improv???

Blissfilled wonderful sleep. Mornings free of panic and worry. Great feelings. But now I just realized how much I have to accomplish tomorrow. Oops oh well.

Had a breakfast of bagel and tea. Need to go shopping. Tomorrow. I'll do that tomorrow.

Rode down to the library to get a new library card since I can't find my old one. Did that. Went to Josephine's Dry Goods and bought some new buttons to sew onto my pea coat (a coat that has been in need of buttons for years). All though the coat is so old and worn and was cheap to begin with...but buttons will spruce it up!

After that I coasted to a couple other places looking for something but I forget what because I couldn't find it. Treated myself to a cupcake from Cupcake Jones. Uber big cupcake. Then went home.

Finished Clash of Kings. AHhhh that final chapter! I don't get it! What was that? Time to start listening to Storm of Swords.

Tonight, thanks to PNCA, I got a free ticket to see The Mitch Show at Bodyvox. I wasn't quite sure what it would be, because the description was sort of vague. Improv? Video? I knew there would be audience participation, and I was down for that. So I went there. Met Carrie and her sister Jenny. My seat was front row center pretty much. He showed us some of his funny videos, that were perfectly hilarious. Then he had us all stand up and one by one sit down if an answer to a series of his questions applied to us. I got out with "I updated my Facebook status today" but not the ones about checking email since you had been in the theater and knowingly eating gluten free. The first major audience participation thing I volunteered for. We were all given mp3 players and headphones and a beanie to keep them on. The players were started at the same time and gave each of the five volunteers stage directions and lines to say. It all synced up and we all played parts of this play, even though it was totally new to us. And I must say it was FUN. I just wish I could have watched us do it. I played a mutant chasing a gang of teenagers, a person doing the twist, some person trying to pull someone through a time vortex, a lady in 1812 and a gunslinger! It was awesome. Everyone on stage really hammed it up and went for it. I had a blast, and was sad that it finished. Technology has really revolutionized things. There was another thing where he made a guitar hero esque game except with laughing that we all played. So when our laugh came up, we did it. It made an interesting audience coordination. There was ALSO a bit where he lined up people in the formation of bowling pins, Mitchell Rose in the front. And well explaining this thing would take too much effort so I'm not going to bother. But it was great. His videos were awesome as well. Loved it. So glad I went.

It was rainy on the way back, but I'll take rain over snow. SNL was hosted by Dana Carvey for some reason and it was pretty funny. Linkin Park was the musical guest and they were not good.

Now I'm just chilling. I think I'm going to sit in bed, sew buttons on my jacket, and listen to Game of Thrones. I'll set my alarm and get a fresh early start or something. Have a lot of reading to do and some writing as well. All though it is 750 words and pfft, thats like...nothing. Also have some drawing to do. There is also this drop off for this Thing A Day show. The drop off is on the other side of the river, and I have to photocopy my project. It will make a nice excursion. When I cruise down to my studio to pick up some stuff, I'll just keep cruising to the East side. Maybe. I might just get lazy instead...

Todays Portrait Is: Elliot Mann.

panic receding, is it a tide or a drain though?

Uhg. Totally horrid start to that day. I just couldn't think about ANYTHING with my thesis. Totally blocked. Horribly, horribly, inexcusably, blocked. So I knew waking up that I would have to face Martin and say "I'm blocked. Help." Got up early anyway. Looked at some portrait books. Piddled around on the internet. Just got increasingly more anxious and tense and about ready to panic. Time moves forward and I had to go face my fate with Martin. I managed to keep it together through it all, no tears! I just admitted I was stuck and he gave me some great advice. I pretty much lopped off the seven mantra for seven poster chunk of my thesis. Some of the core values of the mantras I am passionate about will remain in the body, but I won't be bound by that. Now my thesis is changing into studies of friends and the who and why. Still will be distributed, but it is more a presentation of my group and some of the bigger ideals. I really wish I had recorded what Martin said so I could listen to it again. His advice was perfect and the weight and panic lifted in such a short amount of time. Now I have some drawing that I am actually excited to do. Now I can spend time with people drawing them in a manner that I enjoy. Now I can do a thesis that I have passion for. When I started down this road, I did have the passion, but I didn't have a good idea of the images and lumping it all together. Now I have some freedom. It will still be folded up, but I think I'll have more free writing instead of analysis.

Just can't be bothered to do something I have no enthusiasm for, especially when it comes to art.

Yoga was cancelled, I think Fawn wasn't feeling too well. Went to Safeway and got myself a beer treat. A nice Ninkasi red ale in one of those slightly bigger than a pint bottles. And got some cash. Took that cash to the laundromat and changed it into quarters for laundry. Hurray.

