can't spell fine art without fart

Horrible day in terms of productivity. I got a rough outline done, which is good but not exactly a comprehensive in depth thing. And I worked on this mock grant proposal, which is just another tool to get us to look at our thesis from a 1,000 feet view. But mostly I wasted time doing stuff I can't even remember. I slept in. Did laundry. Ate food. But in general, not good. Really bad.

I think I'll take an early night and tomorrow I'll go somewhere without wifi, or maybe just a coffee shop and not ask for the wifi code, and work. Headphones and microsoft word. No distractions. This rough draft will mostly be my own nonresearched knowledge and ideas. Once I get that done, I will know how to research it and what I need to research. Go all "okay these are my claims, how do I back them up?" I have a lot of topics that I can think and talk about I think....I just need to be in a good work environment. I guess the studio also works, just so long as I AVOID THE INTERNET.

But at least I have clean pillow cases. And clean yoga clothes. Hmm. Bubble tea tomorrow will be nice. It will also be a preemptive reward/incentive. I'll get something nice while I work. Three undistracted hours are worth like nine distractive hours.

Todays Portrait Is: Kinoko Evans.

print exchange!

Even though my alarm went off at 8, I slept in a whole bunch. Still, getting an early start is good. I had one of those bizarre mornings where I wake up at 5am and am not aware of the time and start doing stuff, and then I realize it is way too early, so I crawl back into bed. Ya know?

Anyway, eventually got up and had a scramble and some Emergen-C. Then I went to Coffee Time and drew the people there for an hour and a half. Had a large hot chocolate. Mmm. It wasn't the best of drawings, but it was a start. Ran into Carlson on the way out. If the weather wasn't so icky, I would have stopped and talked to him more. Went home and changed into wellies, as it was raining and icky. Went to school. Had a fabulous meeting with Martin. He liked the work and liked the direction I was going. By next week I should have some final designs of the posters ready to show him. Just to know how it looks like before I print it. So another week of drawing drawing drawing and some designing. Hurray! We have a mid term meeting with people soon. So I need to have a few posters made by the 7th or 8th or whatever. It shouldn't take more than a day to print one poster anyway.

After that I looked at my new Esquire and noticed that this reader letter was suspiciously similar to this letter that Karen said she submitted. Except it was by Kara in Kansas City. Turns out Karen wrote in under a pseudonym. It was her letter! Karen was published in Esquire! And it took up half a page! How awesome is that?

Yoga was relaxing and rejuvenating. It was a bit tough because my tail bone was so badly bruised from yesterday's tumble. But it was nice. Went home. Threw on a dress. Zipper was funky. Threw on another dress. Did my makeup. Karen called me and I hopped in her car. She cruised by her place and picked up Phil. We stopped by Safeway and Phil got booze (just a six pack). Then it was off to the print exchange!

The exchange was 46 prints strong. It was held at Christy's house. A very nice house designed for printing (upstairs) and hosting (lots of open space and tables and general great mingling atmosphere). We were a little late, but not so late that there wasn't food a plenty. Heather, Daniel, Heather, Christy, Yoshi, Tom, Patrick, Diana, Chelsey, Robin, Casey, Morgan, Morgan, Jalissa, Justin, Justin, Lacey, ...uhhmm. Anyway, tons of people were there. The whose who of the print department. And boy do they bring the booze. I stuck to a nice amount of gin. Chatted to people, ate delicious food. I didn't bring any because I am lame. We piled the prints so that we would all get the same number out of the edition. I drew #19 out of a hat. I roamed and chatted and had great conversations with tons of cool people. I forgot my camera, but Yoshi was a shutterbug so there are pictures somewhere. I had one of my Goodwill Bins dresses and some tights. Looked good. Fancy. There was a cat named Leche who was irritable and unpettable.

It was a bit of an early night, Karen took Lacey and I home. Got back at around 10 or so. Not a late party. I walked to Fred Meyer's to get some beer. Good old beer. I also needed to get ten bucks to pay for the box that the print portfolio will go into.

So now I'm drinking beer and watching Fringe. I'll probably call it an early night. Tomorrow and the day after are thesis paper writing days. Gaaah.

Todays Portrait Is: Annie Heisey.

ow my butt

I tripped over my laundry basket and grabbed my chair to prevent my fall. Too bad a wheely chair on wood floors does nothing to stop a fall. Now my butt hurts. Bleh.

Got up an hour early to finish my illustration piece. It just needed some final color and some texture. Did that. Had some toast and tea before I left for school. Got to class right on time. For the first chunk of class we played around making websites using Virb. Very little of my art looks properly nice online. I do such a poor job of documenting it. That is the benefit of digital art, it always is crisp. Hmmn. Anyway. We did that. Madeline and I got burritos for lunch. I think Chipotle are making them smaller than they did. They don't seem quite as filling as they once did.

