1.Sketches Of Frank Gehry Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu9orvtStdY

I like the way Frank Gehry's drawings become buildings. His drawings are so free and loose, and they they turn into buildings that are sculpture it is like some kind of magic. I want my paintings to somehow progress like this.


2.Mystery of Picasso

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHlTvE-AI3Q

The scenes in this movie surprise me a lot, how intensehe looks while drawing, yet the figures and animals havea strong sense of humor. I think the music also goes with the images very well.


3.Andy Goldsworthy: Rivers and Tides I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5qrE_rBrJQ

This scenes in this film made me think about what art is in a different way. How the entire world can be made into art by anyone who has the imagination to do that.

I got nothing,just checking in.

New York City, 44 caliber rifles, and watches

1. NEW YORK CITY

Obviously, I went to New York City over break. Myself and three others hopped in my car (Rhonda the Honda) and hit the road. I haven't been since I was 12 so it was all pretty new and pretty awesome. There's no way in hell I'd live there but it sure is a nifty place to visit. I saw more art in one day than I have seen in two years. In some ways it was discouraging, but in other ways it was a boost. Some of the stuff I saw was terrific. Other pieces were totally lame. In one gallery we couldn't figure out what the piece actually was.... it was the ceiling tiles. Price: $15,000 for ONE tile. Yeah right. So anyway, there was other stuff. There was some inspiration. I saw a cat climb up a twenty foot ladder. Crazy city cats.

2. Guns!

I went to see my dad at camp over Thanksgiving. We drank some beers and shot some guns. Pretty much a super fun time. My dad has this one gun, a 44 caliber rifle. Oh my, it is so pretty. Nickel plated with a nice medium stain on the stock. What a beaut! It fired so nice, aimed just right and did I mention how freaking beautiful it was. Delicious! So yeah. Guns can be beautiful machines. Society often places a stigma on their dangerous capabilities. If you are using them safely and not like a tool bag, it can be a lot of fun. Safety first kids!

3. Watches

I love a good watch. During the summer I take off the watch. During the school year I need to know what time it is. But I love a watch with a face you can just barely read. I want a face with no numbers, a face that's distorted, one that tricks you every time you want to see the time. I will never wear a digital watch on my wrist. The digital watch.... I'll spare you the rant. Just learn to tell time like a grown-up okay? Frankly, I find a watch with hands much easier to navigate. If I have to be some where in forty minutes, it's easier to look at the watch face like pieces of a pie (visual visual visual) than to do some stupid subtraction problem in my head. If I liked math I wouldn't have had to D/F repeat it. So watches. I'm taking wood in the Spring. I think I'd like to dabble with time pieces.

Steve Jobs, Sesame Street, Assasins Creed and the Nazis

So, some of you may be aware that I gave a lecture in Dr. Ciganko's art appreciation class for freshman non majors before we left for break. It was about art and pop culture. I talked about Steve Jobs, Assasin's Creed, Sesame Street and the Nazis.

I talked about how Steve Jobs' interest in the Bauhaus influenced the design of Apple products. After he recently died, I started hearing all about him, and I'm reading is biography at the moment. His insistence on beauty even on the inside where people couldn't see makes me want to take better care when building my paintings. Also, did you know that on the inside of the Mac, the names of the people who worked on it are engraved on the inside of the system? I guess its not just visual artists that sign their names on something they worked on and are proud of.

I played a clip of Bert and Ernie talking about the ptg George Washington Crossing the Delaware River. (in 1988, there was a movie called "Don't Eat the Pictures", where the Sesame Street crew gets locked inside the Met after Big Bird goes missing. The title of this movie is a song the Cookie Monster sings when he's told that he can't eat Cezanne's fruit). Anyway, Bert tells Ernie that Washington "didn't stay in his warm, toasty bed, or stay home to open his Christmas presents. No, not the father of our country!" And Ernie goes on to ask why he didn't just do what everybody does, "and take the George Washington Bridge?" Another fun fact, this painting is the image on the NJ quarter.

I talked about Assasin's Creed because one day while Jonathan was playing it, I walked through the living room and saw that while Lorenzo deMedici is giving you contract kills, you can collect Renaissance ptgs. I got so excited, because I was studying these ptgs at the time, and they were in the game! When I was talking with Cory about this, he told me that you can actually walk up to the baptistry doors and see the bronze relief sculptures. Thats so cool! While I'm typing this up, the movie Angels and Demons is on the background, and I wish I had talked about that, too, because the last time Jon and I watched it, I kept interupting to point at all the art in the Vatican.

