Portland Mini Break

Suprise! I decided to go down to Portland for two nights! Have car with good gas mileage, will travel.

Had oatmeal, packed some clothes and jammies, had tea, packed the car, hugged mom, and at 1pm I departed Seabeck for Portland. I need some practice with long distance driving if I plan to drive to California and start my life there and stuff. I stopped just after Olympia, and just before Portland to stretch my legs and, ahem, relieve myself. Still, the drive was good! Not all that stressful, I don't feel too tired from it. I just wish there were better stations to listen to.

I felt a little bit anxious pulling into Portland, as I'm really unfamiliar with city driving. But the streets were familiar, the traffic was light, and all was well. I found a parking spot on Johnson, between 22nd and 23rd, and parallel parked. I haven't parallel parked in yeaaars, and I did it flawlessly. Go me, go me. I put on cooler shoes and this smashing jacket I found in the closet, and trotted down to PNCA. Like a boss.

Danny Frazier was at the front desk. Said howdy to him. Hugged Asha, who became an American citizen yesterday, in the print lab. Also hugged Heather and Heather. The lab has been updated and it looks nice and pretty. New table tops, new shop vac. Real swell.

Daniel Williams had quite the mustache. Surprised Serenity and Dom in the library. They gave me lovely hugs. Chatted with Martin French a bit as well. It is First Thursday in Portland, so lots of people were milling about. More unfamiliar faces than familiar though. Ahh how time changes.

Heather, Daniel, and I went to Bridgeport for dinner. Drank some tasty beer, I finished their remainders. AHh I am such a mooch, but I adore them. I kept it pretty secret that I was coming here. Those two knew I was coming, and I texted a couple others. But made sure to have people not let on to Karen that I was there. That was the big surprise! To see her at her Courier Coffee Art Show.

And surprise her I did. She went "AHHHH!!!!" and hugged me, and went "AHHHH!!!" again and hugged me again. She was so enthused. It was awesome. Feels great to be so adored and to have my company appreciated like that. Coming to Portland was a very good idea. Feels really good to be here, and to be around so many great lovely wonderful supportive people. Saw BT, Jim, Phil, Andy, Morgan, Jon, Sivonna, Lacey...got hugs! So many hugs! I just drank water because I knew I'd be driving later on.

Jon, Sivonna, and I walked to the Hellion Gallery and looked at the stuff there. Some nice collaborations and wire craft. Saw Morgaine and got more hugs. Saw Chase. No hugs from Chase, but that is okay. Went to Grass Hut and met Bwana Spoons and chatted. Went to Compound...or no the gallery at Upper Playground. We were not that impressed. Swung by Pony Club, and the show there was quite superb. And the artist was very cute. Erin McCarthy was there, and we chatted.

Sivonna dropped me off at my car, which was good because my cool boots were starting to hurt my footsies. Drove to BT, Karen, and Phil's house and parked. BT clued me in to their wifi. Karen was asleep already. BT and I had a lovely conversation, and he went to bed.

Now I'm blogging and unsure what tomorrow has in store. Madeline? Dom and Serenity? Who knooooows? But it is rather exciting. Randomly showing up in Portland has worked out very well for lil' Trill.

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.

gah Lacey is so talented

I like Thursdays. They are good relaxing days. Got up. Had a scramble. Need to get some cheese to make my scramble extra delicious.

Dried and put away the dishes.

Chilled. Relaxed. Kicked it. You know, that old diddy.

Went to school for a meeting with Martin. The advising meeting, which isn't totally needed now that I'm this far along (this is more for Freshmen and Sophomores). But anyway, talked to him about thesis a little bit and looked at my animations and some pieces I've done. It went quick and off I went back home. Relaxed. Snacked. Then went to see Lacey's show at the Gann Brothers. It was her thesis show and it was one night only, but still, a thing to attend anyway. It was mostly just Karen and Lacey and I, but the Gann brothers came and went and a few people stopped by. It is sort of out of the way and November isn't the best month for First Thursday.

I left at 7:45ish, after munching on cheese, meat, and crackers. Watched another funny episode of Community. Watched Fringe. Then I watched Near Dark. Not as good as I was expecting it to be, but oh well. Now I don't know what I'll do. Tomorrow I'll clean up the place and go to yoga and write up my thesis stuff.

my (thurs)day off

Ahh glorious Thursday. Sleep in. Eat some oatmeal. Went down to Trader Joe's to get some salad and apples and bananas and other stuff. It was a gloomy cold day. Boo. It was warm yesterday. Portland needs to make up its mind. Halibut and salad and orange juice for late lunch.

Chatted with mom on the phone and talked about phone plans and how phones tend to be specific to plans so switching plans would mean getting new phones...most likely.

All but one fish in the fish tank have died. Need to get some more.

Also did some more laundry. Whoo clean stuff!

Then when it was drying I went out for a quick First Thursday trip. Went down to see Monsterbation at Pony Club. It was gory and visceral and naughty, but a really good show. Gnarly theme, good artists. Dom, Sivonna, Jon, and Erin all had pieces in it. Went back to Gann Brothers Publishing to see Robin's work on display. Karen, BT, and Mel were there with snacks. I partook in snacks and then headed back to the apartment for laundry and Community.

Great episode of Community. Chilled for the rest of the night. Tomorrow is work time. Yoga! There is also a Get Stuff Done night at Karen's, but I think the stuff I need to get done wouldn't be done so well there. Time to make a list!

flash first thursday

The people were running the leaf blower in the courtyard at like 9am. ARGH! But it got me awake and up before 11pm, which is good.

Oatmeal. Emergen-C. Yum. Put my paperwork in a file folder.

Kristen and I went to Fred Meyer's for some shopping. Trader Joe's is great, but if you want cheaper cheese then you really have to go elsewhere. I got supplies to make a delicious lasagna. Kevin was coming over for dinner and then we were going to see Mesrine: Killer Instinct (part one, Mesrine: Public Enemy #1 is part two). But back to lasagna. I bought cheesy sauce and spinach sauce and cooked up the rest of my beef and put that in and damn did it look good. Threw it in the oven and real quick went to PNCA to see Robin's show.

Robin has greatly expanded her houses at night portraits and got a show in the BFA gallery at school! Great location. Thousands will see her art, and they should because she is awesome. Kristen and I also got her flowers for her accomplishment. Go Robin! I chatted briefly and then headed back. That was it for my First Thursday adventures. I was home not a minute before the timer went off. Perfect!

Removed the foil. Cooked it some more. Did dishes. Kevin came over with a nice bottle of wine and a salad and dinner was wonderful. The lasagna cooked just perfect. Full of flavor. Can't wait to eat more of it. But shhh, don't tell people I enjoyed something with spinach in it. Mesrine was intense. It didn't try to paint a sympathetic picture of the criminal Mesrine. Not at all. Vincent Cassel was spectacular and there were some beautiful shots. I simply MUST see part two. Thankfully it is the next movie show at Cinema 21...and it starts tomorrow!

We parted ways after the movie and that was that. Nice little date. I keep having the feeling like I planned to do something, but I don't know what. Oh well. Sleep time!

Look at that! Just a little bit of scab left! Hurrah! Two more days and it should be gone. The red patch is receding and the pale, new skin is replacing it. I don't think even the knee will scar all that much, if at all. And the shin probably will be just peachy, if a bit shiny for a while.

three years comes to a close

My favorite site for movies and television shut down! Nooo! Oh well.

Started packing. Well, I rounded up some boxes from the recycle bin and put the small comics in them. Also piled my books by size for easy packing. You know...finding things that fit in different areas. Took a lot of posters down. Tomorrow I will round up boxes and plastic bins and get a more serious move on things. It would probably be best to move an empty dresser, instead of one packed with clothes. I have a couple suitcases as well.

Went out for First Thursday. It was rainy, but I got to show Margaret off to people. Margaret is the name of my bike. As in Atwood. Lady author. Anyway, it got compliments. As it should. Because it is pretty.

