Yikes!

I've gotten a bit behind on posting, but with good reason, I insist. Homework has eaten most of what remains of my life (if an internet presence can be referred to as such) and I've been working my tail off to keep my head above water.

This image-heavy post is more or less in chronological order.

A good morning session in intermediate life drawing yielded some very satisfying results.

I'm not getting much in the way of straight instruction from this class, just mostly a LOT of practice. Which also helps.

This is from Figure Painting, of course. I like this short pose painting better than the others that came out of the longer pose. I think tomorrow I will move my easel.

My Mother has always been very understanding of my artwork. Well, perhaps not understanding, but at least abiding. I think she looks forward to the day I have a figurative show instead of an abstract one.

Note to self- Do not supply extravagant or "dinnerlike" food to gallery openings. People vanish with your pizza slices without even stepping inside the show's room, much less thanking you. Mom swung to the rescue with a bunch of burgers from Burger King, which also thankfully disappeared. I didn't know she was off to buy probably $20 worth of food, but she did and appeared with a grin and burgers.

Do those Burger king chicken pieces look like exaggerated chicken feet instead of crowns? It does to me. Thanks, leftover parts of chicken..

Running on Battery Power

So today I learned something about cutting mattes. "Always wrap the board with something to transport it." Apparently my portfolio is slightly grimy, which might have caused me to ruin my $18 sheets of Museum Board. Also "Use a scrap piece underneath to cut your boards- so you won't get that shaggy edge." Double Durr.

So at least I won't have to go buy new board, as long as most of the grime comes up with a white eraser.

Also, I glued the binding in my miniature book, and pounded the edges round, and filed the corners. Here's a little video of that.



All this is brought to you by me passing my shop test! I am a bona-fide craftswoman, now!

Tomorrow I meet with my adviser and also I must go to the store where they sell wood so I can buy lengths for framing.

Fold It Up and Go Home.

Some figure painting. I think I like the experience I get in the class. Same model we've had for two weeks in Intermediate Life Drawing. I've pretty well memorized her pear shape.

Today I told Bob Chiarito that his name reminded me of a delicious snack chip. Thank goodness he laughed, things just pop out of my mouth at 8am I have no control over.
Homework from his class is a drawing from life including detailed background and flat halftone.

Figure Painting went okay, except the teacher seems to be determined to ruin our social lives with the amount of homework. I have to go to the library tomorrow and find a book of paintings and pick a foot to copy out of it.

Normal Life drawing includes a gargantuan assignment of copying anatomy texts.


Can't wait to see the expression on my boss's face when I tell him I'm leaving to pursue a career in homework.

Half-Full!

Today my bookmaking teacher was out sick. Which meant a couple of things.
1)I got to go early, and went out to dinner with my mother at a sushi resturant.
2)Nothing important happened today, except me cutting my paper for the book project.

I've got a concept in mind, and am working on getting it nailed into a story or a linear script to follow.

"The Greek word pharmakon poses a quandary for translators- it is both a remedy and a poison. In the proffering of a pharmakon, (...) its true meaning- a harm and benefit."

My books (A pair of them) will both be called Pharmakon- meaning an invention which can be used for either good or evil. It is interesting to note that the original translation means cure and poison, and was applied liberally to the concept of the written word. Which is to say, the ancient Egyptians, and to some extent the Greeks, believed text to be a vessel for good or evil information...

This has an interesting application to modern thought, especially in regards to Blogging. It allows everyone to have a way by which to publish to the outside world, and this is not really new, "blogging" is gaining attention as a legitimate reporting media. The source may not be purely factual, and even if it is, I'm sure there are some facts (in this case I'm thinking of pornography) that some populations should not be exposed to.

In any case I think the largest fault possible in regard to the written word is taking it as literal fact when that was not the writer's intention.

Case in point: Galaxy Quest.

You thought I was being all dead serious with a point, didn't you?

Figure Paint At Last!

The teacher had us leave our beloved paint boxes and move to another easel. The exercise was to use unfamiliar tools to create our works.

Again, the same model as Intermediate Life drawing in the morning. I think she's the only model in the department working right now. (I've heard SJSU has trouble paying the models on a timely basis.)

Still no model in normal life drawing in the late afternoon. It's okay, we're watching videos and studying muscle groups. Besides, there's a lot of people adding in late, so they're catching up.

Tomorrow, I cut ten sheets of 20"x25" into no less than fifty 20"x5" pieces for signatures. My pair of books will be a finished size of 10"x5", I've decided.

Drawings from Jan 30th

My teacher was impressed with this one. I was too tired to pick my charcoal up off the paper. Damn you, 8am!!

We're studying Matisse and Picasso line drawings, in case you're interested. The teacher is very enthusiastic but when the class starts he begins with a slide show, with the lights off. As soon as that happens I feel my eyes trying to close.

I am really, really exhausted.
I think I'll do an entry about today after it's digested a bit.
But we have the main gallery in February. I win, evil 5am!!