Senior Thesis

Well, this past Sunday (March 29th) was the reception and award ceremony for my senior thesis show called the ELY. It was a fantastic show, I didn’t place in the competition, but I wasn’t expecting to and I am THRILLED for everyone who did place. I love the work I’m doing this semester, it’s just difficult to stay on top of things.

I’ve been getting really great feedback about my thesis, every comment means so much to me.  <3

Contrary to popular belief, things will not be easier from here on out, now is time to bang out some amazing pieces and get my portfolio together.  A tough job, but must be done.

2008…for lack of a better title

I have mixed feelings about this year.  Good and bad things have happened, but in essence I feel it has been a year of stress and frustration that is leaving a bad taste in my mouth.  However that bad taste could be the fact that I spent the entirity of Chistmas day sick to my stomach…to put it lightly.  Merry flippin’ Chirstmas.

School was tough this semester, I’m not gonna lie.  It took me a long time to fall in line and my perception of myself being boarderline perfect was shattered.  I always thought I worked hard enough and that my work would fall in line and be good eventually…but I still got an intervention and some tough love from my teachers.  I am now thankful for it, my work has grown in leaps and bounds in two months and I am a much better artist.

My senior thesis is coming along quite well.  I’ve chosen to do the Greek tale “Cupid and Psyche” set in Victorian England and as a children’s book.  Whoot.  Here is the second piece in a series of four, it is the bookcover, all painted (including type) in acrylic paint on Illustration board.

Apart from the things that have sucked about this year, ya know, my lack of money, the economic meltdown and a few other things, I’m thankful for the people and things I have.  I pray for a good 2009 and thank all the people in my life who have blessed me with their love and kindness. <3

Here’s some more art…pre-intervention.

I have also discovered this amazing Illustrator, P.J. Lynch, and now own two of his books “Gift of the Magi” and “A Christmas Carol”.  His work is beautiful.

http://www.pjlynchgallery.com/

http://pjlynchgallery.blogspot.com/

This piece of poetry was meant to do harm

Started school this week.  I’m feeling pretty good about it, a lot of the fears have subsided (perhaps prematurely).  Earl has already helped set me in a good direction of self discovery and I love his first assignment, a self portrait poem and piece.

I suck at poetry.  Well, I can write some well enough, but as far as reading and interpreting…not so much.  As far as I’m concerned, to be good at it you should be able to read it and write it well.  In conclusion I do suck at poetry.  I wrote my self portrait poem yesterday in a diner after a decent amount of research (self reflection and reading of short poems, most about death <3).

I had a weird dream last night about my father and found a poem in my head.  Here it is.

I dreamt I fought
to save my father from wolves
In a forest in autumn.
His limp body
Like a giant infant in the leaves
Helpless.
Logic said to leave him
What father was he anyway?
Still I pulled in vain
Knowing
The wolves would come anyway.

Now to do sketches.  I’ll be posting once things get underway.

“Even villains are…

…the heroes of their own story

The good news is, I finally found a job. Thank Jeebus, it’s about time. I’ve decided that should I ever wind up with kids I will make them get a relatively crappy job involving a cash register while they are in high school just so when they go to college, they can get a crappy job to help support them during the summer and even school months. I know I’m certainly regretting not having said crappy job, it’s been a blooming nightmare trying to find a way to support myself this summer. Gah. Anyway, yes, I am a bartender now, whoot. It’s fun, I love the people and my bar/restaurant is super cute and snazzy.

Down to business: Art. I’m a horrible person, I’m in a funk and struggling to get out of it. I haven’t done a serious finished piece all summer and I spent the whole damn day trying to draw but can’t, at least from my imagination.

I finally buckled down and drew a self portrait. It came out pretty decent for being in a funk, vine charcoal, black and white conte crayon on cardboard.

I’ve decided that I draw from life best on large format and in charcoal or like media. My nerves are starting to get the best of me because senior year is right around the corner and I still don’t know how I want to work/have a set style or WTF I’ll do for my Ely (senior thesis). Having my artistic engine stalling right now does NOT help.

Here’s a random sketch-a-doodle a did a little while ago, just so I can upload artwork. Sorry for the HORRIBLE image, one can only do so much with Mac Photobooth. Yes, it’s sad.

I did a little work on my bartending piece, the colors still leave MUCH to be desired, but for the sake of updating, I’ll post the progress.

In short, I’m a hot mess.

Close your eyes and shoot

I’m trying very hard to get my life back on track, my financial situation is unbelievably bad, and now I’m waiting for my bartending resume to get approved before I’m able to go out and job hunt.

Speaking of getting things back on track, this applies to my art life, too.  I’m finally getting to those “Thank You” cards (OMFG I’M A HORRIBLE PERSON FOR TAKING SO LONG).  Hopefully this project won’t have to be stalled again, I’m running out of key oil colors (like WHITE) and as stated previously, I’m kinda screwed money-wise.  However, here’s a little glimpse of a work in progress of one of the cards. My apologies for the shotty image, I have to use the camera on my laptop to post photos, I find it rather comical.