Back in class we reviewed our projects. We got our new prompt. And then it was work time. The next assignment is wine label design. In front of the back row's eyes Chase whipped out an amazing digital illustration just like that. He sure is good at his monsters and digital art. Kid is a whiz.

After class I looked up the address to Arvey Paper and rode my bike over to the other side. Then it turns out the directions were all wrong and I was about 15 blocks north from where I needed to be. Going down traffic on crappy sidewalks isn't fun. But I got there. My thesis will be 11"x17". Because it is an intimate size, and it is easier to print, and easier to buy in bulk than single sheets. Hahaha. Anyway, I could either order one thousand sheets and pay around a hundred dollars (because I'd be buying reems and then paying for shipping) or buy a box of reems which contained two thousand sheets, wouldn't have shipping, and it would cost $130. I went for that. Now I can go for broke on the thesis. I'll be printing a "distributing" edition and a "collection" edition. So there will be one set of prints that are designed to be given away in a whole batch of thesis prints. For the parents and people. Yeah! Just need to start printing, now that I've figured out what I'm going to put on the other side of my poster. Just draw draw draw and print print print. Once I have my paper, I can just go full on. I'm so excited. Tomorrow I have a meeting with Martin and I feel really good about it.

But I did not feel good about riding my bike through icky traffic and across bad roads. But it wasn't that bad. Crossing over Broadway is easy, and it sets you down right in the Pearl District close to school. I finished my burrito. Talked to Jon. Then I went to the library and took a nap. I woke up right on time for yoga. Which passed by very fast.

Out of yoga I tracked down Mel and spent a couple hours tailing her and drawing her. Drew her screenprinting. Drew her eating pizza. Hot Lips was closing and they gave us free pizza! Huzzah! And I drew her screenprinting some more. Talked to people about my project. Was all "we should hang out!" to Carla and Heather. Three friends drawn! And if I draw three interiors then that is practically three posters done! Whoop whoop!

Got home 10:30ish. Downloaded my tellie. Drank some water. Fell on my bum. Now I shall retire. I'm setting my alarm for 8am. Trying to slowly get myself up earlier. Normally I hit the snooze on a 9am alarm a bunch of times. Setting it to 8 gets me awake earlier and even if I snooze a bunch, I'll be starting my snoozing earlier. Tomorrow is a full day. Going to draw some interiors. Talk to Martin. Go to yoga. Go to the print exchange.

Listening to Jamiroquai's A Funk Odyssey right now. Makes for nice background music.

Todays Portrait Is: Kristin Rogers Brown.

Aunt Brynne's Chili

16.667"x6.75"

Pencil and pen with digital color.

Drawn for TheyDrawAndCook.com

buddying up

The weather sucked and I stuck around in bed for a long long time. Rain and rain and rain. I like the morning. I just lay about and think. But then I have to get up. Boo. Had a scramble with frozen rice and veggies. I should get a straight up frozen veggie medley to throw in scrambled eggs. Rice is such a filler. Followed that up with some nutella and toast. Then I headed to my studio. Worked on finishing up my chili recipe. Inked it and did some pencil shading. Then went to the library and scanned it. Threw in some digital color. Before I knew it, it was time to head to Goose Hollow to see Robin. Tonight she was my drawing subject. She made me a wonderful dinner and I drew her as we ate and talked and drank copious amounts of tea. We walked to Safeway and got some cake and watched Glee. It was a really nice evening. Just hanging with a friend, talking progress and relationships and gabbing about this and that. Got some great drawing done. Really understanding my practice more. And last night I figured out what I'm putting on the back of my posters. On one side will be portraiture of friends drawn from meetings and chattings. On the other side will be anonymous group drawings. Malls and coffee shops. Anonymous depictions will unfold to personal ones. Lovely. I can't wait to just go places and draw draw draw and listen to my audio book copiously. I need to order my paper though. But I'm building up a good stock of images.

Left Robin at midnight. Now I'm going to finish watching Justified and go to bed.

Todays Portrait Is: Serenity Ibsen.

Editioning, Drawing, Yogaing

At 9ish, I was awake in bed thinking that I was so awake that I might as well get up. But then I went back to sleep. Damniiit.

Had my breakfast. And a salad. Went to my studio. Took a long while to title, edition (that is, to write the x/50 on every print...1/50 45/50 and so on), and sign all my print portfolio prints. But that is done! And in a few days time, I will have 48 or so prints from a brilliant crop of artists. Huzzah! After that I worked on the illustrated recipe. Got it mostly inked it. Tomorrow I will shade and scan and color and finish it. I'm meeting Robin later tomorrow to draw her, so I will have to get an early start on the art. Yay productivity! Yay not waiting till the last minute.

