hoot!

Friday:

Oh boy. I slept in till noon after staying up till 5AM! Got a lot of good writing done. And when I looked up the formatting, I realized that the left margin, because my thesis will be bound, is 1.5". And that brought my paper length to 17 pages. When I was editing it and putting all the chapters on their each page and inserting illustrations, it came to a plush 19 pages. Perfect.

My meeting with Martin went well. We went over a rough outline for my thesis defense. I talked a lot about my experience with Joan's class. It was a beautiful brilliant sunny warm day. But I still went to yoga. Nice and relaxing and held poses. Out of yoga I spent a good two hours editing my paper and whipping it into shape. Printed that sucker out and plopped it in Joan's box. Talked to Daniel a bit. Went home. Had some pasta.

I thought the Odd Owl show started at 8:30 so I left at 7:45 to get there in time. I had never ridden up to Alberta street before. Across Broadway and onto Williams was easy. But then it was a long 20 or so block ride with lots of false "OH is THIS Alberta?" turns. But after a pretty tiring slightly uphill journey, I got to Alberta. And then I got to Alberta Street Public House. No one I knew, or Odd Owl, were there. So I grabbed a pint and settled in. After about 20 minutes Carmen, Phil (of Odd Owl, not printmaker Phil), and their manager Eric came. Yay! Hugs all around. I moved to the venue side of the place (which was a nice hall with movable seating and good acoustics I think) and chatted to them as they brought stuff in. Molly, who went to the Eugene show with me and will be a PNCA MFA student, and her boyfriend Todd arrived. A good crew. The first band had some good little diddies, though I didn't catch their name.

A good crowd came. I think going in the middle of a three band lineup is very much the best. You get the people who linger after the first show and those who come from the last band. It is the peak time.

Odd Owl hit the stage and they were amazing! I snapped pictures using Molly's camera. I boogied. They played new work and old work. I exclaimed "The Way Home!" between some of their songs and they said they would get to it. And when they got to it they said "this one is for Trillian" which made me very happy. That is the song that I did the short animation for. I boogied a little bit. They get better every single time. Just the songs and how they play them and stage presence and general aura of it all. So wonderful! Had a really great night. Had a few beers as well.

After Odd Owl's set Phil and I sat and talked on the other side of the pub (there was one bar section where you get drinks and can sit at tables, and then in another sort of room is the venue hall). Carmen joined us. Pretty soon it was time to pack up because the place was closing. Option one was to hug and part ways and option two was to load my bike in Molly's pick up truck and hang with the five cool people at her place. I went with that option. After some shuffling of people between cars and dropping one off in a lockable studio place we arrived at Molly's place. We popped open a couple more beers and chatted into the late hours. Another option was presented to me: ride home at 4am or sleep on the floor on a mat and in a sleeping bag. I went the the latter.

Friday's Portrait is: Stephen Fry.

Saturday:

Woke up early because people were shuffling about. The sleeping bag was surprisingly cozy and the ground wasn't all that bad to sleep on. I guess I spend a lot of time getting comfy on mats in yoga. Molly made tea and Carmen had some scones. Believe me when I say these were the best scones in existence. Fantastic. We went for a walk and enjoyed a bit of the bright beautiful day. Stopped in at a book store. Molly lives on Broadway and 20th or so, which is hella convenient for me. At noon we said goodbye to the awesome Odd Owl. I must visit Carmen in San Fransisco this summer. Take a week. I think that would be greaaat.

It was a perfect ride back. Not too hot, not too cold. And sunny. The shower I had when I returned home was marvelous.

I decided to allow Saturday to be a chill day. Take a breather. I did go down to the studios to try and catch Eva, but she wasn't available to be drawn. So I conversed with Mel instead. Then I went back home and prettied myself up. Rollyn picked me up at about 6:20 and we drove out to Tigard. His friend Aaron, who is also a director he works with frequently, bar tends at this Mediterranean restaurant. We sat at the bar, I had a kabob, and chatted with Aaron and his assistant director Caroline and other folks. It was a nice night. There was also a belly dancer that performed. I gave Caroline one of my posters. It's always awesome to meet super nice people. Chatted movies and stuff. Rollyn was a bit tipsy still, so I drove us to the theater to see Hanna. His Honda Fit has very sensitive breaks, and it is a small car like the Prius. And the roads out in Tigard are like those in Poulsbo and Bremerton. That is to say easy driving. None of the complex downtown stuff. It was fun to be behind the wheel again.

Hanna was a much better movie that I was expecting it to me. The great actors didn't outshine the main one. The soundtrack, which is by The Chemical Brothers, set the mood in a very pensive building manner. It wasn't standard action music which really gave the movie a special feel. The colors of the film were crisp and beautiful. The shot layouts were well conceived. And there were some impressive long shots. It was just really well made. Not the most original of plots by a long shot, but because it was so well made I ended up enjoying it a lot. That is how you do an action movie. Rollyn invited me to be an extra on a film shoot tomorrow, but I passed. Time to get back to printing!

