curiouser and curiouser

dill is going to seed

2009-07-06T20:13:00.000-07:00

fourth of july. sucks.

random collage of drawings? chair from observation

the boots!

2009-07-03T23:10:00.000-07:00

looks a little "wavy"

in the background

2009-07-01T22:05:00.000-07:00

from the bike exhibition at moore college of art and design (i know most of these are awful)

ermine/ferret

2009-06-30T00:57:00.000-07:00

finally succeeded in drawing a nice picture of sarah :D!

lazy sunday

2009-06-28T22:46:00.000-07:00

so i did kind of a lot of drawing today. after i woke up at around 1, i immediately began drawing from a copy of french vogue i found in my mom's studio. the sketchbook page for today is really nothing special. just loosening up my hand. actually since i suck so much at scanning my pages, this one cut out about half of my images..? it's not good enough for the effort, haha.

so i feel like this one is alright. i spent about 40 minutes on it and i am kind of happy with it. i still feel like something's wrong. i don't know if it's the values or the rendering or the colors or what? it looks better in person, i must say.
this was one of my first attempts at an "art nouveau" look..i wanted the hair to kind of look like stained glass and i knew i wanted some pink tones in the blonde hair. that's one of my favorite things ever :D pretty simple, but i like the end result.
this was just something i was playing around with. obviously it's very cartoony, but it was really fun to do. it was probably the most fun thing i did today. it took about 5 minutes but one of the most gratifying pieces. thinking of doing a series of these little thumbnails
there is one more sketch page that i was doing while i was attempting to watch tv...i leave blank paper and a pen/pencil around the house in pretty much every room so that if i get the urge to draw (and i usually do), then it's very simple. that'll be up tomorrow if not sooner. i feel like i need to push myself to be more and more self-directed. i am starting the painting of pam's house tomorrow if it kills me! i'm thinking watercolor now instead of acrylics. here's the pic i think i'm using for reference:

i'm thinking of a potential crop, but i haven't decided where yet. i really want to get in those beautiful hydrangeas! other than that, i really need to make sure that the perspective is in check. i think i am going to cut a few pieces of watercolor paper in varying proportions and sizes to practice :)

cracking down & loosening up

2009-06-27T15:21:00.001-07:00

i woke up at 1pm

2009-06-27T00:48:00.000-07:00

i woke up at 3:40pm

2009-06-26T00:07:00.000-07:00

i woke up at 4pm

2009-06-25T00:03:00.000-07:00

diet coke with lime

2009-06-23T23:36:00.000-07:00

glaceau smart water

2009-06-21T22:21:00.000-07:00

sun-maid golden raisins

2009-06-20T23:24:00.000-07:00

nevermind

2009-06-20T19:52:00.001-07:00

untitled

2009-06-18T13:21:00.000-07:00

i am so depressed by this weather.

catching up

2009-06-17T13:51:00.001-07:00

june 16th
june 15th
june 15th (II)

awake again

2009-06-13T23:07:00.000-07:00

photo of my twin, lauren.
reproduction in graphite (the scanner left out some softer marks...ugh.)

me and a cat?

live from lo.ue's room

2009-06-10T10:01:00.001-07:00

i'm doing an entry now because i have updated pics of my chocolate bowl. the final presentation is pictured as follows: (i ended up scraping off some of the white chocolate on the inside...also added the rice crispies and spoon for an extra element of "food art")
i also wanted to take a picture from my little area of my studio space. i am really going to miss it. since i have to share a room at home, this was sort of something i called my own. i had to clean everything up, take all of my work home, and all of that kind of thing. when i heard about the art assignments for over the summer, though, i got really excited! they wiped away all of my sadness because they sound so awesome.

something i've been working on for one of my last projects, inspired by a poem by ramon lopez velarde called mi prima agueda

awake.

2009-06-09T21:06:00.000-07:00

OBVIOUSLY i'm still awake. i finished (and started) my art final today after school. i had so many ideas because the topic was so broad--"food art." my ideas ranged from weaving pull 'n peel twizzlers to edible clay to decorated cakes...but i finally picked an idea i loved. i made a bowl (vessel) entirely out of semi-sweet and white chocolate. the pictures suck so i'm taking them down.

amalgam

2009-06-08T18:23:00.000-07:00

i guess i would just say that these are a mixture of different sketchbook pages i've worked on over the last few days. none of them are stellar but here they are anyway
(1) me as a model
(2) wow, bine is veryyyy small
(3) mixtures of textures, etc.
(4) done before syracuse graduation

still undecided

2009-06-08T12:10:00.000-07:00

i haven't had much time to update recently, since i've been focusing mostly on doing well on my sats and finishing up school stuff, but i figured i'd just post to keep the momentum going. i am still struggling about the colors of my statuette...nothing seems to look ri

ght. i don't know why, but here are two different colour combinations i've been bouncing between:

draft 1., "milky" color scheme
draft 2., brighter and bolder

i'm thinking of combining the hair from the second one with the skin from the first. i don't know though, i haven't had much time to deliberate. i've got to go to my math tutor now, though so... BYE!

