countdown: 14...13...

Katie gave me a ride to school! What a sweety.

Terry's thesis was set up in the new illustration room. A grand christening. He had half a wall full of his concept sketches and several competed character illustrations. He worked on designing an adaptation of The Tempest and his interpretation of the story. His defense was long and really showed how well thought out his work was. Most of the questions were about culture. It was quite good.

Madeline and I chilled in the library till Bryan's. I checked out these really cool books about mythical beasts and they were all illustrated and the like. Really neat.

Bryan's proposal was full of charisma and had almost no ums. He was really smooth. His final project is about illustrating his created robot mythology. Tis good and it ran long, but it didn't run into Katie's.

Adam came to the proposal. She got through her information pretty well. Some ums, but she managed to pronounce anthropomorphizing three times. It ran right up to lunch, grabbed some food and went to the mandatory holiday art sale meeting. The training session to learn how to sell people my work. Hope I earn some money!

After that, I sat with Adam and Katie and Robin for a bit. Then we went home, popped a bottle of champagne and celebrated Katie's well doing (well not Robin, she stayed at school and printed). Then it was nap time. Then it was second round of zitti time. Heated and wonderful food for us all. Afterward, Katie left for the studio. Adam and I sat around and talked and then we watched Community. Love that show. Karen called and we both talked to her. Miss my sassy lady!!

Then it was finally time to sleep and start finals. TWO WEEKS LEFT!

champagne: the choice of 310

Adam is in town for the night so he totally bought us Champagne and we had a great night so keep with me for a minute here, kay?

I took the shuttle to school this morning. Just didn't bother touching my bike at all. I'll deal with it later, not now. Deal with it when I have the time. The shuttle got to me to Jay's proposal in time. She is doing her thesis on the world of ASL. She is doing some larger illustrations and a book to accompany them. She got through her presentation okay, a small case of the uhs but in general it was good. I like seeing all the different ways Illustration majors illustrate their thesis presentation powerpoints. It is amazing to think how this blog will, hopefully, cover my whole four years at PNCA. Step by step, day by day. A whole college education in one blog (all though not quite because I don't go into the best of detail).

After Jay's, I went to the library.

Oh I think I forgot to mention yoga yesterday. I did yoga, yeah. It was just Bonnie the substitute who sounds line Winona Ryder and myself for the session. She left the window blinds up, so I just waved to the passers by I recognized. It was a good session as I got a lot of help from her.

So I found out that in the library I would have to review with Martin(during lunch) my stage one for the final project. The final project is a biography of someones life, so I am going to work on Stephen Fry because he is awesome. I was stuck so I admitted to him I was stuck and he helped. It was nice.

Oh, before that I saw Anthony Roberto's thesis proposal. I knew he was an amazing artist, but by god is he truly spectacular. An amazing etcher with just this depth to his work. Wow. I have one of his pieces on my wall, bought from the last Holiday Art Sale. I was so happy to find something of his for $15. He is doing something about the apocalypse. It is cool.

After lunch, I spent the rest of my hours in the print lab. I kept quiet and did my drawing fluid final layer and my emulsion and washed it out with a sponge. Other people used the power washers and that I found to be really disrespectful. Seriously? I behave and you guys use the noisy stuff while someone is doing their thesis? Or maybe it wasn't even in the room that was above the washout room. Anyway, yeah. Got my final layer printed and it looks GREAT. I am finished with my printmaking thesis. Go me. One down, threeish to go.

Waited with Junko for the shuttle but it never came so I took the streetcar home. Adam and Katie arrived right as I finished making myself dinner, which sucked because Adam then made dinner. Katie left to go to a friend's birthday, Adam and I watched the new episode of QI and then we walked to Safeway. At Safeway he bought Champagne and orange juice and we went back to my place. We drank flutes of delicious bubbly, watched Hulu, then Katie returned and we all stayed up and drank and chatted. She also gave us a run through of her thesis. Should be good.

I slept with my hair in braids and I used hairspray in the morning and it stayed big and poofy and wavy and all that goodness. I'm a big fan of big hair (on myself).

bike misery

My bike tire went flat at school again. So I borrowed the student services pump and filled it, but it was flat when I got done with Agnes' thesis. So I had to streetcar it home. Once home, I couldn't get a good enough seal on the nodule to fill my bike tire with air. I tried for an hour, but no matter what, it would either not inflate, or go flat again in a minute. I can't keep an inflation to tell where the leak is, and I can't inflate it because the bike pump I was given is totally crap. It cannot get a seal, no matter how much I am told it is a quality pump. It isn't. It's crap. The school one worked perfectly and told me the pressure and everything. I'm afraid the horrid pump mangled the little inflation node and that is where the leak is coming from. I do not want to buy my third tube this year, nor a new pump. Though I think I will have to do both. I did not need this right now. Some time this weekend, I'll wheel my bike to a shop and talk to them. See if something in the tire is damaging tubes or what. Gahhh.

