prevues of coming attractions

I just saw In Bruges. Amazing film, I loved it. In fact I would go so far as to say it is one of my ten favorite films of all time. It really got to me and even now, a few hours after seeing it, I still feel affected by the film. It is really misadvertised. It is being played as a hitmen in hiding film, which it is, but it is so much more than that. I had heard that it was spectacular and this was why I didn't wait for it to be at a larger theatre I was familiar with, I went to see it at Cinema 21. Actually, Cinema 21 ended up being really close and easy to get to, I sometimes think the 20+ blocks on the west side are farther away than they really are. The cinema was a little cozy one theatre place with cheap concessions and compfy seats. I think I may just become a regular (it is also a few blocks from Michael's new place and hes one of my movie buddies so whoo). 2008 is a great year for movies. The movie was set in Bruges and featured so much of the beautiful architecture and paintings. I really want to go to Belgium now.

The museum trip was cancelled due to excessive homework constraints. I rode off into a well lit Portland day and picked up more paper from Art Media. Outside the store I was greeted with rain. As I rode furter, more rain. I was very nicely wet when I arrived at school. Riding was hell as I could barely see from all the rain in my eyes. I am so good about having my rain pants with me, but this time was a horrible exception. The print lab isn't exceptionally warm either.

Matt stopped by the lab for a visit as I was trimming my paper and etching my plate. My edition of my etching is all screwed up, not one are the same size so I should correct that so they are all equal. Waste a lot of paper in doing so but I need to be more careful about lining up my prints. My other plates are having issues retaining their ink so I have to figure out how I am going to manipulate the ink so they are not all light and hazy and generally bad looking. I need to take a break from the bigfoot plate because right now it looks sort of crappy now that I have etched it. Baaah, I'm started to stress, this is no good!

Then I went to see In Bruges by myself. Really quick ride home (and clear) and actually coming back on 18th seems easier than coming back on 13th.

of Mario and Mops

Cidney is in town this weekend, she left PNCA for Evergreen but we forgive her. She, Tabitha, Chelsey, Karen and I were up late reading bawdy poetry aloud and playing Mario Party. Up really late, blimey why am I still typing! Robin was over as well but she left earlier. She, Karen and I, while waiting for the others to arrive, watching Princess Bride. I love that movie but now I see more of the dated features (thanks to Karen's running audio commentary). Still wonderful.

At work I am learning to pace myself so I don't have as big of a chunk of time at the end. Sure I am making my way through Choke pretty effectively but I'd rather be paid to work. Choke is barely holding my interest. I mostly want to finish it just to finish it. I barely care about the characters and even though I know there are developments I still feel like it hasn't gone anywhere and isn't going anywhere (unless there is an apocalyptic ending). My dustpan and brooms were in the supply closet so that was good.

Comic class was okay. Mostly just Peanuts stuff and I didn't really have much to say. I feel awkward speaking up in class. It is so early and right at the end of the week as well so my thinking abilities are not that grand.

Day had a slow start but it ended on a fun note. Now for the weekend! Cidney and homework, yaaay! Hopefully more hanging with Cidney and less homework because I somehow magically get all my homework done in an hour (homework is: printmaking, short painting, and studying art history).

hitting the (pink) bottle

How ever smart you think I am, I am evidently not that smart.

So in drawing we were just working on our pieces further (the critique was postponed until more people decide to show up). I was working on mine and I noticed the ink wasn't mixing with the "water" that I had poured out of a bottle I found. Surely a bottle with clear liquid in an art room must contain water? Uh huh. Anyway to find out what it was I decided to take a wee drink.

It wasn't water.

A little later I whispered to Lindsay about how my stomach wasn't feeling too good and I explained why. After her initial Trillian-why-are-you-so-stupid look she asked me to show her the bottle. She said that it smelled like soap (and it tasted a little like it) and that I should probably take some tums and eat some food. So I went and bought some tums and Pepto Bismal and munched munched munched. My stomach felt queasy for the rest of class but once I arrived home and ate some pasta my health improved. Later Karen advised me on how to test things you are not sure about. Her scientific process involved dipping your finger in the substance and testing your finger. I've learned my lesson (no I haven't, I did the same thing in my chemistry class years ago). Mom, don't worry. I'll play it really really safe. The bottle wasn't a "this is used for chemicals" bottle and that is why it confused me.

Modou painted on one of the German girls works and she let out a pained sound in between a moan and a scream. He erased part of Lindsay's work. He liked my work but the class is wearing us thin. It is random and all over the place and I'm not sure how much I am really growing from it. Hmmn.

Brilliant sunny day again. I worked a little after class in the print lab washing the sugar lift off my plate. Took longer than I expected it to but it came off decently enough. At home I just kicked back and stuffed my face with food and pink liquid. Also did my reading for class. Mostly Charlie Brown and Charles Schulz stuff.

Painting was the same thing as on Tuesday. I came right on time which meant I came too late to grab a desk. Karen and Jen scooted theirs together and I sat between them. I only managed to get about 70% of the models skin completed. The hands looked great (Annie gave me a compliment about them) but it was largely unfinished. I can't paint fast.

After class I returned to the print lab and applied aquatint to my plate, heated it, etched it, and did a quick print. A continuing education student was in the class and I asked him quickly about applying the aquatint and he gave me a scare when he said he had never seen anyone apply it like I was about to (well I think there was an error in communication and he thought I was applying it to a print that had sugarlift still on it). Now afraid, I cranked up the aquatint box and placed my plate in for a few minutes. It went in and out without much of a hitch and it melted on the hot plate quite evenly. Etching went well, as did removing the aquatint rosin and hardground. I did a quick print just to see what it looks like and it looks wonderful! I can't wait to etch it further with hardground. It needs some clear definition into what is going on but the tree looks fab. I will etch it tomorrow but no printing.

Rode home, read some more about Schulz, Lindsay came home from her daaaaaaaate and we gabbed, then we watched...yup you guessed it, Project Runway! Tomorrow is a new Lost episode online for me to watch, I'm so excited! These weeks are a real busy crunch time but I think it is almost over.

My stomach is all better. I was almost hoping to burp bubbles but no such luck.

joy

Yesterday's sickness is today's happiness. The sun was shining, it was warm, I went for a walk, and all was grand!

Managed to get up a little early so I could start my day off right. Arrived at school on time with an idea for my sugarlift firmly in my head. Sugarlifted that sucked in about fifteen minutes and set that to dry, after that dried I applied the hardground and left it to dry. Smoothed out the other print and reapplied the softground and did a press with some dried flowers I had picked up. Etched it and printed it. Burnished the face and background. Printed it again. Burnished it again. Printed it again. Holding off on the burnishing and will do another test print. Did the rest of the edition for my etching. The hardground was still not dry so I will tend to that tomorrow. Was busy all through class (and about fifty minutes after) but still I feel behind. Lots of printing to be done over the weekend. Oh well, better to do it right than to rush it.

During lunch I walked to Whole Foods to grab something to eat(also to enjoy this radiant day). About two blocks from school I called my papa and our phone conversation took me to Whole Foods, through picking out food, through the cash register, back to PNCA, setting my stuff down in the print lab, grabbing a spot in the commons, eating my lunch and when my lunch was finally over we said our goodbyes. Diana, Lee and Chris stopped by and we chatted briefly and I shared my grapes. I skipped off to class in a supreme mood.

Yoga was really really tough this night, but I feel good.

Need a good night sleep so I can tackle tomorrow. I'm up for critique with Modou and I will be putting in some hours in the print lab.

Lindsay is strong, awesome, and I ♥ Her

Lindsay and I were outside Goose Hollow hooping with her new LED hoop. Karen was watching from above and suddenly we decided to just walk to the park and hoop there. And by we I mean just Lindsay and myself, Karen was being a poo and didn't join us (something about having homework to do). So me in my pajamas and Lindsay with her hoop, we went down to the park on Park Street (in front of the Portland Art Museum) and hooped to our hearts content! It was a great deal of fun. Just chuckling and hooping back and forth. Some homeless guys showed up, they were nice just a little drunk. They hooped a little but failed. One also failed when he asked me for a kiss and I stepped back quickly and said, "no". Lindsay stepped in and was all, "Can't you see my shirt says Detroit? And I'll shiv you and leave you for dead in the park." She was very calm about saying that, I can tell she has practiced. So we left that area and hooped elsewhere. A cute boy showed interest in the both of us (and he was neither drunk or homeless). Both of us were pretty exhausted and sore so we headed back. We arrived home at the amazing time of 10:22pm. We hooped long time!

So today was tough to get up. I wasn't feel too hot and my mind was all jumbled about the time on my clock. I arrived at school on time and ready to work. Then we spent an hour talking about art, what were are as artists, how we feel about the Portland scene, have we ever been to Europe, how to be elitist without being pretentious, and so on. The conversation was dominated by mostly five or six people and Lindsay brought up the fact about how we are all dead quiet in the class. It was an interesting conversation, Modou is full of praise for us all due to the fact that we are here. I'm one of the few that has consistently been there everyday. I didn't feel like it today but I was there.