alright, so i've decided to change the skin color yet again. i think i may have got it now--a milky complexion with darker hair...definitely a more dramatic look. here is a photo: (granted not a very good one...my camera has the habit of not being very true-to-color)

i don't know if i like it...i plan to add little daisies of some sort being sprinkled all over the curls. i don't know...or maybe a veil of some sort? i'm looking to add an additional design element, something. i don't know yet. i also want to mount it on some type of platform. i looked in the art room today and found nothing. luckily, we have class tomorrow for a very long time +2 free pds.

undecided

2009-06-02T14:08:00.000-07:00

i am so tired right now, ah! i did these contours of animals from my ref book which is pretty good DK eyewitness you can never go wrong...anyway i went on this site during my art class i hope no one finds it that would be terrible. i was really pissed because my scanner was being very temperamental and since the sketches were done with such a hard pencil they barely showed. i have a few more sketches that i did yesterday from my book and i have realized that regular pencils are so much better to draw with than mechanical ones, i have no idea why this wasn't more obvious to me before? but here's the first page of the day.

the beaver is a little hard to see, as is the top of the pig. oh well.

the "undecided" part of the blog today is that i'm still not sure what colors i should paint the sculpture. i had this good idea of a very light aqua-colored skin with turquoise hair, but i don't know. i was thinking that since i just did something "realistic" with the sculpey that i would rather do something more fantastical. i'll think about it...more pics later.

thinking about other things

2009-05-31T16:29:00.001-07:00

SO DISCOURAGED I HATE MY DRAWINGS FROM LAST NITE

from 12-1am

2009-05-30T22:11:00.001-07:00

i went to sonic with a few people and got right to work again. i was just leafing through some old references/clippings from the file and found an ad i liked. i took it and altered it and simplified it down to a few colors (of my choice: black, sepia, lilac, and violet prismas). not so sure how i feel about this one, but alright. (click to enlarge both images)

another shoe, from life. altered colors.
good night, maybe?

another piece

2009-05-30T15:02:00.000-07:00

so basically i stayed up until 3am yesterday working on this little doll bust which i think is really cute. it's somewhat inspired by the curls of j. david mckenney which i so adore. (see previous entry). i am so excited, because i know that my WHOLE summer is going to be exactly like this. here are some photos from the process:

frame (1): the head, complete with eyelids, eyeballs, nose, and opening for mouth.
frame (2): the finished head + shoulders (and clavicles). obvs there was an anatomy book RIGHT by my side.frame (3): addin' some curls up in here, i think there are something like 50 curls.
frame (4): as close to complete as it can be without being baked and painted!

i am so excited for the painting, it's always been one of my favorite parts of the process.

feedback!?!? i think i am improving on my sculpting skills. i also love to add new mediums to my vocabulary, which can never be a bad thing. today i went to the library for a few hours and literally went through books about ceramic techniques because i'm taking that intensive ceramics class over the summer. there is a LOT to learn in that area, but i am really excited for it. i have so many ideas that they're brimming over in my sketchbooks, etc. it's always really fun to sit in the back of the library and sketch/take notes, etc. in the quiet. :)

i've taken over the pink room

2009-05-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

the pink room is a room in my house with a television, a vcr, a computer, and also houses all of my art supplies and other related materials, including reference books, etc. so all of my stuff is strewn about on the ground and this room looks very chaotic, due to my creative goings-on. trigonometry test wasn't bad today. just thought i'd note that. anyway i haven't really touched the clay since i finished my self-portrait (II), and i am currently working on another one! i really like the way it's headed and there will be images of my process up pretty soon. anyway i promised sketches from yesterday, so here they are:

(from images from vogue)
(from life)

lauren's shoe that i think ended up looking a little bit like a glass slipper!

lauren went to sleep and i am up left to my own devices lol. the sculpture i am making has soooo many curls. there may even be images up in a few hours. haha i NEVER sleep

instead of studying for my math test

2009-05-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

i love coming home after school and not having to do ANYTHING. it's just incredible. i also love when i don't have to do anything during my free periods (especially when i have 2 on a-days). that's when i just get to mess around in the studio and do whatever which is a really freeing experience. i started a new piece today so that i can rotate working on the smaller one (the series about spanish-american poets). i spent the whole afternoon just tinkering around, looking at bina abling stuff, the pictures from my mom's old illustrating fashion and basically whatever else i can get my hands on. i'm working on some prisma/pencil sketches from fashion magazines, which should be up before i go to my math tutor. i am SO fucked for the test tomorrow. wow, i really don't care. teachers don't understand that i'm done with school.