I wore aunties shirt today. Got lots of compliments. First proposal was... uhh. Oh I got to school for lunch first. Enchilada day. Sat with Liz while some girl did some horrible thesis defense that was her public speaking awkwardly and introducing a band. I heard she failed last year's thesis as well.

Lacey's proposal was amazing. She is doing a small, wordless comic about dealing with depression, it is called Dealing With Dealing With. Her proposal was just, wow. No words on the slides and no cards in front of her. She didn't stutter or anything. Nailed it. We (Robyn, Rachel, and her friend Liz) waited with her while the panel deliberated and then talked to her. We were there when she was all happy after because hers got accepted. Whooo! Go Lacey. You may remember her as my partner in graphic novel crime last semester.

Loitered around school. Inflated my tire. Photocopies.

Agnes, formerly Amanda, had her defense. She was dressed quite nice. Her illustration thesis was five large oil painted pieces which depicted the childhood horror she saw in fairy tales. Her paintings were massive and quite well executed for only having had minimal practice with oil before. As usual, reading from the notes made her a little stiff but when she got into the discussion she was splendid.

As said before, returned to find my bike flat. I just shrugged my shoulders in defeat and headed to the print studio. Morgan was finishing up his print and Danielle was cutting paper. She was still cutting paper when I finished my third color. It looks okay, hard to tell without the final color. I went a little more red than I was planning.

Walked my bike to the streetcar and walked it home. Struggled with it. Took a break. Struggled some more.

Katie was working on an electrical piece and the apartment was full of current and I felt funky.

proposal x 2

Still ill, mostly just nauseous.

BT's B is for Beard was the first proposal of the day. 125 was stuffed with people. Not Jason Powell stuffed, but still really full. There may have just been more room. His thesis project is that he is making an alphabet book about facial hair. It was a great presentation with wonderful design. Half of the followup questions were about facial hair, and the other half were more productive.

This year I am participating in the Holiday Art Sale. For a weekend, the commons becomes a selling place for artwork. In exchange for three hours of minding the sale, you can put as much properly labeled and packaged art as you want. It needs to be put on cardboard boards with cellophane, which is time consuming. I put in about sixty things, but 25 were the comic which I did not board. It took a lot of time to wrap my prints. If it all sells, I will make over $300. I don't think it will, but I should sell something. I have a wide enough net and David Lynch is always a crowd pleaser (as is Luna). Took a break to eat, and apply emulsion to my screen. After that I resumed packaging.

At 2pm was Taylor's proposal. He is designing merchandise and a music video for local band: Wizard Rifle. He said "uhh" a lot, but in general he got his point across. It is amazing to me the difference in what different majors present. The concepts are different and what the artist wants to refer to changes.

Back to packaging. Finished at around 4pm, and tired and icky feeling I just went home.

Watched Peter Greenaway's The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and her Lover. It was colorful but weird.

Now I'm watching So You Think You Can Dance. Colorful and delightful.

illin' again

Woke up with a tickle in my throat. Gargled some salt water.

This week is Focus Week, which is when all the thesis people either present or defend their senior project. First up was Ursula's Road Trip. She is doing ten large illustrations that represent her 6 month cross country journey through the lower 48. I arrived just at the start. It was a pretty good presentation. Good concise graphics, well put together.

Lunch was sandwiches. I had two halves, which make a whole. Sat with BT, Kim, Lacey, and a few others. BT was wearing tan pants that made him look pantsless out of the corner of my eye. I was still feeling sick, even though I ate a lot.

Drew in my print for the portfolio. Water resist yaay.

Still felt sick.

Went to Erin's proposal. Pretty nice slides for her proposal. Some of the questions she got were weird and off topic. Mostly weird suggestions and not questions at all.

Meghan's defense was good. Beautiful work, even though they drilled into our beautiful magnetic wall to put it up. I guess they didn't know it was magnetic. She did prints about the creation and destruction and reincarnation of life. Mumbled a little bit but overall it was good.

After that, Diana and I went to Yur's. I wasn't starving but I knew I needed a good meal if I wanted my health to hold. Fish & chips makes a good meal, right? Yeah, I'm sure it does. We sat and chatted. She had a shot of gin, like a classy lady.

I opted out of yoga because I felt so weak and terrible. You know it is bad when I don't do yoga. Think it is just a cold, I'm not too worried. I think if it was the swine flu, I would have gotten a lot worse by now. Fluids, sweaters, rest.

Sorted out things to put in the holiday art sale. Got a fair pile of things. My comic. My card. Old prints.

Started watching Better Off Ted episodes on Hulu. Mom, you should watch it. I bet you would like it. It is charming.

Bed time. Have to get up for BT's proposal (thankfully it is at 11, so that gives me a good time to rest and be healthy).

box

I set my alarm so that I would get up early and finish my box with dad. Unfortunately the time on the clock was twelve hours off. Still, I managed to get up to the garage by 10. We got the pieces sanded and planed the places where the hinges would go. When it was glued, we took a food break. Waffles! Dad made waffles.

Pa and Ma puttered around outside while I watched the second half of the Nazi Art Theft documentary. Soon it was time to finish the box. Sanded down the edges and sides, drilled holes and then nailed the side panels in. Did more sanding. The box for the portfolio looks great. It is a delightful mini briefcase. Now I want a larger one for some purpose. It’s very light and charming.

We three took a fifteen minute hot tub soak and then it was time to hop and scoot to Tacoma. Departed at 4:59 and arrived a little after 6. I don’t like cutting things short, but I got on the train safely. It is a booked one, but they often are. Pretty uneventful ride. Worked on editing my short story. The movie was Julie & Julia again.

The green max was about an 8 minute wait, so I just strolled to catch a red or blue one. If I am going to wait for a max, I'm going to wait for the one that takes me directly to my place, not the one that takes me to a transfer where I have to wait again.

There was some Ecoli found in the water on the west side of Portland, but apparently it has been taken care of. The first thesis proposal I go to isn't till noon tomorrow. Sleep in!!

art spy!

Got downstairs before noon today. Dad made me breakfast. Digested a little, and then it was off to the garage to work on my box for History of Print.

Dad had gotten a jump on it, but I helped measure and sand the pieces. He lost a piece to his table saw and had to use a magnet in the pile of sawdust to fish it out. He never recovered it, but found a nice drill bit. There was a replacement part, so all was well.

Our break turned into finishing for the day. Hot tub. Burger. Internet. Then Celia came over and we went in the hot tub again. Then she, mom, and I played Settlers of Catan: Seafarers. The expansion makes it really hard to get a few items needed for settlements. Mom won, with me second and Celia third.

After Auntie C left, mom and I watched two episodes of QI. The Families one and the Film & Fame episode. The latter is particularly funny. Then it was bed time. Have to get up early to finish the box. Not that I am going to bed at a totally decent hour either. Watched a neat documentary about Nazis looting art and Rose Valland, who kept a record of all the theft right under the nose of the Germans.

making memories

Had a good long sleep in. The bed back home is so very comfortable.

Rubie came over in the morning. We helped haul the couch into ma's mini barn to prepare a spot for a Christmas tree. Nathan took a hike to gather some moss.

When they departed, mom and I watched a few episodes of QI. Then we three went to Kunie's to get a Christmas tree! Like the grand old tradition. Mom stepped in dog poo. There were other people getting trees as well, but it wasn't quite picked over. There were so many nice trees. We didn't even have to search for that long before finding what we desired. No brown spots. Even all around. Plenty of body with still some space to let ornaments dangle. Just right! Ma payed while Dad stuck it in the Shakee-Tree to shake off the needles.

We had a wholesome good time putting on ornaments. Dad removed them from the plastic bags and I put them on. I made sure to space them all around, even if it isn't the side commonly viewed, you should still decorate it.

Tree looks nice. Can't wait to put presents under them.

Rolph and Alison came over again. We all sat and drank apple juice and chatted. I drank hot cocoa instead. Showed them a slideshow of our Amsterdam/Brussels trip. After they left, we tucked into bed. Well mostly dad, he conks out pretty quick these days. Stayed up watching television as usual. Have to try to get up before noon so I can work on my box.

family & food

Turkey day. Mmm.

Threw my clothes in the laundry and ate a piece of french toast and some bacon. We all got in the hot tub before leaving. Ma, Pa, Bro, and Sis. Every few minutes someone would say, "rotate!" and we would trade seats. Got some fresh clothes on and off we went. Nathan let me play Patapon on his PSP portable gaming system.

