sadly, it is not raining men

Amazingly, I stayed up way late last night. But that four hours and a long day combination worked together to keep me in bed for about 10-11 hours. But it was so worth it. I haven't had a full and deep rest in weeks. I had to kick Ibanez out of my room when he woke me up at 7 with his puking noises. Bleh, lame kitty.

We were planning on seeing In Bruges today but the rain came down suddenly and with a passion so we decided to stay in. Maybe tomorrow. We, Lindsay and I, watched a few episodes of Project Runway(Bradley is so cute! And I'm glad that guy broke the rules and was asked to leave) and then we finally buckled down on our school work. I watched 12 Monkeys while finished up my landscape painting. I still don't feel done with it but I just had to say enough is enough. Didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it to but oh well, had to say I was done with it.

I forgot how great a movie 12 Monkeys is. What a wonderful plot and how the time travelling is handled is absolutely perfect. Gilliam needs to have some more big budgets thrown at him so he can make more movies like this and Brazil.

I made some popcorn earlier, I didn't burn a single piece this time! Tomorrow I have to do a self portrait and I think that is about it. Oh and work on my piece for the alphabet show (I'm part of a show. 26 artists doing the 26 letters, I am doing G).

X_X

I'm trying to watch Coffee and Cigarettes but it just isn't holding my interest. Jim Jarmusch just isn't my thing.

Last night I was up till 2am. At about 1:20 my paper suddenly acquired an error and didn't allow me to edit it anymore. I could view it so I screencaptured the paper and moved it into microsoft paint and added a few more paragraphs. I was dreaming up until I rolled out of bed this morning. I hated that women's comic anthology with a big passion. So many stereotypical lady comics, what the hell!?

Diana Schutz, the editor for the anthology, had to postpone her guest appearance in her class so instead we had Joelle Jones, who is a magnificent artist and didn't write a single piece of dribble in the anthology. She was a very good speaker and I liked having her there. I think it freed us up to express our immense and mostly felt distaste for the comics. The usual batch of talkative people were dead silent in class today. I didn't even drift off once, even with four hours of sleep.

I started work at 11 instead of 12 so I could get home and relax earlier. I took an accidental nap when I sat down to read on the MFA couch during my break. To make up for my slackness I mopped their floors upstairs (they are gone for the week so I knew no one would step on it). Actually I scrubbed a few places with a sponge first and the difference was so great between clean and filthy so I knew I had to mop the whole thing. I didn't have the stamina to scrub the floor. Oh how I wanted to.

Read more Raw Shark Texts. Soooo awesome of a novel!

When I got home, Lindsay was preparing for a costume party at work (they have lots of parties) She is going as a crime scene victim. She made me promise that, when she dies, I will paint large cartoon X's over her eyes. I swore it would be done.

Since she left I've just been sitting back, like usual, watching the movie and Lost (Zoe Bell jumped ship, bummer. Saw the Michael thing coming from a mile away. Jin probably stays behind for some reason). Homework to do this weekend. And hopefully some sleeping in (for once).

model for a day

Blogging now so I won't be blogging at 1am.

Critique was...interesting. Karen's glass on her frame broke when she was putting it up. I left my piece behind in my tube so I didn't put my thing up, but that was okay as we only had time to talk about a few peoples work. Some were agreed that they were good, some were okay and needed work, some were purely transitional. I folded cranes through it all. Karen checked out a couple books on advertisements, like the ones I have been checking out. I am corrupting her. Bwahaha! I had to stay behind at school a little bit to give Karen a hug for reason's I won't go into here. Hugs and Karen are rare things.

I boiled some eggs and sat about doing mostly nothing, like normal, during my break. Watched another Project Runway episode. I don't like the people in season 3 that much. Outside was a rather miserable day. I wore my rainpants through my commute and so I was nice and cozy arriving at school. I wore my mint green cropped jumpsuit with leggings and legwarmers and looked quite fab all day long.

