Adventures in Home Depot

Went to Home Depot today to get molding to frame my DP pieces. Oooh, so many choices...
Decided upon one type of molding for the color studies and another, larger, but somewhat similar molding for the larger pieces. Home Depot didn't sell the stain I wanted (custom "classic black") in pints, only in quarts... So I am on a mission to go see what I can find tomorrow.Played with the saw for a while and am sussing things out. Will continue tomorrow with a fresh mind.

Feliz Navidad!

Aye, hell of a long day, but was thrilled to be with my mom's family. Big bro loved the Flapjack shirt I made him and I got more books than you could shake a stick at (do people not believe in libraries?).
Now tomorrow would be perfect to stay in and read said books, what with the inclement weather coming and all, however, I'll have to drive in the snow to spend time with my dad's family... Maybe I'll pop in to see cousins Zach and Mary (baby in the oven!) and their SOs and leave, or settle for my backup plan: mas vino.

Got pics of the shirt:

AJ kind of reminds me of Andy Samberg in this pic...

Stay classy folks and Merry Christmas!

Life Drawing Sketch Dump

Finally got to scanning the life drawings I've done from over the semester. These are from the sketchbook that got into the Sketchbook Show. All drawings are with ballpoint pen.

And here are some familiar faces:

La Fin du Folie

I promised myself I wouldn't make a post about being done until I was actually done. I just finished my 4 essays just now and so, here's my review space!
It's an indescribable feeling looking at all my work on the wall. I was proud of nearly every piece I did this semester in some way or another, and nothing on the wall was really placed there as a space-taker. Well, except this fine portrait I did of myself for the reviewers:
I got good reviews from all three people, and the only suggestion given was to experiment with different people types, and not just focus on the ideal female figure, and to focus on a little more than the head. But hey, I got some attractive friends and models, what can I say! ;)
I got two pieces into the upcoming sketchbook show: my tiny white sketchbook of figure drawings and my Shaken Baby piece and its process work. I kind of wanted to do a little more to the Shaken Baby piece over the break, but I suppose I can always ask for it back at the beginning of the Spring semester, especially to temporarily varnish it.
After our reviews we kept our Degree Project pieces out for the jury. I was thrilled to find I got 6 pieces in! My Orange and Green pieces got in and all color studies got in, but the red one. Yeah, that was the color study I spent less than 5 minutes on so it's not without good reason... However, Margot wants me to just "finish" that color study and it will get into the show without question. Woot!
After the jury was done we celebrated at Stefan's place, dancing and singing to Mariah Carey as we always do...

It's good to be done. Now I can focus on personal pieces and competitions for a while.

Snow!

So, not going to post stuff from the review until I'm done writing these papers... So here's snow!
Didn't realize the window screen would show up. It's artsy...
Saw a broad last night on the way to Bradley Liquors spew all over the sidewalk.
On my 4th cup of tea.
Need to pick up my laundry.

Dr. Sketchy's

Finally got to scanning some of the stuff from the Dr. Sketchy's event that was hosted here at MassArt last month. T'was a circus theme!

Fly Kicks

Finally got to drawing on the shoes I got for free at the Black Friday event. Did this while watching 2 episodes of Glee. Also, Felisia got me a goddamn BEDAZZLER for Christmas and I totally christened it on these sweet babies.

Missy Elliot's got nothin' on these kicks.

Wow, it's Wednesday.

Debacle

So today, to make a long story short, Danielle's purse was stolen while we were at Starbucks. Paid for her prints, helped her out and got her to a state of normalcy. She called me an angel.
So I got to the studio at like... 5 and am working to get DP done. Yellow is virtually finished aside from one glaze, and Red needs some simple linework painted in. Green is the only one that needs a little more attention, but I will be here late and all I will need to do is take pictures of those 3 tomorrow and print those suckers out.

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Oh! Lookit! A sidebar!
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Finished SBS

So here is my submitted final for the SBS pieces. Of course I want to revisit them but I will do that later on when I have free time.
















So yesterday everything worked out. I was able to easily print everything out when I returned to the computer lab with no fuss and I got my $2 back. When I laid the five pieces out next to each other on the cutting board table I felt something I've been waiting for for a long time: I have COHESION! I'm really excited that there is finally defining features to my artwork. :D
The stress level is decreasing steadily now, I got a good deal done painting today and so now I'm going to spend time dicking around with my blog layout. I want to add another sidebar on the left to add links and such. I found a tutorial earlier but I don't think the script is really compatible with this particular blog layout because it really messed things up earlier... I'll figure it out. Success will be evident once my blog has another sidebar right over here.
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Night In (the studio)

Decided not to go to the 242 show because it is so cold out. So instead I had Indian food for dinner. So here's a pic of chana masala and onion bahji. Oh, and Tony on Felisia's back.

Red Sketch

Showed Margot this sketch for my 5th DP piece yesterday along with the shittiest color study I have ever done, and she's pleased with it.
I finished the paisley last night, and Orange early this morning. An hour ago I popped into the 2D studio to shoot the SBS paintings, Blue, and Orange so I could print them out. Alas, I went to the computer lab to do so but the network is screwed and I'm left with $2 less in my printing account and nothing to show for it. The monitor apologized, the same thing happened to some girl earlier, and asked me if I could return in an hour or so when some other dude comes back and he will fix it. I'm not too concerned.
So, I'm just waiting for AJ to arrive so I could remedy this empty stomach and head to my TA class at 1:30, and leave there within a half hour to commence battle with the printer again! Crossing my phalanges...