And I talked about the Nazi's, because I wanted to talk about the Great German Art Exhibit and the Degenerate Art exhibit. The Nazi's looted German art galleries and museums to hold a show about modern art, which they considered to be fundamentally anti-German, and held a concurrent show made by party loyal German artists who celebrated the superiority of the Aryan race. The point that I wanted to make was that many of the artists included in the Degenerate show are considered the most important artists of the 20th century, even if the Nazis tried to eradicate the work that they made. (Another fun fact, the Bauhaus was a school that voluntarily closed its doors before the Nazi's could force them to do so).

So these were the things that I'm thinking about.

Videos

On The Subject Of Depression from Scott Benson on Vimeo.

What can I say? I'm not a huge fan of the holidays...

For brighter stories.. check here. Think I posted this last week:

And rethinking the meaning of words. I feel like I'm surrounded by people who may never understand what it is like to be poor. I work in an upscale salon where I watch people walk their purebred dogs up and down the street and rear-end one another's cars without leaving a note. They get to tell me about all of their travels, their money, their money, and their money. I get to listen to naive and obviously uneducated students rant about how people on welfare are taking their tax money, as if they really understand what's coming out of their paychecks. Or as if they understand that they are paying just as much for the war we are in and the oppressiveness we participate in as a country as they are on healthcare for single parents. Or they criticize folks on welfare while they gladly accept grant money from the state.

As Americans, I doubt we will ever understand true poverty, but if I have to hear one more comment from someone applying their judgment to a person on welfare, I may scream. Guess what? Not all of "them" are scamming the system. Some of "them" may need serious help. All irritation aside, I think we would do well to get to know one another before passing massive amounts of judgment.

So rethink your words:

On an encouraging note, I ran across this quote from Thomas Merton and am applying it to memory: "Keep me from loving money which is hatred, from avarice and ambition that suffocate my life. Keep me from the dead works of vanity and the thankless labor in which artists destroy themselves for pride and money and reputation..."

Happy holidays. And please don't talk to me about welfare. Ever.

I'm making up for last week. I'm assuming we have a bi-week for the break. which is perfect. i need a break.

1. mary hoehl - this is my artist inspiration for the week. this is my mother. my mother is also an artist and i have grown up watching her create. my mom works in 3d and 2d. she has remodeled every house we have ever lived in. she has worked as an exhibit designer at the science center and children's museum. she has definitely inspired me to continue on with my love of art and i have been able to see that being an artist is a very bumpy road.

2. the tent- my parents have a tent in the back of the house... we keep things in it. it's strange and we are now having thanksgiving dinner with my moms side of the family coming  here. sooo we are moving everything out of the tent and painting the  things inside white... it's a process, a looooong process. but anyway, watching the tent  transform has been an inspiration for me. it's amazing.

3. thanksgiving - i LOVE thanksgiving. i love being with my family. i love love. i love turkey. i love the feeling of warmth that you get inside of your body because of the love. it's so wonderful to be with people you love and share moments with them. mmmm. love.

1.Vere Lutter's photos make me view at the city spaces in a different way because
they are very big. They is a strange look and feel because of the intense contrast in
their black and white patterns. The images feel frozen to me and I am interested in her
compositions and points of view as well - sometimes they feel like frozen music in the
way the shapes float across the page of the photograph.

Vera Lutter photographer

http://poulwebb.blogspot.com/2011/02/vera-lutter-photographer.html

http://bombsite.com/issues/85/articles/2584

2.Mitra Ghaffari is an Iranian artist and I feel her black & white Collaboration paintings with other
artists are the best works. Their energy plus so many changes in the brush works, from wet and
soft surface, to deep blacks, to transparency, much variation. I want to put as much variation in
my own paintings and drawings.


http://www.mitraart.com/

3.Stephen Greene

http://www.jasonmccoyinc.com/greene/greene_works.html

Even though Stephen Greene's paintings are abstract, there is so much feeling within the combination of his colors, shapes, and brushwork. I think this is because of all the variation he puts into the works. Some areas are smooth like velvet, others look like liquid, while some shapes show the brushwork. I think his color is unusual with many kinds of different grays, off-whites, deep reds, violets, tans, greens, and orange too. I usually don't enjoy abstract painting, but Greene's surfaces really move and seem alive to me. They are emotional too.

random

I find that random information searches always result in interesting ideas. It usually starts with a movie, then an actor/actress, then a book, and continues on until I end up on something completely different from what I started with. I also like being exposed to other artists/art at least once a day. Even if the work is similar to your own,maybe they do something just slightly different that can improve your own work or send you in another direction.