Today in painting I was the model so I sat facing Jason and Karen was at my side doing my portrait. Jason gave me the preliminary sketch and his finished result is awesome. I have a really intense stare and he really captured how badass I look. And multicolored! I managed to sit still fairly well. Karen got my nose down nicely. I think he is going to hang onto the painting, so I get to hang onto the one I did of him. Well. I might just give it to him anyway. I don't know yet. This weekend I have to finish my paintings and do a self portrait. Midterm critique is here already, where did the semester go?

Now to do some reading responses!

not so much romancing the stone as grinding it

I've put in about two extra hours on my painting of Jason. We might trade them (mine for his) so I want it to look finished. One eye is unfortunately higher than the other and it is noticeable from a distance. All in all though I really like the painting. It looks enough like him.

Printmaking moved on to Intaglio and we spent the majority of class in demonstration. Blimey is it ever time consuming. Hefting the stone. Grinding the stone. Grinding the stone. Grinding the stone. Grinding the stone. Grinding the stone. Laying out your images. Applying the image using a range of chemicals. Etching it with a further range of chemicals which may or may not burn a hole in the ground and are more than likely highly flammable. We aren't even onto the part about inking yet. I managed to smooth my stone out so I'm on top of things. I didn't have time to apply hard ground to any of my plates though. Soon, soon I will. On my prints I received an A and two B's. I have the chance to make them better for an improved grade and I will. I like that option. Yoshi wants us to really learn and not stop here just because we had a deadline.

I went to Whole Foods for lunch with a couple people from my class (the ones I have trouble remembering their names because they are not Rachel). That was a mistake because I bought heavy food and it cost way more than it should have. Damn! Tasty stuff though.

After folding some more cranes in the commons and requesting a note be put in the weekly announcements, I rode home. It started to rain but not so badly. I made it home in one piece. At around 8:00 I headed up to Karen's and we worked on our projects that are due tomorrow. My mixed media looks messy and mostly unfocused. It has a few cool parts but ehhh. I'll have a large amount of stuff up on the wall so it should balance out. Worked on my painting as well. Last night I watched Hot Fuzz while working on it and tonight we watched the good bits of Chicago.

Tomorrow is just critique and sitting around while people paint me. How fun!

comrade from Japan

Awesome, random, and way way cool thing happened today.

I was lazing about on my break and I noticed on Facebook that Jonathan, who I went to Japan with in 2005 and haven't seen and barely talked to since we parted ways in Los Angeles(but we kept tabs on each other via things like Facebook), had a note saying he was being given the stare by a homeless man in Portland. I quickly texted him which Portland and he replied Oregon. I texted where he was and he said Pioneer Place Mall. I said I was 10 blocks away and asked if he wanted to hang out. He said sure so I rode quickly down and found him in the Apple store. We talked and caught up as we made our way to school. He even sat in for an hour in my painting class. He didn't want to be painted and opted to hover over my piece as I started it. He was meeting up with a friend so he left. But wow, what a small odd little happening? Suddenly here he is in Portland. I think we didn't get along that well but any disputes were forgotten when faced with the chance to meet up with someone from such a distinct time in the past. He is around till Saturday so I hope we can have a real sit down and catch up. Just wild.

Feeling energized today despite lack of sleep. The presentations went really well. Some people had great little slide shows (especially the ones from Germany). Modou had a meeting so we were just left to present to one another. Karen's defiance of his assignment went by unheeded. I folded some cranes during it all and then we got out early. Checked out some awesome books on advertisements from the 20's and 70's and pedaled home. I wore my leather shoes again, couples with baggy pants and a thick almost lacey but not lacey, I don't know the term for it, top over a black thermal piece. I looked quite hip and put together. Relaxed and made some cookies and only overcooked half of them! Played some Scrabble on Facebook.

In painting class we are doing portraits. I am sitting next class. During this one I painted Jason. I need to work on it more from memory because it looks disturbing unfinished (its the eyes mostly). He really liked it and asked if we could trade when he paints me. Jon seemed impressed (he had no idea I was even going to art school, let alone living in Portland). It was a fun class. Just chatting up each other and drawing. I'm getting better at working faster.