instead of driving lauren to piano

2009-05-27T12:25:00.000-07:00

i just realized that pretty much every time i write on this thing i'm supposed to have driven my sister to her lesson, like every wednesday. i think i may take a bike ride in a little bit after i'm through with the computer. i think i am finally becoming able to make a picture. mostly, i start pictures and get through with them and then leave them unfinished for the rest of always. but i am actually starting a series, which is something i've been struggling to do for a while now.

anyway last night i did a lot of surfing on other artists' web sites and there are a lot of great images to look at out there. here are some of my personal favorite finds from then:

(1)
(2)

(3)
jean james (1) j. david mckenney (2) sarah caterisano (3)

i helped lo.ue paint obama's head. (!)

i've also discovered my bike again. and colored pencils!

instead of going to hershey park

2009-05-21T15:57:00.000-07:00

i know the art show happened a little while ago, but here is a pretty good picture of the statuette i made as my self-portrait. since it's a little far away, the details have been compromised a little bit, but i'll do my best to get some closer pictures (that are truer to color as well). and yes, i did use gemtac to apply false eyelashes...haha. i am really upset though because someone brought it to my attention that in the movie coraline, she also wears a yellow jacket. i was really upset because i was afraid that it would take away from the originality of my piece. i hope that didn't happen.

i've been working on a few more pieces and have just been in a completely different place artistically than i have been in the past. i'm experimenting with a new idea--illustrating poetry. i got this anthology of spanish-american poets from the library and have been working from that a lot. i started a series (approximately 6"x5" i think) that interpret poems from the book. in them, i use some expressionist and non-representational techniques that i think are really interesting. they really take me away from my usual consumption with rendering. aside from that, i don't know why...but i've been tracing back to my roots in fashion which i'm kind of confused about. nonetheless, a lot of my sketch pages have been fashion/lifestyle related. weird, right?

i also really like this photographer's flickr...it's really inspiring to me. here's the link:

miss aniela

here's another illustrator i reallllllllllllllllllllllly love: (i am lucky enough to have one of the t-shirts he designed for heatherette!)

j. david mckenney

this prettttty much means nothing

2009-05-18T15:29:00.000-07:00

basically, today has been a drag. the only real reason that i'm writing on this now is because i've been basically deprived of art all day. fine, i've had one hour. but one hour is really not enough for me. i am currently writing an english research paper about the existence of adhd which is really no fun compared to anything else in the world i would otherwise choose to do. i don't think i'm really going to go to school this week, except for the fact that i have a yearbook meeting and a national honors society meeting tomorrow. i have superlunch though, which means i can probably sign out early. i am really upset though because i haven't even looked at my physics notes and i have a test tomorrow, which probably means i need to do well...since i got a terrible grade on the last one. no worries, though, i still have a pretty good mark. rambling...i was reconsidering my end of the year project in lo.ue's class and i'm really not sure what i want to do yet. i've been working on something that i like...it's basically an illustrated version of the poem "mi prima agueda" my obsession with spanish literature lives on...HAHA. anyway, i don't know why but lately i've just become enraptured with learning. anything...so i think that's probably good? my portrait of bine hasn't been touched since about saturday, 4:30. kind of a bummer, but whatever i hopefully will have plenty of time to work on it this week. i might go to the shore with my mom on thursday instead of going to hershey park. i really couldn't say yet but i have to get out my feelings right now...right now.

**another note to add, i just wanted to say that i finally understand what lo.ue was saying when he said that art isn't always the best that took the most time. it actually clicked with me. i finally understand. wowwwww. i mean, i guess it's really just that i understand and better appreciate the principle of the "effect" after going through this year of art.

pretty quick, actually

2009-05-16T12:15:00.001-07:00

i was just thinking about how weird it is how many things art can teach a person. it's actually so strange. but i've actually been learning that it's good to look back on some stuff you did in the past even if it was awful. for instance, i was just looking back at a page i posted on here called "always gray!" and honestly, at the time, i thought that drawing of me was alright. but now i notice that i really just don't think it works. it's weird that i made that drawing only about a month ago, and already it seems like last year.