Stopped by Tender Loving Empire. Their new location is gorgeous. Needs some bandanas. The Rad Hatter show was going on. All of the pieces were trucker hats redesigned by artists. Agnes had a hat in, BT had two, Mona had one. Some were really good and some were just okay. Went to the Flight 64 show at W+K. That had some really nice prints. Recognized Heather's work right away. Went down to Pony Club to meet BT, Alison, and Phil. It was a lovely show of $25 prints. Some were really sweet. Wish I was a little more successful so that I could buy prints a plenty. Went to Reading Frenzy. Then back to Tender Loving Empire. Then to Blondie to see Maddison's show. It was really stuffy and all the cigarette smoke was blowing into the establishment and this girl sounded like she was killing a guitar. So we waited outside for Mel. Then I rode my bike down to Ichiban Sushi to grab five seats and Karen drove them down. New plate record: 7! I don't even feel gross. I was obviously more hungry than I thought it was. Mmmm so good. Friends and fish and colored plates. We played hangman with the sushi train and the other customers. After dinner we parted ways. So soggy and wet. Bleh.

Bright and early it is box time! Then packing time! I don't want to be here later than the 10th. If I can get all packed by Wednesday, then mom and dad can come down and help me pack.

the best (silver!)

Friday:

Best day I have had in a long while. Just feel great. Revitalized!

Morgan had the sketchbook zine in hand when I showed up to class today. He held it up to show to everyone and said that this was...I forget the exact word he used but something that implied beyond A plus plus work. He also said that he wished I would stick around at PNCA and do the same thing for every Focus Week.

After my great day, I came home and blogged and in the process, my computer became encrusted with spyware. This happened while I was blogging so the above is the only part that was written before I was prevented from posting. Damn. Well I'll try to write it all up again. It was a busy day. Now back to figure drawing:

Last ink day. I had a large leftover sheet of paper from a prior drawing project, a nice toothy yellow sheet. So I drew all my figures on that. But before we got to drawing, we had to seek our revenge on the audio class. We share a wall with an audio class and they constantly soak our class with their work, which is quite distracting. So we massed in a little figure drawing choir and in unison, we projected the Flintsones theme song at their wall. Ha! Brilliant.

Then it was time for ink drawing. Morgan read to us an essay about Cubism by Jon Berger. Quite fascinating to actually put art in context, as opposed to just learning about the pieces.

Illustration was an open work day. It started with Martin thanking us for the artistic energy we have had this semester. He left for a few minutes to sort something out. In his absence, Beth whipped out some ice cream from Ben & Jerry's. Delicious! We love Beth. Martin loved the ice cream.

My letter shapes got a good review. I totally messed up inking the picture of Guy Pearce though. It looks ugly and...sloppy. But I still used it for a rough composition. I was having trouble making it look like the image in my head. Now I'm not quite sure what that image was...

After class, we went to Yur's for a little pre-First Thursday drinking. Just beer and friends. Danny, Leo, BT, Karen, Josh, Janessa, Jon, and Dom namely. And a few MFA's and their friends occupied another table. I wonder if PNCA students constitute half of Yur's revenue? Every time I am there, we tend to dominate. BT gave me a drawing. A wonderful drawing of Hercule Poirot! A few months ago he revealed to me that his mustache was fake. It broke my heart! In the drawing, Hercule is saying "It's always been real for you Trillian xoxo Hercule Poirot". Love it!

Karen got Danny to draw her a sandwich.

Josh, Janessa, Jon and I wandered down to the 13th Street First Thursday booths. Mostly overpriced knick knacks and large ugly sculptures. Then it was time for the Illustration Juried Show!

There was free cheese and crackers and wine! Whoo! The show looks pretty good. A lot of variety. You can really see how different and varied we all are. Martin mentioned earlier today he will be showing our portfolios to some higher ups at companies. Exciting.

The winners of the Juried Show were announcer. Winners were picked by the Jury.

Bronze- Sally Jablonsky

Silver- Trillian Spencer

Gold- Kevin McClain

That is right. I won silver. 300 entries, 50 picked for the show, and I was SECOND! SILVER! WHOOO YEAAHHH! The prize was cold hard cash. Nice!

Janessa and I went to Life of Riley afterwards. I had a soda because I wasn't ready to drink more. Josh showed up and said he saw a ghost in the bathroom. He said he saw someone enter the bathroom and he followed and then there was no one in the bathroom... probably a secret agent.

Cupcake also showed up, I don't know her real name, well I do but I just prefer Cupcake. Anyway, we wandered over to Everett Street to check out that stuff. I got separated from the crew when I locked up my bike, but I found them outside Igloo. Craig Wheat and his lady Olivia were also there. Craig had a piece in the igloo show, but the place was packed and it was impossible to see any of the art. Booo!

I wandered with my friends and wandered straight into a strip club with them. Cupcake, Sean Carney, Olivia, Craig, Josh, Janessa... the place was called Magic Garden. I broke a little of my prize money on a drink. Spent most of the time catching up with Craig and talking about how good friends don't care if you haven't really talked in a few months. Also talked to Olivia about tattoos. I've been thinking about getting ink a little bit lately. I think a Patsy Gelb designed great blue heron would make a good one. Hmmmn. But I need more of my own money, and I just don't have enough of my own money to get one. But yeah, it was fun. Also one my classmates turned out to be a stripper! I won't name her name, but she isn't illustration. After one of her sets, she saw me and waved and came over and I commented that it was nice to see all of her tattoos. Turns out one of her good friends Craig knows...from Montana. It is a really small world, as it turns out. Or maybe just small for artists. Ha.

Lots of fun. At 11 I parted, got my bike, and road back to Life of Riley and caught BT and Karen right as they were finishing up their dinner.

Walked Karen back to her car and then rode off to Pionner Place to see Iron Man 2! The ending was a little anti-climactic, but the effects and characters were good. It was quite funny. Scarlett Johansson was very attractive in her little outfits, though a little on the thin side. Kicked a lot of butt she did. But yeah, it was good just not great. Very much a middle movie, and not all that stand alone.

Today was great. The weather was also fantastic. Got home at around 2:45am. Went to bed at 3:30 after blogging which ended up being unbloggable. Woke up at 4:30pm...

Saturday:

Woke up really late, so I got right to work. Painted my puppet head. Started to tidy up.

My computer was infected with spyware, but thankfully only the Marvin account was unusable. On the Arthur Dent account I was able to download a spyware remover and clean my computer. Nathan helped.

Did laundry.

Jay Lee is going to come over in a few, we are going to get food. I'll update again in the night time, I just wanted to get last nights happenings written up. Whoo!

Update!

Jay came over and we went to Thai Chili Jam, the nearby Thai food place. I had the something something something noodles and Jay had the pad thai. Mine was sooo delicious. Perfect meal to have after not eating a lot for such a long time. Got totally stuffed. In return for the meal, I mended her pants! She needed some patch work done and she thought of me and my sewing abilities. So I looked up a video online of how to patch, I practiced on a pair of my own jeans, and then did hers. And they look great! Legitimately patched up! Whoo! She had to catch the bus at 11:30 so she took off a little early.

I watched the new episode of Community. It was so good, I watched it twice. Yall should watch it, it is on Hulu.

Tomorrow morning I go to Fabric Depot with Karen to get fabric, and then I draw draw draw because I am way behind in draw draw drawing.

alma

Wednesday:
History of Laughter. We covered the origins of some words. Again. It sort of had to do with laughter. Then we watched another episode of Fitzcarraldo. I've been pretty disappointed with this class. I don't know what I'm learning in class specifically and I don't know if Barry even knows my name. Oh well.

History of Print. It was field trip day! We walked down to Augen Gallery and checked out the show. Some photos based on celebrating artists known for being celebrities. Some cool stuff but nothing that felt new. There were some amazing woodblocks in the back section though. Beautiful huge prints with great detail. After that we walked over to the Jelly Generation show, or whatever it is called. Portland has a China thing going on right now. About 8 shows all within walking distance. The thing that pissed me off about the Jelly show was how many large images were printed at low resolution. That is, lacking crisp detail that printed work often needs to look presentable. The show looked cheap. There were some neat design things, but yeah. Cheap.