Break, anyone?

Anyone else ready for Thanksgiving Break?! I am! Inspiration, hm? Honestly, my inspiration (and motivation) for working even more non-stop than usual has been the upcoming holiday. As part of Parking Day, a national collaborative art project, my Sculpture group created Thanksgiving in September.... in a parking spot. It was awesome, but I can't wait for the real Turkey Day too.

When I have breaks, I really enjoy spending time with my family. I may have mentioned this before, but having a close-knit family makes me want to continue making work that connects in some way to what I've felt/learned through being close to my dad, sister and brother. Lots of my work has an autobiographical back story, whether or not it it noticeable to the viewer. Frida Kahlo said that she painted herself because she knew that subject best, and I believe that's always a sure way to make work.

Finally, in keeping with the Thanksgiving theme, I plan to do lots of reading on the break. I feel like a bit of time away from physically making work gives my brain time to shift gears.

(I do tend to over-think things... )I'm currently reading Art as Experience by John Dewey. It's pretty dry, and you have to be in the right mood for it, but if you are, it's very interesting (right, Clara?)

SIDE NOTE---- I have to shout out to the Gaden Shartse monks who visited Washington & Jefferson College this past week. Learned about Tibetan Buddhism and had a great visit. :)

Story-telling

Ever listen to Radiolab or This American Life? Because I spend such excessive amounts of time in my studio, alone, I need to hear another human voice. So I listen through different episodes.

I'm feeling pretty drained, so I don't have much to say for this blog. But I will say that this has allowed me some room to grieve (more about this on Tuesday's crit). You will want to click on the link for "Tin Man." It's a great short story.

Two friends of mine were working at Handmade Arcade this weekend. I got to stop by and visit for a while, and chat it up with some folks I really respect as artists. I found being surrounded by so many unpretentious people who make strictly for the enjoyment of it rather inspiring. The boyfriend and I spent the rest of the evening talking about making more work together. You know what's wonderful about the artists I know? They make things, they get tired of looking at those things, they sell them and make more things. Their work is imaginative and well crafted. They do not waste time talking about how great they are, or how obscure their work is. They just create. In addition to that they live their lives and enjoy them. They enjoy their friends. I am surrounded by truly wonderful people who I very much admire.

Sculpt me an Aura.

1. One of the books I bought came in the mail. "The Work of Art In the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility and Other Writings on Media" by Walter Benjamin. The text was pretty advanced but I enjoyed his thoughts on what gives a piece of art an 'arua'. When I thought of aura I think of some sort of psychic woman telling me the aura color around me is purple or orange or something like that. But Benjamin explains that certain art can attain a different kind of aura.
'A work of art may be said to have an aura if it claims a unique status based less on quality, use value, or worth per se than on its figurative distance from the beholder. Figurative, since, as the definition intimates, this distance is not primarily a space between painting and spectator of between text and reader but the creation of a psychological inapproachability-an authority-claimed for the work on the basis of its position within a tradition' (Benjamin 14).

I appreciate his ideas about how even craft art can achieve this aura. The aura unifies craft art and fine art. A subject that has created quite a fuss with the grad students.

2. Sculpture. I find my ideas working more successfully when I make them sculptures. I am now thinking about different materials and how I can use them to degrade fast food objects.
a. use the wrappers themselves to make sculptures
b. use materials more solid (clay) to create objects that look like the fast food objects but
cannot function properly.
Just something I'm thinking about.

3. Reading. Still reading. Trying to find awesome media theories that I can be passionate about to influence me to make art.

Dick Blick, Meow?, Candy

1. Dick Blick
Dick Blick manufactures art supplies. And I love him(them?) for it. Recently in the studio there was a Blick catalog. I promptly went home and ordered me one. There is just something magical about browsing a book of art supplies. I think they call it art porn. I even got a catalog for art educators. It's full of goodies. The reason Dick Blick is so great is their prices are sweet. Pretty good deals on some good stuff. I have stuff circled in the catalog and marked with post it notes like the Toys R Us Big Book at Christmas. Recently I accidentally ordered a roll of watercolor paper. Whoops! Guess I'll make some of that then. But anyway, Blick. Get some.

2. Meow?
We just shaved a bald patch in the side of my cat. I have no idea why.

2.5. Dressing up as Food
Amber, Patrick and I just ran for hunger. We ran dressed as a Twinkie, banana and hot dog respectively. It's amazing how low your inhibitions get when your dressed as food. It really doesn't matter what you do, you already look ridiculous anyway. For a minute it felt like a performance piece, but really it was just plain silly fun.


