A Month

Hello everyone. I'm sorry that I have not posted anything for over a month. Things have been so crazy. So...I am going to fill you in on the happenings of the last month. I left you on November 17, so we will start there.

November 19th-20th:  Anniversary/Birthday Weekend in OKC

It was out one year and my birthday, so we planned a weekend trip to OKC to do some fun stuff. We went to the zoo, stayed at a bed and breakfast, did some shopping, and went to a few galleries. It was a great weekend.

November 23:  No classes today, so I bought and set up all of our Christmas decorations. It was so weird having to start from scratch!

November 24:  Thanksgiving in Arkansas with my family.

The rest of November /December:  Art, school, art, and work.

My 3D Fundamentals Final: (Ply-wood)

My 3D Fundamentals Tile Project (finally finished!): (Plaster)

A commission I did for a motivational speaker/speech coach: (Ink)

My Drawing 2 Final, Narrative Diptych: (Colored Pencil)

First Panel:  Before

Second Panel:  After

It's been a busy busy month with finals and work craziness. A lot has happened and I am looking forward to the new year and a ton of new opportunities. As you go about your day today, don't ever give up, just keep persevering, it will pay off. And, as always, it's the random reasons.

Silicone and Fishes

Good Monday everyone! Hope you are doing well! It has been a crazy week. Quick recap:  My family came into town the weekend before last, it was a blast. This last week has been a series of running to classes, running to work, then running around trying to get homework finished and tests studied for. Thankfully this last weekend was great. I actually worked both Saturday and Sunday, but C.J. and I spent a lot of time just having fun. No homework this last weekend! That was super nice! Last night he popped Star Wars into the DVD player.....and so I can now say that I have seen Star Wars (even if it is only like an hours worth). Haha. Anyhoo, classes today were pretty good, and most of them let out early. So I have an art post for you and a surprise too!

Art Project Numero Uno:  Clay tile, with flexible mold, and mother mold.
Class:  3D

This project has been extremely stretched out as far as the time frame goes. But anyways, we were told to make a 4 inch by 4 inch tile out of clay. The design was completely up to each individual, but it had to work when 9 of the same tile were laid together. I chose to take my inspiration from the Aegeans and the Italians, and then add some of my own flavor to it. It was both an additive and subtractive process. Here it is:

The finished tile:

So there is that project....well, part of it. Because of the weather we were not able to cast our flexible molds out of the silicone sealant as soon as we would have liked. Then, we had to let those dry before we could cast the mother mold out of plaster....which we did today. So...hopefully soon I will have my nine tiles cast out of plaster. Want to know the best part about this project? We get to paint the tiles in as many colors as we would like! I am so excited!

Project Numero Dos:  Zoology Study

Class:  Drawing 2

Oh my goodness. If you have ever been down to the basement of Life Sciences West on campus you will know why I could not look at a glass jar for a few weeks without getting queasy. If you haven't been down there...let me fill you in. You see, below the classrooms of Life Sciences West lies the most perfect venue for a haunted house. No, there are no ghosts, but there are a lot of dead things. The basement is home to the Zoology collections museum which has animals dating back to before statehood. Impressive! So to help you get the visual, think of those shelves you can buy at Walmart and Lowes for your garage or shop....now think of those completely full of various sizes of mason glass jars...you have your pints, quarts, gallons, 2 gallons...etc. Now fill all of those jars with a liquid that looks like Miso soup....minus the tofu. (yum...right?) No. Now...stuff various types of animals into those soup filled jars. Gross...I know. They have all kinds--fish, snakes, frogs, bugs, polar bears, sharks, pigs....you name it, they probably have canned it. Now...that's not all. They also have several sets of drawers that when pulled out reveal dead birds...they are not stuffed either. They just lay side by side in the drawer blanketed with the smell of moth balls. As you walk out of the museum you can see the many deep freezes that line the basement hallway....creeeepy. Animals in jars not your thing? That's ok, they have deep freezes on the first floor with dead mammals and bones....also blanketed in moth balls. So...you might be wondering what I decided to draw....dead snake....dolphin skull.....Elvis the iguana? Nope...none of those. I chose to draw the live fish in the aquarium in the break room. And I loved it! Here are the fish from the break room. (Disclaimer: these fish were alive, not floating in some nasty Miso soup look a like jelly)

Fish One:  Graphite Pencil

Fish Two:  Ink

Fish Three: Charcoal

Now, the project included six drawings, 3 different mediums, and two types of reference materials. The fish above were all live subjects, and the fish below were all drawn from photographs.