DeeDubs, DiDi, Rooner, and I went to get lunch. Or rather Daniel, Diana, and Cameron. They get nick names because of their average names. I get nothing. We went to the Blossoming Lotus, which I thought would be Chinese. Turned out to be overprices health food made up of ingredients I didn't know and special made for people with wanker diets. I had the tempeh sandwich. The bread and sprout part was good. The tempeh, uhh not so much. Not my thing.

We walked up to Utrecht and then over to the Portland Art Museum for the second half of our field trip. We checked out the China Exhibit on the first floor. A lot of building and architecture. Macaroon, aka Cameron, had a ladybug on his shoulder. At around 2:00 we wondered where the rest of the class was, and found them in the second floor chunk of the exhibit. The staircase we ascended had this red glass over the windows (a lot of the museum had redglass installed for the China show) but the glare of it was horrid. The second floor had pop culture things. And a Chinese typewriter that was insane. It was cool. Not something I'd consider Portland Art Museum worthy. Also at the museum was a Raphael. A portrait of a woman with a veil. It was all artsy and stuff. A great master painting, but since it was given the star treatment with its own guard and own room, it just seemed not special enough for the treatment. The Rijks Museum had many masterworks, but they were not over cared for (except the Night Watch, but that is the blood Night Watch).

Daniel and I started to walk back to school together, but then the streetcar was 2 minutes away so we waited. I loitered in the Library for two hours, while waiting for the screen printing class to leave. Distracted Madeline. Put up show posters. Finished up show. All that.

Printing was easy as pie. I got my 8 done in under 15 minutes and then just printed a pile of extras to give away to people. Lucky Lynch is the new Lucky Luna. I helped Natalie with screen printing. Talked to the people who were just learning. I think I oozed confidence or something. The piece looked darn cool. I am very pleased with it. I just wish that the second color hadn't been so difficult to print. I think I would have had a larger number of nice prints if I didn't fudge so many of that layer. Oh well. Live and learn and do yoga.

Gave Lynch prints to the yoga crew. Then went home and chilled because I was done done done. HA! It feels good to not have school work for a while. Next week is looking like a nice rest period. No finals due.

Made cupcakes for my show. Ran out of eggs and had to substitute butter for vegetable oil. Still edible.

Thursday:
Critique! We did it differently this time. We got up and talked about our method and ideas for five minutes and then it was opened up to questions and critique. There was a pause and then I went first. I talked about Lynch and how ideas are like fish, and how I conceived of the composition and image, and all that. It was a generally awesome critique. Lots of positives, and only some of the blue printing was commented on. Felt good, and the good art kept rolling. Danny's Hitler was very Bacon. Very physical and nice. Beth's tangle of wires was resolved and spectacular. Kristen's Roxy Music had great warps of anatomy. Well I could run through all the pieces but it would be the same Mad Lib: (name of classmate)'s piece was well rendered. It was very (insert generic positive comment) and had great (color/body party).

Kristen, Danny, and I went to Chipotle. Delicious huge burrito. Mmm. Sustain me all day. Mmmm.

After lunch, Martin gave us a lecture on the marketplace and the specifics of things like pricing, and jobs, and management, and all the stuff that is important to know. And what some words mean. All very important. Then we broke early. Martin and I had a meeting at 4pm to go over my progress. Check in and see how I'm doing, that old thing. We talked about being confident with lines and intelligence in image making. A good meeting.

After that, I saw in the library with my bowl of cupcakes and waited for people that were familiar. Bekka and I stuck around till the cupcakes were gone. It took about an hour (people actually refused free sweets).

After the library, I went to 12th and Washington for the Little Gods show. Katie was in it, it is also a part of the grand opening of this huge new condo building. At first I waited in the line to check out the penthouses, but it wasn't moving so I went to the show. Katie introduced all the work, except for Christopher's, which he explained himself. It was installation and animation things. Katie's was nice. I saw her work on it all summer and now I finally got a chance to interact with it. Some webcam thingie where you can cast curses on people. Then I went back to the penthouse line.

I must say the penthouses were disappointing. I expected better from the 23rd floor. Small bedrooms and tiny bathtubs. Great view, but that was it. Still, free food. Kenny and Zuke's. Mmmm. Chocolate as well.

It was rainy and miserable and my bum got totally wet from my bike seat. My bag had blown off during the day. Booo.

Got home. Ate sweets. Finished burrito. Watched TV.

The next illustration is totally open ended in terms of what we want to present. The theme is: Natural Phenomena. I have no idea where to start.

the weekend is here

Math class:
Just met with Liz and Karen regarding our crop circle. Liz worked on reproducing it and Karen and I practiced chalk circles. I did some running about and errands but it went generally well and quick.

The break:
Scanned in all of the comic that I had done, resized it, and put in placer text and posted it to the comic class site for other classmates to look at. It is coming along. The text didn't take that long to put in so I feel good about that. I figure I'll need a day just to get all the transparencies set up. And by that I mean, getting text printed out according to the size of the panels and getting see through (except for the black of the linework and the text) versions printed up so that I can put them on my screens and print them. It's a weird process with probably lots of photocopying. I might copy and paste the text right into the frames and photocopy it like that. I'll figure that out. Need to finish the comics first. Speaking of finishing: I got the script done! All of it! Every crummy line of dialogue and action. Uhg. I don't know how I feel about it really. I'm so close to it. Need some distance. So with that, I just need to thumbnail and away I go! I have hopes of getting it finished over the course of next week and into the weekend.

I just bought some stuff to microwave for lunch. A little lean cuisine and a little drink. Was relatively cheap though in the grand tradition of lean cuisine, not filling at all.

Digital Illustration:
We worked on text and cropping images. It was a shortened class and I took the chance to bounce before the rain came back. My mistake as no sooner was I on my bike for a minute than did the heavens spew fourth gallons of wetness. Uhg. It didn't last long but it was horrible.

First Thursday:
Changed into some snazzy tights and shorts and shoes and went to rock the First Thursday thing. Dominic and Thom have a show at Litterbox (named because a kitty named Lester lives in the gallery) so I went there first. Dom put up a drawing I gave to him in the show, but in a clearly not his work section. It was sweet. It was a nice show and lots of people were coming through, and lots of familiar faces. Chatted with Thom mostly. Shared bad jokes. Checked out Pony Club, where I ran into Farel and Zachary. Farel had put up some of the assignment he did in class in the show. Ha! We all chatted a little bit. Karen was also there but she did not talk to Farel. She had one of Adam's friends, Stu, with her. Neat Scottish guy. We all hung out a little bit but we parted at Dom and Thom's show. Janessa, Josh, Craig, Serenity, August and I all went to Upper Playground because Craig said there was a show that was awesome there. Wheeled my bike along and struggled to lock it up. The Upper Playground show was okay, it was saved by having 3D glasses which made the work really pop. It was covered with bright pop monsters and photo defacement.

You spend enough time at First Thursday and people start to look alike. It is the same types of dress and facial hair and all that stuff repeated and stuffed into a crowd. It gets a little overwhelming.

Bike Trouble:
I parted ways with the pals and rode my bike down to the Max. At some point during my struggle with locking up, my brake became dislodged and I was without them and had to skid to stop with my shoes. Thankfully it was flat and I wasn't going fast. I can't imagine not being able to stop on demand like fixed gear bikes. When I got to the max, I fixed the brake and all was well.

Seattle:
I'm going up to Seattle this weekend. It is Llyw's birthday so I'm crashing at his place and partying it up a little at one of his company's shindigs. I consider this my break. Spring Break was just a sham, stupid food poisoning! I'll try to blog but if I don't, don't worry. Taking the train up tomorrow afternoon. Getting there around 6:30. I'm coming down Sunday night. I'm pretty far ahead with the school stuff, so don't worry. And I have train time to focus.