Saturday's Portrait is: Bill Bailey.

Tumblr is totally thesis

I'll make this quick, because I have to get back to paper writing.

Got up early. Hate that. In class we went over the sketches. Mine were not so impressive, but there were some cool things happening. I left my wallet at home so I biked home during lunch and grabbed it and then got a burrito. Sat in the sun and ate it. The rest of class was a work time. I didn't get that much work done though...

Went back home and worked on my paper for a few hours. Found out that Joan won't be collecting our papers till Saturday morning, so I have a bit of leeway in the deadline. Yay! Still will get it in Friday, but I don't have to get it spot on the 5pm dot. Which gives me time to do pesky editing and citations and stuff.

Went to yoga, because I gotta have my yoga. I was asked to demo the head stand, because I'm so good at them. Whee.

Went to the Illustration Juried Show, which I neglected to enter this year because I am lame.

Went to the Spirit Animal Show that I am in. Karen set it up really good and some people were really responding to my work. Actually a couple started talking about my fat cat print right next to me! BT, Mel, and Phil left for a bit to see the Pony Club show. I stuck around to chat with Karen but she started talking to a cute guy and I didn't really have anyone to talk with for a bit. Boo! Chicks before...well you know. Anyway. Mel, BT, and Phil returned. At around 9:30, I returned home and got back to my paper.

Can't wait for tomorrow to be finished! And then it is TWO WEEKS TILL THESIS OH MY GOD.

And tomorrow there will be Odd Owl!

Todays Portrait Is: Indira Varma.

write away

There is road construction and every now and again you can feel a rumble through the apartment. It's a little bit off putting.

Had some nutella on toast and tea for a late breakfast, and followed it up with a frozen rice and chicken and egg scramble. Moved my computer to the kitchen desk, because then I'll be less inclined to waste time dancing to music in that silly stupid private way that I do. It's serious paper writing time! With maybe a little adventure in the evening.

Worked on my paper. Lots of editing and moving around of this and that. Rephrasing. Inserting longer explanations. I dunno, it still lacks big research holes, but I don't quite know how to back certain things up.

I took a beer break and met Sam at Tugboat for a couple pints. Nice to get out and get away from it all. Then went back to it. I'm not as far along as I would have hoped. There are some times I feel really good about what I am writing, and other times where I don't feel that good. The portrait section is the best and I can see how things are starting to get tied together. I'll also be sending my paper to Kirie for some editing, so that will get a nice fresh set of eyes on it. Once I get this paper in on Friday, it is PRINT PRINT PRINT till I collapse. All though not really because I can't print when there are classes. So then it will just be draw draw draw. I see a lot of late nights. 9:15-2am printing blocks. It is better than getting up early. Ha.

Just have to do this damn paper.

Todays Portrait Is: Paul McGann.

teaching the youth of tomorrow (all though I think many were my age and older)

Got up at a magic, not noon hour. And got lots of stuff done. Dishes, tidying up, showering, and all that jazz. It is good to set ones apartment affairs in order. All though my laundry is still in its basket.

Another nice day.

Before I knew it, it was time to head to Joan's Art and Design in Contemporary Society class. She asked if I would give a little talk about my thesis and we would have a discussion, and I agreed. I got all glammed up and wore my favorite Celia shirt (the red loud one with the great print) and headed down. Arrived right on time. It was a great experience, because I got to talk my experience and sound all educated and informed about the ways of education, all though I probably came off as a bit preachy but HEY I've yet to pull an all nighter so I must be onto something. I talked about physical art in the age of the internet and my theories, talked about community, talked about process. And the class had some great questions for me. Such as the nature of the relationship to the subjects (namely, will I get to know strangers for this project and I said no because the better I know someone, the more knowledgeable the drawings will be) and the vagueness of the word community and all sorts of good stuff. I think Joan tried to close down the conversation early a couple times but I kept going. It ended up being about 30-45 minutes worth of talk. And I felt I discussed it well enough. Honest enough is what I mean. And I gave away some more posters, and hopefully they will come to my thesis defense.

Back at home I worked on an outline of the conversation topics they brought up, worked on outlining the new research I'll put in, and generally worked out the game plan.

Then I went back to school for yoga and did a successful headstand! The kind where you are putting your weight in your elbows and arms and the head is sort of a kickstand, but no real weight is actually in it, and then you put the rest of the body up in the air like you just don't care. I got right into it on the first go too, and the class was delighted by the pitter patter of my steps as I got myself into the position. You basically put your head into your clasped hands, but not ON the hands, and have the elbows shoulder's width apart and then you straighten your back up and into your arms and then straighten your legs so your body is in a V shape with your butt in the air, and walk your feet in till you can feel your weight shift into your arms. Yeah. I did it twice up and down successfully but on the third I flopped forward. But no harm. HEAD stand, not hand stand.

