March. April.

04/02/2012

I finally got around to uploading my photos from March and today!
Below are photos and captions on some of what I managed to photograph during this month. When I figure out how to fix my phone's USB connectivity, I will show photos from the results of my woodcut for the food bank print exchange and photos of a dremmel tool drypoint/engraving self portrait I started working on!
  

I got an easel for Christmas and haven't put it together until now!

Naturally it didn't come with very clear instructions, but I found a video online that went through the directions step by step.
Despite that, I still managed to put a few parts on backwards and had to dismantle and reassemble it.

Ta Da! Finished Easel! Yay!!! It only took me 3 hours!

Lucy had to check out the new easel right away! (Easel is left in shadow)

I sketched Michelle one morning on a McDonald's napkin. I made her head a little big, but I wasn't really measuring either.

I started to make a painted version in black and white, but it puckered too much and I eventually gave up on that piece, but I saved the work, so maybe I'll continue it later. It had been a while since I painted, so I started with just plain black and white acrylics.

Grad school Updates! Today I heard from the last school I was waiting for. Rejected. But I don't feel too bad, because I was accepted at PAFA and RISD.

I was accepted at RISD for the MFA in Printmaking program, so before I decide(d) to go there, I felt I had to check it out just to make sure it's somewhere I want to go before I (well, my parents) invest in it. Naturally, my dad and I visited on the one day in March in which it's 80 degrees and beautiful, but I tried my best to imagine the city grey and cold, and I think I'll be fine there in that weather as well! I also got to meet up with my amazing Big from NKE and meet her fiancé during my trip!

View of the capitol in Providence from the hotel!

Totally awesome wallpaper in the bathroom at the RISD Museum of Art. It took me by surprise! I wasn't sure I could photograph the work in the museum, but I figured I could take a picture of the bathroom. Ha

RISD Museum of Art!

The main printmaking building! At least three floors of awesome! It looked great to me! I can work with it!

The Hirshhorn! Song 1. For I Only Have Eyes For Youuu!
I thought this was very interesting, I think I want to go back and watch it again before it goes away. Maybe on my own.
It was mesmerizing! I love the idea of projecting film on buildings. I think I've seen it before a couple of times. It was funny that after this Hirshhorn show, I noticed film on buildings in The Hunger Games in their version of the Capital. I could see more film on buildings in the future. Whether it would be art or advertising or some kind of brainwashing propaganda, I cannot predict.

My boyfriend took a picture of me in Old Town Alexandria, because I told him to, ha ha.

Ducks in a fountain in Old Town Alexandria!

I started an oil painting today! I've been itching to paint ever since plants and flowers have started to bloom, so here's a start.

(Shiny sorry). Definitely have a long way to go, but I blocked in a lot. I can't wait to add in the blossoms! The sky isn't that blue, although I like the color a lot, but its not natural. Maybe I'll scumble it back with some other color? We'll see! It's no masterpiece, but I'll keep at it, give it more love, and who knows.

In this image, you can kind of see a green blotch in the sky above the yellow-green-ish tree blob. That happened when the wind blew the easel straight towards me, right when my brush was loaded with that yellow green color. I've got to figure out a way to fix that blob. Or I'll just turn it into a tree, or my parents suggested a hot air balloon, ha.

This piece also reminds me of the painting I made last summer, kind of in this long horizontal formal.
Also, I got a really bad sunburn because I didn't think to put sun tan lotion on. I'm currently slathering on some aloe vera! At least I wore a hat. I can see where part of my glasses, t-shirt- and apron strings were. My family joked that I just need to paint in the opposite direction soon to even out the tan.

On a random note, 60 minutes had an interesting show yesterday (that I only saw today). Not only did it talk about how sugar is toxic, (timely for me, considering this is the third week on the Atkins diet for me! I've lost at least 10 pounds (yay!) and got a gym membership to get strong and healthier, just in case I'm asked to lug heavy litho stones around, or try engraving, you never know!) but the 60 Minutes show did a story on the contemporary art market and talked to Tim Blum of Blum and Poe and later Larry Gagosian. I read the book 60 days in the Art World last summer, and that's where I first read about them.

*edit: I totally had a whole paragraph here before, and when looking at my post again, it's gone! 60 Minute's reference to Hans Christian Andersen's Emperor's new clothes is an apt comparison or metaphor to this art market of today.

Anyway, here's a link to the art show, entitled "Even in tough times, contemporary art sells". A link to the segment on sugar should be on the side as well:  http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7403948n&tag=contentBody;storyMediaBox

Enjoy! I think I'll look for the 1993 show "But is it Art?" that they refer to in the video. I think I've seen it before, but I could probably stand to watch it again.