SBS Almost There

Almost done with these, just need to finish the paisley tonight and tweak some things here and there with the face and hands.
Tonight I need to finish these, finish my Orange DP painting, and within the next hour finish the composition for Red and finish the color study. Fuck, shouldn't be here.

"Beneath the Dragon"

Took photos of all the paintings done for Scott today so here be a nicer, fixed postpartum painting. Tank is running low on sleep. Waddap.

Home Stretch

Hi school internet. Working on those two SBS paintings and just need a good break. I'm strangely relieved right now in spite of all the chaos of the last two weeks of semester. On my plate I still have to do:

• SBS main and spot illustrations
• Photograph my work
• Finish the 4 DP paintings in progress and start/finish the 5th
  
• Construct my DP book
• Write 4 essays

I suppose the relief stems from my brain being 3 steps ahead, so I subconsciously know that hey, this will all be done sooner than I think. Just need a few more 5AM nights.

Sorry, no images. Tomorrow.

SBS Sketches

Sketches for 2 illustrations for an article on Shaken Baby Syndrome. Blood has never been so stylish.

Not Dead Yet

So now that I'm allowing myself a little R&R for the holiday I thought I'd see if I could reacquaint myself with the internet.
I can't believe there are only 2 weeks left to this semester; this means the inevitable stress surge about to take hold... ugh. But of course stress and deadlines are the speediest motivators out there and so I know it will all get done, but at what cost to my sanity? I can imagine myself already drinking it up the night reviews are done, aaaah... Just gotta suck it up for now!
Uh, so, anyway. Finally feeling like I'm finding some sort of defined path with my artwork. It's been a long while since I last posted... Combining my loves of various genres spanning the art spectrum and combining them into something I hope is uniquely me. Margot equated it to French cuisine with peanut butter. Ouch. Yet again, you could always put peanut butter on a baguette, right? Not all 5 star chefs began cooking brilliantly the first time they picked up a whisk.
Alright, gotta work on compositions for 4 paintings, hopefully they'll be sorted out by dinnertime and then I can continue my art book--typing, printing, et cetera. For now I will leave you with a 90% finished painting on the subject of Postpartum Depression, uncropped in its original cell-phone quality glory.

Wampas Cat

Pop opera poster concept for Edlund. The opera is titled "Lost" and it revolves around Tennessee ghost ledgend. I've chosen to illustrate the hoodoo Wampas Cat, who, in Cherokee ledgend is the spirit of Running Deer, a warrior's wife who took revenge upon a demon, who terrorized her husband into insanity, by donning a shamanic wild cat mask to scare it off.
Spent the day conceptualizing it, and posing in the mirror holding a roll of paper towels to my face to get the hands right. Listening to Ratatat helped a lot, especially "Wildcat".
Here are the sketches that I compiled to create the sketch above:Yeah, general sketchbook retardation as usual...

Which one...?

Just finalized the pose and clothing (or lack thereof) for the figure in the first painting for my thesis. I had to trace the sketches because the original drawing was so smudged and dirty from erasing and redrawing limbs, et cetera...
However, I can't decide on which of the three headdress options to choose. I'm not too keen upon #1, so it's a decision between #2, which is more mysterious, or #3, which is cleaner and less busy. Something for me to sleep on tonight.

Voodoo

Drawing for an occult alphabet book. V is for Voodoo Priestess! It will be painted and text will fill the empty space on the upper left.
Didn't take much of a break while I drew it so I can't decide whether or not I think she's cross-eyed... That'll be decided in the morning after I rest my own eyes. This is good for now; fixes to be made in the AM!

P.S. This was the drawing that beetle kept parading around. He is safe now, I assure you.

Beetle Buddy

This guy's been cruising here for a while:

Reciept Fetishism #1

O HAI.

Good Time

This weekend was a busy one. Friday I went out to Meriden, and we stopped to get ice cream in Hamden at Ashley's where Johanna and I decided to draw something for their walls, and this was produced:I cried I was laughing so hard... I'm laughing right now I find it so damn funny!
Anyway, so yeah, busy weekend. Got home between 3 and 4 in the morning every night except Friday. I'm tired...
Here's a doodle I left on Felisia's whiteboard a while back, too.
I have some work that needs to be done now. So much on my mind right now I feel all BLAAAAAAAAAAAARGHKASKLDJALCNIWAM....... Xd

NERDGASM

OH MY GOD WATCHMEN WAS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!
♥RORSCHACH♥

Sketch Dump, Still Alive!

Hectic past however long it's been, but I'm still alive and kicking!
Here are two drawings from last week's open drawing session. Our model was kickass and offered us some really dynamic poses:
This week's model, not so dynamic...And here are a few doodles I did today, first one during our crit session this morning and the other while I was waiting for Felisia in the student lounge:
I love my brown micron!
So next week is Spring Break, aaaaaaaaaah. I need this R&R session, though I will still be busy, at least I will have access to a recliner, a heated blanket and my sun conure!

Ruuuust

So here's something I had a lot of fun with. In my typography class we had to create our own typeface based upon our own handwriting. I wrote mine out using the eyedropper in an ink well and ended up naming it "Alchemy". We then had to choose an adjective/verb that described our typeface, arrange the letters and create a corresponding illustration which flows throughout the word. Rust, meet robot!
The painting was done in a single sitting this past Friday. I was in the student center while Nicole took a nap on the couch and just sat at one of the tables and painted while someone was watching Judge Joe Brown and Judge Judy slap down the law.
This is about 9"x12", watercolor with white gouache on 140lb cold press watercolor paper. This image is a photograph for now. When I scan it later I will replace it.

< ROBIIIITS!!