for Figure. So tomorrow will be sleeping in, again, going to school on my own time and working on digital stuff and then yogaing it up, and then coming home and working on homeland. Yay for being totally on top of things!

Sunday, February 28, 2010

baby!

At least on days where I dominantly do two things, I don't have to write much when it gets late.

I went to Starbucks (closest coffee shop) at around 2 to focus on reading. I didn't want to get distracted or doze off at home. I was there for about three hours and only got through about 40 pages of Sometimes a Great Notion. I hate being such a slow reader! It is a good book thus far, the words just take forever to get through.

Went home. Ate some food. Started sketching for the Figure piece. I've spent the majority of my time thinking about it, and the minority actually doing it. So now I am doing it. And I am pretty happy with the progress. Relatively simply scene. Just people in a subway. I'm sketching it and filling in the detail with pen as I go. I don't know how I will finish it up.

Watched Quantum Leap on Hulu while working. How come Al was late so much when it was time travel? He doesn't have to be on time when it comes to going back in time.

Thankfully I know exactly what I will do for my Homeland art project. Now I just need to find time to do my illustration piece. Need to have that sucker printed out Wednesday morning, because otherwise I run out of time to do it after that. Lets see.

Tomorrow: finish drawing figure piece. Maybe not color it in, just add pen details. Read more.
Monday: Class. Digital work on illustration piece. Go home. Design piece for Homeland. Yoga!
Tuesday: Turn in figure piece. Screenprint homeland piece/start on poster project. Illustration piece possibly?
Wednesday: Print illustration piece. Homeland critique. Yoga!
Thursday: Turn in illustration piece. Be awesome.

Baby Elliot stopped by with his ma. Here are some photos: