Things Fall Apart

I'm really bashful at art shows.  As soon as I showed up, I was ready to leave.  I don't know why that is, I'm usually not a bashful person.  Anyway, thanks to those of you who came!  My piece is small, and not very noticeable, which is fine with me.  It's part of a larger body of work that I hope I get the chance to exhibit sometime soon (I just need to be brave and apply for shows).  The show will be up until it's not.  What I mean is it's a durational show.  All the works are dealing with the concept of falling apart in some way or another.  Since mine consist of fall leaves, I wouldn't be surprised if it's already gone.

the communicator

there's one in every relationship.

maps

I finally put my ever growing collection of maps to use this last semester and made these studies for an art class. I don't know what they mean, if they mean anything at all. But I like them alright, and Brandon is rather fond of them. He says someday, we'll hang all 30 of them (yes, I have 30 of these) in a grid on a wall.

p.s. this giveaway ends soon!

huzzah!

last night I finished my last final for summer semester!

the feeling is better than a birthday. seriously! It's like I'm a new person today. I probably slept all night with a smile on my face and I haven't been able to wipe it off since. It's funny how one big thing can make the rest of your life seem so...out of control. Now that school isn't on my mind, I just feel plain happy.

I have two official weeks of summer before the school routine starts up again (18 credits....eeek!) and you better believe I'm cramming in all the good stuff: picnics, parties (finally decently celebrating the Misters big day), swimming, a mini girls trip to Vegas, family, friends, hiking, camping, a wedding, photoshoots, sewing projects....... I might even get a tan! And I'll likely be throwing some pretty swell GIVEAWAYS into the mix so stay tuned!

heck, I'm feeling spontaneous.

lets have a giveaway RIGHT NOW!

{CLOSED}

here my very most recent litho print!

"lady-alike"

it's a limited edition print and that makes it extra cool right? right.

this pretty little thing would look lovely hanging in any YOUR home.

you want it?

comment on your absolute favorite thing about summer

*must be a follower

and I'll randomly pick a winner next Tuesday, the 16th.

wow......this blog gets a whole lot more fun when I'm not in school :)

*lighting/coloring is slightly off. thats what you get with a spontaneous giveaway though....

bright pink chevron & the queen

"of royalty and such"

dry point and aqua-tint print

intaglio final spring 2011

the idea behind printing is consistency in multiples. I hate that. I like the little differences that come up in printing, i like each work to have it's own personalty. I don't like following the rules. I like breaking out the magenta ink after a run of 25 prints, where each one the queen {elizabeth} slowly starts fading away to nothing. i like progression to be evident. I don't like getting a poor grade for breaking the rules. But I like walking away with something I appreciate. Something just for me: like bright pink chevron.

what I've been up to:

It's a myth that those who do art can draw. I was good at drawing once: in the first grade. My teacher would sit at the piano and play and my fellow pupils and I would draw "what the music makes you feel". No matter what music was playing I'd draw a landscape: three mountains in the background, two smallish hills in front, a tree to the right side with a path curving up and through the middle, and always ALWAYS grass blowing in the wind. The music always made me think of wind. I even got so good others would hire me to draw grass for them. (Lala, Kait, remember that?). Then I went through a stage of drawing irises (the flower), cartoon pigs, and bubble letters. Then I stopped drawing. stopped cause I realized I'm not all that good. Naturally I'm my worst critic and all but the truth of it is: relative to artists, drawing aint my thing. So you can imagine my hesitation for signing up for a figure drawing class....but I wanted the challenge. I wanted to be able to look at a person and portray them more accurately than my signature stick figure. And {i hope this doesn't come off braggy} I'm really proud of my improvement! wanna see?

*I've cleverly titled them for your enjoyment.

photo of a drawing of a blue girl by a silly girl with long toes.

old girl body with a little girl head

I hope this bum doesn't offend anyone. {FYI we don't have nude models at BYU, speedos and bikinis is how we roll thank you very much.} I promise you won't see any other bums on this blog or in my art, this particular work was to copy a masters work.

girl with outstanding body strength who can balance on one foot and look like she is sitting in an invisible chair.

okay but in all seriousness, my favorite exercise was doing blind contour drawings. I loved them so much in fact I filled an entire sketch book full of them (I'll share these later)! For those of you who don't know what blind contour means it's the act of drawing something without looking down at your paper AT ALL. I took the blind part very seriously and even taped a paper towel under my eyes so I couldn't cheat and see out of my peripheral. tricky yes, but the results are soo fun especially when coupled with all nighters.