Madison ate an entire apple during break. Core, seeds, everything. Well not the stem. I didn't know you could do that (Nathan asks if it was performance art).

More relaxing at home. Very little homework to be done nowadays. Played some more scrabble, ate some cookies and other very healthy dinner items.

But jeeze, meeting up with Jon. What a funny little occurrence.

feeling Crumby

My stomach doesn't feel too good. I don't feel too good all around actually. It isn't a sick sort of feeling. Just sort of...exhaustion. And it is only Monday.

Art History was very interesting. I didn't know that grisly painting of Judith slicing off Holofernes' head was painted by a woman! I love that painting. We are into the Baroque. Some of the paintings offended my eyes with how garish they were. But I guess that was the point. I received a 84 1/2% on my test. If it wasn't for me totally bombing one of the vocabulary words(manera greca) I would have had a high 90 percentile. But I'm okay with what I got, I did fab on the essay and only flubbed a few dates and names (mixed up one of the Ninja Turtles).

Melanie, the yoga teacher from last semester, was hired on to do Monday lunchtime yoga so Diana and I took part. I'm all yogafied! The teacher even pointed to me as an example of how to do a pose. Unfortunately the pose was happy baby and I did not want people...looking at me in that pose. Yeah. It was fun.

I checked out the Terry Zwigoff film Crumb to view (I actually wanted the movie Artemisia but they didn't seem to have it). That man is so screwed up. I found it interesting how he said that only white liberals called him racist. Hmmn. Didn't hold my interest too well but it did give a great insight to him and where he is coming from. Poor R. Crumb.

Chatted a bit with Andy, Michael and Jim in the library. Andy was not aware of the Seattle trip and was a little bummed about missing out on the Crumb exhibit. He also remarked about how nice we all were dressed. Must say he had a point. Michael had a nice button up with a classy zip up sweater of sorts, Jim had a blazer, I had my vintage green skirt with leather shoes and nice black top. We were a nice trio, but Tall Andy looked good in his own regards.

I folded some cranes with Diana in the commons and then rode home. Passed Lindsay and Sully on the way back. I just kicked back and watched Crumb. Went shopping. And felt worser and worser.

Less than two weeks till break. Then I have a solid two months of work left. I'm only half way done? Crap.

Cimabue is a pretty name

As I am still on daylight savings time I finished my Art History essay and am blogging at an almost decent hour. As it is daylight savings I am up late and not tired. At least I get to sleep in till 9:30 tomorrow (though my body will tell me it is 8:30).

I met up with Diana at the museum today and we discussed Renaissance art and I showed her my paintings in the museum (and by mine I mean my favorites). Pretty nice little visit. I need to make more outings to the museum. Specially when the cute boy is working the desk. He liked my helmet much.

After the museum we walked down to Pioneer Place and wandered around and grabbed lunch. Both of our meals were decent. We ran into Karen in the food court. She looked FABULOUS! That girl can dress.

We parted ways after the mall and I went home and watched the new Lost episode. Not the greatest but it is setting up for something pretty cool. I think Michael is the man on the boat. There was a makeup Yoga session tonight. I'm slowly becoming more bendy and capable of holding certain positions longer. My shoulders still hurt.

I dressed up a little today. It was leggings and a skirt weather today so I indulged it with a red embroidered skirt Celia gave me and took a risk combining it with my checkered jacket. Diana says I pulled it off and I believe her. I looked fabulous, not FABULOUS like Karen but still pretty damn good.

Spring break is only two weeks away! Huz-ZAH!

grumpy. and then I get some chocolate in me.

Today was fun. I was a little grumpy for the first part as some of my plans had fallen through but eventually I got into it and had a good time.

I went to Seattle!

PNCA put on a trip to the Emerald City and I signed up. I didn't know our itinerary until we were on the bus so I didn't want to delude anyone into thinking there was possible hanging out time with yours truly.