3. Candy Chang
aaaand, art as intervention.

I love the idea of art that intervenes in the regular public space. Art you must face or choose to ignore. A few summers ago I took a class with Nayda about intervention. It was pretty much the best class ever. So Candy Chang, is an activist and artist interested in making cities more comfortable places. As well as intervening the public space, her work often involves interaction from the viewer. "Before I Die" encourages each passerby to write down one thing they wish they could do before they die. Eventually an old derelict wall has been transformed into a portal for the hopes and dreams of several strangers. The viewer feels comfortable enough to share their information with the rest of the public. They have been fooled into disarming.

http://candychang.com/before-i-die-in-nola/

This is why I recently fell in love with my fiancee all over again:

It started with a talk I had with Martyna, about the boxes I made for last crit, where I wrapped the stretcher bars in contact paper. She was talking about how she felt that they are objects, which I wasn't so sure about. To me, an object exists in 3 dimensions, and these boxes are meant to be hung on a wall and viewed the way a painting would be, which makes me want to think about them in a 2 dimensional format.

So I was explaining this to Jonathan when I got home, it evolved into a discussion about what drawing is vs what painting is. Jonathan is not an artist, but I tell you what, after living with me all this time, he knows his stuff. We had a battle of wits about this that I found very engaging, talking about calligraphy (writing with ink - is it painting because the ink is fluid, or is it drawing because its line based), and working with watercolor pencil, or oil bars.........(okay, I need to interupt myself here and talk about how pumped I was about oil bars last summer. They are oil paint in a stick form, so you can draw with it. Winsor Newton made the ones I have, and they were pricey, but they opened up all kinds of possibilites for me. I had a really hard time tracking them down, which is why I mention them).

So, back to my kitchen, where Jonathan and I are talking about drawing vs painting while making dinner. After we ate, I was looking through a book I have called VITAMIN D: New Perspectives in Drawing, which is a survey about contemporary artists who draw - and drawing is defined as linear based mark making, so people who work with calligraphy, watercolor pencils and oil bars can be included, so ha! I had the book open to the page about Nedko Solakov. One of the examples of his work that was included in the book was a photo of an installation of 36 framed images, suspended from the ceiling in a cluster so that they were all floating in front of each other, but still close enough to the wall that you could not walk behind them. I'm hoping to present my work on Tuesday in a similar fashion, but I doubt it will be as successful as his was (Theres only so much time in a day and only so much money in my pocket).

So, Jonathan looks over my shoulder at the photo on the page, and starts talking about how its not drawing, its a sculpture! - and how can it even be his artwork if he's got a framed dollar bill as one of his 36 images? And I shoot back, if I decided to hang my paintings in a similar fashion over the couch, would they stop being paintings? I wasn't able to defend the dollar bill as his work of art, but its marks are linearly based, so I argued that it was a drawing. We talked about installations being a way of displaying work in a way that has a dialog with its surroundings, since in the caption under the photo, it says "dimensions variable". And I dont think we were ever able to decide if performance art was fine art or theatre.

I don't care if it makes me a nerd, dork, geek, whatever, I enjoyed having that debate with Jonathan, and am grateful to discover that he really does listen to me when I get really excited about my artmaking and puts up with me enough to learn about the things that I'm interested in. <3

1.Jenny Bloomfield

http://www.jennybloomfield.com/

I really am attracted to Jenny Bloomfield's way with paint, her freedom and her going from simple compositions, to much more complex ones. Her grid paintings make my eyes look harder at her surfaces. The limited color is stark and powerful, and has a landscape feeling - they relate to my earlier work.

2.Leonardo Cremonini

http://artodyssey1.blogspot.com/2011/02/leonardo-cremonini.html

I am drawn to Leonardo Cremonini's paintings because of his use of color, paint technique, and the space too. He uses a dripping technique and the images look a bit like Surrealism. Interiors with bathrooms and mirrors and reflections are in a lot of his work.. He paints people doing everyday things and his compositions sometimes look like snapshots, with everything frozen in time. They are really mysterious paintings to me.

3.Bruce Conner - The White Rose (1967)

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/g716RoHhsYo/

This is a film about the removing of a huge painting called The White Rose from the San Francisco studio of a very interesting American woman painter named Jay Defeo. The painting was 3.3 meters high and 2.4 meters wide. The film has a jazz music soundtrack by Miles Davis. The film was made by Bruce Conner, an artist and filmmaker. I am influenced by the determination of Jay Defeo, focusing only upon The White Rose until she was satisfied the painting was completely finished to her standard.