After break was a quick/not so quick critique of our projects thus far. Modou's class (and Modou himself) ends up being a Russian Roulette critique. He isn't the best at being objective about work and has clear favorites and clear what he wants to see and what he doesn't want to see standards. Well, they actually are not that clear. That is what makes it so nerve wracking. I didn't have a critique today but Lindsay did. She was up last and up until her all the pieces were mostly favorable (there was one piece that was a collaboration that he wasn't OK with). Her collage and mixed media skull was said to be, "unbelievable." And when asked to define it, Modou couldn't come up with a clear answer. Half the class was silent, one fourth was confused about why this piece was suddenly not right, the other fourth jumped on the fear bandwagon. I sat in confused and shocked silence. Lindsay took it amazingly well (she is very strong and awesome) but still, I think for many people it came out of nowhere. All of a sudden a piece is unbelievable, what?

Left a little stunned, went home, and enjoyed a very lovely nap. I wasn't feeling too good (a little overheated) and really needed the rest. I don't think I am getting enough. Need to allow a little more on Sunday. I'm worn so thin by Friday and it is almost Wednesday and I have so much to do before the week ends. I don't like having so much work centered around the end of the week, I like it at the start.

In painting I sat apart from my usual bandit's and focused on the model. We are painting clothed figures. The first drawing ended up with her feet cut off so I drew it again, much smaller than needed. I am happy with the result (except the models breaks ended up with her draped clothing changing constantly) but it was far too small to work with effectively. I can mix skin tones pretty well now; all it is is yellow and orange with a little red, a little blue to mute and subdue the saturation, and a little bit of green. Who knew? Annie said to do another painting, this one much larger, in the next class instead of working on this one (which I finished so I'm cool with that. I was feeling much better at the end of class and rode off into the night quite neatly.

Arriving home I had to deliver much hugs to Lindsay. Then we watched Project Runway. Santino is such a jerk, but by being that way it allowed Daniel to leave with much dignity. He was so selfless in the end and went on a high note. He is so set career wise now. Go him! (We are on Season Two, and yes we do our homework).

Then we went hooping!!


Lindsay hooping during her lunchtime performance.


LED hooping


This be me, I am so awesome.

hoop da hoop da Trillian don't feel too good

Oh boy, I was chilling at Karen's (NOT doing a comic jam, amazingly). I was just relaxing and hanging out and reading a comic. I like having her here, it gets me out of my apartment and away from distractions. But yeah, I was reading The Invisibles by Grant Morrison and I got into it in a big way and was having such a hard time putting it down because so much changes between issues. He is really an amazing author, but I'd be a liar if I said I understood it all.

I don't feel so good. Karen, Lindsay and I went to Fire on the Mountain and somewhere between the wings and the deep fried twinkies, something didn't settle right so I'm going to keep this short and lay down and rest something fierce.

Art History really makes me want to just travel around Europe and museum hop. I don't think I can pull it together for France right now. I'd rather just go to Belgium.

Lindsay did a hoop dancing performance during lunch today. It was very cool. She did lots of neat tricks and had some great routines. Shes a very cool roommate, I'm very fortunate that I'm not with someone that is freaking out all the time or bugs me about me leaving my pencils on the table. I have pictures of her dancing, eventually I'll post them. But now: sleep.

p.s. Lindsay's LED hula hoop came in the mail. It rocks.

p.p.s. Celia: Lindsay says she learned how to make her own hula hoops from http://www.hooping.org/ and she learned tricks off of youtube.com

we be jammin

Karen is vile. She keeps luring me into comic jams. Not as late as last nights jam but still, a jam none the less. Today was full of stuff so I didn't get to do a separate post for Yesterday...

Yesterday

I slept in. Like I normally do on Saturday. This week really took it out of me and when Friday rolls around I am exhausted and I hate the fact I have to work. It isn't that great when I can't sleep in before my shift. My sleep schedule is really out of order and having that lit class tucked in right there are the end...bah. But yeah, I slept in. I lounged about. I read. I watched MORE Project Runway. I am almost done with season four (just the finale and the wrestling episode) and I think season two is next. Lindsay came home early but she wasn't up for Clue.

I didn't apply on my moustache (nor have I looked at the photos from the Clue Party) but I did straighten my hair. Just trying out a different look. We started late because Diana was held up making sweet potato fries. She was an awesome Mrs. White. She also told us that we were still playing Clue wrong and with the "correct" rules, it still took us two hours to complete one game. I guessed myself out early so I could make some Gyoza (my final batch, it was a hit). We played the next game as a shorter, house rules Clue game. Kris was there, he was Sergeant Gray and looked downright adorable. I must say, he and Kristen are cute together.

After the second game most of the people left but we managed to lure Diana into crashing at Karens for the night and so we comic jammed! The pieces sort of fell apart when we got to the 2:15 am mark but they were still hilarious. The one I started had some horrible/really deep dialogue, Diana's involved this kid eating plants and his family was demonic, and Karen's was about me "getting a clue". Yeah it was super fun. I leant some blankets and pillows to Diana and then went to bed.

But before I slept, I saw a big TV in the free zone. I plugged it in and it was unable to turn on so I left a note saying, "Next time leave a TV that turns in without a remote." And drew a frowning self portrait. Then I slept.

Today

Set my alarm to go off at 11. If I didn't I would sleep through the game afternoon Karen set up as part of her RA duties. Also I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if I was up that late. I pretty much got up, showered, got dressed, and went straight to helping Karen set up.

It wasn't a big turn out (Karen, Michal, and Myself...oh and amazingly Lindsay came down for it, that was awesome) but to those who showed up, we had our picks of the left over food. I have TWO BIG THINGS OF JUICE!! TWO!! And some pita chips. Whoo. Awesome. We played Pay Day. Karen beat us completely but I came in at a fairly decent second. I think the next RA arranged event will be a Comic Jam.

After the game session Lindsay and I cleaned house a little and we brought up the dresser that was left in the free zone in the parking garage. It is a pretty decent dresser; no spider webs or weird smells. We will use it for general supplies that we can't stuff else where (ie: probably my stuff). My lamp is on top of it and now our living room actually has nice lighting. Amazing! We took a quick trip to Safeway. I ate a couple Otter Pops and Fruit Roll-Ups(they were on sale). We watched Project Runway. And then I went up to Karens.

I worked on my painting and then she was all, "Oh Trillian, take a break. Work on this jam comic. You need to let your painting dry." And I caved and worked on a comic with her. SHES VILE! A vile vile woman. But she fed me so...I had to oblige.

I'm going to throw a "how to make gyoza like Trillian (even though it is Llyw's recipe)" party. Basically, I show people how to make the filling and how to put it in the wrapper and how to fry it and how to wrap it for the freezer. All that stuff, and if they pay me they can take some filling home with them.

sleep sleep

It is almost 3am. I just had a long clue night and an even longer and later jam comic session. Full details tomorrow morning. Right now: sleep.

Gondry makes me smile

Lindsay and I went to see the new Michel Gondry film Be Kind Rewind. Gondry has such an amazing ability to make simple, striking, and beautiful films. He doesn't make films that cater to the mass public ideals and that might be why this film isn't getting praise from all over. Sure it had some slow moments but at the end I wanted to cry from both sorrow and happiness. This movie really...it really moved me. The characters were portrayed perfectly and the scenes where they created the movies were wonderful! Just creativity. I love how Gondry thinks.

Alex Cahill, in class, said something along the lines of that because he left his comic simple and open to interpretation that people considered him a smarty pants. Something like that, I got a good chuckle. It was an okay class, I couldn't contribute much (sometimes I feel that it isn't an open discussion but more of a wait for the right answer). I was also very tired so I started to nod off.

Rode home to fetch my key card to get into the studios. I couldn't find it and was late to work because of the long search. When I got to work they had restocked the disinfectant, sponges, and toilet paper, but someone had borrowed my broom and dust pan and didn't return it! So I couldn't do my full job, and I have so much time I can do my full job. Whoever did that is a jerk.

One of the MFA's (the redheaded one with sharp sideburns) had these goggles with red blinky lights in them that when turned on and worn with your eyes shut they produce this really disorienting/beautiful personal light show. I started seeing green after a minute. Supposedly you are supposed to do it for 14 minutes.

I am forcing myself to start reading Palahniuk's Choke again. It gives me the same feeling as it did when I stopped reading it (the feeling that it is progressing slowly and going nowhere) but I am going to push myself. I bought it, I should read it.

Lost was another great episode. I knew it was Aaron! Oh and that whole Locke introducing himself to Miles scene was genius. Ohhh I can't wait for more! I waited years for this kind of quality from the show.

Robin, saint of birds, tea, and shoulder rubs

200 posts in my blog. I have been in Portland for half a year now, it will be exciting to reach the one year mark. It is a beautiful city filled with lovely (if occasionally honky) people.

Drawing was mostly a "further your idea" work day. I did several watercolors and was starting to work on condensing the figures when Modou stopped by and gave me some advice, suggested some artists, and generally hung about and talked with me about what I was working on (he said it was good). He showed me some images from his computer and someone text messaged him while he was on it. I like it when teachers are as human as the rest of us. Class went fairly quickly once I got a better idea of what I was working on.