Our Thanksgiving was to be had at the house of Grandma and Grandpa Spencer. No Rubie. Straight in the door, they asked where she was. Heh. Grandpa made root beer. It was quite tasty and went well with some ice cream. Dinner had all the classics: gravy, cranberries, mashed potatoes, salad, and of course turkey. I had good portions of what I liked and was well fed. The taters came from our garden and were very good. Quite cozy family meal. Talked about old memories and all that.

We left early to visit Grandpa Pedersen and Celia. Grandma is now resigned to the bed, but she still has a sweet spirit. She responded and ate well from a plate of leftovers.

Nathan and I got in the hot tub when we got home. Mostly had a soak because I think the jets have been hurting my back. Played more Patapon while Ma, Nate, and I watched Night at the Museum on television.

Staying up catching up on So You Think You Can Dance and QI. Tomorrow I will make my box!

turkey train two

Thanksgiving break! Yay!

In History of Laughter we had a minor discussion about Charlie Chaplin, and then we watched City Lights. A delightful comedy that was enjoyed by all who bothered to attend. During break, Rachel and I looked at the horrid Design I projects. Just really bad design with horrible use of stock images and Photoshop. There were only two that we agreed were decent. I returned to class to find them watching the Kick Ass trailer. Zach and I talked a bit about Millar and making comics just to get them optioned. And then we finished the movie and got out early. I sought out Martin but learned he wouldn’t be around till noon. Talked to the library people and killed time.

History of Printmaking got into Hogarth. Lovely lovely Hogarth. And Harry Potter Puppet Pals (Morgan brought it up). We got booted from our room by a conflicting room assignment, so we returned to our cozy second floor space. More Hogarth. I tracked down Martin and gave him my piece. He said, and I quote, “this turned out really great”. Whee!!

Got another Chiptole burrito for lunch. Addictive buggers, but I wanted something to eat later on when I was on the train. It burst when they folded it up, so I got a second tortilla wrapping. I love the wrappers. Mmmm.

Morgan gave us a lesson in good story telling and advised Cameron and Carla on effective thesis presentations (it involves pointing with a stick). Then we returned to Hogarth and the Rake’s progress.

I left class to find my back tire flat! I wheeled my poor baby to the streetcar. Jim was there and we chatted all the way back. I inflated the tire and I hope when I return, I don’t find my bike resting on a flat tube. I lasted a year and a half on the original tubes, why are they suddenly failing?

Packed, said goodbye to Katie, and hauled butt down to 10th. I missed the streetcar I wanted to catch by a couple minutes, so I walked down to the Finnegan’s stop. A guy was solving a Rubik’s Cube and all I thought was, “I can do that a lot faster.”

Andrea boarded the streetcar and we had a three block chat. The train station was pretty stuffed but it had good order. Most of the crowd was for the 6:15 train. Got my ticket and aired out my sweat. After I picked up my seat assignment, I got some corn nuts and gummy bears for the train ride. First I finished my burrito.

Speaking of burritos, in History of Print our final potluck is going to be a burrito assemblage. Everyone will be responsible for bringing the ingredients, that way we will all be well fed and none of us will have to pay or make a full dish. I might get dibs on rice when the food assignments are handed out.

Fairly quiet train ride. Finished watching The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Napped. Nathan and Rubie were queued outside the train station and I was quick to toss my suitcase and backpack in. Some families really took their sweet time loading while at the same time holding up traffic.

It was a nice, familiar ride back into Kitsap. Chatted about class and vegans and all that usual stuff. I find it interesting that I can explain silkscreening to Nate and he gets understands in, but trying to explain it to some classmates is near impossible. Some minds just don’t work like that.

Mom and Pop were still up when we got home. No late night hot tubbing. Chatted, looked at holiday catalogues, and Nathan showed Dad how to Facebook.

printing queen

Got to school right on time. We looked through our prints and discussed why monotypes would be hard to critique, then we did a communal print as per usual. Then we had open work time till 1:30. In that time, I finished the final layer on my silk screen! Madeline texted me wondering where I was, so she came to the print lab and I gave her a print.

After lunch, we had a guest come in and show us his monotypes. He was a nice fellow. Tom and Chelsey left early to catch a train. I finished silk screening my other print, the one for Morgan. It is looking good. Two more layers to go!

I also did another monotype, just to do one for the day. Played with abstract but it wasn't much of anything.

At five I helped them clean up. By them I mean the four other students who hung around after Tom left.

Rainbow asked if I wanted to grab a bite to eat at Yur's, so I agreed. Yur's is the faux dive bar that all the PNCA students go to. It is only a couple blocks, so a really easy walk. Comfy seats and very clean while having standard bar decor. I had a grilled cheese sandwich and a Mirror Pond Pale Ale. I showed Rainbow Grandpa John's silkscreen textbook. She loved it. Some other PNCA people joined us, namely Anthony, Tesar, Tesar's girl, and this other fella. We all sat and chatted about thesis and a good time was had, even though I didn't really know the other people. I left at 6:30.