ONE BAND SO MUCH STUFF

Circle Takes the Square. This band is so nuts. They sound like no other band I know of. They are amazing. I had the joy of seeing them live a few weeks ago in Baltimore. So good. My friend turned me onto them years ago, but I can appreciate them so much more now. Seeing them made me remember how much more I needed to listen to them. These are the first lyrics for the song in the link:

Light as a feather, stiff as a board (2x) Ignorance is bliss No wise woman's failed to mention And surely some koan Suggests neglect leads to perfection But the more I turn my face from the crowd The more I feel my backs' increasingly compelled For the sake of escape To turn a knife on itself A knife of relief from all the petty insight And finally I'll sleep I'll sleep through the night BORED AS FUCK WITH THIS STREET CORNER-COVER STUDY OF A FACE IN A FIGURE SURVEYING THIS LANGUAGE AS A GAME SURVEILLANCE OF THIS LANGUAGE (AS THE PLAGUE (2x)) THE DIMENSION OF PERSISTENCE CONDEMNS (WE’RE PLAGUED (2x)) THE DIMENSION OF PERSISTENCE CONDEMNS IT’S THE PLAGUE (THIS LANGUAGE (4x)) THE DIMENSION OF PERSISTENCE CONDEMNS THIS PORTRAIT OF KARMA CRAFTED IN ACCIDENT TEXT BOOK SEDUCTION MINUS THE TEXT IN THE LANGUAGE OF GHOSTS

It doesn't rhyme. It's really just a poem that gets sung/yelled over instruments. I love it.

On a related note, their art is so awesome. It's all home brewed (as far as i know) by the one guy in the band.

Whats awesome though is that he does some legit printing and traditional stuff. This was an old one he'd done for their older album. Now they have new stuff coming out. At the show I got one of their new screenprinted posters similar to this. Can't find a picture of that though. Too lazy to take one of my own. Anywho some pretty awesome stuff all around.

Thats about all i got for this week.

The joys of Photoshop

This is for those of you that want to learn Photoshop. I've used it very little in the past, but since purchasing a new computer, I decided to get it along with a tablet (basically a pen) to use. Since I know little to nothing, I've been teaching myself.. along with a few instructional tips from my boyfriend. It's fairly easy to get the hang of, but complex at the same time. It may be complex to me because I have a general discomfort towards all things technological, but I've found that it's just a tool. A very useful tool, at that.

Here are some links. Russel Brown does tutorials on different elements of Photoshop, from photo-manipulation to graphic design. They are super cheesy, but his instructions are straightforward and easy to follow. They will teach you how to use all of the tools, how to layer, along with many other things. The only downside is that he assumes that you know how to get to the starting point he teaches from. Sometimes, it's easy. Sometimes, it's impossible to figure out (at least for me).

This is a website where you can download different fonts for typography. I know we "fine artists" in school cringe at the aspect of adding "text" to our work.. but in printmaking, it can be essential. Learning how to look at letters from a design standpoint never hurts. Why fear it, when you can own it?

Influence. One day I will own one of these.

Tattoos that mean nothing: aka aesthetic choices, common adolescent disorders, and Sydney Cash

Tattoos that mean nothing: Aka aesthetic choices.
Tattoos are inspirational to a lot of us. A progressive art form that has made great strides from the days of sailors and soldiers. Maybe I'm thinking about them because I'm getting tattooed in a few hours. Mostly I'm inspired today by tattoos that mean nothing other than an aesthetic choice for the canvas that is your body. I have work that means nothing. Nothing at all. Of course you know I could bullsh*t something up in a jiffy for ya, but what's the point? The owl on my arm has no significance other than I wanted it. I wanted an owl specifically from one of my artists. I wanted it like I want cookies. So I bought it. I added it to my collection. The same way people collect art. Currently I'm 'collecting' an octopus tattoo from Tyler down at Mojo's. A kid I used to work with got an octopus from Tyler. I became insanely jealous. Much like my own artwork, occasionally you find meaning through process. My octopus has become a tribute to my parents and the person they taught me to be. Many people are not very receptive to the idea of a meaningless tattoo. But seriously, I do what I want. Aside from the imagery, I'm into tattoos for the ouch factor....aaand segway..