Rode home, relaxed, ate some pasta, didn't read my comic and didn't work on my painting. There was a double movie gossip interest that popped up on the Internet that I had to investigate. Charles Burnes' Black Hole is being adapted by David Fincher and Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman are doing the screenplay. Fincher and Gaiman!!! That is perfect. This movie will be great. Also the Akira live action is underway...sort of. It is amazing how just the anouncement of a movie, the mere idea of its possibility, how excited it gets the fans. Wheee! Black Hole, I can't wait.

Soon it was time to head to school early to type up my idea behind my landscape. Lots of gibberish about semi-amphibious fish with air sacks and people living in stilt houses in shallow water. I think it is pretty cool. Didn't get as much done in painting as I would have liked. Some of the under lighting looks good, I think once I get more completed it will come together. It is a slow medium and somewhat tedious medium (I am also making this probably more complex than it needs to be).

Rained a little but not enough to warrant rain pants (I had them with me though). I started in on my much neglected Comic Lit reading: The Last Island by Alex Cahill. Cahill is a PNCA grad and the comic was his thesis. He will be in class tomorrow so that is exciting. It read quicker than I thought it would (sure it was a comic with no words but it was obviously written so that you moved through it quick). The panels didn't have much to linger on, they worked better when put together as a narrative than left alone. Uhm, yeah. I liked it, looking forward to tomorrow.

I had pasta for lunch and Annie's pasta for dinner. Both were large portions and I finished them both off completely. Uhhg.

There was another comic jam at Karen's tonight. It was only a single page that was based between Her, Robin and myself. It was about my career as a performance artist. At one point I was in a rabbit looking, fish printed, scuba suit with glow sticks, a snorkel, and fins. It as pretty rad, if I must say so. Then we helped Karen stuff fliers under PNCA doors and then it was off to bed for us all!

like pushing yourself through paint

Just replied to mom about that last post. Yeah, she didn't approve but I don't feel like I was in the wrong (and if I can't see a car, there isn't much I can do). Anyway, feel free to leave a comment on my blog instead of e-mailing me.

Anywhoo, onto daily business. Whoo, Wednesday! Printmaking! Actually not as fun as it normally is. Mostly a work day and it was focused on my softground...which I am not that psyched about. There ended up being some etching in places I didn't want it to be and I had to burnish it a little but it still came up with some texture. I'll have to sand and steel wool it. Daaang. Also the picture isn't as cool as I thought it would end up being. I also have to come up with the sugarlift design. I'm not behind, just a little lost for ideas right now.

Comic Book Club was very eventful. There were some minor(maybe major) disputes but it looks like our plans for an in-the-commons comic jam are under way! It will rock. We also did three mini comic jams during the meeting; they revolved around a bass player turned part way into a crab, why pizza is delicious, and someone meeting an alien. We actually did something in the club for once, wonderful!

Casey Oney was on his stomach, pushing a box of leaking paint in circles through the commons.

I received a package from home filled with goodies and food! Annie's Pasta, Pocky, Tiger's Milk (milked from tigers), sesame crackers, Sweethearts, Botan and Jell-O galore! Even with that I needed milk and eggs and a few other things so Lindsay and I hit up Safeway. We barely got home with all our bags. As we were trudging we noticed the lunar eclipse that was happening.

We dropped our stuff off and went to the 16th floor in the Tower to get a better view. You can see so much of Portland from up there (like the convention center) and the moon was eclipsed exquistely. Then after ten minutes we got bored and went down and put away our groceries. I kicked back and ate some udon with egg added and then went up to Karen's for a comic jam.

A comic jam is when you draw a panel and pass the page to someone else. Karen and I were just passing back and forth between each other. The comic I started ended up being a match between Karen and Jen Lee (Karen was walking backwards through the whole comic) and the one Karen started was about a failed romance between a fisherman and a mermaid. We are so doing more of these.

This morning I had one of those half awake/half asleep dreams. In it dad was coming to visit so I had to be very good about getting everything done ahead of time. Then I woke up fully and remembered that dad was not going to visit soon. Then I became sad.

mom won't approve of this

Ohh I'm all mellow from the yoga. The old instructor, Melanie, isn't there this semester but Trisha, one of the MFA, is now teaching it. Another of the MFA, I think her name is Chelsea, was in attendance as well. Amanda, Jen, one woman I didn't recognize, and myself rounded out the yoga group to six. It was nice. She played music and introduced a few new poses. I will be sore tomorrow but whatever, it was great.

On the way back home I flipped off a motorist. Not very Zen of me. I was at an intersection and I thought I had right of way because it was only me and a car in my same lane. Little did I know there was a car in the other lane that didn't have their lights on (so I couldn't see them). They were not going fast and I only really saw them till I passed the man driving and motioning crudely at me. I sailed ahead of him and I heard "HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK" so I gestured at him. I had right of way again so I didn't really stop at the next intersection and yet again "HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK" and yet again I gestured. He shouted something at me but I was already blissfully on my way. Some people just don't know how to drive, or really hate bicyclists. I've had several honks because I ride in the car lane on Jefferson so I can turn easier onto 14th. I get honked at because I am in a lane for one block. People get so pissed off because they have to slow down for one block. And it isn't even a full block, it is a bridge over another street.

Drawing was another critique intensive class. We also had a speech from a thesis student who needs help with his project. Sort of, assistance help. I might do it. Amina came in at 10:20 (class starts at 8:00) and Modou just motioned for her to leave and told her to come back Thursday. He followed her out and came back in. Later in class he mentioned something that was for our ears only. If he follows through with it I will be very proud of him. Amina later said she had a doctor's appointment but more on that later.

During the Drawing break I photocopied the comic club fliers that I made last night (they look awesome) and after class I put them up. I also grabbed a few more titles from the library. They now know me by name there. Booyah! The ride home was slow (the books weighed a great deal) but the weather was nice so it didn't bother me.

I watched some more Project Runway and looked up some reference material for my painting assignment. I left a little early to print out material.

I only managed to get my sketch done during painting class. My landscape is also a little more involved than some of the others. Well maybe not more involved but it has more invented details and specific little things. Not to say I am better, I am just going to be spending more time on this piece. Less a generic landscape than a full scene. And we have to pay attention to lighting and I am doing it at night. Hooo boy.

So yeah, we were having a talk in class about how critiques in the Illustration classes play it nice and Amina gave her two cents and it went a little downhill and I think she hates me:
Me: Our drawing class, people don't really feel the need to be nice. Some are mean.
Her: I don't see you being mean.
Me: I don't see you showing up to class.
Her: I had a doctors appointment.
Me: Well Modou is fed up with you.
(At this point it is a little muddled. Something about how she had an appointment and talked about it with him and I warned her that Modou was not happy)
Her: Just because I don't buy into the elitist art school standards.
Me: It isn't buying in. It is an education, you are here to learn. Someone somewhere is paying a lot for this education. It isn't elitist. (Something something). That is just my opinion.
Her: Well your opinion sucks.

And that is where it ended. She got up and left three times in the first hour of class and shortly after our discourse she left for a long amount of time. I have no patience for people that don't want to learn and don't take interest in the work of others. At this stage and class level, there is so place for self centered people who are not open to change.

I try not to gossip about people in my blog. Diana said that when it comes to blogs, you should write them like you expect every person you don't want to read your blog is reading it. She has been someone who has irked me since the first time I met her. One time she knocked on my door when it was almost Midnight, wondering if I was up to hanging out (I was in my pajamas, trying to sleep). I try to hold my tongue but I really can't put up with people that I think don't try when it comes to their education. Being here is very important to me, it takes a great deal of work to keep up (even if maybe it doesn't seem like it from my blog) and to try to figure out why I am doing all this. My family is supporting me in ways I will never be able to repay and I don't think I can ever fully show them how much they matter to me and how much I appreciate their support. Modou said being here is a privilege, and it is. I am extremely fortunate to be receiving a college education, and an art education no less. This isn't some lazy stereotype, this is something that is not normal and is forcing you to recreate how you think about how the world is put together. The ability to imagine and to create; that is powerful. I am being given than power. Am I punishing her because I don't think she realizes how great it is to be here? Yes. But I cannot abide lazy people, they have no purpose here.


Then Jen and I went to yoga. The hot security guard shaved off his beard and ugly hair, now he is hot again. Yay!

drapes!

Up late because I suddenly remembered I had to do the Comic Club flier. I am so bad about it, but it looks awesome. Hopefully it photocopies well.

Another fairly average Art History. Learned about some cool women artists like Sofonisba Anguissola. Awesome name.

For lunch Diana, Jim and I hit up Quiznos. I thought I ordered a small sandwich but the kind I ordered only came in regular so I ended up with the more expensive option. Oh well, my steak dip sandwich was awesome. We sat out in the park and enjoyed our lunch as it was an amazingly beautiful day. Really amazing, I didn't even need an overcoat, just my leather jacket, a light hoodie, and a shirt. Even had to break out the sunglasses! Amazing weekend all around. It will go gray and raining in a few hours though. Doing the bike commute was a real treat with the nice weather.

I saw a man with sunglasses that were similar to mine. I wore them better as I looked truly effortless today.