I'm afraid

To make up for the lack of drawing in last class, we spent the majority of class doing long poses. We had our first male model and it wasn't one that I have had before. He had good twists in his poses. And a cute nose. The nagging of not drawing the model stand is continual. I'm getting better at it though. One pose was supposed to be three in one frame where we just draw over it. He kept one foot in the same spot so it wasn't such a challenge to figure it out in the frame of things. Our thought web is to the point were we can link three things across the web. We will make our own for our midterm so I'm excited for that. Have I explained the thought web? Basically it is a huge link of how things connect in the world. This leads to this that leads to this and so on and eventually it all links together. It is to help us understand the grand scheme of the world.

Then I took a nap in the library.

Then I got a sandwich and read some Lovecraft.

Painting class was also from a figure but she put on costumes. She was one of the regular figure drawing models so that was fun. She only did two poses, the first I colored in part however I wanted and then I put a closeup of her profile behind that image. My skin tones worked for me. The second I laid down three blocks of color in accordance to the dominant color areas of her pose (pink for the head, green for the mu mu, and blue for her pants). It was hard to work into but it is fun to try new things. People were generally in a good mood in class so that made everything a lot more fun.

Karen and I did a quick First Thursday run. A guy in one of those bike taxis gave us a ride down to the Everett Lofts. It was very fun. Portland was very vacant and the streets that are normally bustling with hipster art folks were desolate. I swung by to pick up my much neglected comic box from FWC. There was also Pixu and a Scott Pilgrim art book in stock, and both were good deals. The store looks great and Karen even found something that she wanted (a Lynda Barry book). Jason had some lovely French music playing and the general atmosphere was nice. We went up to check out one of the open studios and the artist mentioned that the other people were not there due to the vice presidential debates. The only time a Portlander will watch TV I guess.

It was dark I had work so Karen and I scooted back to PNCA. I had a nice ride back. It was raining in the morning a little so I couldn't wear the cute outfit I had planned. So I got back and started reading Lovecraft. Then I got scared so my reading response is going to be about that.

such a powerful noise

No naps today. Midday green tea is a huge help for that.

This lady in Morgan's class had her easel partially in my way the whole time. Well she was in the way. I couldn't move because it was crowded. She needed to move back more. It pays to get there really early (except I was there early and she was just being a cad!). We learned about how to set up our easels so that we saw both paper and model at the same time, how to stand, how to hold our implement, and how to realize 3D space. Morgan has a great way of dividing lecture and practice. Gestures were drawn as were longer poses. He says that practice makes habit, it doesn't make perfect. So you have to practice GOOD habits to get better. My figure drawings are not too shabby; I am falling into the work really well after the long break. My shading looks very soft.

Karen and I loitered about after class. I am loaning her some space in my locker till she finds her own (she has one, she just doesn't know where it is). I put the third season of The Wire on hold. I called Brynne to make sure we are still on for the Tea Zone tomorrow at 12:30. Saw Jim. Ate lots of free red vines. MMmm red vines. I stopped eating them for a while after I vomited up a large quantity of them after a boat ride. Now I like them again. Karen and I walked to Utrecht. Their watercolor blocks seem cheaper there but the people are still such jerks that I don't want to support them.

Eventually it was time for free lunch at PNCA. And by that I mean pizza at some meeting. This one was for the Global Studios programs.

I am officially stating that I will not be going to Hogeschool Sint-Lukas in Brussels, Belgium as part of my education at PNCA. I would have to find my own place to live (and pay for it), the city is nice but it didn't really strike my fancy, the school seemed great and while I think I could manage to self motivate, I like the class environment and don't know how I would feel in a foreign studio, not just yet anyway, and the language barrier is an extreme challenge. I will, however, ask about the programs where you go somewhere in the USA or Canada for a semester. Same deal (pay PNCA tuition) just somewhere else. Yeah!

After being fed on pizza I went home and indulged in my secret shame for an hour (I won't say what it is, but it is bad).

Then it was time for fun fun painting techniques. On the way there I rode along side Karen when I saw her migrating to school. I left her at Burnside. Farel gave a lecture on scanning. He showed us some beautiful children's books illustrated by Lizbeth Zwerger. We painted some still life's for a start and after break we were allowed to work on whatever so I added a little to that diptych I've been working on. I treated myself to an ice cream during break. Our first assignment is to design a CD cover. The band can be made up. We are to do 10 thumbnails and 3 larger sketches by Tuesday. Also we are doing a self portrait.

Farel asked if we are seeing anything during First Thursday and I said, "Yes, there is a great show at Tender Loving Empire, I'm going to see that." Or something, that isn't quite right. He asked who was the artist and we giggled and indicated Miss Jen Lee. She is so bashful, except not. Karen also has a show in the library. Everyone is having shows!

After class was over there was the First Thursday hullabaloo to experience. There were doughnuts in the Yes Men exhibit so I went to see that. Ran into Matt and Jason. Chatted with Jen while she waited for Noel (who is all mohawked now). Then I chatted with Karen while she waited for Adam. When there was no one else to wait with I headed up to Tender Loving Empire to see Jen's show. The sun was right in my eyes as I strolled up Lovejoy. Ran into Jason and Craig and chatted about good movies and the summer. While Jason's hair has gotten longer, Craig's has lost considerable length. When Jen showed up I gave her a big hug. Her pieces look nice. They play well off of Aidan's which play well off of the other woman in the show. Jen's work is line heavy, Aidan's is line and color swatches, and the other lady is mostly swatches. It is a great show.

When I went to PNCA to retrieve my bike, this guy giving out free compliments was in front of it. He said, "Oh am I blocking your bike?" and scooted about five inches forward. It was a great struggle to free my bike without injuring him. He couldn't be bothered to stand? The crowd was thick but I did break free and get home safely.

I started in with my initial ideas in terms of thumbnails. I'll flip through some art books and see if any more things pop into my head. I think right now I am being heavily influenced by the crap women's mags and pulpy men's mag illustrations.

In the morning I wore clunky shoes but I changed into the sharp leather shoes that I got from Celia so I could rock the First Thursday scene. I love those shoes and the noise they make when I walk.

children these days

Karen and Adam wanted a stall for First Thursday but Karen couldn't find her PNCA ID in time so that she could grab one. I offered my ID and off we went to grab a table. When we were leaving, Karen started to drive away but Adam was still getting in the car and she almost ran him over. Whoops.

Around Everett, the place where the bike lane is ALWAYS used as a turn lane, she slowed to let us hop out. A car came up in the bike lane and we had to close the door to let him past. Instead of going past, the jerk in his big SUV stopped and shouted at us about whatever we were doing. All three of us, in sync, did a motion and he shut up and drove on in the bike lane. The next block, Karen let us out.

We couldn't locate the person right away who appeared to be the manager of the tables. We asked the nice guy at the PNCA desk but he had no clue. A few questions later and we figured it out. All the spots were full up. But Jack let them double up on his ceramics table. Adam was selling earrings and a few buddies of his sold their glassware.

The Pre-College program had their big show, the one I was a part of a few summers back. There was some real talent in that group of youngins. Michael and a ladyfriend of his were there, we said hellos. Andy and I exchanged hi's and he inquired where I got my cupcake from(from the box of cupcakes at the front door, duh). Chatted a little with Matt and Daniel Duford. Yeah.

I now owe Karen $10. We did a loop of all the stalls. It is more of a walking market than a buying one. Saw some great print makers there. I didn't feel like going to any real galleries so I took the streetcar home. Still, saw a lot of people and familiar faces (Jack cut all the dyed bits out of his hair).

Pretty much finished the drawing part on a new painting. Very simple but it has a lot of light play in it. I need some references before I can begin.

On the way back from First Thursday, I replenished my sunflower seed supply at Plaid Pantry. I am so addicted to those things.

Holly Update:



The kitties rubbed their faces together. They eat each other's food (well Ibanez eats her food). They poop in each others litter boxes. They have totally bonded. Soon I will give her over to Karen's care.