Popped my laundry into the laundry machines. Two loads! A lot of shirts needed washing. Popped open my beer, made some pasta, and allowed myself to unwind. Now that I'm in a good direction once again, I need a night to regroup so I can attack tomorrow with vigor and enthusiasm. Fringe was good. Community, watching it another time, was also good. Now I'm waiting on Portlandia. But it should also be funny.

Todays Portrait Is: Nicci Spisak.

heat is needed

I'm not feeling too hot but I just drank a bunch of black tea so going to bed isn't an option. Damn. The problem with the studios at school is that every minute you spend in them feels like another minute closer to never being warm again in your life. There are overhead heaters in the open space that is used for critiques. But that doesn't do diddly for all the spaces. It is so FREAKING HORRIBLY COLD. I sit there trying to work and I have all my layers on. It seems almost warmer outside. I need to get a space heater. Maybe tomorrow I'll go over to Fred Meyers and check out their wares.

For the first hour of class we looked at our assignments. Some really great stuff was drawn. Mine was cool just not all that dynamic. I could have worked harder on it, but didn't. Josh's looked swell. Dom resolved the translation from the sketchbook image to the final really well. Nice batch of work. After that Kristin gave us a little run down about how to talk with clients and stuff.

For lunch I went to Chipotle. First lunch bought this semester, go me! Normally I'm lazy and buy lunch once to twice a week. Oh wait, I think I got pizza some other day. Err. Anyway. Back in class we talked about the website blog project we are working on. Mine is Portraitoday so I didn't really have much to offer, since I'm already on track and have the site set up and all that. It is good to be ahead on a couple things (blogging mostly) so I don't have to worry about adding another thing to my schedule that has been in my schedule for three and a half years now.

The next assignment was given. It is to do a piece for a themed blog and submit it. There is this site where people draw recipes called They Draw And Cook, and I'm going to do that one with Brynne's chili recipe! So I'll be drawing the recipe and submitting it to the site. There are other submission based things, but naaah. I'm just going with the first hunch. And I got some good sketches done. So I think this one I'll really spend time on, as I'm excited about it.

After class I froze in my studio. Checked out some books on portraiture. Took a nap. Stared at my notes trying to make some sense of thesis. I didn't think I'd be blocked like this. It SUCKS. I have a much needed meeting with Martin tomorrow. I don't know what to expect. A scolding? Maybe in the next ten minutes I'll have a breakthrough. I think I'll sit in bed and draw. Because in bed, it is warm.

Oh totally forgot to mention yoga. It was tough. Really strained my legs. We were extending in downwards facing dog the length of the mat and I'm short so I couldn't hold myself up and I flopped on the ground. Thankfully it wasn't a BIG drop. Got right into position and resumed. It felt so good though. I'm so glad yoga is back in my life. I've missed it so much. And it warmed my frozen body right up.

Todays Portrait Is: Travis Brainerd.

back in the studio

Slept in more than I intended to. It is so hard to face a long day of work. Shouldn't feel like work. But I think it is because it isn't drawings or stuff I'm doing with confidence. It is the nitty gritty. Anyway, got up. Got my stuff together. Packed a lunch of a sandwich, apple, meringues, and almonds. I put on many layers, planning to not need them. But the studio remained horribly cold all damn day. I was in shirt, light sweater, hoodie, and jacket pretty much non stop. Sometimes I had my scarf on. Listened to a lot of Clash of Kings. I'm now two thirds of the way through it just about. It is so good! So scandalous and magical and awesome. The first half of the first book is set up, and it has been non stop pay off ever since.

Worked on the text for my poster. Worked on finalizing a type face based on my hand writing. It was just a lot of careful lettering, but I've settled on my letters now. So that is good. Not sure how they will work on a bold scale. But I can always work on them and make them bold. Still not sure what I will say in the essay. Had a nice talk with Dom about thesis stuff. He is a rad dude to bounce ideas off of. Anyway. Worked on my letters. Then I read a bit from the Turabian book of technical things for thesis. Printed out the paper I have to read. Went to Safeway and picked up some food stores to leave in the studio for snack emergencies (pop tarts and propel and snickers). It is good to have food on hand. Worked on my stuff for Illustration. Didn't have references on hand for the rest of it. So I went home. To finally get warm.

I watched pretty much all of Downtown Abbey tonight. Thankfully I wrote most of this post at around 10pm, so now that it is 3am I won't be exhaustedly hammering out my days stuff. Downtown Abbey is FANTASTIC! Period drama. Great cast. Great costumes. Ahhh perfect show to watch while I draw stuff and ink stuff and otherwise do stuff that seems to take longer than it should. This piece looks so awkward. Totally not senior level stuff. Don't know whats up with that. I'm probably just tired.

Todays Portrait Is: Josh Ramp.

ooo eee ooo ah ahh ting tang walla walla bing bang

Things take longer than you anticipate them to.