Talked with Natalie about silkscreen and showed her my stencils. Tried to help her figure out how to use the systematic process of silkscreen to aid her own sense of image making. She left with a pleased look on her face, so I think I did manage to help.

Now just chilling out. Nothing left to do but the last few classes and packing. Whoo whoo!!

three down, one to go!!

Argh, was going to go to bed and then remembered I had to write an entry.

Back to the grind. The pre-lunch chunk of class was spent reading some of our better poems and looking at our pieces. From now on in class, it is just work on final project. Need to get my USB back from Katie so I won't be working off of emailed files.

I went straight to the print lab and got in some quality printing during lunch, when no one was around. Got all the green boots in. They dried only semi opaque, but I think when I finish, they will all tie nicely together. Then I went to Chiptole and ate a steak burrito during class. Talked to Sarah about how to expand my short story. Kind of sat around for class. Sketched a little, mostly chatted with Danny. Talked with Danielle about my final project. Scanned my reading response images and typed up my responses. Apparently there were only two turned in last class, and I was one of the ones who did.

After class, I printed the red umbrella. Cherish is really excited about her fancy dress birthday party, as am I. Finished that printing with time to spare, and I used that time to apply emulsion onto my print for the print exchange. Then yoga time!

Fawn is out of town, so her friend Bonnie took over teaching. She sounds so much like Winona Ryder. She was an intense teacher and most of the poses were way too hard for me to sustain. I've appeared to have gotten worse at Yoga, now that I have been doing it twice a week. Still I tried.

After yoga I exposed the emulsion on the screen and washed out the drawing fluid. It didn't wash out as well as I would have liked. Still, I will continue with it.

It was a painful ride home. Liz stopped over and hung out with Katie for a bit, who made us all delicious hot cocoa. I relaxed and watched House and Lie To Me. When I got up for a between show intermission, my back had a bad spasm. Eventually it sorted itself out. Yoga is supposed to make me stronger, not injure my body.

return to work

Had a good sleep after that late and most horrid return. Mom even made me breakfast! Poached egg, muffins, bacon, and orange juice. My ideal morning meal.

Uncle Rolfe and Aunt Alison stopped by in the afternoon for a catch up chat. Talked about drains and ditches and hot tubs. Basil melted for Alison’s pets. She wasn’t so pleased with me. Oh well.

Soon it was time to depart and pick up dad at the airporter drop off in Silverdale. He was there when we arrived. He had a spoon and fork salad set for mom and myself. I picked the cat one and mom received the giraffe set. There was also a decorated (hollowed out) ostrich egg to put with our collection of around the world goodies. The three of us went to Skipper’s. Hurray for fish & chips!

Once we got home, we all promptly hopped in the hot tub. Dad tested all the different seats. Mom floated over the main powerful jet. I just soaked and relaxed. It is such an excellent way to relax. I wish I had one in Portland. So easy to hop in for a few minutes and rest.

Then it was time to get dry and dressed and head to Tacoma again. Mom tucked a tired and weary dad into bed and then the two of us set into the descending night once again. It was dry and a delightful drive. Arrived with time to spare.

My seatmate was a young girl in a cookie monster hat. Worked on typing up the poetry that is due tomorrow. The train movie was Julie & Julia.

The 506 (or was it the 509?) arrived fifteen minutes early in Portland and I just managed to catch the Green line. The red took a while, so all in all it took me thirty minutes to get in my front door.

Katie said she missed me.

I got right to homework. Did two stencil images for my reading response to Dylan Dog (it was a free choice this week). I don’t like construction paper for stenciling. Newsprint cuts so easily. Then I did some character studies of people in out of my poems, including myself. Cut them out and put them on blue paper then cut that out and put some lettering to indicate which poem they are from. And I think that is it for things that are due tomorrow. Now all I have to work on is screenprinting.

dance / snow my god

Ma's mini barn was completed. She is going to put a framing workshop and sewing station in their.

Took a hot tub soak before getting dressed for the show. It was so very very cold. And wet.

Put on a skirt and tights and grabbed the big coat. Don't know why I didn't bring more layers. Oh well. It was fairly dry heading over, just cold. Picked up Rubie in Tacoma and then headed to Everett. Left at 3pm, arrived around 5:45. Long long drive. Ate a meal at McDonald's. Something easy, ya know.