Common adolescent disorders
Anorexia, bulimia, self injury. Almost like rites of passages for young people it seems like we all have a story to tell. Almost equal to the aesthetics of the tattoos I put on my body is the delicious pain tattoos give me. Oh! It hurts sooooooo goooood. The octopus I'm working on is a chest piece. It doesn't feel very nice... or does it? The line between pain and pleasure is confusing and not understood by society well. Back in my troubled adolescence I was a cutter. And it was a great time until my Mom caught on. I'd rather not wax philosophical all the reasons why I would do that to myself. Many cultures use pain and blood letting to cure illnesses. America is not so receptive. Frankly, if it wouldn't totally freak everyone out I'd still do it. But it's really not worth the hassle.

Currently I'm kicking around some molds and prints involving my scars. It's pretty interesting since I have not yet been able to incorporate this aspect of my life into my work without coming off as cliche.

Oh, and please do not recommend me for counseling. It is unnecessary. Been there, done that.

Sydney Cash
During my recent internet stumbles I came across Sydney Cash. He works with illusion, light and glass. I find his work beautiful and I have plans to attempt my own take on his ideas. The illusion of light and shadow is captured in a quintessential way within his work. The process involves transfers on glass and the direction of cast light. OM NOM!

http://cargocollective.com/sydneycash

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO_ClTEjsaI

1.)The paper towels im using. They have cool flower pictures on them,i like them alot. They are sparkle brand in case you want your own.

2.)Aryz, is a pretty cool street artist i noticed.

3.)these late year holidays,they make me feel good,and get my thinking about people,and how strange we are.

a letter to you

I suppose that recently i have lost some inspiration, or maybe its hope... however life takes strange turns for better and worse depending on the day... when amazing people walk into my life i cant help but just be fascinated and fall in love with them, their hearts leave an impact so strong on me..within me.
recently i have met some of those people that i react so strongly too, the real folks that just blow my mind with how much friendship they have to offer anyone who wants it...inspiration is buried somewhere within me, and i know that probably one person will read through this, i dont give a shit honestly. anyway whether i like it or not i love all of you, hopefully someday we all look back and think about each other and the basic impacts we've had on each other, those amazing things we have all unlocked because we care about what we are doing here..so i think what i am saying is that i am inspired by the current at which we all flow with each other, the life blood we all share within our studio spaces, and for that i want to thank you all.

also rednecks, i am one, and the obsession we all share with diesel trucks, ropin cows, and jumpin in the mud haha o western pa i will always have a place for you in the back of my truck

Cecily Brown - Cecily makes large, messy, painterly paintings. They have so much paint on them, and thats what draws me to them. The figures in her works are partially obscured by paint oozing, dripping.... its thick, and smeared like icing, and then scraped away. It makes me want to use really thick paint, too.

Every summer when I was an undergrad, I'd look forward to hearing the radio commercials for Bud Light, from that series about the Real Men of Genius. "Today we salute you, Mr. (Next Day Carpet Installer) / (Parade Float Driver) / (Dishonest Cable TV Hooker Upper) / (Giant Pink Inflatable Gorilla Maker). My personal favorites were the ones about Mr. 80 SPF Sunblock Wearer and Mr. Pontoon Boat Maker. If you google it, you can read the lyrics to all the commercials, and they still make me laugh to listen to them.

so...

yep.

um...

I dont know what else to write about. I've been stuck since last crit and haven't had the confidence to be excited about anything I've been working on? Have I already talked about how Rosson Crow and William Eggleston are awesome yet this semester?

Weekend Adventures

This weekend I traveled to Pittsburgh with my roommates to visit the talented and attractive Colin O’Brian. He says “hi” to all of you. On our way, we stopped to see…

1) Cold War Kids in concert at Mr. Small’s Theatre, which was awesome. These American indie rockers put on a passionate performance that brought the audience to push-and-shove excitement. The power to actually physically move people is pretty inspiring, especially when a full house is involved. I would so love to capture some of that passion in my own work.

After a night of dancing and an extra “fall back” hour at the bar, we woke up just in time for brunch at…

2) Zenith, a super-vegan-friendly restaurant that doubles as an antiques store. This ultra-hip place is jam-packed with treasures from other decades from wall to ceiling – and it’s all for sale! Not only is the environment incredibly stimulating, but the food itself is healthy and amazingly delicious – even for non-vegan food. I had a pretty hard time leaving without buying all of their outdated, kitschy treasures, but a stomach full of beans and coffee can only hold for so long.

After experiencing the incredible success of the “hipness” of Zenith, I was inspired to look into some artists who exemplified the same sort of aesthetic.