(you might want to click to enlarge them to their full glory)

My teacher called me "the blind contour master" so I'm changing my future plans to become a full time blind contour portraiture artist (cause there is totally an industry out there for that profession). I charge $1 for commissions

hehe

2 finals down, 1 to go!!

feathers & art

{copper plate I worked on last night in prep for prints! If the prints turn out successful, I just might maybe sell some....}

I keep talking about art projects I'm working on but never share them. I suppose it's because it's hard to find an end point with art. Even when I turn a project in, my mind is buzzing with "what ifs" what if I added more black paint, more glitter, less of this more of that. etc. Also, in the art world there is this idea that the less you share of your work the better. That your work has more value if it isn't overly abundant, that you have more control of how you are viewed by the select work you put out. And I suppose this is true, and at times has stopped me from sharing. But the truth is I, myself, am a work in progress. This struggle I have of trying to find "the artist in me" (sounds so cheesy) is a big trial for me. It involves me making lots of mistakes and {hopefully} learning from each one of them. But I like that process. I enjoy the process because it makes the small successes that much better. It's okay that my final project in ceramics exploded in the kiln. It's okay that my grisaille painting of glass jars looked like monochrome throw-up. It's a messy process, this art journey. But I'm grateful for it. And it's a big part of me, so I'm going to try to be better at sharing:

21 grams

art installation

*oh how I wish you could have been there to see this in person!

Installation art doesn't really translate in photograph...

the initial idea behind this work was a sort of therapy session i created for myself. ya see, someone had said something to me that hurt my feelings, like REALLY bad. and the more I thought about said comment, the more frustrated i got. after all, they were only words. why was i letting a combination of letters weigh me down so much? in a physical sense, they weigh nothing, but I let them be a burden. The work was to represent the unnecessary weight we give to things, things that don't need to and shouldn't burden us. it was mean to be a reality check of sorts, something everyone can relate to.

a single white feather weighing down a scale placed on a white fur rug in the middle of the room

I was much more fascinated with my classes' interpretation. Each person had a different take. the feathers were "people, waiting to be judged" the feeling was "slightly eery, though the content warm and soothing" and lots of "i wish there was a title!" My teachers noted the uncanny fact that the feather weighs 21 grams on the scale, and wondered if it had anything to do with Dr. Duncan MacDougall's ideas about the soul weighing 21 grams. After looking into that theory, a title was born.

this rusty old fan was the only noise, and hit the feathers that were suspended on fishing line,

so that they slightly quivered.

what do see/feel? what do the feathers, scale, layout mean for you? one of the most amazing parts about art is the subjective nature of it. I'd love to hear what YOU think.

a tribute: August Sanders

last semester I took a modern art class. the class part of it was great: i'd show up, {without doing my reading} sit next to my good friend, brooke, BS a quiz {before you lose all hope in me because i BS my art quizzes, let me remind you that art is subjective, they were easy :) i always got full credit} and then i'd sit for 3 hours while my amazing professor made witty remarks about artwork, slide after slide. and then i'd go home and brag to B about all the new knowledge i just gained and try and throw out artsy fartsy terms (all of which he already knew. humph).

class was great.

and then there were these two tests that were pretty crappy but if you know me, you know my all time low is a 27%, i'm pretty easy to please with test scores...

and then there was this paper.

this really loooooonnnnnnnnnng paper.

that i complained about.

and procrastinated on.

and therefor didn't give it my all.

which is never a good feeling.

especially when it could have been so good.

and should have been so good.

it was on August Sanders, an amazing pioneer in street-style photography who is famous for his collective portrait work called Face of Our Time. It consisted of 60 portraits and was to give a synoptic view of German Society, organized into both professional and nonprofessional groups, including the Farmer, the Skilled Tradesman, the Woman, Classes and Professions, the Artists, the City, and the Last People (those who were mentally and physically ill).

don't worry, i'll spare you my mediocre 10 pg. paper.