Holly has really taken to Lindsay. She sits next to her when she is seated, but never next to me when I am rested. Maybe she hates me because I fed her medicine.

The kitten is doing wonderfully. Getting bigger all the time.

no clue

In drawing class we had a lecture from Lennie about art schools from across the globe (mostly Europe). He talked about Slade and how massively prestigious it was and how he was part of the critique board there. I worked on a little drawing during the lecture. He didn't talk that much about the school in Belgium that I want to go to. We got out early.

I finished up the new comic club flier, photocopied it, and put it up around school. Walked and talked with Christopher while I was doing it. It is a pretty cool and catching flier. Very clear as to what it is (not like some others we have had).

Went home, worked on some pieces, read some of my textbook, ate some food, prepared some paper for class, and watched City of Lost Children. Well only part of it, I am going to watch it all the way through with Karen some time this weekend (probably). I am sure I did more during my break between classes but looking at my to-do list proves that thinking incorrect. I didn't do much. Damn.

Oh, I got my Easter care package from home. It had an adorable Peter Rabbit chocolate bunny which I chomped down. And so many fruit leathers and peanuts and sweets and pens and such cool cool stuff. Wheee.

Class was spent all in sketching mode. I'll paint it over the weekend and sketch the next part. Can't start the next part without finishing the first. Annie handed back all of our work. I only have a perfect score on one piece, and that one isn't that great. The ones I put serious effort into all came up short. Some I understand why, others it really pisses me off. I spent way more time on them than was probably necessary and still I don't get a good score. I understand her not wanting to be a "well you tried, here's an A" teacher but come on! Every piece, save for one, comes up short some how? It is a 13 piece stack and 12 of them... argh! That didn't make me happy. I also have to come up with a concept and a form of presentation for my final and I don't know how I am going to do that. No clue. None. I just wanted to get better at portraits. To be able to draw people how they look, to capture what makes them them and identifiable. I wanted to work on that but now I have to focus on how they work as a whole, how to tie them together, how to express something deeper. I don't think I have enough skill right now to do both. I know what I need to work on but I have to muddle that up with trying to overextend myself into forcing messages and themes. I don't want to do that but right now I'm loosing lots of points because I am not. Damnit all.

Walked around the stalls around school. First First Thursday in a while where they had them up. Nothing great beyond one nice artist lady from RISD who had some beautiful etchings.

I've started riding up Johnson and then going home along 19th. Its a bit of a climb at the start but after Burnside it is pretty much all coasting. The route is prettier as well. I got so sick of 13th.

Read more of my text. Ate some junkish food. Watched lego animations of Eddie Izzard routines. Stressed out. Really stressed out. I have to etch and write a report and paint and read and email some people. And I don't know how I am going to tie together my final in painting. Or what I am going to do in comic lit either. The school gives you breaks at the worst possible times. You get a good working momentum, then it all stops, then you have to do the pre-final push. And then then final push.

cake eating monkey

Went out to First Thursday. My first in a while (the weather has been horrible). I was originally going to go out with Lindsay and some of the boys that have been hovering around her lately but there were some complications about meeting up (I left my cell at home) so I went out with Karen, Diana, and Robin instead. We went to Black Fish (horrible digital prints and cute shrinky dink pieces), Elizabeth Leech (amazing collage work with puzzles) and a few other galleries. One had these heinous 80's paintings that we tore apart. With words of course. Karen said it reminded her of when you shave and you miss pieces and you have chunks left over. I said one was like Hostel II; better than the trash put out before but still pretty terrible. Diana just hated the majority of them. One of the Elizabeth Leech pieces Robin fell in love with. I think she is going to break into the gallery, steal it, run away and marry it.

We found our way down to the Pony Club gallery and took a gander at Erin's clock piece. It was cool but the gallery became stuffy and crowded really quick. I had to get out of there into the nice cool night. I am not claustrophobic but First Thursday might make me so.

I hit up Floating World Comics for my comics, boards, and bags (the latter two to put the new comics into). American Virgin was on its last issue and I must say FINALLY to that. The writing sucked and I was really just buying it for Cloonan. I also have two more Boys in and Doktor Sleepless. I am way behind in my comic reading. Hopefully Spring Break will remedy that.

After comics I met up with the gang again at Compound Gallery. They had a beautiful show devoted to Alice in Wonderland inspired artwork but it was insanely crowded so I couldn't enjoy it much. I'll come back later. We met up with Bebop and Elliot and some of their friends but Robin and I didn't stay around that long. We walked off towards PNCA/Goose Hollow together. We parted ways on 10th, her going South and myself going North. I was overheating from all the layers so I stopped and picked up a vanilla and caramel ice creme cone from the new shop on 11th and Johnson. It was delicious. I returned to PNCA, grabbed my stuff, checked out the hot security guard, and rode off into the night. I only needed a hoodie and my undershirts for the ride home and even then I was hot as I staggered in the door. Very tired! And still so much work to do.

I am a very safe bicyclist. I always stop at red lights and don't go through them even if I don't see anybody coming. I was ten seconds behind another PNCA biker today and they went through a couple red lights. Their dangerous biking only got them there about thirty seconds sooner. It isn't worth it.

Experiments in drawing was yet another work day. ARGHGGHGHGHGHGHG!!! WHAT THE HELL MODOU? This is like garageband with Gordon all over again. It is making me really frustrated and annoyed with the class. It is going no where. My piece is just all over the place and I add to it randomly. I'm going to add a few more Bigfoot and call it a day. I just don't know about it. Added some spray paint and that made me nauseous.

My break was spent painting my blanket and watching Project Runway out of the corner of my eye. Actually the painting turned out pretty fabulous. Working with a time crunch forces me to have more confidence in my color mixing and application.

This theme of speed carried over into my class today where Annie came by and confiscated my small brushes and told me I had 10 minutes to fill the figure with color. I managed to do it! Mostly! I had a few spots left but generally it was filled in by the end of the 10 minute deadline. The painting was, at the end of class, done! The first one! I'm amazing and rock so hard. Probably needs some more work but I filled the page and touched on every area of the piece. I'm so proud of myself that I could do that.

Cleaned up and went to the commons to wait for Lindsay. Ran into Matt who was sporting some snazzy glasses and a cool scarf. Gray really works on him. Tall Andy was around and a few other familiar faces. Ultimately I texted Lindsay on Karen's phone telling her I was going out with them. Swung by Craig's show (and once I figured out what was going on, I digged it) and briefly took another gander at Mia's.

Now to finish the last few sentences of my reading response and to stagger into bed.

mint & basil

Today I did some serious baking and blending. For breakfast I had a chocolate milk shake (I needed the sugar, what?) and for dinner I made Basil-Cheese Triangles. The milk shake was delicious and the Oster blender worked perfectly.

I bought the Feta Cheese and Basil for the Triangles yesterday but had no luck finding the phyllo dough at Safeway. They didn't have it at Trader Joe's either (not great in the selection department there either) but they had this artisan pastry stuff that could potentially work. And it did! It broke a little during its travels but it worked out. Lathered butter on those puppies and wrapped it around the feta/egg/basil bits. Cooked up real good, all flakey and warm with delicious gooey centers. Mmm mmm MMM! Now I'm all buttered out. Whoo!! Like to learn how to make it with phyllo dough. I have some of the feta stuff left over, probably will use it for scrambled eggs in the morning.

Well, today was back to school and back to work officially. My website is coming together though the tools for building it are painfully boring to use. iWeb? Bleeh! Stuck in some Hitchhikers quotes. Will add more art with it. Just really stale. About four people were missing from class, guess they didn't get the "class returns Thursday" memo.

Bought a mint green cropped jumper and one of Nicole's prints from the Holiday Art Sale that is going on at school right now. Lots of great art, even more over priced and "ehh I don't really like it" feeling pieces being sold. Nothing grabbed my eye on the first couple of sort throughs. I had my budget and I didn't go over it. I actually ended up with four things so that was really sweet! Three things on my wall, one in my closet. Bought the jumper and print during the Digital Tools/Drawing break.