There was a line outside the Comcast Center but it was assigned seating, so you didn't have to show up that early. Rubie had an umbrella, I had a hood. Mom waited outside for Averie and we went in to get our seats.

We were a ways back, but there were screens so we could see the show. Seats were uncomfy and the place was cold. Oh well. Averie and Mom came in at around 7:15 and then come 7:30 it was time for So You Think You Can Dance season five tour!!

The top 12 were there: Jeanine, Janette, Randi, Caitlin, Kayla, Evan, Brandon, Ade, Kupono, Jason, and Phillip. I hooted and cheered and clapped plenty. In between dances, they hammed it up. There was a narrative about that unfortunate Russian Dance that went through the whole show. And every now and again they would switch things up. Other dancers would come in during the numbers or they would mix up their outfits. It was soooo much fun. Saw a lot of the numbers that I loved so much over the summer. All our favorites were there, and Averie who had not seen much of the show also had a good time. Oh oh and there was Bollywood! The lights were bright and the sound was loud. It was great. Made me wish I could dance...

It was hell getting back. It was pouring rain, the roads were pooling water and ma did her best not to hydroplane. Dropped Rubie off and then off we went into the dismal night. It was horribly slow going and when we got to Seabeck, there was SNOW. Actual snow coming from the sky. It as only a slush and it wasn't at our house, but for a few miles it was bonafide snow.

Tomorrow I return. Then I am in Portland for three more nights, then I am back in Washington for Thanksgiving.

blue underwater lights and bright stars

The water heaters were being replaced, so I had to wait a bit for my shower. Piled all my things for the weekend. I am almost getting better at pairing down the supplies I think I need for visits.

Katie was cleaning hardcore. Apartment will be all nice and shiny. For a week.

It was raining as I departed, but it wasn't so bad. Waited for streetcar, got to the station at a good time. Didn't have to wait around forever to board. Got an aisle seat. I read a chapter out of Dylan Dog, bought my standard train hot dog with mayo, mustard, and ketchup. Then I took a nap for a couple hours. I didn't think I napped for that long, but I woke up to mom calling me at 4:30. Train ended up getting into Tacoma a bit late.

Mom took me, Nate, and Rubie out for dinner at a nice little place in Tacoma. It was uhh some dude & some dude. I don't remember the name. Fish and meat mostly. Rubie and I both had Mojito's, ma and brother stuck to water. The mojito was tasty tasty. My grilled steak salad was enjoyed, except for the steak which took too much effort to cut. The onion rings and salad part was quite good. My portion was gigantic compared to the others, and I think mine was the cheapest. After eating, we played some Wii. I mostly lost, except at Wii Golf.

After the drive home, mom and I got in the hot tub. Just perfect. It is a really fabulous unit. Huge and better than the one at the Bremerton athletic club. And it has a great view of the stars. Mmm, nice.

I'm so ready for that hot tub

Ohhhh man, yoga really ran me over. I felt so sore and beat the whole day. Anyway.

Got my images ready for class like a good girl. We had a run down of where we all are, and we are all pretty awesome. Loaned Madeline my copy of Raw Shark Texts. Gave her a little drawing for her birthday.

It was a work day. During lunch I put emulsion on my screen and loitered in the print lab while it dried. Katie came in and we gabbed. I showed her the exposing room. Cool stuff. I left my screen to dry and returned to class. Worked on digital stuff.

Finished my digital version and printed it out. Martin ordered me to do another illustration, seeing as how I had the time. So I worked on finishing up the other one and printing it out. Ha.

At around 5:20 I returned to the print lab and found Mark and uhh oh dang I forgot his name. The boys working in the lab last night. They were in the lab and Heather was showing them how to stretch a screen. So I jumped to get a piece of that action. Ripped the silk off the screen that had the razor accident in the drying room. The stretching process is a combination of hydraulics, metal bars, silk, and glue. It's pretty cool and the hydraulic operation box looks like cheap sci-fi with it's two knobs and two gauges. And it is all sky blue. So yeah, I inhaled some intense glue fumes and we three got our screens stretched. Looks all shiny and new. Now I have three proper screens, and one wooden one. Heather was talking about how she has so many screens because she just takes old frames and stretches them. $10 for a great screen, versus the $30-$40 it costs to get one ready made. Whoo whooo!

Then I printed the first layer of my rain piece. There is so much printing to be done on it. Heather even gave me some of her left over mylar so that I could use it for registering the small details (otherwise I would be hefting a big piece of mylar back and forth for each print, and that just bogs down the process). It pays to hang out and be friendly in the print lab. I had a great time talking with Heather, who told me the origin of the Christmas tree. I made sure to reuse some of the left over ink for my printing (she was going through all the ink and sorting through it).