3) Alphonse Mucha, for example, was part of the Art Nouveau movement. He created paintings, illustrations, and advertisements that were in vogue at the time, but quickly became outdated. As trends go, however, this style is about due for a comeback. A quote: "The fundamental starting point of human communication is the expression of the face and the movement of the figure that is connected to it." (This is why he became outdated so quickly.) Ironically, few of his femme fatale characters seem to have any expression at all. Perhaps this is a perfect angle at which to target the modern “hipster” audience? We’ll see.

Theory, because it's Theory.

1. I just discovered a Doctor of language's blog that has all these great incites into advertising language. Dr. Julie Sedivy talks a lot about the effects of subliminal messaging in advertising lingo. Why do we name our products objects that are positive and associate their brand with a certain image. Like the car dealership Jaguar. She explains that we subliminally associate the brand with the image of a lean, powerful, beautiful cat. Wither we immediately think of it or not at all, our brain registers it and it can have an influence on our buying choices. Then it got me thinking, what about Burger King. They associate their restaurant with the image of the highest of social statuses. They didn't name it Burger Peasant for a reason. Our brain will subconsiously register the idea of kings in our brain. Interesting, how can I use this in art?

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/sold-language

2. Media Theory Text Books!
-The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility, and Other Writings on Media
Walter Benjamin, et al

-The Age of Persuasion: How Marketing Ate Our Culture
Terry O'Reilly

-Visual Culture
Richard Howells

I just ordered these books. I can't wait to read them and apply their theories to my work. I love to use art as a way to inform. I think it's important.

3. Detail. It's all in the little details my friend. The more detailed I am, the more realistic my drawings/paintings will be. I'm crazy for detail.

Sick

Warning: I am writing under the influence of a possible fever. It gets weird in here when I have a fever (in my head, I mean).

I always go into having a cold or the flu with some sense of perverted optimism. "Oh," I think, "I'm getting sick. Well, that's okay. It's been a while since my last cold. It was about time. It will probably only last a few days. Wow. I'm out of it. Everything seems very strange to me. That's the nice thing about being sick. I get to feel out of it for no reason. Anyway, if I take enough cold medicine and drink enough tea, I'll be able to power through everything!" The optimism quickly crashes by day two and turns into a feverish, snot covered, drooling, overly emotional version of myself that has no recollection of what breathing through my nose was like. Add to that the possibility of a stomach virus (which was my day yesterday), and you have a recipe for disaster. Well, not exactly. I just laid on my couch curled up into the tightest ball possible and went on a "Dead Like Me" bender while trying not to throw up (still going 15 years strong here) and simultaneously plugging my nose with tissues.

In the midst of this, I managed to spill boiling water all over my left hand when I had the wonderful idea of making tea with ginger to try and detoxify/settle my stomach. This made it difficult for me to shower, as the sensation of steam would cause my hand to feel like it was on fire. And since hot showers are the only way I can warm up when I'm sick (or cold, in general), I found myself in quite a predicament. I comforted myself by saying, "Well, at least it wasn't my right hand."

By the end of the night I ended up calling my boyfriend to see if he could bring me some soup. Something brothy. The longer I went without eating, the worse I felt. When I ate, I strongly regretted it. But I needed something in my system, and I think I was thirsty.. but couldn't bring myself to drink any water. He remembered me lamenting about my pre-vegetarian days and my love of chicken noodle soup, and found me some vegetarian chicken noodle soup with tofu! This, as well as three other varieties should one of them just not appeal to me.

So why all of the details on being sick? Well, mainly because it causes me to appreciate being healthy. I had this terrible thought cross my mind in the midst of fever delirium: is this what it's like to be old and in a nursing home? Or to be sick with a terminal illness and completely unable to do anything? Or not even terminal, but just long term? It hit me pretty hard for some reason, and was never something I considered before. Influence number 1.

Influence number 2: cooking. This is rather strange considering I spent most of yesterday unable to eat. Something about the ability to eat soup triggered this. Unfortunately during fall and spring semester, I have no time to cook. Specifically, I have no time to bake. I really enjoy the challenge and science of baking, as well as having a ton of friends over to eat. I am looking forward to the days when I can do that again. In the mean time, here are a few cooking blogs that really inspire me:

Smitten Kitchen. This is a great place to find recipes for vegetarians and meat eaters alike. I found a fantastic recipe for pizza dough on this site. If you are just getting started learning how to cook, you may find some of the recipes too complex and the ingredients too unfamiliar. I would encourage you to browse and see if you find something simple enough to make.