When I got home the weather was still pristine so I sat ont he porch and read some of Grant Morrison's the Invisibles. Had to backtrack to catch up a little, that comic is all over the place but it couldn't be done in any other medium. I also read a little of Jimmy Corrigan the Smartest Kid on Earth. Beautifully put together but so so sad.

The sun went down and I started painting my landscape (it is a night scene). I painted in between random episodes of the fourth season of Project Runway. Lindsay and I are hooked. So much fun but we are on top all of our assignments so we are not too sucked in. I think there was an artist version of that show; I will have to look it up.

over/under whelmed

Another Karen-centric day today. I adore Karen, I'm so glad she is at Goose Hollow now. It makes it bearable and I want to stick around so we can hang out more. We finished up our painting assignments together and went for a walk together around the neighborhood just as it was getting dark. We walked up the hill past all the posh houses and picked out which ones we liked best (both were tall, narrow buildings). In between looking at the nice houses we looked at the amazing view up on the hill. So many lights but they don't overwhelm the sky. We crossed over the overlook bridge and checked out some more houses before making our way into the park. It was about 6:30 at this time so it was mostly dark. We swung on the swings and sat on the see-saws. We lay over the pivot point trying to balance ourselves and talked about our views on the world and stuff. We eventually got a little chilled (the night was unusually warm) and headed back. We will probably take more night-ish walks because this area is really beautiful and peaceful.

I swung by my place, talked with Lindsay, grabbed my rice and headed up to Karen's for dinner. I had to make a second trip back to my place to get the cooker. My rice and Karen's beans, lettuce, and cheese made for tasty dinner when combined in a tortilla. Jen Lee was also there, finishing her piece for class. We put on 10 Things I Hate About You after I read the song lyrics in Jen's sketchbook.

I drew in her sketchbook as we recited lines from the movie. It was a fun time and the first Ledger movie I have seen since his death. So sad.

Then we watched some stuff off of YouTube. While waiting for it to load I danced to some of Karen's iTunes. Purely for Jen and Karen's enjoyment. Also as proof that they should NEVER take me dancing.

Earlier in the day I finished reading Fun House. The metaphors are consistent throughout and there is no resolution. Okay it is a memoir but it is a little overly open and leaves so much out. It as almost as if it was done too soon. I don't think I got much else accomplished today. That was bad of me. Shoot.

I have been listening to Battles today (or is it The Battles). Awesome music there; thanks go to Chris for the introduction to their sound (as well as Kaizers Orchestra).

hyper fixation

Whoo! My computer is up and running. That was a frustrating couple days. I changed some of the other numbers to zero, removed the password on this account, and made another admin account. My files had vanished but they still existed elsewhere so I just transferred them over here.

But one loss of the computer issues: I lost all the portfolio pictures I had recently taken. DAMNIT! Now I have to retake and rephotoshop them. Bleehh! Sets me back.

Slept in and when I got up I just had some cake and hot chocolate for breakfast. I have been reading Fun House, which is Alison Bechdel's memoir. I dislike it for being really overwrought with forced metaphor and implementing an overly literate vocabulary. The art is amazing but the narration makes me wince. Also the font is too big, Epileptic and Persepolis had nice small font that was perfectly legible. This is like...huge. It makes me feel like I am reading a Junior High comic when it really isn't like that.

Talked on the phone with Dad. Karen stopped by and used my computer (her internet is wonky). After she left was when I gave fixing it some real focus. And it worked!

Lindsay came home fairly early and Karen came over (again) with some stir fry. It was tasty and plentiful. Chelsey came over a little bit later and retold us her story of being at the James Turrell after party where it was located within a super posh apartment and she met lots of super posh people (like Elizabeth Leach). We hung out and watched videos from the Internet (like Lasagna Cat). Jim came over and we chatted and ate more food (I had two servings of Karen's stir fry). We decided to play some Apples to Apples because possibly there were enough people to play and then there was a knock and Kristen and Chris (Cris? Kris?) were at the door! So we played a game of Apples to Apples. Kristen won. Chelsey was a wee bit hyper. Well more than a wee bit. But yeah, fun was had. I walked Jim to the max (which didn't come for about half an hour) and when I came back only Karen was left. We talked for a bit more and then she went home.

Now I am enjoying my functioning computer. Wheee!

two questions: answer one

Computer still having issues. Nathan can't provide any answers. Dang, what am I going to do?

Comic lit had a great discussion about Persepolis. However, Trevor has a problem in his question asking. Sometimes he puts two questions together and then people only answer and focus on the second one. I wanted to talk about my feelings towards the veil but we skipped over it for the second question. I think that Americans have a problem both with trying to humanize Middle Easterners and with having such vivid representations of Religion. Yes the full body veil is extreme but it isn't like we don't have extremists in our own culture of sorts. It is how some people show their faith, I may not agree with how they do it but that is up to them. No one should be forced to represent themselves a certain way either. And every time he mentioned how popular it was, I thought that it probably isn't once you step out of your circle. In Bremerton, who would read a comic about a girl living in Iran in the 80's?

But yeah, pretty good discussion. There is some strong groupings in the class so I feel a little left out but that should change.

We got out early so I just went home. I got yet another package today, this one from mom and dad. It was a box of delicious (seemingly selected by choice) See's! They look so great, and as I have been eating them they have been great. Whhooo!!

Lindsay and I had a long talk about what I didn't get to discuss in my lit class. I left for work a little late, but I had to find my key pass so I have a good reason.

Work was very very dull. Really dull. I got everything done, even though I have that nagging feeling I was missing something. We ran out of trash bags so I couldn't finish that job. I had to locate my broom and dust pan (people keep taking them). The trash bags in the MFA studios were full up. During my break I accidentally took a nap. During my extended break I read Gaiman and McKean's Violent Cases and this other comic I forget the title of (Matt leant them to me). The artwork was great in both of them. Nice quick reads. I also finished up Warren Ellis' Crooked Little Vein. Yeah he really should stick to comics, the book was fast paced but a little dull and the writing's quality was uneven and was leaning more towards the shoddy side. But still, I finished a book! Finally! Now to resume a book I have totally forgotten about. Raw Shark Texts seems good to pick up (I read a few pages, which were awesome).

Film night was cancelled so I rode up. Lindsay and I decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner so first we tried West Cafe but they were full for the night. So we trekked over to Masu and had some GREAT sushi. We had tuna, shrimp, uhm..something with cream cheese and a "caterpillar". Really good stuff, the chefs really know what they are doing. A little pricey but it was worth it. Masu is such a nice little place tucked away on Burnside.

We returned home and played some makeshift games of Yahtzee. Very fun, never have played it before. Ibanez was freaking out. Then Lindsay left to go see live painting at a club a friend of hers works at and I stayed in and watched Lost and House! Lost is great again. Really drawing me in and there doesn't seem to be any filler. The flashback was brilliant. Sayid had a few too many walking-toward-the-camera-all-gung-ho moments. Love this show, but not enough to really bother watching it as it airs, the online television quality is too good. How could I ever watch fuzzy TV again?

Time to sleep. I have a busy weekend ahead of me. Have real homework and outside of class projects to work on. Was going to hang out with Chelsey at some point. Oh and read some more because reading is awesome!

Jen Lee knows Kung Fu

I am having computer issues. Nothing to do with the internet or running programs. Mostly just for some reason I am blocked from getting into my main account, where all my files are. Yeah, it really sucks. It might have something to do with my drives desire to be a backup. Anyway, it is no fun using the guest account to do all my work from. I talked to Nathan about getting it sorted out and I couldn't do all the steps so it is still stuck. Then Nathan vanished so I couldn't ask him about it. Tomorrow I will ask.

Drawing class was one long critique for our collages and still life’s turned something else. It went pretty well. Modou liked my Bigfoot and suggested an artist to me. Some said more than others. Some people irked other people. It took me a while to start saying anything but I eventually got into the groove. I like being in a class with a wider variety of people, it really makes the discussions about the work more personal. There were a fair number of people missing again. One didn't return during break (probably didn't do the assignment).

Karen and I took part in the installation going on and texted back and forth (it is a cable system with clothes pins and paper). After that I sat at a table on the second level and chatted with Karen and Chelsey. Chelsey said I should talk about her more in my blog. So yeah, Chelsey is a really cool person. She went to CK, my rival High School. She is taller than me, she cuts her own hair, is undecided about her major, lives with Mel in Goose Hollow... Uhm. Yeah she is really neat.

I finished Bigfoot and sprayed him and then went home. I deposited some cashola in the bank and when I arrived home I encountered my computer being a little prat. I spent about an hour and then gave up and read some of Fun House. I finished Epileptic. It was a very sad comic. Almost hopeless but still strong. It is so personal that it is almost hard to imagine all of it existing.

I returned to school early and returned some library books (three were returned, I still have about seven at home). Then I sat about with Kristen, Chelsey, and some other cool people. They made Valentines and I pretended to read Persepolis (I've read it already, I just need to review it for class tomorrow). Classes got out and so I booked it to my painting class. Well not booked it, but I can't really take some of the PNCA crowds. They are nice people, I am just not a crowd person.