I arrived at school on time at 7:55. We didn't leave for another 45 minutes. Leaving at almost 9:00 and trying to be back in Portland at 10:00 doesn't actually leave the greatest length of time to really see Seattle. They bus us around the U District and some sprawl of warehouses; it really takes away the chance from the people who have never really been to Seattle. I think they should leave considerably earlier. Hit the galleries early in the day and hit Pike's Place Market and Seattle Center later in the day.

The Henry had mostly boring exhibits. There was a great installation of tinfoil casts of the artists body at various stages of bending over. But the photography was just, "oh wow look I made my photos really big and shiny on nice paper" and nothing really moved me about them. The Frye had a great R. Crumb exhibit with videos of him comic jamming, his original drawings and comics, and even a few sculptures. I loved that. Diana, Robin, and I got into a wee debate about his offensiveness (ys he is offensive but that is stating the obvious. I'm looking for the, "okay yes, what else about him?" conversation). The next gallery had some photos of David Bowie lyrics on mattresses. It was cool how he found all the mattresses to write on but once I got it that was pretty much it and I was bored. Western Bridge had Isaac Julien's The Long Road to Mazatlan playing. I thought it was amazing. The video installation was three separate projections that were synchronized and it played sometimes three points of view of one scene, or a wide semi connected shot of the same thing, or entirely separate shots happening. It and the R. Crumb show made the trip worth it.

I was tired and grumpy up till around the Frye. Many of the exhibits bored me. We were not anywhere near Pike's Place so I was unable to swing by quickly and say hi to Llyw. The food was okay. I snacked plenty and the ride was fairly comfortable. Read some more of Choke. Was the trip worth it? I guess so. I wouldn't have done anything else with the day except sleep in. I'm doing that tomorrow.

We watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off going up to Seattle and The Royal Tenenbaums returning. Both enjoyable but I started to fall asleep on Jim during the latter. I rarely am in bed before midnight on a Saturday. Or a Sunday or a Tuesday...and many other days for that matter.

Jim and I walked Diana home and then I walked Jim to the nearest Max Station. Company makes everything go faster.

pizza haiku

Long day was long. But it didn't feel that long.

Comic class went fast and we got out early. I went to the post office and mailed some things off then I went to the museum to check out a Renaissance painting to write about for my class. I had a little amount of time left before work so I did a quick run through of the new exhibit on display. Lots of nice pictures of dancers from Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas, and one other dead dude. They lumped most of Toulouse-Lautrec at the end of the exhibit and those were the pieces I liked best.

I am learning to pace myself better at work and because of that I didn't have much time left at the end. One of the bathrooms had a big ink spill so that was exciting to clean up (I was actually thrilled that there was something to scrub up). Only about 40 pages left on Choke. It is getting really good now. Not sure if it is worth trudging through the first couple hundred pages for it though. Hmm.

Watched the Project Runway finale episode after work. I'm glad Rami didn't win. He gets all the exposure but none of the responsibility of having to fulfill the obligations of winning. He will be successful on his own awesome terms.

Movie night was Brazil. I haven't watched it in years and even then it was only once before. It blew me away! So beautiful and imaginative and depressing. Loved the casting and effects. Gilliam in general rocks 1/3 of the time. It ran a little long but still it was a cool thing to watch.

Rode home. Relaxed with Lindsay and Sully. Watched Pecker. Enjoyable film, somehow I have a different memory of the ending from when mom watched it (she also didn't allow me to watch it...maybe it was a different movie). Very sweet and innocent. Well, it was a little formulaic but I liked the cast and the performances. Also it was short, but maybe after watch Brazil anything under two hours seems short.

spaghetti pizza
much more tasty than it sounds
far better than corn

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.

printing is done, busy still not over

Hopefully my last long day for a while! I've been going strong with no breaks...except for all the Project Runway.