Back at home, I encouraged Tabitha and Kristen on as they practiced their thesis performance. And showed off my headstand.

Tomorrow is a writing day. It will be long, but I have a good game plan.

Todays Portrait Is: Ruth Wilson.

not all that creepy, really

Got to school and checked my school email and then found out class was cancelled. Should have checked before I left. Duh whoops oh well. I took the time to scan all the David Hockney articles so that I could finally return the book to the library. I also scanned in some of the illustrations that I plan to reference in my text.

It was rainy. Boo. There is a new show called The Killing, which is an adaptation of a Danish show called Forbrydelsen. It is about a murder. The adaptation is set in Washington, which makes the show yet another in a long line of shows and movies that depict the Pacific Northwest as rainy, creepy, gray, and full of trees. And sure it is rainy and gray and full of trees, but not nearly as creepy as shows and movies make it out to be. I'm waiting for something happy to be set here. That would be nice. Anyway, I watched the first few minutes of The Killing just to see if its good. I didn't even know it was relocated to Seattle in the adaptation, but that became really evident just from the saturation of color and gratuitous shots of trees and rain. I intended to just watch a bit and get on with stuff but ended up sucked into the show. Now I have to wait A WEEK for more. Gaah. Guess I'll just have to work on my thesis in the mean time. Booo.

So I worked on reading. Went to Trader Joe's for some food provisions. They didn't have any seaweed snacks on the shelf. Booo.

Tomorrow I'm going to speak to Joan's Art and Design in Contemporary Society class about my project. I don't know what I'll say so I reckon that is incentive enough to get up early and plan my stuff. Sort of a practice defense. Get some good discussion. Give away some posters. Get the youngins interested in Focus Week.

Todays Portrait Is: Idris Elba.

thesis thoughts

I'm having trouble keeping my eye on the prize. My mind is in June right now.

But I did get down to reading and research. Watched some great Art:21 videos that had some artists talking about work and got me thinking of how to relate it to my own. Read a great interview with Ellen something. She was a bit condescending but there were some great bits to pull.

Had some rice and seaweed wrap for lunch and a scramble for breakfast. Accidentally took a totally unneeded nap while reading though.

I'm going to climb into bed and read.

I think I want to learn how to ride a motorcycle.

The full draft is due Friday. Wednesday is a writing day. Thursday is an editing/formatting day. The next two days are research, blurb, idea sorting out, editing what I have, and piecing it together days. I'm starting to formulate supplemental thoughts for my paper. I don't know what we are doing in class tomorrow, but I think I'll figure out how to get pictures into my paper, because I need pictures. I feel behind, but I also feel fine with where I am. Like, I know I'll get it done and I'll be happy with what I finish. I'm pretty happy with my paper, even though I don't think I'm answering the required ambiguous questions about what it MEANS.

Maybe I just feel guilty that I don't feel thesis is the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Sure it takes a lot of thought and reading and piecing things together, but that isn't hard. It is just time consuming. You have to spend a lot of time thinking and resolving issues and it can be a challenge to do that, but it isn't the greatest challenge I've faced. I guess because it isn't an emotional challenge. Some of my comrades seem to be facing emotional challenges with their thesis. Am I not invested enough? Or am I invested the right amount because I know this isn't the end all be all. It is just the end of my stay at PNCA. And even then, it isn't the end of that. I'll be doing some little things after thesis but while I'm still at school. And you never really leave PNCA, you just become an alumni. What you do after comes back to PNCA, as you are a product of the institution, in one way or another.

I'm just sort of rambling right now.

Should thesis be the hardest thing? I don't think so. It should be a challenge, but it shouldn't be near impossible or unreachable. That is just a path to misery. But nothing ventured, nothing gained? I guess I feel that the art I'm producing, while I love it, it just isn't a great...triumph. The work comes easy. That probably comes from confidence in knowing what I'm doing. But it isn't that much of an artistic stretch. I'm just formalizing the casual. All though I guess the formalization is what I'm going for. I'm not over thinking final work. Alongside this intense thesises of my peers, there is this gentle kind poster series that is happening. What is that about? Hmmm.

Todays Portrait Is: Jeremy Clarkson.

saturday, what else can I say

Realized I left my camera at Karen's, so I went to school to scan my portrait. Also scanned in some of my thesis drawings at the same time. And edited them. So I have three portrait sides prepped. Hurray! So once I get back to printing, I have stuff to print! But first, it is the paper.

It was a nice beautiful sunny day. So nice.

Had a nice chat with Ma.

Kristen will be moving out in June, so I'll probably be moving out at the same time. Moving out to where, I don't know. Ahk, sort of scary.

Did my laundry. Did the dishes. Read a bit. Drew a bit. Lots of "bits". I really like the Ruth Wilson portrait that I did. But that won't be up till April 5th.

Todays Portrait Is: Richard Hammond.