Situating myself in the corner, I ended up not leaving room for Karen or Jen to sit near me so they made their own little duo elsewhere. My painting needs some work but the mist does blend nicely. I am beyond pleased with how the mountain men turned out. Go me! Some really great work present in the class. And someone kept freaking out whenever they were approached. I don't like naming names but...yeah. She needs to chill. The assignments in the class are so fun now, I can't wait for more! It really is an illustration course.

I met up with Jim after class and he walked me home (aww, sweet I know) and we sat about, ate dinner, and chatted for a few hours. There was some venting all around about various frustrations. Lindsay brought home a delicious cake. After giving me one of his woodblock prints, Jim headed home to work on an essay.

Karen beckoned me up to her place and I finished my Persepolis response (it needs some work, but oh well) there. After that, and some cupcakes Jen brought, we sat about and girl talked for hours.

Pretty busy and pretty fun. Tomorrow is Friday. Another long one as well (they all will be pretty long, but I love me some movie night). I don't plan to print though, just read and nap.

the poor get slightly less poor

I'm not so keen on the online game/forum Gaia. I was when I was...fourteen? Fifteen maybe. It is sort of colorful, silly, and overall a time waster. Anyway some people might say about it, "You can't pay me to play Gaia!" When it comes to me, you can. $75 is a nice sum. That was what the focus group was for. We showed up and talked about online games and our interests and then we played the game (Gaia Battles or something). It was cutesy but nothing really original. Our insight was that it needed something original that was a draw otherwise it was just good for the people who play Gaia right now. But yeah, two hours of talking and playing a test game and then I rode home $75 richer. Yeaah!

It was cold riding to and from the place but not raining. Chinatown and Oldtown scares me after dark but it wasn't so bad. Being around non-art school students was a big shock for me. They are so...same dressing. It was weird.

Today was fairly long and short at the same time. One of those busy days where you get up later in the day and end up without a breather till 9:00pm.

Printmaking had a quick overview of where our prints are (we have time to work on them before we turn in the series, that is awesome). I am starting to move on to my next prints but I have a couple more (nice) prints to make. Got some good advice on where my print is (nice lines, etc). The class is small but the variety of work is so broad. After that we broke for lunch.

I ran into Diana and we went to the Sports Bar and Grill and got some warm eats to go. I had a grilled chicken sandwich that wasn't really worth the price but it was fun slobbering over the meaty food in the PNCA commons. The garlic fries were superb, almost worth it. Anyway, it is fun to treat yourself to a full meal every now and again.

While walking across the commons I encountered Jack. He extended his hand in what I thought was a "bro tap" (or whatever it is called when you bump your fists together in form of greeting) and so I returned his tap. Then he told me to, "hold you your hand." So I did and he dropped a chocolate into it.

Returning to class we went on a little walkabout trip to look at some local print galleries. Saw some great pieces at the first place we went to...and when we left it started pouring rain so we just went back to PNCA. I was working on my bedhead look but it just became drenched rat instead. Oh well. I sprayed the back of one plate (after cleaning it up a little). He gave us a hardground demonstration. We have to combine hardground with one of our other techniques. I'll probably use it with the sugarlift. I'm not sure what my next prints will be exactly. Maybe Bigfoot related... I prepared another plate from getting it cut, filed, sanded, scrubbed, cleaned, and all the way through to spraying the back. When I went to spray it I ran into Matt, Michael, Jim, and Robin on my journey to the spray booth. I'm working on one 6x9 plate and one...larger. I don't want to say 12x18 but that might be the size. I think that will be the sugarlift as there will be more room to work with the medium. For tea time I had Sweet Wild Orange tee. I prefer the pomegranate but it was quite tasty.

Free yoga started today but I couldn't make it because of the focus group. I just relaxed and home and had some nibbles before riding out again. It would seem I am more likely to now make two back and forth trips to PNCA (or a similar distance) in a day than one trip, even though only Tuesday and Thursday really warrant the journey. My legs will be in better shape after this semester than after the last one! Whoo!

Celia sent me a wonderful package. The letter in it made me a little homesick. I am missing all the little things she is doing with the Big House. Now I will only see her place grow in leaps and bounds. She gave me a wonderful and comfy shirt with the package (and wonderful, and much needed, lip balm). It smells like her, the shirt does. I would say it smells like home but it smells like Auntie Celia specifically and she is a part of that home.

It made me sad.

Wooly Men of the Mountains (work in progress)

Gouache work in progress for Painting Techniques. The assignment is to invent a landscape that joins together two sections of pre-existing landscapes.

bigfoot (and other like creatures)

Okay yeah. I was right. We did the collage wrong. It also wasn't due today. He wanted lots of little pieces assembled and not the shapes cut into the forms. Everyone had theirs done and no one had it like how he wanted so obviously it was his fault for not being clear enough. Grr. Oh well. Outside of that, the drawing class went pretty well. We spent 45 minutes drawing a single still life. I drew a glass vase. It ended up fairly decent. Karen and I passed a couple notes back and forth commenting on how the dead silence in the class resembled detention (not that I have ever been). Really really quiet. Even when he leaves the room no one talks. We are trying to form a community but no one extends themselves.

The next part was we had to do a quick sketch of a set up of this still life he made with tons of mannequin parts (mostly legs). Then we took the sketch and adapted it into an organic shape. So I drew some trees and stumps and logs lying about. And Bigfoot lying behind the logs. Little did I know Bigfoot would be a theme for the day. I completed my drawing and was very satisfied with it. I was saddened we didn't critique them in class but we will probably get to it on Thursday.

After class I hit up the library for another armload of books. Love that place, lots of great references about. Have to know my stuff!

Home was a lounge about. Nibbled on some snack food, watched youtube videos, and looked through one of my library books. I had to leave early to print out something for the painting class and buy some gouache. The gouache was picked up at Art Media. I bought the 8 piece set (which has two yellows, two reds, two blues, a black and a white...but no secondary or tertiary colors) and a tube of burnt sienna to round it off. I had to use my "emergency" card; which is to say my Key Bank debit card, onto which all my paychecks go. It is sort of my savings but hey, saved them for when I have to buy painfully expensive art supplies. Art supplies which I didn't really use because I still had remnants left over from the gouache tubes that came with the portfolio starter set I bought last semester! Well once I started using them (hey look a teacher that shows you how to use them without burning through your tubes) I knew I had made a good buy. Really like the medium now.

The assignment for this week is to take two dissimilar landscape sections and stick them on a piece of watercolor paper and paint the blank space as if to join the two landscapes together. A really cool assignment and we can put whatever we want in the landscape. Mine is a cloudy mountain (taken from a photo of mine from Toyama) which joins to a rice field and it has mountain dwelling, Bigfoot-esque people between the two. I even worked on it for a few hours tonight because I love the painting so much. I don't want to rush it at all. It still has a few of the creatures and the clouds to be put it but I love the way it is looking. I wish both the photos were mine but they are not so I can't really get full credit for it.

Someone was saying some stupid stuff in class (not naming names but if you were there, you know who I mean) and I was saying that she was reading too much into it and that Cookie Monster just loves cookies. Anyway we were being a bit loud (I was working all the time!) and the teacher told us to keep it quiet for fifteen minutes. A tad embarrassing but it wasn't my fault. Next time I will sit farther away from the igniter of Sesame Street disputes.

I went home, ate a dinner of leftover French toast, Oreos, and milk, looked at my art books, and painted. Didn't get anywhere on my sketches for printmaking but I will work on those...tomorrow. I have to prepare the plates anyway so no biggie. I'm a little ahead anyway and I know what I want to do. Sort of.

Yay Wednesday is tomorrow! Printmaking + paid focus group!

Madonna on the Rocks

The weather is improving (watch as there are downpours all tomorrow). I didn't really need my scarf riding back or my coat during class. It is nice.

Waking up at 9:30 on a Monday is the only way to go. Got to class on time and was at full attention. Except for the occasional doodle on Diana's paper. I'm getting so much inspiration from this class. Too bad my evening was sucked up by my collage. There are some pieces I really want to start sketching out. Whoo!!

During lunch this guy performed in the commons. Oh wow he was terrible. Just...uhg. We were way in the back but his horror reached us. It made lunch seem twice as long as it normally is. Ate my apple and sandwich is an irritated silence with a wide range of people that came and went (Lindsay, Jim, Acey, Jack, Mel, etc.).

I stopped by Storables on the way home to check out some of their storing selections. I think Ikea is the place I need to go to though. I picked up some sweet hangars that were 25 cents a pop and very colorful. The wire ones are damaging some of my shirts.

Relaxed a little and then set about doing my collage homework for drawing. Bleh, I don't like to collage. I am too messy for the likes of it. It turned out sort of how I wanted it to look like. Honestly I don't know what he expects from us so as long as I got it partially right I might be content. Though probably not.

Ate some tasty udon with egg for dinner. Num num num.

Now to read some Epileptic and sleep.

weekend (almost) wasted

Well I got a little accomplished today. I slept in, but still set my alarm so I wouldn't be crashed out till 3pm. I puttered around the apartment, cleaned a little, did the dishes (why do we have so many dishes?). Jim came over and hung out for a bit. Jim and Michael always seem to come in pairs. If I see one in the weekend, I will see the other.