I got out of there at around 8pm. Went to Safeway to pick up dinner and train snacks. Theatre size candy was one for a dollar. Runts, Gobstoppers, and Nerds oh my! Got Sushi and Perrier and cheese puffs and tried to find corn nuts but had no luck. Outside the store, I had a chat with another biker about how awesome helmets are.

It is really believable how tired I am. Lots of roaming, lots of bumping into things, lots of work, and biking here and there.

Oh, I also collected a file of the best of my kitten and cat photos for Samala (she is doing a plague of cats piece). Sent them to her for reference. Afterward I thought "oh crap, there are pictures of my family members in there, she will realize we all are crazy, not just me." I hope I can see a little bit of Basil in one of her 30 cats.

Just relaxed. Ahh. So nice. Sushi was good, even though it was just Safeway.

Rain - Red Umbrella

Photoshop.

if both knees are bad, do they both become good again?

Moved on to the Lenny Bruce segment of History of Laughter. First there was some discussion about the breakdown of communication due to technology (I agree on the idea that the easier it is to say things, the less important those things are). Discussed...more stuff. Yeah.

Today, I wore this shirt Celia gave me way back around 8th grade. Red with wild prints. I love it. It is loose and stands out, which you think wouldn't happen in a place as wacky as art school. But there is a set system to how to combine prints, and big floppy actual 90's shirts are not in that system. Normally it is a boho dress or some torn tights under a patterned skirt. Flannel everywhere, but not old school flannel. Just as a print, not the real deal. Anyway, I love the shirt and got many comments on it. I took them for compliments.

Lacey and her blues dancing crew were giving a demonstration in the commons. She brought cute boys and one, Andrew, asked me to dance. I sort of moved through one song then went for Quizno's. Diana really cut a rug on the cement floor. She danced with all the boys (all three of them). It was a jolly lunch.

Some prints from the Schnitzer collection were on loan to us for today. 60's minimalism mostly, with some Josef Albers thrown in there. Really top notch stuff in name; only about half the pieces held my interest. But it was productive and insightful. Some of the other printmaking classes joined us in our learning. Morgan told a story of how some guy he met in the gym said that he looked like an artist and this led to Morgan meeting him at his place to look at his art work. The guy lived in a purple house with no floors and they had to line his huge paintings outside along the fence and the peacocks came out to be fed. All the while it was snowing. Morgan says that experiences like that are why you should 1) say yes and take a chance and 2) be an artist. He said that things like that just seem to happen to artists. Maybe because we pay enough attention to realise what is going on? Or maybe we would appreciate it more. There is more to the story buy I can't disclose it here.

I had to loaf around for two hours waiting for the print lab to be free enough to print. In the downtime I cut my paper down. I'm doing a huge edition to make up for the fact that I'll probably lose a few just to me not caring enough. Well I do care. I need to get good practice, but registration is such a bother.

In an hour and a half (between the class getting out and yoga) I: applied emulsion, put an image onto the screen, exposed the screen, washed the unexposed emulsion off the screen, let it dry, mixed a color, set up my station, and printed the some 40-50 prints. About 30 are at 8"x10" and 15 are 8"x6" or whatever. The image I was printing today is 8"x8". It is on tan paper and I used a transparent brown. I will layer the brown and make a nice soft toned image in keeping with the aesthetic I utilized with the Katie with Jade Plants piece. I didn't get an exact count of the numbers. 6x6=36. Ohh. Wow I should have just bought five sheets of paper. Ha, oh well. 36 8x10 and (lets see, 3 8x6 a sheet, 6 sheets, 6x3 is...) 18 8x6 prints. That's a lot of art. Whoo! Enough for the edition, and if I am lucky, I'll get some stuff in the Holiday Art Sale for the first time.

The Holiday Art Sale is an annual sale where students put their work in the commons and people can buy it right on the spot. The paintings are crowded on the wall and there are tons of cool prints and goodies to purchase. Good for last minute gifts. I've always slacked on getting things in it, but now I actually have a reasonable stock of things.

I think I forgot to mention that I slipped in the print lab yesterday. I was wearing my Romeo's and those shoes have no traction left on the bottom. There are tons of puddles of water around the studio left from people moving wet screens about. I stepped in one and my foot went out from under me and I hit the cement floor with full force on my good knee. It hurt but I got up and went back to what I was doing. The bruise isn't so bad, and it isn't really all that injured. Just when yoga came around tonight, it kicked my butt. I couldn't do anything that required strength in my left leg.