Anyway, there was a critique in printmaking and it went fairly well. Yoshi wasn't down with the wiping I did on my Bigfoot plate. It was generally agreed it needed more work but now that I know more about aquatint, I can do some snazzy, snazzy things! I wasn't really hurt in the critique as I was aware of the problems that already existed in my plates. I did my cine cole (shin cole? sine cole? I don't know...) print as well. It was a little askew but I like the direction in which it is going. Some cool prints were put up. Tea time also had snacks and that rocked.

Comic club was okay. Met another Rachel. Did some jams. I volunteered responsibility for the comic jam on the wall set up (nothing was getting done, it is also delayed). I am kinda going "crap, why did I do that?" But I also know some of the parties involved better than others so I guess I am right for the job.

I worked on my drawing assignment for Modou. We have critique tomorrow and I have no idea what is going to happen. I cut it out and stenciled it but its just, I don't know. The class is all over the place and I have no clue what he is going to have us do.

Yoga was in another room and it went pretty well. My arms couldn't hold up to some of the strain of downwards facing dog. I have no arm strength.

We had to hit the ceiling and yell at the guys above for the first time in a while tonight. They shut up after I yelled. Jerks.

Tomorrow is First Thursday, I have to work on a painting during my break, Friday is class and work and movie night, Saturday I have something and that leaves most of Sunday. Sunday night is a bonus yoga class because the teacher is on an MFA trip next week. Gee whiz! Spring break is only two and a half weeks away, spring break is only two and a half weeks away.

pointless, frustrating, decent, helpful, and crashitism

Experiments in Drawing was yet another near pointless work day. Nicole came in and gave an awesome lecture about her art. She is groovy.

I went straight to the print lab and worked on my bigfoot prints. They look terrible.

The fire alarm went off while I was printing so I was outside with my hands covered in ink. It didn't last long but still. I was grubby all day.

I only had an hour to kill between printing and painting so I chilled in the library and talked with some people in the library.

Painting was nude models and I had Scott. Scott is a great model. The painting turned out alright, nice color combinations and it looks a little like him. And I filled the page pretty well.

After I got home I went to Michael's to help him pack for his move. After packing we went to Sharis' for dinner. I started to crash a few bites into my burger.

I'm going to crash now. Good night all.

the man from Antarctica

Lindsay and I rode the red line all the way out to the airport to pick up her friend Sully. He is visiting for the week. He flew in from LA and before that he was in Hawaii and before that Australia and before that New Zealand and before that Antarctica. Yeah hes pretty cool.

Had an Art History test. I think I did fairly well. I blanked on one term but I knew the rest pretty well. I've had Libby before, I have no fear of her tests. Shes a fair but not harsh grader.

After that I was in the print lab for three hours. I finished one edition (plus a few extra/warm up prints) so whoo I'm almost done! It went really quick. Rachel, Rachel, and the girl who isn't a Rachel were in there with me so that was fun. Rachel (the one in my digital tools class) and I are going to trade prints. We both are doing creative wiping when it comes to our prints (so that they don't look bland).

I have accepted the fate that my hands won't be clean till the semester is over.

he's our little lamb

I am working on my painting for class, the one that I really assigned myself more work to do than was necessary. Haha, I think one more intense sit down is all it require. Just one more, just one more.

I was unable to sleep in today (work up at 8:45 am! what the hell?) so I just sat in front of the computer watching MORE Project Runway. I am almost halfway caught up with the entire series. It is so bad. Ibanez was extra cuddly as Lindsay was out all night and morning.

Today was really lazy. We took a walk to Art Media, we talked, I made cupcakes, we watched Project Runway. Yeah not much happened. I was just lazy and groggy. I think I was productive on something else but I really can't remember. Hmmn.. Wow I guess I really just wasted my Sunday except for painting. Dang, that was probably stupid of me. Monday is going to be packed full of printing and trying to piece together something for Modou. Oh and painting homework. DANG! I've been bad.

I've also been tired and frustrated and stressed. Procrastinating is not a cure for that but I need time to take it easy, my weeks are so busy. I have to allow myself these break because I know that I won't have them during the week. Its all study, paint, print, read, write. And my irregular sleep schedule doesn't help.

I can do it.

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