Today just sort of drifted past. Nothing much went on.

There were some Scientology protests going on downtown that I slept through. Saw some photos from them, the worldwide ones. Scientology is a good thing to protest. It is so foolish. The creator himself said that the way to become a millionaire is to start a religion.

Another school week starts. Not as busy as last week. Just have to squeeze in some paintings. After I do my collage for drawing.

short day. late night.

I slept in. Lindsay was out till 11:30 am so she called off work. We went out for brunch. I had French toast, sausages and hash browns. She had an omelet. I looked at recipes. I did my laundry. I went grocery shopping. I bought my favorite kind of juice. I made cream puffs and put whipped cream and chocolate syrup filling inside of them. They were okay, they need a heavier filling. Michael was coming over so I made rice. He got out of work a little later but the rice was still good. I whipped up some gyoza. Delicious meal. Michael and I chatted and lounged about late in to the night. Or early in the morning. Michael went home and now I am going to bed.

with great rain comes great rain pants

Just got home about half an hour ago. Really long day. But it didn't feel like a long day, actually I feel great. I am on top of things and working hard. Still, spending thirteen hours at school? That makes for a very long Friday.

The day started with rain. At first I thought "dang" but then I remembered I have my rad rain pants and so the journey wasn't that bad.

My comic lit class, the conversation is mostly dominated by one guy. He knows what he is talking about and is really into comics but doesn't let up for the other people that often. We talked about McCloud and I spoke up a couple times. During the break I talked to Trevor (the teacher) about the imagination creating horror and how that makes it that much more effective when utilized in films (instead of just showing all the gore). Then we watched a video about the history of superheroes, as we won't be studying any superheroes this time around. Cool, if a little cheesy, video. Didn't know how much went on during the ages of superheroes. Wow!

Then during my hour break I completed a print. It ended up pretty cool; it was a blue black print on the paper and that works a great deal better than the warmer bone black ink. I could have done a second but I didn't want to rush it so I checked my email and went off to work.

I keep thinking I am forgetting to do something at work because I always finish up my tasks super early. I sweep, I scrub the bathrooms, I check the paper towel and toilet paper levels, I change out the trash...I must be missing something? Anyway, it gave me time to read Crooked Little Vein. Yeah, Ellis should stick to graphic novels. It isn't that bad but it isn't this magnificent feat of a novel. It is almost funny but not quite. I'll see how it finishes.

Then I spent an hour and a half in the print lab. I had to replace the blanket in the press and the pressure was off so my first print was a little light. The second was much better but still a little wonky. The blue black ink is giving me issues...or maybe my hands are really oily. But anyway, I am ahead on my printing so that is really cool. I only needed one proof for next week and now I have four (three blue, one brown). Well...one of them is light so it is more like three. But still, three. I am on top of things! Yeah!

Jim also called me and set me up to be part of a focus group. So that is cool. Jim works calling people and asking if they want to be in focus groups. It is paid as well, booyah!

After printing and the focus group call I headed off to movie night. It has been moved down to just one movie now and they are actually good movies. Tonight’s was Basquait. It was really sad and the lack of music seemed to detract a little from the film but overall it was very touching and I wanted to cry at more than one point. And you can't go wrong with David Bowie.

After the movie Jack and I went to Urban Grind and I grabbed flavored steamed milk and we chatted for a while before departing each others company.

I rode home, made myself some spaghetti and sauce, and now I am kicking back to watch Lost.

I left at 7:45am and returned at 9:20 pm.

fear & frustration

Today was...difficult. I did the assignment for Modou somewhat wrong. The first part was right but I didn't know the second part also had to be done on the same sized paper so I have to redo that. I do not like doing assignments wrong when I attend class and pay full attention. Not at all. He is also not above saying what he thinks, calling you out, and humiliating you in front of the class. I wasn't outright humiliated but it still wasn't fun being told I was wrong. He said worse things to other people ("You came late so this is no good.") but I'm still distressed about it.

We did still lifes and then we were told to find the animals in the things we had been drawing. I saw a scorpion/whale/platypus/anteater all in the same teakettle. And Ibanez and a camel in this fancy silver teapot. I forgot how to draw most of those with any sense of realism so really only the chubby platypus turned out. Modou liked them so I guess I passed.

I walked Lindsay to work and swung by Powell's to pick up The Time Traveler’s Wife. Yay for having lots of copies and a few on super sale.

Didn't spend much time at home. Ate Trader Joe's cheese puff and watched the new Lost episode online. Pretty good start, interested in seeing more. Very mysterious with the Charlie and parachuting person stuff.

I met with Lennie about studying abroad. Belgium does not have a summer program so I am going to make Pont-Aven in France my main focus. It seems cool. We had a great meeting concerning my options. Yeah I'm rather pissed at PNCA. They seemed to punish me for registering early by adding a first unit of Illustration to this semester. I will be here for three years but my last year I will probably be part time. Right now I am looking at studying abroad in Belgium at Hogeschool Sint-Lukas for a semester in my Junior year. This is something I have to think about now so I am not leaving it to the last minute. Like I am doing with France.

After the meeting I quickly wrote up my still life sum up for painting, grabbed a bite to eat, and hobbled off to class. Well not so much hobble as shove my way through the throng of smokers.

The final touch on my still life was to add a background but the wash looked horrible so I am not so keen on it. I think it looked best three-fourth of the way complete. Oh well. Happens. Sat between Jen and Karen and we had a fun old time in the back row singing songs and exchanging words.

The weather was just horrible enough that Lindsay and I couldn't be bothered to leave the apartment for First Thursday. Karen came over and we drew and chatted and I added an idea to Lindsay's idea book. I made gyoza which was enjoyed thoroughly.

Karen left and then I noticed the time and remember I had yet to write my summary of Understanding Comics for class so here I am blogging late at night after staying up working on that. I'll be tired tomorrow and I have a fair amount lined up to do:
Comic Class!
(Printmaking probably)
Work!
(more printmaking probably)
Movie night!

Leave at 7:45 am, get home at 8:30pm ish.

juice lifts the spirit

Just finished my drawing homework. Lindsay had a music mix and I had a music mix. All in all, very awesome. We each drew continually for ten minutes on a piece of paper and then drew from the patterns that we found. Lindsay made a whole band, I had a couple little things but I dunno. I'll see more tomorrow...probably.

The rain on the way back was terrible. I am really out of practice for both putting a plastic bag over my seat and remembering my rain pants. Oddly enough, the rain didn't bother me in the least. Even though it was coming down quite hard I still went out of my way to Trader Joe's and made it home with a smile on my face. The smile was due mostly to the grocery run. I picked up juice! I love juice. Well it was more lemonade this time around so maybe I should say I love sweet non-carbonated beverages in large jugs that I can enjoy in any amount I desire. Safeway no longer has the juice I love. During Printmaking I decided to go to Trader Joe's so I think that thought kept me motivated for the dreary ride. I also picked up cheese puffs. Love them.

Learned two new techniques in Printmaking. Sugarlift and Soft Ground. Not sure how much I remember from either technique but once I get working on them I can write more about them. I have ideas for the Sugarlift plate and maybe the Soft Ground. Very exciting. I also managed to run off two more prints from my plate, after I etched in further detail. The waffle knit etch on the girls shirt looks GREAT. Far exceeded my expectations. The dots on the mans shirt are subtle but effective. I'm very thrilled with it and can't wait to run off a series. I did one test on newsprint with the new etching and a proof on good paper. The ink was uneven for the proof but Yoshi digged it.

Left a little early from the Goose and picked up some printing paper from the nice people at Art Media.

Comic Club had its first meeting of the year. The regular folks were there plus Jen and August. We wolfed down 5 Dominos pizzas. Tasty. I think they were mediums though. We talked about the zine and random things. Not very exciting but off to an okay start.

Printmaking takes up most of my Wednesday. I love Wednesday.

Professor Plum, in the Drawing Room, with a Revolver.

Clue Night was super fun! We were not playing it exactly right the first couple times and so the games went really fast. Tabitha is a crazy Clue player! She won most of the time. The last two games I had figured out 2/3 of the crime but she always beat me to the last one. Tabitha and Chelsey (I have been spelling it Chelsea, when it is in fact Chelsey. Whoops) did not come with a costume but the rest of us made up the difference with sheer awesome.

Jim was Colonel Mustard, Kristen was Mrs. Peacock (though seemed more Madame Rose in her execution). Karen was Miss Scarlett. Karen made us smoothies and I made some cupcakes which were enjoyed muchly. I employed the same use of self decoration that went over so well at my birthday. Diana had essays and Robin was sick so they couldn't make it. Mel was there for about 2 minutes, she had other things to do I guess. Oh well, maybe next time.

My Professor Plum outfit consisted of high waisted dark blue Jon Valdi trousers (courtesy of Auntie Celia), suspenders, a purple top, a sash tied into a bowtie, novelty glasses, brown pointy shoes (also thanks to Celia), and a drawn on stache. Oh yeah, I was rocking.