Enough of this negative hoobabagoo, life is full of blessings.  My landlord finally OKed the replacement of the kitchen cabinets in my house, thanks to some very nice maintenance men advocating on Jeremy and my behalf <3.  My friends make me laugh to the point of hysteria on a daily basis, and I’m finally living life close to the way I want to.  And listening to “Day-O” by Harry Belafonte can make everything bad go away.

Apparently there was a holiday

I spent most of yesterday drawing, and in no way shape or form did I formally celebrate the holiday, other than making burgers with Jeremy (my darling roommate). It felt really good to hemmoriage art, so to speak, I just felt so exhausted from the day before (by the way, I passed my bartending exam, whoot for being a certified mixologist/enabler of my alcoholic friends). It was the most stressful 20 minutes ever, sort of.

Milie is doing a super cute comic about my whole bartending experience, but she needs me to describe what my exam was like. Yesterday I decided to do one better and draw it for her. So that occupied a hunk of my time, though it is still far from finished.

Last night I got itching to start designing my next tattoo, and in the process I came up with a doodle that I inked with my nibs (I love my pens and nibs), took a SUPER horrible photo of using photobooth on my mac, and cleaned up in Photoshop.

That’s it for now, I need to do serious art…NOW.

Death surrounds her

You know you are a grown up when people you have some kind of connection to come close to death or die (that sounds kind of broad and “everyone always knows someone who dies” but it makes sense to me…get over it).  I’m afraid to speak of such things, even in writing, like acknowledging an extremely dangerous and angry elephant with a chainsaw in the room.  I just have been reminded of my mortality but mostly (and much to my horror) that my loved ones are mortal.  I suppose what I mean to say is you know you are a grown up when you realize that you and the people you know can and will die.

With that said, back to the purpose of this blog…ART.

I’ve started a sketch for a bookcover re-design.  I’m a big fan of Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series…which happens to be about vampires and such in Louisiana.  Be quiet, they’re really good.  ANYWAY.  I’ve only started the final sketch and it’s too big to scan (12 3/8″ x 28 1/2″)  and it’s for the book “Club Dead”, something I’ve been itching to do for months.

I’m also working on a digital piece so I can have something to show on the interweb.  Just a personal nonsense deal in a very rough sketch phase.

Booze seems to be the answer

So, it’s been summer for how many weeks now?  I have yet to secure a job, despite turning in something close to 15 resumes, it seems a have a load of skills that are almost entirely useless in an employer’s eyes.  Bust your butt working for your school for 2 years and what d’ya get?  Nothing that helps you get a part time job.  Larga.  As a result of this, I’ve been going to bartending school, hopefully now I’ll be able to get a job and make money and pay rent.  Joy.

Must admit, I’ve been slacking on the art end of things, uploaded a few old things into Artwork.  Whoot.

Highly Caffinated

Busy week, been searching for a job and packing.  I finally move into my new house tomorrow, thank Jeebus. I’ll be overjoyed to have a place to call my own (with my 2 roomies of course).  Growing up is a funny feeling, no?  I’ve neglected drawing for a few days, mostly because of exhaustion and mayhem.  I’ll be picking it up once all is settled.

Some major burdens are being lessened, I found out I’m getting more scholarships (OMG I bawled from joy on my kitchen floor…I’ve never cried from happiness EVER).  Yay for people believing in me!  Hopefully I’ll be employed soon and can register for my summer classes.  I’ll be glad to be working out again, too (I say “again” like it was some major part of my schedule at another time of my life…HA, not so much).

Art to expect in the coming weeks:

• sketchbook nonsense
• “Thank You” cards (omg am I really so behind? whoops)

Some ideas for projects are illustrating songs, book covers (in particular Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series.  No shame, I like those vampire novels and I really, REALLY like doing book covers) and possibly re-doing select projects from the school year.  Looking back on the semester, I don’t think there’s anything I’m truly happy with.  I guess it should be this way…larga.

Fun fact: I’ve developed an affinity for really old grave yards.

Cats, Bees and Gypsy Moths

I wound up going home Sunday night to see my old friends before they scatter to the far reaches of the universe for the rest of the summer, and somehow I got talked into staying until this afternoon. Damn family, pulling guilt trips on me. Largalarga. However, I had Milie come out for Labor day and we went for an amazing bike ride through several towns in my area, it was super cool because of the nice weather. Schweet.

My sister DIDN’T like the font choices on her wedding invitations (see in previous post or in my art page), so she has handed the reins over to her graphic designer friend. It stung because I thought the fonts worked very well with the illustration. Upon closer observation I decided the spacing on the smaller text still needed work, but as a whole I was QUITE proud. It was just one more little blow to my ego I wasn’t quite ready for yet. Oh well, it’s not like real world clients will be any better, this was cake in comparison. I just need to suck it up.

…and I still like the invitations. So there. Meh.

Does someone want to buy me a scanner? Plz? I’ve been drawing at least a little from life everyday and it would be fun to post such doodles, but seeing the way this summer is going to be…I will have NO money…ever…again. F*&$.