In student council yoga three times a week was approved. Yay! Now I have another thing to structure my week, and more fitness in my regimen. I'm running low on food again. Need to go shopping. I'm pretty much just in pasta mode right now. Bah. Pasta and bagels. After student council I put up the shelves in my studio. It took a little longer than I was expecting but they look great. Now I have a place for books and other things. I can't put too much on them, as they are just screwed into the studio walls. Still, it is good to have them. My studio looks so great. It's all colorful and stuff. I need to bring more layers down, because it gets randomly chilly. Just some shirts and a sweater or two. And a scarf. After the shelves I made the yoga poster for the Spring Semester. Drew the figure and then brought it into photoshop and actually added color. I figured that since it would be up all semester, I might as well put in the buck fifty that color copies cost. Not saying one costs that much, but about fifteen do. Put them up around school. They are so bright and eye catching. I think people are afraid of yoga, and what the fitness might imply. They should just get with it and do it!

After that I rode home to grab a snack. Didn't want to do yoga hungry. Returned. Put on my new Guggenheim shirt (courtesy of auntie Kirie and uncle Mark) and stretchy pants and got down to yoga. And boy am I out of it. Lots of struggle. I wonder how much I'll feel in the morning. Still, it felt good to get back into it.

Returned home. It is so easy to zip back and forth. I haven't timed it, but it certainly is less than four minutes to school and no more than six or seven back. Real quick. Spend almost more time waiting for cars on 21st and 14th than riding between the blocks. And occasionally I see a gorgeous car. But mostly there are dinky little Mazdas.

It was bright today but cold cold cold. Back to legging weather again I guess.

Worked on portraits while watching White Collar and Lights Out. If I'm going to do something unproductive like watching tellie, I might as well do something productive like draw. I'm getting faster with the portraits. Likenesses are still hit or miss. But it has only been a month. Can't imagine where I'll be in four!

Tomorrow is a sit in the studio and draw day. I have a lot of drawing that needs doing. But Wednesday is my most wide open day. No class and no yoga (which is T, Th, F). I have a lot of drawing though I don't quite know most of what I'm drawing. I'll just draw and listen to my precious audio book. Leave the computer and internet and distractions at home where they belong.

Thesis is difficult. Right now my mind is all "why didn't I think this project through a little bit better?" Oh well.

Todays Portrait Is: Becky Holladay. Bonus Portrait: Becky in color!

Yoga Poster: Spring 2011

Micron Pen.

Photoshop.

newakami

I hate it when I remember that I have to actually get up earlier that I thought and it is already late. Oh well. Getting to school by 11:30 am isn't that bad. Washed my hair, which is worth noting because I keep playing the "can I go another day without washing it?" game. Long hair sucks. And my hair is prone to tangles if I don't put goop in it. The henna kept it looking really nice for a while. Hmmn. Anyway. I got to school and put in my five entries for the Society of Illustrators student competition thingy. Then I worked on adding some color to tomorrows Portraitoday. There will be a bonus post! One month down, 11 to go and my list is almost full. If there is anyone that you would like me to draw, just say so.

Oh, I also hauled my Ikea shelves that I bought ages ago down to my studio, along with my power tools. Once I buy screws, I can put them up, and then I'll have even more storage space in my studio. Whoo!

I went back home after that little school excursion. Ate some scramble. The frozen veggie kind, not the meat kind. Had some tea. Worked on my writing analysis a little more. Not sure how I feel about it. Went to class.

Good ol class. For the first bit we did some free writing. And then we went to the library and pulled up Zotero. I struggled using the software. Also I need to find my library card. Or get a new one. So we tooled around on that. Zotero is a link keeping, bibliography making type thing. Then it was break time. I chilled with Robin and Mel and met this friend of Robin's named Kiki. Back in class Joan gave us a run down of different types of thesis papers. We also discussed the difficulty of "why". "Why is this important" "why is that" "why why why". I put forward my sort of thoughts about variant printmaking in regards to the standards of editions for a mind mapping experiment. So we discussed that. Then we moved on to a good discussion of Casey Brown's thesis essay. I put forward I think the most negatives. It was apparently a high pass paper. It did flow well. My negatives were mostly about it lacking definition and explanations for certain things. It did talk about sculpture in a very accessible way for a non sculptor.

Class ended. I rode to Powell's to pick up the writing manual that we are required to get. Also the new Ryu Murakami novel is out! Hurray! So I got the 6th edition of the manual and Popular Hits of the Showa Era. So excited! I love Murakami. Author of Piercing, not Wind Up Bird Chronicles. That is Haruki Murakami. Anyway. From Powell's I went to Ace Hardware and bought some screws. Returned home finally. Ate some dinner. Worked on some stuff. Watched Lie To Me. I think I'm done with that show (all though I think it just had its season finale). There isn't a larger plot. Just Tim Roth being awesome.