I can bike just fine though. Caught a little bit of rain coming back, but nothing too hostile. Relaxed. Ate food. Drew a little something something for Madeline's birthday. Drew the stencils for my silkscreen project for illustration. I drew them at relatively small scale, and I will see how they look blown up. I'm excited for this project. Just sucks that there is a print class in the studio on Thursday. Boo!!

And I can't print Friday because I am going home for So You Think You Can Dance! Yaay! I haven't watched the elimination episode, no spoilers.

screenprint season begins

Getting to an entry at a reasonable time. Whoo!

Monotype introduced a "rainbow roll" which is when you roll up several colors on one roller. That way you can get a nifty gradient on your plate. Whee! For the first half of class, Phil and I collaborated. We did two images with his backgrounds and my stencils. First one we tried to put the ink over the stencil and that proved most difficult. Mainly because Phil didn't quite figure that it would be best to put the stencils LAST. But it was an experiment. It had a different look than regular cutouts. Still neat, but not perfect. Then we did one of Ahab going after the whale. A combination rainbow roll + stencil + multiple layers. It was okay.

Then we went our separate ways. I did another stencil image. Just this one girl on a rainbow roll. The paper was bumped on the plate so I got a double line. Not perfect. Bah. Oh well. Cutting out the stencils takes so long.

Got my schedule. I am in all the classes I signed up for. Go me. confirmed for intermediate silkscreen: Diana & Patsy.

After class I hung around in the studio and kept Cherish company while she printed. I also bought another screen because I realized there was no way I could do the print final AND illustration piece with one good high mesh count screen and one low count mesh screen. And since I am taking intermediate silkscreen, it is probably for the best that I have another one. Yay for new clean never used screen! Cherish's screen is so used.

Went home. Ate an apple. Ate some pasta. Wow, where did the last four hours go?

Anyway, I think I will do the silkscreen for print using the reductive method. I can get started on it tomorrow and hopefully print the first color. Just need to get paper.

Also need to think of Christmas presents for the people back home. What would you guys like? Art? Okay, art it is!

bad poems

Ahk, how did it get to be 1:36am? Well, I don't have to actually roll out of bed till 10, but still. Day after that I get up at 7. Bah.

Okay.

Narrative Image critique: check. It went well, just minor suggestions. Danny brought in a piece with some hot dogs that made us all hungry. It's interesting to know the mediums one goes to when forced to work on short notice. I've done a lot of ink and watercolor, no digital yet because digital printing is such a fuss.

Before lunch, the people who hadn't read their flash fiction read theirs. Then it was food time! And food on days when I didn't pack a lunch beans: Burrito! Chipotle! A meal that lasts me all day.

Talked with Robyn and Rachel and then did the things that needed printing out. Unfortunately I forgot that we needed a poem for when we got back to class. A poem we liked. I would have done with one about rain, but oh well. I've done all my work so one little poem flub ain't no thing. We spent an hour struggling to write poetry and then we did some weird writing exercise using found text. That is, creating poetry using terms and words we find in other sources. My favorite was:

When will I die?
When will the world end?
When does New Moon come out?

I came up with it by entering "When..." into Google and forming a narrative based on the automatic fill in that Google does.

Then class got out and I read an article in Esquire about this hippie commune/video production team. They made this video:

Then I took a nap. Then it was time for yoga! Only three people in it today. Did a lot of warming exercises.

Nick, Katie's friend, had made dinner. Yay! Chicken and pasta and sauce! And I got some because they used my pasta and my sauce. Fair trade I say.

In the mail, we got a large mysterious cardboard flat package. The gold spray paint and fancy lettering could only indicate one sender: Karen Berger. We opened it to find a Hammerpress 2010 Calendar! Probably printing by our beloved sassy lady in the KC. Oh my god so AWESOME! We can't wait to put it up. It is soooo cool. It has a great design and a lovely little month tear sheet.

House was good. Exciting character developments. Then I put in Showgirls to inspire me to start my printing final. I have her face all drawn out. Now I'm not sure how I will progress. I'll screenprint it sure, but I might change how I do the layers. Thankfully I'm printing such a small area. Only 8"x8" on a 8"x10" piece of paper.

Finals time is here. Project list:
-extend a previous Narrative Image assignment
-monotype something (I don't know what our final quite is, or if we even have one)
-write a paper for History of Laughter most likely
-print piece for the class portfolio in History of Print
-finish current illustration piece + final illustration assignment
and somewhere in all that, I'll have to document it all. Not actually so bad in terms of finals. Last spring semester was hardcore.