anyway i just started a painting of my dog and i like the direction it's moving in. i'm going to post a progress shot of it just for kicks. here it is:

the proportion of the ear is a little off, and i haven't even started working on the values in the ear--pretty much staying close to the face, but i think it's working. i don't know why but i've been in a rut with acrylics recently and i'm starting to get on better terms with it. i want the painting to develop a little bit further though into a composition, and i really haven't decided where it's going to go in that sense yet. i guess i'll just give it time, that's all for now i am probably going to post some sketch pages later

just slow, i guess

2009-05-12T18:51:00.000-07:00

things have slowed down significantly since the last time i wrote. art has been pretty boring for the past few days--just cleaning up the studios and it's really sad to see the walls all blank and everything. we're getting a new assignment, and it's basically just a "whatever you want" project...which we've all been working on something of our own anyway. but yeah it's going to be so weird next year when there's only 9 of us all in one class...i am like kind of nervous. whatever, i guess. hopefully, it will be pretty intense which is what i like! :) so i've been having to direct myself a lot more, which i'm enjoying. i have been going to the library a LOT and i love it. i'm revisiting some of my old fashion drawings and just reproducing other people's work (especially that of some really traditional illustrators like anne-marie barden!) obviously, JDM is always on my mind though. trying to work in broader strokes and just getting a good sense of color movement, nothing more. i'm working on a small painting of my dog from photograph it's coming along pretty well. i'm planning on getting a few more small wooden sheets from merion art tomorrow just for fun (after i drive lauren to her piano lesson, obviously...i love wednesdays). here is a particularly savory find!

leesa leva (above)

"confused deer!"

2009-05-06T13:19:00.000-07:00

i guess a lot has happened since i last wrote, because i kind of forgot about this blog. yeah, i haven't had much free time to do whatever, but the art show was last night! it was absolutely incredible. i really feel that i ended making a good panel. my large portrait ended up working out fine, but i just had to shift gears a lot...i think i was stuck in a box in terms of finishing an old portrait (from about 9 months ago) i couldn't think clearly! well, after an entire night of staying up and working, i fell asleep on the floor at about 5:30. wow i'm cool... anyway, other than that, i had a lot of other pieces displayed. (11 total, including sketchbook pages.) my little sculpture turned out great, i think! i'll post pics later. i have to go pick up my sister from her piano lesson and then go to my SAT tutor at 6pm. but i'll probably go to the library afterward and chill for a while...I LOVE THE LIBRARY!

ALWAYS GRAY!

2009-04-20T14:58:00.000-07:00

so the whole self-portrait thing has picked up a lot since i last wrote. over the weekend, i visited risd and absolutely loooooved it. i also got my acceptance letter to the risd pre-college program, which i will not be attending (it's pretty expensive and my parents can't afford to send me there the year before college). kind of upsetting, but i didn't get my first-choice major anyway. i've been working a lot from photographs or the live mirror on photo booth, making tons of small self-portraits. none of them are spectacular, but i realllllly enjoy doing something that i call "playing" which is not having any real aim when drawing, just letting things go. in this drawing i started using pencil and then added ink and paint and went back in with the graphite to add value. even though it's simple, and short of stellar, i still really like it. i've also been working on my sculpture but i've got a physics test tomorrow that i need to study for! ahh! school is kind of terrible...especially electric currents...

nothing, really.

2009-04-15T14:57:00.000-07:00

first of all, i did another design-y thing...i'm not sure how i feel about it. i am terrible at using my scanner and i don't think it did the picture much justice. i am really getting into the whole idea of craft arts, and i think this pattern sums up that influence. just dabbling in some folk art motifs...will explore more later. it took me about an hour and my hand aches so much from pressing so hard with the colored pencils!

ALSO: this self-portrait is pretty much torturing me. i don't know what to do, but my teacher has advised that i put it aside for the time being and work on my new self-portrait. but that's also a problem. i have been practicing by drawing a bunch of quick-sketches, more developed color drawings of myself. it's hard though i want to do so many things and there is so little time before the art show. inspirations for portrait:

comparison using tiger lilies, watercolor and prisma (j. david mckenney style?
some type of book or something like that...possibly an illustrated story
something with fibers? could use crocheting and embroidery skills
inspiration: red foxes. and cardinals. maybe an illustration? that might not be enough though
something having to do with colonial life. incorporate some recently discovered motifs?

--edit--

ok i finally came up with an idea for my self-portrait. it's exactly what i want--something familiar, yet something new. the new part is that the portrait is not a painting or a drawing...i don't even really know what i would call it. it's basically a scene constructed with clay figures. i am wearing my usual yellow coat, seated on a park bench in a snowy scape. this is just my first idea, though. it's only in its beginning stages. hopefully i can get some advice about clay/paint etc. to use...let's pray that there are pictures to show!

Stanislawa

2009-04-14T19:43:00.001-07:00

this isn't really what i was hoping on getting out of today, but not bad i guess. a simple fashion-y illustration. reminds me of my older stuff--i hope it shows improvement. i've been checking out a lot of folk art stuff, and this polish doll of mine provided the inspiration.

aside from the color illustration, i need to vent about a self-portrait that i had started in late september, and have yet to finish. it's my own fault, but i just can't manage to salvage it. my teacher has some ideas for a fix. hopefully it will be finished for may 5th, the LM art show. along with my new self-portrait.

i've been revisiting a lot of mckenney stuff and i absolutely love it. it's great, and i've discovered that not too many people leave feedback on his blog. perhaps i can contact him somehow?