Anyway, I think I'll tuck in to bed early and read my new book that I have been very excited about for months ever since I learned a new Murakami book was due in 2011.

Todays Portrait Is: Janessa Bork.

crafters and artists, why is it one or the other?

Got out of bed early. Showered. Had some breakfast. Then I scooted off to downtown to have a mid afternoon hang out with Rollyn. It's good to relax for a bit before getting down to the serious dreary rest of the day grind. We couldn't get Portlandia to work on his computer because he didn't have the proper codecs. His Internet was dial up slow so I couldn't fiddle with it to get the proper codecs. So we watched MST3K: Soul Taker instead. And ordered pizza. That is my ideal Sunday afternoon. Cheesy movies, food with cheese, and a cute boy. Yes indeed. He had a script read through for a short film he is in, so I didn't stay long. Which is good. Because I had important stuff to get to doing!

It is also nice to get extra bike rides whenever possible. I'm biking a lot less these days and I think I'm noticing how I am falling out of shape compared to the days when I biked to school five or so times a week.

Stopped by Utrecht and got some more little sketchbooks to do Portraitoday in. Also Microns were cheap, so I got some more. Microns are cheap pens that work well with the type of moleskins that I draw in. I love how artists find their "thing" their "mediums". Mine, for sketching, are microns in size 01 and the floppy moleskins that come in 3 packs. They have a good line width and are not super precious, so if it explodes (like when I shake it to get the ink into the felt tip and I shake it too much) or if the nib breaks or goes into the pen...no biggie.

Got home. Got the latest episode of Top Gear downloading. Since that would take a while, I put on the kettle and got to reading the thesis paper Joan assigned us. It is an interesting read and it relates a lot to my project on several levels. It is about the craftsman and the artist and the differences. My main problem is he (Casey Brown, the writer) doesn't establish a definition for either. Are you a craftsman because you employee craftsman techniques? Or are you a craftsman because you make craft. Is it the technique or the product. At one point it seems to be the product because he talks about for something to be craft it has to serve the function first before aesthetics, and then he talks about this artist who identifies as a craftsman and uses the techniques but doesn't make objects that serve a functional purpose. And that seems more aligned with how Casey Brown is talking about the artist.

For me, craftsman are just a subjection of artist. Dad is an artist whose section of artistry is craft, mom is an artist whose section of artistry is textiles (as well as drawing and all sorts of things). I'm taking a little reading break right now and typing this up. I like blogging in chunks through the day. It makes it so I can relate stuff fresh on my mind better, and it helps me not stay up late with blogging. I hate making stunted posts because it is 2am and I am tired, but I still want to post. Anyway, back to reading.

*****

Okay that essay never quite established a definition of craft and art. It's good to know that if I'm talking about an either or type thing, I need to define the either and the or. If something isn't both and only plays between things, the things it plays between need clear definitions. Had some pasta for dinner and a beer with it. The beer actually helped with the reading. Nursed that sucker as I turned page after page. Removed the "WHAT DOES THIS SENTENCE MEAN WHY CAN'T I GET PAST READING THESE SAME 12 WORDS" anxiety that plagues me when it comes to "intellectual" reading. Getting through it is the first step to understanding. Worked on portraits and watched my Sunday night round up. I'll probably be up late. Have a little mini analysis to write. 750 words. This single blog post is over 700 words. And half of that is just about what I ate and who I hung out with. Anyway, back to watching Top Gear and working on drawing.

Todays Portrait Is: Addie Vawdrey.

questions

One thing I am pretty stumped on when it comes to thesis are the sheer amount of questions to consider. I was a little unprepared for this. So for the sake of any non thesis person reading this, or for my family who wonders what I mean when I write "well I sat around and thought a lot", here is an insight into the questions that thesis brings:

general questions:

-what is the work that you want your work to do in the world?

-how will your work do that work?

-what are the questions that you are asking of the work, the research, and the writing?

-how would you describe your area of inquiry and how you are carving it out?

-what is at stake in how you are arranging, thinking about, disturbing and/or aligning your position with the research that you have done thus far?

-how has history, the art world, and/or art history framed these issues that are before you?

-how will your unique framing of these issues contribute to the discourse of art, art history, media studies, etc?

-what agency do you attribute to your role as maker? to your work? to the role of the viewer, the spectator, the visitor or the public, (or publics)?

-how are you thinking about the idea of where meaning is made? does it reside in the object that is made? the makers intention? with the viewer or public (or publics)?

-as I think about locating my practice as an artist, this is how I might situated my work relative to the work of others (historically and in the present):

-as I locate my own writing (the function, form, and style of the thesis paper), I would like to locate that writing relative to the following types and/or examples of writing:

-as I think about career choices I would like to locate my practice, and the development of my career, in the following way(s):

Yikes, right? I have some thesis specific questions too, but those are more personal conversations between Martin and I.