In Drawing we drew chairs. We drew one from many angles, sometimes with some fabric on it. That was the first segment. The second was a set up with three chairs entwined with one another in front of a cloth backdrop with a sad-looking mannequin. My drawing was sorta messy. I also was really bored and frustrated with the arrangement. We go model model model model CHAIR STUDY model model model. But it must be said my general technical ability is increasing.

Student Council had pizza, what a gyp!

For the last part of lunch I spent the rest of my Holiday Art Sale budget. Bought one of BT's prints and this photo of a guy with a Mohawk and his eyes closed. The photo really spoke to me and I don't know why. I really love it, it has a nice high proud position on my wall. All of my newly acquired art does. Love it!

Swung by Trader Joe's and relaxed at home for a few hours before heading down to PNCA again for First Thursday. I just wanted to see Nicole and Andy at their show and hang about a bit. Not feeling up for the usual run about.

Nicole and Andy's show looks amazing. Their collaboration really came together. Andy said it was all right to take a few of the pictures hanging on the wall (it is a crazy variety going on, all pinned and hanging and stuff. We can also rearrange them if we'd like). I will take him up on it when I have a folder with me in which to safely store some of the work. I know which of his work I'd like to put next to my Mohawk guy.

Chatted with some people and went back home. Made the delicious squares and watched the trailer for the live action Speed Racer movie. It looks...fun. I'm not sure, might go see it. Hard to say.

trick or tr-I'M REALLY TIRED!!

Wow, I'm beat. It is Monday after Some Cats From Japan all over again. But like that time, it was sooo worth it. Halloween was great! Fun times were all around.

Karen's Party

Karen was throwing a party for all those who were not invited to parties. I was not invited to a party (well not directly, I'm sure Noel would have been cool had I shown up with Michael to her party) but I would have preferred the smaller one with people I liked and knew better.

I didn't know who all was going to Karen's so I hung out with Cidney and Mel until all was sorted out. There was lots of hubbub about which bus to take and where, which max, max and bus? In the end, after about 45 minutes of discussion we went with the first choice, the max. Which was the obvious choice as it comes every fifteen minutes by Goose Hollow and it takes us within 10 blocks of Karen's. So at around 7:00pm Cidney, Mel, Chelsea, Kristin, Robin and I left.

The Max ride was fairly uneventful for most of the fair less zone. Once we got into East Portland. Hooo boy.

This really drunk guy sat next to Robin and harassed her a little bit. Then he got into some weird yelling/shoving match with this guy he had gotten on with. Drunken playing around but it was very very off putting. I was very glad that they didn't have tickets and got off promptly at the first stop after they boarded. We just sort of sat about silently and awkwardly while the two guys yelled back and forth about, oh I forget. It was weird. The other loud guy was sitting right next to me and I was very scooted over next to Kristin. That wasn't fun.

We got off at a stop I remember from the time last summer when I went to the river with the pre-college people. It was a brisk walk and we stopped at a house that had trick-or-treater indicators around it and go some candy. The couple at the house were really nice and loved our costumes. Yaay!

We found Karen's house no problem and settled in with Tabitha, her friend Allison (I believe that was her name), Karen and Jim. The ten of us were all that there was for the night. Nice little group. Karen had burrito fixings layed out, and chips and drinks and soda and brownies and all other goodies. I brought Trader Joe's Cheese Puffs and Sprite and Juice. More than enough.

We started off with a movie; the remake of The Amityville Horror with Ryan Reynolds. Not really that good or scary. Well less scary due to the fact we were making fun of it the whole way through (we nine girls all paused and sighed during the scenes where Ryan Reynolds ran around shirtless, Jim just rolled his eyes). All it all, it was a pretty bad movie. Way too embellished and lacking in lots of action. Sorta funny but it fell into cliche so often. This movie, it really makes me glad my dad never made me hold the wood while he chopped it.

Then we moved onto a Mob themed card game. It took a little to get into it but we really got into it. Lots of fun being mean to each other. Robin and I were the first team to get out so we noshed and observed the others playing.

When the game was over we sat about and talked about calling a cab to take us home, one of those bus cab things. We called Radio Cab and they said it would be forty minutes. So we played charades from Cranium cards for the next forty minutes. I flopped around and somehow they got that I was a Waterbed, a Greenhouse, Titanic and Eddie Murphy.

When forty minutes was up we called the company to find out what was up and they told us that after forty minutes they delete our call for a cab. So apparently we have to call again and again every 10 minutes to make sure our cab is coming, instead of you know...relying on it and not pestering people. Yeah so we got mighty frustrated about that. Karen told off the company a little and then the awesomely kind lady that she is, Karen offered to give us a ride home. In her car. At the same time. Well, Tabitha and her friend were driving home in their own car. So it was the eight of us in a five seater car.

Robin sat with Chelsea up front, I sat on Jim('s lap, tee hee), Mel was squeezed next to me and Cidney was on Kristin. It was a squeeze. Unsafe squeeze but it was either than or wait till 1:40am for a cab that may or may not come on time. Karen was a safe driver and knew safe routes. Jim was dropped off first and Robin moved into the back seat on top of me. She used the handle to hoist herself so she wasn't putting her weight on me (something I didn't think to do for poor Jim). Karen dropped us off at Goose Hollow and we all meandered in and all probably got to our comfy beds at around the same time. 2:00am. BAHHG!

Halloween at PNCA

Rose from bed at about 7:00am to take a quick shot of Lindsay and Sean's costumes. They were doing their costume together and were Maude and the Dude from The Big Lebowski.

Thanks to sleeping in, I got a really good start on the day. I didn't ride in costume all though now I wish I had. I pass by a High School on the way to PNCA everyday and on Wednesday's all the kids are on break and I saw their costumes. Some pretty cool ones at it as well.

I made a quick change from bundled up biker to a certain infamous missing person before entering the school. I got so many smiles and "I found you!" from people. I loved the attention. Sohkun was a flamingo and was downright adorable. Got tons of good response from the darkroom people. Messed around with my old prints, played around mostly and hung around being overall awesome with my awesome costume. I knew someone else was going as the same person but I didn't see them so it is no big thing.

They gave us a free lunch and made the willing costumed people parade in front of the uninspired non costumed people. Mel's Jellyfish and Mollie's Medusa were downright spectacular but we were all beaten by a voodoo woman, a pirate with a real parrot and a girl with a rooster on her head.

The critique in 2D was rushed near the end as always. Got some good feedback but overall they always end up rushed because there is too much to talk about and not enough time to do it equally.

Time Arts was fun. Diana flipped out when she saw me. As did Amina. Very fun. We watched some videos and listened to a really intense audio. Then we worked on composing videos using clips from the 3 second animations we did a few weeks ago. Finished clipping things together and left to go to Karen's awesome party!

The next day (today)...

BLIMEY! I'M TIRED I'M TIRED I'M TIRED. I do NOT want to go out to First Thursday but I should because if I go out and see some stuff and write about it I'll get the coveted bonus in Digital Tools.

Gordon's strategy is that if we just do the work required for the class we will get a B. He wants us to go out and see art and make our own unstructured opinions and thoughts about it. And there is any number of things going on we can go to, First Thursday is just the easiest way to do it. I like that teaching practice. Doing the work is not enough, and it shouldn't be. There is also an extra project we can do to get the uber coveted bonus. I plan on making my own zine. Maybe about working in a library four three(!) years.

I started to nod off during my midterm meeting with Gordon. He was really well spirited about it considering I was midsentance explaining where I want to go with my art. He seems to really like where I want to go with my art and his interest encourages me to structure what kind of artist I want to become.

Drawing was torture. Ish. Did some great ink drawings in the first half, the second half not so much. I was tired and loosing focus and my drawing showed that. I didn't get the chance to do a good amount of value range and ended up with mostly dark shadows and a few lighter ones. Ah oh well.