Fish Four:  Graphite Pencil

Fish Five:  Charcoal

Fish Six:  Ink

It was a fun project to do, mainly because it was different than what I would normally draw. The live, fast moving fish were a challenge, but I really enjoyed studying the fish and finding out the functions of their designs in order to accurately draw them.

Here is the aquarium where the first three fish live, and then all of the fishies together. :)

Now...for your promised surprise. Well, my current Drawing 2 project involves using one of my fish drawings in an installation at the Postal Plaza in downtown Stillwater. The Postal Plaza will be the new OSU art gallery, and will be hosting a building reception on the 19th of this month. The awesome news? My installation will be seen at the reception! Hooray! I am getting very excited! Here is a link to the art department's blog talking about the reception:

http://osuma.wordpress.com/2011/10/10/transforming-the-postal-plaza-genus-genius/

I will post pictures after the reception. Sorry for the extremely long post today, but I needed to get some art on here. Hope you all have a fabulous week, and remember to just keep swimming. And, as always...it's the random reasons.

Stress and Deflation

Hello everyone! Hope you all have had wonderful weekends and are ready for the new week to start! I have been working on my two studio projects this weekend, and they are both finished! I am slightly impressed seeing how I did not have to stay up into the early morning hours to have such an accomplishment as two finished projects. Anyways...here they are.

Project 1: Foam Carving. Class:  3D Fundamentals.
Goal:  To create a relief carving out of insulation foam which has a background, middle ground, and foreground. Use an abstract square from a personal photo to a 12x12 inch panel.

I used a photo that I took when CJ and I had a picnic at the lake.

Then I chose this 1.5x1.5 inch square to carve:

It was a lot of work and it definitely took me out of my comfort zone, but towards the end I started to really enjoy it. I am looking forward to getting this piece framed and placed on the mantle.We had to paint the carving in one color, so I chose a pea green. It is going for a more contemporary natural look.

Project 2:  Contour Line Inflatable Object Drawing. Class:  Drawing 2

Goal:  To create a charcoal drawing using vine charcoal and an eraser. The erasure should cause a sense of progression or history, and the object must be drawn from either deflation to inflation or vice versa.

This project and I went round and round. I hated it. I procrastinated to the extreme, but in the end, I love it. It has a meaning and I believe that it can definitely be seen.

Here is an up close view of the final piece. It shows the sense of history that the drawing has due to the repeated drawing and erasing.





This is the finished project. I drew my inflatable pool ring from inflation to deflation. In the beginning the object was simple, but towards the end it became more and more complicated. The final drawing is darker than the rest and was not erased like its 100 predecessors. The title is Stress, and it represents a big ball of stress. It also can be seen as: 1. Stress causes you to feel deflated. 2. Stress takes over. 3. This project stressed me tot he core. As you can see, the ball has completely taken over most of the page. It covers the border and the whole ball cannot be seen. It is complicated and confusing.

Critiques are tomorrow! Wish me luck! As you go about your week, don't let stress take over your life. Take a breath and relax...it ALWAYS turns out ok. And, as always....its the random reasons.



A Trinket for Thursday

Today's trinket is coming from a video we watched in one of my art classes and it's influence on my Drawing 2 project 2 that I am working on. You can read about it in the post, Let Me Just Erase That. Anyways, this video is a drawing animation done by William Kentridge of South Africa. His videos are all done on paper with charcoal. He only uses about 20-30 sheets of paper per animation because he uses erasure to add a sense of history and progression to each scene. Look him up and watch more of his videos, they are pretty fantastic. Here is Automatic Writing:

Hope you enjoyed that! It is really neat to watch and to know that all he uses is paper, charcoal, and a video camera. As you go about your day, try to find something wonderful that is accomplished with surprisingly simple tools. What you find might shock you. And as, always...its the random reasons.

Let Me Just Erase That

Hello everyone! I am now making good on my promise of a post with some art in it! And yes, I am aware that it is Thursday, and I will still have a trinket for you! Anyhoo, today's post is mainly focuses on my first two projects in my Drawing 2 class. The first project has been finished and graded, and the second one is due on Wednesday, so I still have a lot of work to do on it.

The first project had three simple guidelines: 1. Use charcoal as the media. 2. Use two different light sources for each piece. 3. Use your eraser as a mark making tool. The technique of erasure is not one that I am overly fond about. There is something about erasing my work that just stresses me to the core. However, no one asked me and I am paying the big bucks to learn things like this in college, so here is the first project...step by step.

First, I covered the entire paper using vine charcoal. Then I put my charcoal to the side and used my eraser to sketch out my objects, which were a set of 5 glass bottles.

                                        

Using the eraser as my main tool and occasionally fixing things with my charcoal, I was able to add value and space to my drawing.



While I was happy with the finished pieces (there were two--one with light from above and one with light from the right) the process was irritating and will most definitely not be on my favorites list any time soon. I managed to get a great grade on them though! Yay!



The second project is even more frustrating. We were instructed to get an inflatable object and show it going from inflation to deflation using contour lines in charcoal. I grabbed a clearance rack floaty from Wal-Mart and decided to go from inflation to deflation ending up with a deflated ball at the end. The piece is supposed to have a sense of history and progression, so we are drawing and then erasing our lines. We are supposed to have something close to 70 to 100 drawing on this page...of the same object...erased. We shall see how it goes. I am making good progress, but am still not loving my piece. However, as my first art teacher told me: "Every art piece goes through an ugly stage before it can be pretty." I am banking on those words right now.

I have two projects due on Wednesday, so be expecting a post of the final works. As you go about your day, get out of your comfort zone. It will be frustrating and possibly ugly, but it will soon turn to gorgeous. And, as always....its the random reasons.

Upside Down Headless Goddess

Hello everyone! I hope you all have had a wonderful week since my last post. With school starting and everything I have been fairly busy trying to get organized.  Anyhoo, my classes seem like they are all going to be interesting, which will make for a good semester. Most of my professor's are a little crazy, but hey, it's college, I'm getting an art degree, and they are all super nice and very helpful. Yay! I made the switch from Baroque Art History to History of Italian Renaissance Art, so that will probably be for the best.

My drawing class is starting off well. Today we had an actual day of work and we were working with charcoal and erasers. I have never been a huge fan of reductive methods, but I am slowly learning to enjoy using my eraser as a tool to make art, instead of just to fix it. First we covered our 18x24" sheet of drawing paper with soft, black vine charcoal. Then my professor showed us a series of images of the same subject which progressively became more clear and more detailed. At first we started out with a big blurred shape, which we used our erasers to create, then the final image revealed what it was we were trying to create. 

This project was all about positive/negative space, shapes, proportions, details, and most importantly...seeing. Even when I was teaching art lessons in high school I always told my students and anyone who ever said, "I can't draw, so I can't take a drawing class,"  that art is nothing more than a skill that one must learn. If you can ride a bike, you can draw. You had to learn how to ride a bike, just like everyone must learn how to draw. Yes, some people may have a better eye for the art-- there is most definitely a learning curve, but anyone can learn how to draw, and how to draw well. This project proves that point. At the end of the project my professor revealed the finished image...and to make things more interesting, we had been drawing it upside down.

This project was challenging for me because I would always rather look at what I am drawing and draw it, than take progressive steps with value to get there. It took me out of my comfort zone, and that is usually a good thing. I am surprised that it turned out as well as it did, simply because I was blindly erasing and charcoaling away. Guessed what it is yet? (Hint: The post title should be a dead giveaway)

If you guess Nike, you are correct! This sculpture of Nike, which, ironically, we discussed in my Art History Survey class earlier this morning represents the Greek Goddess of Victory. So there ya go. I would have to say that today's drawing class was most definitely a victory. (Even though my sketch could use some fine detailing)

As you go about your day or week don't let your desire to stay in your comfort zone keep you from doing something new or trying it in a new way. It might be fun, it might be frustrating. It might be a disaster, or it might turn out marvelously. You never know. Oh and remember, it's the random reasons...

No Bake Baking

Hello everyone! Hope you are having a fabulous Tuesday morning! Tuesdays have always been my favorite day of the week, but that it another story, so on to the good stuff.

I have been baking all morning. I have been at the desk all morning. 20 cupcakes, 6 cakes, 3 cookies, 1 pie, and 1 brownie. I have been slightly busy. Every confection has been decorated with the utmost care and finest attention to detail--no laziness here! But...I must let you all in on a little confession--I haven't actually baked my baked goods. Nope, not even in the slightest. They are completely no baked confections.