Okay, on with the rest of the day. Lindsay was sick so she couldn't attend class. Also six other people could not attend class so it was just eleven people total. Most of the time we drew painfully boring still lifes and spent a few minutes each continually drawing on this one big piece of butcher paper. I brought in my bear rug, expecting to talk about culture and use it as an example, but we never brought the subject up. Not the most interesting class but not the worst. The next few weeks seem exciting.

Riding home was hell. My art travel tube is a pain to go anywhere with because it doesn't really stay secure on ones shoulder. It kept sliding down my arm along with my shoulder bag and I had to keep stopping, in the rain, to adjust it. I really hate that tube, most of the time it just isn't worth it. Need to figure out how to make it not be such a horrible contraption. I was right pissed off when I finally returned home. But once I settled in, all was well fairly quickly. I baked cupcakes for tonight and chatted with Lindsay. She just had a random short illness it would seem. Hmmn.

Painting was of a still life of our own choosing. I put together freaky fish, Zaphod, Sluggy, my pink necklace, and Fab 1 into a little composition. I only managed to fill in most of Fab 1, half the necklace, and freaky fish. The fish looks awesome but I am a far cry from being finished with it. Really I just wanted to get home so I could become Plum and enjoy Clue. We had a brief look over of our still lifes from the past week. My white one looks pretty nice actually, I might have a future in this watercolor business (ha yeah right). Next week we will be moving on to gouache. Joy.

The second ride was easy peasy. Put on my costume, grabbed the cupcakes, and hauled it up stairs to get my game on! Yeah!

our culture, our bearskin rug

I made a bearskin rug tonight. It represents our(Lindsay's and mine) culture. Well, really it is a sheet of left over butcher paper cut(by Lindsay) into a bear shape and sharpied partially by her but mostly by me to look like fur. Actually, it is pretty damn fantastic looking. I am going to bring it into class tomorrow. I hope I don't chicken out and don't show it.

Art History is fantastic at 11:00 am. I can't believe I survived it at 8:00am for a whole semester. Blimey. Learned a great deal about the slow shift into more realistic art.

During lunch I went to the Pont-Aven lecture which was cancelled. Lennie gave a brief synopsis anyway (one person who was going to talk about it wasn't able to come). I think I will apply to it as well. There might not be a Belgium summer program.

I printed out my forms and corrected images for my digital portfolio. Be a great deal easier if I had photoshop on this computer but I left my disk at home. Oh well.

Went home and relaxed for the rest of the day. Tried to watch some of Lynch's Inland Empire and I became really lost just 15 minutes in and it is a three hour movie. I will give it another shot tomorrow.

suddenly a nap appears

I am nearing 200 posts worth of (almost) daily blogging. I think once I get to the one year mark, that will be really something.

Lazed about for the start of the day. I started watching some of David Lynch's video shorts. Really strange things. I wonder why he isn't brought up more in my textbooks and classes. I put a thin blanket over our ugly couch and draped one of my bed sheets over my book shelf. I think I was having a Christo moment.

I started reading Epileptic and then decided to take a nap. Then before I knew it, it was 6:30 and I had not taken any photos. I had to reformat the memory stick because it was set up for a Mac but once I got that out of the way taking pictures of my portfolio was a snap. Now I just need to correct them in photoshop. And now that I have the images, I can upload more art and make this an actual art blog!

After photo taking, Lindsay and I sat down and had another talk about culture for our class. We have been having many talks and we are still not quite there. After our talks I wrote up my essay for Art History that is due tomorrow(an ungraded essay).

This School Week in Portland:
Mon: Pont-Aven summer study abroad lecture during lunch
Tues: Clue Night
Wed: Return of Comic Club
Thurs: Meeting with Lennie about studying abroad
Fri: Return of Art Film Night

And all through that I have lots of stuff to sort out for studying abroad.

bag it up

Collage and game night at Karen's went long. I got home at around 3:00am and decided to just go to bed instead of pushing myself to stay up later and blog.

Anyway, yeah. Hanging with Karen is so fun and awesome. She had a great place and the company is awesome. Smaller crowd this time. When I came over Robin and Karen were watching the new Pride and Prejudice, the one with Keira Knightley. It was really pretty but it didn't grab me. Plus it seemed like Mr. Darcy was stalking her. Jim came over after the movie was done and we sat about chatting and munching on food. When it got late we started to play Payday and that ended up being really fun actually. Karen has a great deal of really old games. There was also more talk of the upcoming Clue Night and a general comic making collective outside of the club.

I didn't get around to taking photos; those will be done today. There was a get together for the Goose Hollow people that Karen was hosting as part of her RA duties. These girls made some comment about the Styrofoam plates that were there for use. Something along the lines of, "Don't they know we are art students?” After those girls left I broke out the Apples to Apples and we played for a good two hours. I met some cool new people and we had lots of fun.

After I helped Karen bring the leftovers back to her place we went out for a walkabout. I saw a cute guy on the streetcar and we talked a little about comics but his friend showed up and royally blew it. We checked out a mediocre record store and then went to Powell's. Mostly I wanted to see if a couple reference books were cheap there but they were not. I did find a great book about people, their bags, and what they keep in their bags. The book itself is a bag. I loved it and ended up getting it. The book is really well designed and I have been showing it off as much as I can.

Took a little break after hanging with Karen to grab some eats. James came by and dropped off the comics I had lent him and I gave him back the ones he had lent me. Nice little trade off. I ate some left overs and lounged, completely forgetting to set up for taking photos. Oh well. Karen called me and so I went up and had lots of fun. I promise staying up late won't become regular. It sure is fun though.

living spaces/storing spaces

I was eating pizza with Lindsay and Karen called me up all frantic wondering where I was. I didn't know I was supposed to be anywhere but there was apparently a shindig/collage party going on so when I had my fill of pizza I went up. We hung out into the wee hours of the mornings, making jokes and collages and talking about theories and things.

It was gray and somewhat rainy all day. I was prepared with awesome rain pants and plastic bags so I didn't get soggy or even cold (those rain pants are seriously warm).

When I got home after work and my comic run we sat about and talked and we did some moving about. She had to reorganize her room to accommodate a large scale painting she will be working on throughout the semester. I wanted more room so I asked if I could move my book shelves into the living room (she moved her hula hoop light structure into the living room as well) and she said yeah so I moved them on out and stacked them. Now our place looks eclectic and lived in. I hate to say it but I am actually starting to like Goose Hollow. We might be taking a trip to Ikea in the near future to pick up some bowls, a stand for a lamp, and maybe some more shelves. I really like our living room and now my books are more accessible. I'm not worried about Ibanez and my books. It is too formidable for him to climb and he doesn't claw books.

Work went by really quick. Actually I think I might have forgotten to do something because I finished up so early. Didn't do anything eventful. A new refrigerator was bought, it seems chill enough. Mike now has a studio and some of the new people are starting to move in. The MFA's are as awesome as ever. I finished reading Understanding Comics at the end of my shift. Scott McCloud is officially the type that can't do and so he teaches. Some good concepts and he lays them out clearly but he hasn't really applied them to himself that much. Oh well.

Illuminating Manuscripts went by fairly fast. Most of it was just the teacher talking but I think we are still getting into the class and so once we get around to the actual comics it will be more interactive discussion based. Had a chat about McKean and Gaiman with a girl in the class who is currently sporting an old hairstyle of mine.

I went home for the break between class and work and ate oatmeal and drank cocoa and chatted with Lindsay about things which are not fit to share in this space.

After work I made a run to Floating World to pick up the remaining "textbooks" for class. Happily, an anthology, an independent publication, a trade paperback and three issues came in at only $50. Jason gave me a discount. The frequent customer awesome rad person discount. Also the Alex Cahill comic for the class came in the mail. The only thing left is From Hell. Lindsay said she really likes this class because I bring home all these cool comics to read (she has discovered that I lend out from my library quite generously). The bike ride up Jefferson was really hard; it felt like I was towing fifty pounds up the hill.

Tomorrow is a luncheon for Goose Hollow PNCA people and I will also be photographing my work. I need to assemble a digital portfolio if I want to study abroad this summer. I have a great deal of stuff I will need to do all next week pretty much. Well, lots of forms, letter of interest, and a portfolio. I really want to do this so I will find the time to do it. Belgium, UK, Ireland, maybe possibly France (even though I have no real interest)...HERE I COME!! (hopefully).

Shins & Cups

James Mercer gave a live acoustic performance at PNCA tonight. It was at 10:15, after a long lecture about how the army is screwing over the environment, among other things. I am not the biggest fan of The Shins but it was a lovely performance. There was not a large amount of people so it was very close and respectful. It was more about a man and his guitar than this famous musician performing. I was out late but it was worth it.

The Focus The Nation lecture was depressing, as most environmental and army speeches tend to be (or at least make me feel like they are). Some valuable information was given but I didn't write it down.

Experiments in Drawing was spent in part drawing cups (either our favorite cup or other peoples favorite cups) and in a short review/critique. I need to stretch my imagination a little more. I'm still on the fence about the class but I am for sure not dropping it. It is as tricky as I make it; as experimental as I make it.