So glad to be freed of the school to go home and relax. Ibanez totally loves me when we are home alone.

The chocolate yogurt was not much better than the green tea.

Well time to go out into First Thursday. First stop: going to Floating World Comics to see if Kazimir Strzepek remembers me from Stumptown Comics Fest. Next stop: I dunno, Steven Slappe's new exhibit? Compound Gallery?

Back from First Thursday:

Whee! That was fun. I was dead and a zombie for most of it but I did a pretty good gallery loop. Rode my bike down 14th and then down Couch and parked it at 5th. Scooting along on my bike past all these slow cars, so awesome.

Kazimir didn't remember me but he did sort of vaguely recognize me. Anyway he was sweet and fun to talk to. His comics are done at a 1:1 ratio and he had them up on the walls and I had to lean in super close to read them. But yeah we chatted and some other comic people were around that I didn't recognize but I knew they had to be important as they were all...published looking.

It was really hot and stuffy so I moved on to some of the other galleries. I went to check out Slappe's but I was never able to find it. I ran into Craig in this gallery with wigs and drawings done in Thailand. He told me to check out his and Sean's show that was on the other side of the block. I ran into Gavin at Pink Pony...Prancing Pony...Plastic Pony...uhm. Something Pony, they had really sweet cheap shirts and prints and zines galore. I didn't buy anything but now I know another place to go when I have money (which will be ages from now. I want a real job).

After that this guy was standing at a door and was like "Hey wanna check out this 3 foot ceiling gallery?" And I said "okay" and followed the arrows. I had seen the paintings before but they were in an open setting. This time they were placed in a crawl space that you had to pretty much scoot on your knees around to look at the paintings. Being in that space made me feel like a giant looking at tiny little paintings and in that setting it made me appreciate the intricate detail more. Kinda hurt my knees but it was worth it. I was starting to get really bleary so I continued on my way to find Craig and Sean's show. Stopped in at Rake, some cool paintings but I was so unfocused I wasn't paying attention. Saw Jack and ran into Gavin again.

Craig and Sean are MFA at PNCA and they were having a dual show in a cute little gallery. The stuff was mostly pieces I have seen before (either from their show at PNCA or by sweeping up past their studios) but it was nice seeing it more collected and tidied up. Congratulations go to Craig for selling his giant colorful robot piece. Chatted both of them up about whatnots and complimented Sean on his awesome tattoos (some great ones down here). Matt was there briefly. Jason...person, uhm I don't know he had a plain name and I kinda forget it but he heads student council, he was there and we chatted about how crummy Seattle is, how much the new sculpture park sucks and teasing the MFA's about their pathetic student council cash pot. There is a MFA trip to Seattle the 16th and they had open seats so Mollie and I will be joining them.

After them I waved goodbye and meandered back towards my bike. Stopped in at Compound Gallery but it was totally packed and people just stood chatting and blocking the paintings like they didn't matter. Will have to stop by later and look when there isn't so much congestion and claustrophobia inducement.

Popped into Floating World Comics and had a few more words with Kazimir and picked up my comics; well it was just one comic and I got one of Kazimir's smaller works. Then I rode home pretty much the same way I got back. Finished off my cheesy puffs and now I am ready for bed. Gotta get up for work in twelve hours.

night rider versus the boxes

Whoo! I rode my bike around for First Thursday (big art show opening day around Portland) and had so much fun. It was really cold but so exhilarating. Left at about 6:00pm to check out PNCA. Wore my leather pointy shoes and leather jacket. Nice animal cruelty combination going on there. My hair was still flattened back from the days hairstyle so I just gelled it into shape and headed out looking all sleek like.

There wasn't much going on around PNCA so I rode down to 5th&Couch to check out the galleries there. People in the Pearl don't have a lot of respect for bikers (yeah you share the road with us, we will obey the stop signs and you should too). Didn't get hit but there were some dummies. I always get a weird start when I am turning left towards Couch, like I never have been able to get the pedals started right so I falter. Didn't help that I was wearing shoes not meant for biking in. Got there alright and locked my bike to a gate. The gallery in the Portland Art Center had a nice installation in the front half, the back half was annoying (we are forced to deal with people crying really fakeily and awkwardly...deep). Upstairs was some New Renaissance work, some of it was really brilliant and so well executed. Wasn't so inspiring but really purdy with some great technique. Another annoying installation tucked away(shes swimming in an endless circle...deep). Also annoying kids running about.

Floating World Comic's exhibit was all female artists and I think they may have been Portland-based female artists as well. A good premise but ultimately I was left disappointed. Is this all we could do as a gender? Nothing really stuck with me except for some nice line art and a few colorful pieces but even then it is hazy.

Ran into Gordon, my Digital Tools teacher. He recommended I check out the gallery "Motel". He looks exactly the same in class as he does in reality, I guess the perks of being a computers teacher at a small private art school. He is a cool guy, while I may not be interested in all that he teaches us he gives a good energy so I enjoy class. Today we worked on piecing together our images and making them into a video. I was starting from fresh when I came in this morning and I was the only one done by the end of class. Huh. My video is about a sea monster attacking people, finding a bride, having a family and attacking more people.

The Motel gallery had this really insane hyper-rendered in pencil artwork. I spent so long looking over all the little bits, noticing how people just breezed right past them not taking the time. I took the time and I saw so much. Really surreal zombie women and portraits and people walking along floating rock formations with spears. Ghostly and ethereal, loved it! They had silkscreen tee shirts with the designs but you know, I'm trying to be save-y here.

It was getting dark so I got on my bike and decided to ride home. Somewhere around 12th and Washington I decided to circle back to PNCA and see if anything more was going on. There wasn't anything going on at PNCA, no new shows (there is something from Casey Oney but I saw it earlier today). Down the street was where they close off traffic and have tents set up. It was about 2-3 blocks last month, now it was about one. Walked through it but nothing caught my eye.

Looped around and went into this poster-making place that was having higher end (or rather commercial) looking wares. Chatted at length with Jacob Kaup, a local potter who had some spectacularly colored wheel ceramics on display. They were sort of drab at first glance but when I got close it was just WOW. So many little reds and blues, turquoise and...just wow. Gazed and gazed at them. There was a nice jewelry maker lady who made these really fancy bracelets with lots of little beads. The paintings upstairs, some of the abstracts only half looked planned out and the Italy street scenes were childish. The works composed of bits of wood were nice...but like I said it was commercial and not so indie and edgy.

I left the building and heard Chervona playing so I skittled over towards them. They were not playing the first time I went through the tents on 13th, but they were now. Much of the same music they played last First Thursday, but it was still amazing. Bounced along in rhythm and took some photos (no flash, probably blurry but we will see). Just love these guys.

Continued through the network of tents back towards where I locked up my bike and saw this display I missed the first time through. The work had a very gestural quality to it, but it was made using bent wire. There were mobiles where each direction produced a new face and there was a large piece on the back of just faces (the artist, Spenser called it "Schizophrenic on Coffee") melding with one another. There were smaller little movable toys and wire birds. I was enthralled. I stuck around for a while and chatted with him on and off between him making sales and me admiring the 3D skull earrings. We talked about octopuses.

At about 8:30, my fingers well and truly numb I decided to ride home. Second time today I made that trip. On the way back I stopped several times to take more night shots of the city. People were really nice about it as they walked past. No one mugged me or looked like they would mug me.

So from 6-9:15 I was out and about and freezing cold but like I said, exhilarating and worth it! I'd like to bike at night some more if I didn't worry so much about drunk city drivers.

Oh and in drawing we drew boxes for three hours. I thought I had bested that old foe but it rose again. The platform was what gave me the most trouble; I want to take an axe to its irregular angles.

chervona & enjoying my day off

Whew! I attempted biking around the city today at was fairly successful at it; I didn't get lost, get hit by a car (or almost get hit, no car-related trauma at all), and found a convenience store before I dehydrated. I'm still a little fearful but I'll get past it the more I do it.