Last minute waiting exception: thesis paper. Saturday and Sunday I will work hard core on that. Right now, it is art time. Drawing and scheduling and yoga. Yoga was good. A nice full class. Lots of hip work.

At home I worked on some more portraits. I am almost a week ahead now! So I can relax during the next couple days....and work on real stuff. But now that I officially "draw portraits while watching tellie" I'm just going right through them. And I'm generally more pleased with them across the board. The ink and brush works a lot better than pen. Raising Hope was nice. Glee was funny. Lights Out is good but it is kind of getting into a lull. So funny how bad the actress is at covering up her accent. Why not just make the character Irish?

I need to order my paper for thesis.

Todays Portrait Is: Megan Fix.

red day

Another school week starts. I wonder how many blog posts have started with "another week starts". Probably a ton.

Had my scramble. Used a little less beef than usual and more onion. I bought the wrong kind of onion, so these ones don't dice into little pieces and more so stay in bigger bits. Still good though. Really got a liking for onion now. Had a big cup of tea as well, to get me stirring. Worked on my thought web. Basically it was a mind mapping and inter connectivity of our thesis paper and we were to put them on the board and get feed back in class. So I worked on that.

Then I grabbed an apple and went to class. James J. put his up and for some reason my eyes couldn't focus on his hand writing. He is doing some complex vision spiritual painting type stuff. There are tons of directions for him to go. I went next. I got some good feedback, mainly on the "don't cheapen my artwork" front and the "what it means to be drawn" side of things. Jen and Dom and Nico went. All were good. It was a fast paced fun class. Though this coming week will be chock full of outlines and writing. I actually start writing the damn paper this week. First draft is due in week. 10 pages. It will probably mostly be the artist side of things, as I don't have the research yet. But I can figure it out. I'm not too worried. If I have a good comprehensive outline, I can write. Outlines are key.

After class I swung by Safeway and got some food. Then I headed over to Rollyn's. It was rainy and sucky. Bleh. I mainly got the food for myself, because he had eaten and I know he doesn't have any food in his apartment. It is the most sparse fridge I've ever seen. And kitchen in general. But anyway. I ate and we watched the Rifftrax version of 300. Rifftrax is from the people who did Mystery Science Theater 3000. Basically they do funny audio tracks that accompany movies that you own at home. It's silly. I gave him this Bob Dylan valentine that I drew (he is a big Dylan fan). It was a nice relaxing evening. It wasn't raining on my ride back.

I have plans to draw Mel and Robin later on this week. Tomorrow I think I'll label my print portfolio edition and work on shading my piece for illustration. So a studio day. And then yoga of course. And some reading.

Todays Portrait Is: Rollyn Stafford.

beggar & trobrianders

I'm reading The Gift (it is 3:47 as I write this first chunk of blog post) and it is stirring a lot of thoughts. One of them is how linguistically, words that are in fantasy books shouldn't be in them because the world lacks the origins that the word we use has. Such as "beggar", which comes from the Beghards, that are these 13th century friars from Flanders that wander and beg. Fantasy novels that have no Beghards because there is no Flanders should not use the word beggar, because the origin of that word doesn't exist. Still, to pick apart every word would be time consuming. I think if I wasn't studying art, I'd be studying linguistics.

Went to Trader Joe's. Got vegetables a plenty. And baby spinach so that I can spruce up my salads even more. Tons of apples. Bread. Egg. Meat. Yum. I have a new episode of Top Gear waiting to be watching, but BACK TO READING!

*****

Reading went pretty well. Went down to the studios to draw Dominic for thesis. It went really well. We pretty much just sat and chilled. He worked. I drew him. Nice and loose. Smaller images, and he didn't hold still. They turned out a lot better. Four images drawn. Didn't take that long. And if I work on enough of these, I can create a good body of art. Just need to draw draw draw hang out draw. I love that part of my thesis is hanging out with people. All part of the process. And the more I know about my process, the more I can speak about it. So happy that that went well. Also had a good conversation with mom that lifted my spirits and stresses. Mum is so supportive. Love her.

After that I returned home and caved and watched Top Gear. And Episodes. And Shameless. But I worked on portraits! So after Shameless, it will be back to reading. And I have a lot of stuff to do tomorrow morning before class, so I think I will try to accomplish waking up early tomorrow. Make myself a scramble. I love scrambles.

Really loving the next two portraits that I made. I think I need to avoid pen. Ink is where its at.

Todays Portrait Is: Michael Anderson.