I went home to relax. I fell asleep reading Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics.

Painting class was spent doing a white still life, as in finding the color in white objects. The class goes fast, too fast. I haven't finished a painting yet. I mix very slow.

After class I worked on my reading response for Scott McCloud's very boring book and I worked on my plate a little. I grabbed something to eat from Urban Grind and then I sat down to listen to the depressing talk.

Very busy day, it will be nice to sit back tomorrow.

intaglio plate #1 - test print

Test print of my first Intaglio plate. Needs some work.

tea time: fact or fiction

Whoo! Long day spent in the print lab. Got to school right on time, even a few minutes early. The first hour and a half was spent mostly in demonstrations of cleaning, etching, and printing.

I retained more information than I thought. After lunch I finished cleaning my plate and carbon transferred my drawing onto the plate. The etching really hurt my hand. It required more pressure than I thought it would and the needle kept slipping. Some of my lines are far from perfect and some are pretty awesome. The hair on the guy turned out pretty fab. I stayed a little late and managed to produce a test print. It needs some more work, probably work I will do tomorrow. I'm very pleased with how it looks to be turning out. With some more work it should be a real piece!

In the middle of class Yoshi boiled some water and informed us it was tea time. Seriously. I heard there was a print lab tea time... I had pomegranate tea.

During lunch I went to a meeting about Global Studios and studying abroad. Some of the information was muddled but from what I gathered I can go study abroad this Summer. I just need to find a school, fill out some forms, and apply by February 12th. So yeah...under two weeks to do a lot of stuff. But I can do it. The schools I am interested in are:
Chelsea College of Art & Design (UK)
University College Falmouth (UK)
Burren College of Art (Ireland)
Hogeschool Sint-Lukas (Belgium)

Hogeschool Sint-Lukas and CCAD are the ones the school already has programs with. I'm going to go for it.

It was raining pleasantly as I went home. Need to get into the habit of having my rain pants with me.

I'm sort of watching Life of Brian in the background. Ehhh. Not Monty Python's best.

sketch for an intaglio plate (#1)

Photo of a sketch to be made into an intaglio plate. (Change to the design is a possibility)

Swade, Jake Allen & Henley

Just got back from Karen's. We sat about watching Scrubs, working on homework, eating chocolate, and just drawing and gossiping as art girls do.

I have my sketch all done for Printmaking tomorrow. It took me longer and I had more frustration with it than I thought I should have. But the expressions are great and I can't wait to translate it onto my plate and start printing.

Today started off fairly fun. It was raining in the morning so I decided to wear my rain pants. It was not raining as I biked with them but I still looked pretty damn cool. We were meeting at Work Sound, which is Modou's gallery that he curates for. The gallery is in East Portland, so I had to cross the Hawthorne bridge. I left at about 7:50 and arrived at 8:15. He didn't show up till about 8:40. The outside was very very cold and the inside seemed even colder. It was painful to sit and draw. The assignment was to draw from observation from the pieces and from those sketches produce an original work to show by next class. Well that is what I THOUGHT the assignment was so I just did quick sketches to get some of the parts I liked about pictures across. However the assignment will be to go over the sketchbook drawings that we did, and not any original piece. It is a shame because I had an idea for what I wanted to do for the assignment. I think I might get a start on it anyway, just so I have something to show with my rudimentary sketchbook drawings.

The ride back was hell. What was downhill one was was up back and I was freezing cold. Some parts of my body warmed up but my toes and fingers were in considerable pain. I just slumped in front of my computer when I got back, turned on the heat, wrapped myself in a blanket, made some cocoa and watched some movies. I watched Drugstore Cowboy in the background as I made my Internet rounds. Maybe I would have liked it better had I paid attention. I don't think it has aged well, it was probably edgy when it came out but now it is commonplace. I also watched Death to Smoochy. That is a delightful movie. Edward Norton is adorable and mostly everyone acts really well, even Robin Williams. Nice dark comedy.

Eventually it was time to return to school. I packed up my painting supplies and rode out into the late afternoon. Class was uneventful. We painted a still life to practice color mixing. I am slowly getting it. Emphasis on the slow. There were enough tables this time so I didn't have to share with Jason. Raved about Fire on the Mountain to him and I think he thought I was asking him out...oops.

It was raining profusely during our snack break. Luckily I had but a plastic bag over my seat. Unluckily I had left my rainpants at home because I doubted it would start raining again. By the time I had to leave it was only a soft rain, nothing too horrendous.

When I got home I discovered a new pet in our home. A venus fly trap. We have been having problems with flies so hopefully the little guy can do the trick.

I relaxed a bit. We cleaned and scrubbed our place a bit. Then it was time for me to go visit with awesome Karen and the crew (Chelsea, Kristen, and Robin).

deep fried

Oh boy. Oh wow. Lindsay called me asking if I had any plans tonight and I said no so she invited me out for Hot Wings. We hopped on the Red Line and transferred to the Yellow line. Matt and Andy boarded at the same time we did and we chatted a little. Amazing I am now running into people I know.

We arrived at Fire on the Mountain and ordered up our meal and took a seat. The live musician was starting his night right as we settled. First up was the large order of deep fried tater tots. We horfed on those for a while and then came the buffalo wings, half spicy and half sweet. Our pace slowed as we wolfed the food down. More and more was stuffed as our face and hands got messier and messier. Right as we were starting to settle, the grand finale showed up: deep fried Twinkies. Oh god. It has been two hours and I am still immobile and lethargic. We both ate the whole Twinkie! Each! We had one each, and we finished it in its hot and gooey glory. Uuuuhhhnnn... We had lots of fun chatting and stuffing our faces and riding back and forth.

Art History lasted all of 20 minutes. Jim, Diana, Sandra, Jack, and Pete are in my class. It is really full. The teacher remembered me and singled me out as the one who suggested No Country For Old Men to her...and then she said she found it really grim and dark and creepy and thought she might have missed something because I loved it. So yeah...she singled me out as maybe a bit psychotic?

I checked out some books and then went home. I finished Twin Peaks and first of all Spanish subtitles showed up out of nowhere covering the subtitles for the backwards talking. They spent 15 minutes in the Red Room. Dale is possessed by Bob. Audrey might be exploded. And that is it. No more Twin Peaks. There is a movie out but it is a prequel. Who wants a prequel??

Uhhh oh maaan. That was too much. And I will be riding 7+ miles tomorrow. Going to the East Side!

figured out something today

Slept in till noon again. A decent time. Watched Twin Peaks and just messed around. Didn't really do much. At all. Slowly have to get back into the work ethic for school. I didn't get out of the house till after 5, and that was only a quick grocery run. I'm trying out this fizzy yogurt in a tube. It is actually really tasty. I like my yogurt in tube form, and not chunky with bits. Anyone who knows me knows I do not like bits. It was also consumed to get the hideous taste out of my mouth.

The taste caused by when I figured out what off milk tastes like.

Jim called me around 6:30 and I met him halfway and we swung by Boyd's real quick and I picked up a hot beverage and he a cinnamon roll. Then we went back to my place and hung about and gossiped. Had a nice little visit and talked about comics and going back to school and how crazy the teacher Morgan was. Lindsay shared her two cents on that crazy teacher subject. He left with my Animal Man comics (in borrowing form) at about nineish and I kicked back.

I think, if I have time, I would really like to reread The Fountain by Aronofsky. The art is beautiful, I have been shuffling through it recently. So if I can't read it, I will just study it.

Ibanez has taken over the living room with his cardboard and paper play area.

I drink your milkshake

Just got back from a late evening with Michael. We saw the last showing of There Will Be Blood at the Lloyd 8 and we chatted for a long time afterwards.

The movie had a rather unsatisfactory ending but I don't think there could have been one. The movie started really well and the first hour was magnificent. There were some amazing and tense scenes and some of the work with sound and music was beyond brilliant. I hope it is nominated for acting, directing, sound, and costume awards. As it had a fairly small main cast the actors had to be really strong and Lewis and Dano were. Daniel Day Lewis had a performance that reminded me of Gangs of New York, not so much a copy but very similar in acting the characters differing types of brutality. Paul Dano, for being the age that he is and having the number of roles that he has, showed subtlety...very subtlety. I don't know what I can say. I don't think I have fully digested this movie yet. Very shocking and real but I began to notice the Cigarette Burns as the movie went past the hour and a half mark. A different story, that is for sure. I like living here as it enables me to see different things.

The theatre we were in was MASSIVE. There looked to be enough seats for 500 people. Outside of Wall-E (probably the same theatre I was in when I saw it) I have never seen anything so big.

Hanging with Michael is nice. He isn't in any of my classes and probably won't be for the rest of our stay at PNCA. Kind of sucks but we are very good about finding time to hang out.

Today was spent loafing and not doing anything. Slept in till noon. I talked to Jim on the phone for a bit. Watched some Twin Peaks. I am almost done with that series. It is getting very interesting and I don't want it to just end in a few episodes. Bah!

Tomorrow I will work on my design for my bronze dry point and read my "text book". Nothing major really. Probably watch a movie and some TV. Might meet up with Jim for coffee (well, a warm beverage for me as I don't drink coffee).