First Thursday was pretty fun. Lindsay, Brandon, Sean and I got a semi-late start to the show in Pioneer Courthouse Square. It was pretty packed when we got there so we didn't stay long. The music was pretty, not totally right up my alley but still nice. We back-tracked to 13th and walked towards the Pearl District. We saw a nice exhibit with glass work, it was so tempting to touch it. Lindsay says at her first show she will let people touch the work, I suggested that you give out texture samples for people to handle. I wish more art was touchable, and not so much like that massive iron sculpture in Seattle's Olympic Sculpture Park which had oodles of warnings about how fragile it was. There was a nice Alice in Wonderland inspired show in a real estate office, more illustration than fine art (but that is fine by me, illustration is what I want to do after all).

13th quickly gave way to blocks of tents and tables of local artists selling paintings/jewelry/hats/gauged jewelry/cookies. I only had a few bucks in cash which prevented me from buying a silver necklace and a flapper-esque hat. Both looked great on me but I would rather buy food than jewelry and clothes I probably wouldn't wear that much (I wish I had my camera, would have been nice to get a shot of me in that hat, it was super cute). Roaming the market made me wish I had a job so I could be a little spendy, but if I had a job I'd be a little more spendy food wise (gosh I could really go for some Ben & Jerry's). There was a great band playing near PNCA, a Russian Gypsy/folk/jazz band, Chervona. I donated some of the few bucks I had and grabbed their CD. While listening to them, David showed up and asked me to dance, which amazingly I did. I'm not normally one to dance, and certainly not in front of a large group of people gathered around street performers. We danced for the rest of the song; the moves I remembered from the Swing/Ballroom class I took a year or so ago. Despite my shuffling and embarrassment, it was great fun! I hope to see this band preform again.

The exhibits in PNCA were not anything new to me, I've been seeing them for the past week. But this time one of the installations had its audio turned on and the howling was annoying. Somewhere near the hat stand I had lost track of Lindsay and Brandon, but they were going out to dinner after so no biggie. I didn't feel like walking around more so Sean and I decided to catch the streetcar back. Walking past the West Cafe we decided to have an impromptu delicious dinner. I had the Quesedilla Salad and he had, as per my suggestion, the Granny Smith and Grilled Chicken Salad. I didn't quite like all the parts in my salad, but it was overall tasty and filling the parts I did eat. We finished off with steamed milk and whipped cream, mine was chocolate and Sean said "surprise me" and he got hazelnut. A nice warm treat to end the day on.

Had a very nice night sleep, the adjustment to the city is going pretty well.

As I wrote earlier, I decided to take another whack at city biking today. I planned out my trip and made direction notes so I was super prepared. My plan for today was to get a proper bike lock, to make my comic run, pick up tickets for Cats from Japan, and see how easy it was to get to and from PNCA from Goose Hollow.

Description of my route: Turned right after walking my bike out of Goose Hollow, biked up a hill, turned right on Columbia, continued on Columbia till 12th, turned right on 12th, continued on 12th till Salmon and turned right on Salmon, arrived at bike store on 10th & Salmon. Headed East on 12th, turned right on Everett, turned right on 4th when I realised I passed 5th, looped around block, went down Davis, turned left on 5th and parked my bike in the hallway outside Floating World Comics, which is located between Burnside and Couch on 5th. Went West on Couch, turned right on Broadway and continued straight. Crossed the Broadway Bridge, Broadway Y'ed into Broadway and Weidler, I went straight on Weidler and turned left on Williams. Continued straight and then turned right on Russell. Stopped at Wonder Ballroom. Headed West on Russell, turned left on Vancouver, turned right on Broadway. Crossed the Broadway Bridge again and turned right heading towards Lovejoy. Merged onto Lovejoy and turned left on 13th. Stopped at PICA. Continued straight on 13th, turned right on Jefferson. Continued straight on Jefferson, went down the hill and turned left on 18th and left again on Clay. Arrived back at Goose Hollow.

The Kryptonite lock that I bought is magnificent, works like a breeze. Ain't nobody taking my bike now!

Had a great comic run at Floating World Comics. Picked up Doktor Sleepless #2, The Boys #10, Y the Last Man #58, American Virgin #18, and 30 Days of Night: Eben and Stella #4. More comics than I was expecting to be in my box, but I can't complain about having more Ellis and Ennis. Five issues do not amount to much dough, don't worry mother. Also once the Eben and Stella arc end, I am taking that off my subscription, it just doesn't hold my interest anymore. And Y the Last Man ends in about three issues, and Pirates of Coney Island has yet to have the final few issues published (grr!) so really Doktor Sleepless, American Virgin, and The Boys are the only comics I'm buying on a once-a-monthly basis. I know and realise I can't crazy-splurge like I used to, but if anyone wants to visit and be the enabler they are more than welcome to! FWC has a spectacular indie/zine/self published section. They have a great selection all around, but their "Trillian really wants this and hopes it will still be there when she gets a job" selection is phenomenal.

The Broadway Bridge climb was killer, I was exhausted as it finally went downhill. The grocery store on Williams was a god-send, as I didn't bring any foot/liquids with me. Turns out Lindsay's voucher didn't work at the Wonder Ballroom, I had to take it PICA to redeem it. Got my ticket just fine for the Cats from Japan show (not about cats). The return was easy, as it was downhill. Ran into Laura at PNCA (not literally, just sort of chatted and gave off the general impression I was someone with somewhere to go). At PICA I found out the voucher would not work for events at The Works (things that take place at Wonder Ballroom). The WONDERFUL FABULOUS people gave me a "get into one show at The Works" ticket, I don't think that was their policy they just did it to be nice. I am thinking about sending them a thank you card, a general "you guys are supremely awesome and nice" sort of thing. I'd give them Banana Bread, but I'm all out.

13th is a slow hill heading south, but I made it up all right. Long day, even though all in all it probably didn't take me more than two hours to make the trip. No plans for the rest of the day, probably hang out with Lindsay or something.

clack clack clack

Today I wore my leather shoes auntie Celia gave me, they give off a lovely sound as I walk in them. A sort of empowering feeling. I dressed up(ish) for First Thursday; shiny shirt, black tank, black skinny leg jeans and my pointy leather shoes. Got lots of compliments (about four). Not the best walking shoes, but walking was easy today.

First Thursday is the first Thursday of every month, it is when galleries have their openings. The TBA Festival also begins today. I received a ticket for tEEth from Arvie for the September 11th show and made a reservation for that hair cut thing (Sunday, 1pm), there is a chance for chickening out so never fear (mom) I might keep it how it is. I ended up not buying any tickets from PICA for Nathan and Rubie when they visit, there are some free open events going on I'll try for first, before I spend $60-$75 on tickets. Plus I want to see what I am getting tickets for (I am supposed to get more from my remaining classes) and what times I will be busy before committing myself to a show. I also have homework so Nathan and Rubie might have to entertain themselves.

In Digital Tools we reviewed the homeroom site, the Apples, and photoshop. We took photos in photo booth and messed around with them, we will turn in our five best on Monday. Nothing to exciting, rather basic, but it is just starting out. Will get more intensive soon. Drawing I was figure drawing, gestures and contours. Really basic stuff I'm used to and sort of bored with. Arvie did knock it up a notch when we started sketching and then he told us to trade seats with the person next to us and draw on their work. We did a full rotation and then he said we had ten minutes to "fix-it", I don't think I "fixed-it" but I do like the outcome.

Had egg-salad sandwich for lunch. Mollie, Kat, Eva and I sat on the Jamison Square Park Fountain while enjoying our food. Kat and Eva got some food from a cart, it looked really hearty and filling. Sort of a mish-mash of beans and rice and cheese and lettuce and peanut sauce and some other unidentifiable things. I might try it out, but, you know, without all that weird stuff.

Tonight I am going to see Rinde Eckert's On the Great Migration of Excellent Birds in Pioneer Courthouse Square. Going with Lindsay, Brandon, and Sean.