after all, a picture is worth a thousand words

so here's to you August! I'm sorry I wrote such a lousy paper about you. You deserve so much more. But I think you can relate, I'd much rather have a camera say what I can't:

in other words: art

incase you missed it, my sissy announced my acceptation into BYU's Visual Arts program. And yes, it was (is) kind of a big deal, but just mostly to me :) Ya see....I've tried my hand (or mind) at many a different majors. Not a one was even close to a good fit. It became a process of elimination. I knew all sorts of things I couldn't do {physcology, english, communications, advertising, anything that involves numbers or stats, anything science, anything "techy", SFL, anything that requires long research papers...} And the list was getting longer. And, frankly, time was running out. It was one of those times where you just have to make a decision before you know if it's the right one. For reasons I either can't remember or that don't matter anymore, I had decided in highschool that I was NOT going to go into the arts.

but then something changed. or lots of things rather. and it became clear to me that this is my "calling". and when I say calling, i don't mean i'm some super gifted person whose work is going to change the world or even affect another, but calling meaning it's what I need to do for me. This is going to make me happy. And it does just that.

so instead of writing long research papers I wrap yarn around trees.

which I actually did once.

just a few months ago.

and the coolest part is i get to call it art.

oh and I got an A.

video to follow shortly. or longly {depending on how quickly i figure out how to post it}

ahem.

it's been done for a while.

and it's sitting there waiting for me to fix it.

and after 4 weeks i still haven't touched it.

so i guess it will do for now.

self portrait attempt #173

{that number sounds really vain. it's a made up number. i swear}

yes i might have trimmed my cheeks down a bit. ah the glory of being the artist :)

medium: acrylic craft paint

p.s. if i were you i might just brace myself for a post overload. I have weddings from summer that have yet to be featured! eeek!

color study

color wheel

parent colors

transparency

untitled

medium: paint chips (thank you walmart)

Did I mention...

I'm applying for BYU's visual arts program next month?

Well I am.

And I'm pretty darn thrilled about it! It took me 2 years of college and 3 drastically different declared majors to figure out that what I want to be when I grow up is what I've always wanted to be:

an artist.

I need to create in any form possible.

Did you know I take photos? (duh.)

But did you know I make jewelry? Stained glass? Paint? Sketch? Sew? Cut, paste, and build?

Well I do.

And I guess I'm saying all this because it's a part of me that I've kept locked up for a while. {Not exactly sure why... }

For the first time in 3 years I'm taking an art class. And it's opened Pandora's box! (probably not the best metaphor. Lets pretend Pandora is an artist and her box is full of a myriad of art supplies :) Well the box has been opened and the reality of me doing anything other than create seems almost hysterical. I'm really excited about the projects I've been working on and as soon as I get some photos I'll share them with you.

for now, a sneak peek:

Domesticated

i MADE this.

(the skirt that is)

pretty spiffy right?

B picked out the fabric.

(he has wonderful taste don't ya think?)

I love twirling in skirts.

especially my new skirt.

that i made.

all by myself.

item number one BIRTHDAY GIRL

item number one on my list of things to blog about is to wish my dearest and favorite (i've only got one hehehe) sissy a very belated and very happy birthday. This gorgeous gal is 17 years old! holy kansas.

durring a very difficult run last night i was thinking about what i would say in this post (yes, i do that sometimes) and i kept thinking of all the reasons why i love my sis so stinkin much.

Dear sissy,

i hope you know i love you to the moon and back even though you are younger than me and have more curves and got all the good genes in the family. yes, i love you that much that those petty things barely ever provoke a thought. i love you because you are so full of life. so full that sometimes you make me laugh about it. you put passion into every word you say. you are clever and witty and always win at family dinner clever competitions. you are far brighter than i am but i still love you. you have very unique gifts. you have the ability to see people for who they are and love them despite flaws (cause i know you love me too). i could listen to you sing all the day long. and even though you don't always sing for me even when i beg and plead for you to, i still love you. i love that you did marching band. and that you were cool about it. alto sax rocks my dear. i love that you try new things, yes some of them may have been mistakes (clogging, tennis, shot put, ethnic dance). What you do do (dodo heehhe) you do phenomenally (i can't believe i just spelt that right!!) you write stories! thats just plain rad. your style fits you like a glove, your eyes are to die for, your lashes (ok i'm a bit petty) make me jealous. I love that you'll stay up late watching the poor acting in the cheesy sitcoms we've some how taken a liking to. you can mastermind any song within the first couple notes (i love that about you). and you love jones soda + yellow mustangs. and you are my best friend.

sissy, i love you to the moon and back and maybe a couple times around too :)

happy day of birth

xoxoxo sis

below are pics of my birthday present to sissy. she loves loves LOVES jones soda. and she loves her funky shoes. so i thought i'd combine the two. I was so excited when i finished that i gave them to her a month early!