If you haven't guessed it yet, I have been drawing.....baked goods. No, I am not just dong this for my love of pretty desserts. I am actually doing a project for a bakery's blog. So, all morning I have been sketching away several designs for the bakery to look at and decide which will be the face of their blog. Hopefully they like one of them! I tried to have a little bit of fun with them, and I am very happy with how they have turned out.

Here is a sneak peek, but so I do not ruin the blog's unveiling of the artwork, I am only going to show you all the black and white pre-sketches done with pen and ink. (one of my favorite mediums to work with!)

I can't wait to get them sent to the bakery and see what they choose!  I would have to have one of each. Get some dessert today, and enjoy it! Oh and, as always, remember...it's the random reasons.

WhiteLined Sketching

I don't do this too often. Meaning that I do not usually post twice in one day, but I have since done some sketching since I last wrote to all of you. Now, this does not mean that you can skip out on checking out the blog I listed below. Don't forget. Check it out.

Ok, so....I have started this project for my grandma who is renovating her house, or at least planning on renovating. She asked me to draw out some plans so that she could get a visual. This type of sketch is a little different than most of the art I have been doing, or ever done. It has been fun though. It is different and that is ALWAYS a good thing. Boredom and the usual are bad things when it comes to art. They ultimately mean that an artist is about to get "burned out" and that art will become a job and not something they love and look forward to. It is one of the worst things that can happen to an artist, along with the customer satisfaction disease...but that is definitely another blog post. Anyhoo, here is one of the kitchen designs I played with tonight. I found some really awesome grid paper at Hobby-closed-on-Sunday-Lobby. It is a light grey with white grid lines. The lines are easy to see, but also easy to draw on top of. The paper is also great for both pencil and marker use. I love it. Whitelines. Google it.

So, as you go about your day, try to do things differently. Try something new for lunch, walk a different route to work, make a new friend, read a new blog (check out the link on the last blog =D), and just remember that it's the random reasons....

Hole in my Home

• Rainy Day:  Curl up on the couch with a blanket and good book.
• Snowy Day:  Curl up on the couch with a blanket and hot chocolate.
• Long Day: Curl up on the couch with a blanket and pillow.
• Sick Day:  Curl up on the couch with a blanket and box of Kleenax.
• Sad Day:  Curl up on the couch with a blanket and pint of Fudge Brownie ice cream.

There is something about a couch that is comforting. This is not due to the texture of the couch, the level of stuffed fluff inside the cushions, the number/design of the throw pillows...etc. (these do add to the enjoyment level though!) I don't know what it is about a couch that is just so amazing. There is nothing equal to the stress relief that occurs when one falls into the arms of their couch after a long day. A couch provides an embrace that humans cannot. Whether one is dead tired or heartbroken, it is the couch which holds them with its strong ans table arms, which takes them away from this world with its ability to let one fade away into a peaceful sleep, which provides comfort and safety when the world seems scary and stressful. It is the couch which makes one feel...at home.

Having said all of that, I am without a couch. Why? Well, it just simply would not work out in my dorm room. Therefore...there is a hole in my home. My home is without its source of comfort and warmth, and although the big overstuffed chair tries its hardest to be like the couch, it falls short every time. You would think that if anyone should have a couch it should be a college student. Why you ask? Well, for starters, it is college students who are thrown out into the world very abruptly. One day they are sitting on the couch waiting for their mom to say that dinner is ready and the next they are sitting in a swivel chair in a small room waiting on their microwave meal to finish nuking. It isn't a hard life by any means, and with time it becomes a new way of life for the college student. It becomes more enjoyable and less scary. The process is fine, but every now and then the embrace from a couch would be oh so welcome. Thankfully, I will be able to have a couch next year in my new apartment. I am so happy! It is the little things like being able to cook on a stove, being able to burn candles, being able to toast a piece of bread, and being able to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate on my couch that I am looking forward to the most. They make me smile from ear to ear.

All of this talk about couches has a reason, I promise! My next art piece for 2D Design is going to be about a couch, or three couches rather. The assignment is to create a series of three items that can be related to the home, in three different color schemes. I am going to refrain from giving too much away on the project right now, but I will give you my almost final sketch. Enjoy!

So just remember that it is the little things that we all take for granted that matter the most. So smile today, and remember....it's the random reasons.