The PPK. This is a great site if you are looking for gluten free or vegan recipes. It's great for beginners, as it has many full proof stews, soups, and so on. There's also a pretty decent description on how to make seitan, and by far the simplest I've found. My boyfriend is a meat eater but some of his favorite meals are from this site.

King Arthur Flour. This website will carry you through the steps of bread baking and the general rules that follow. It's pretty useful, and how I taught myself to bake bread.

Influence number 3: paranoia. I decided to get myself out of bed this morning to go to Trader Joe's and Target. Trader Joe's, for snacks for the guinea pigs and some greens to mix in with my soup.. And Target for cold medicine, tissues, cough drops, tissues, and cold medicine. And cough drops. I had a very severe sense of guilt and paranoia as I walked through both of these establishments. Mainly, that people could tell I was sick and were watching me. Not only watching me, but judging me. I tried not to touch anything unless I was definitely going to purchase it, and found myself glancing around to make sure nobody was looking. The paranoia was at its worst while I was in Target near the pharmacy, having a panic attack over all of the different choices of cold medicine. My nose decided to go absolutely haywire and I was wiping it nonstop while hoping to make good decisions about which cure to choose. And even though I was trying and possibly doing a good job at not touching anything, I felt like someone was silently accusing me of spreading my contagious death flu by touching everything. Everything. Two employees asked me if I needed help, and that never happens. "Why are you asking me if I need help?" I thought. "You never ask. Why? Does something look wrong? I swear I didn't touch anything. I mean, I might have touched the cough medicine but that was by mistake because I need decongestant." Rather than feeling a sense of gratitude, my paranoia increased exponentially.

Paranoia.. I'm not sure why it influences me, other than the fact that I find it funny. Hopefully I'll be able to find a way, down the road, to incorporate it into my work.

Anyway, if you're looking for something visual that isn't Hyperbole and a Half, check this guy out: Julien Vallee.

Shadows, Lines and Dave Devries

1. Shadows. I was laying in bed the other night and watching the shadows in my room. There are many. There are some where my computer sits and the red light hits the wires plugged into the wall creating these beautiful line shadows. Also, I have this beautiful philodendron and it's growing up my window. The street light outside shines through my window and all you see is the beautiful silhouette of the plant.

2. Lines. Lines have always been a huge inspiration to me. Thick, thin, long, short, pen, pencil, Sumi ink, oil, acrylic, brush, water, shadows, string, hair, man made, robotic, loosey goosey, rightey tightey. Every line has its own personality and its own beauty. When I am creating, each line becomes and adds something new to the piece. Sometimes it will just happen, that is the best, when it just comes out of me. Other times it will be a very thoughtful and intentional line.

3. Dave Devries, creator of THE MONSTER ENGINE, is my artist of this week. This guy is awesome! He was inspired by his niece's drawings to apply all he knew about color, action and detail and apply it to recreating children's drawings. Very cool! I am inspired by his ability to find inspiration in something/someone you wouldn't have expected.

1)Imposter syndrome.

2)Repetition.It looks good in art.

3)Hokusai. Theres some good stuff there.

i n f l u e n c e s

1. symmetry
ink blot test-> rorschach test... what do you see? what does the viewer perceive in my work if i give them a mirrored image?

2. lack of sleep
starting to take a toll physically, so my work is sucking right now.. i can't think, i just want to sleep.

3 artist
Nora Sturges... tiny details, i don't think i would ever try to emulate such a style but i really like it!

1. Kazan. One of my favorite bands. Put simply this band is brutal. Me and my roommate like to talk about how "desperate" they sound. That's really a pretty good descriptor. Like most of the other bands I like/posted, lots of emotion. Mostly angry ones. You get the idea.

2. Ashley Wood. This guy is most definitely my current artistic inspiration. His brushwork is beautiful and i love his muted color palettes. He also just goes at his pieces without real planning. Thats way crazy for me. Im trying to loosen up a bit more like that. I'm getting a little better. But also he creates things that appeal to me as far as content as well. I love the characters and world that he's created. More than that, though, i love the way he bridges the gap between illustration and fine art. He identifies himself as an illustrator because he has created this whole story and world and characters in it. That's cool. But his work is indisputably fine art. Love it.

3. Takato Yamamoto. I just recently discovered this guy. He has some really interesting and super bizarre work. You can see the obvious inspiration pulled from ukiyo-e of the edo period. But what really gets me besides his crazy subject matter, is his ridiculour detail. Look closely at any one of those pictures and there is just so much going on. I love his very japanese approach to the figure and face as well. It's a style that i can relate too.