winter break goals

Winter Break Goals Extremely Strict Guidelines:

1.   SLEEP

2.   SLEEP

3.   sleep

4.   Get fully applied to graduate schools (OSU, Kent, OU, Miami)

5.   Fill sketchbooks

6.   Work on large drawings (actually, drawing in all sizes)

7.   Try new mediums (ie charcoal, maybe pencil.... maybe, these cool water color pencil things, maybe these oil paint sticks that Prof Nash told me about [if I can afford them])

8.   COLOR (in all aspects, toned paper, color paper, different color schemes, different mark making with color, layering)

end of the road, semester 1

Well it's been real fall semester, senior year. We've laughed, we've cried, we've learned quite a lot, and we have made some memories. My capstone has been running smooth. Been developing a body of work to choose from and display. My capstone has not really given me much grief. I've been most stressed about grad school, so I am thankful for the smooth capstone process as it would be a disaster had it not been. Plans for winter break:

Continue working large
Fill some sketchbooks
Try some new mediums
Get fully applied to grad schools

charades?

I will be giving my second progress presentation later today. Only problem is my voice is cutting out and nearly gone due to illness. So who is up for some charades? In all seriousness, I'm going to try to make this work. I hate copping out for illness.

pep talk

Dr. Bland came in last week and helped us with the direction of our artist statements. It was awesome because it was a relief. I'm looking forward to getting my concepts down in written words. Every time I tell people about my concept, they seem to be impressed so I'm looking forward fine-tuning it.

In terms of capstone progress, I've been exploring different mediums. I found that oil is awesome but mineral spirits with gas out the life drawing class... good to know. I still hate the keyboards on these computers. That is all.

the bloggiest blog in town

Dear Cyber-Space,

It is time to celebrate my much anticipated return to blogger.com. What is going on in my life? Well, I've been doing this little thing called capstone... correction: been rockin the capstone. I have continued to expand on my sketchbook and drawings. I'm gearing up to expand to other mediums. I'm thinking acrylic might be my next move - maybe on boards or gesso-ed paper. I think I am going to spend class working on my artist's statement. That is if I don't go crazy using this awkward little mac keyboard.

forgot to comment on my feedback so here it is

So, capstone progress presentation..... It was a success! I was super scared before and during my presentation as I didn't know if my "overhaul" would be accepted or if the reasoning was clear. Thank goodness, it was both! Prof. Jesser commented along the lines of my capstone representing exactly where I need to be as it shows what I've learned from Marietta College as well as where I want to head in the next few years to come. He also commented that essentially I have made an artist statement. Prof. Lamoreux said I was the first to show a reason for why my project is who I am to the extent that I did while putting myself out there by showing my process. Prof Stout commented on where I phyically fall within the artwork. We later had a discussion about this in solid design. We discussed how to add context to my class-work that was reflective of my overall position as an artist.

Overall, the presentation and everything surrounding it was awesome. I also felt good show that "hey I am working" (so let's see my grade rise in the class, because that would be awesome!)

neglect

I feel like I have neglected this blog a bit. I've been sketching and drawing like crazy. The amount of physical work I have achieved seems to be pretty much my strongest point as of yet in the process. I really need to raise my grade in the class. I'm not cool with a C when this is something I am taking seriously.

Upcoming Presentation

I'm not nervous about my faculty presentation. I really want feedback. It has also been really helpful to hear the content of the feedback already given to my classmates. It all plays into this major "ah-ha" moment I had. On a recent grad school visit, in casual conversation, one of the painting faculty members explained to me the idea of having context to your work and that sure having technical skills is good and swell. *BOOM* mind blown. In the art history courses I've had so far, we've been taught to formally and contextually analyze artworks. Why haven't I been doing that to my own concepts and artwork?! Point being, I feel much more comfortable with the direction my capstone is heading (as it now has one)!

Free stuff!

I found abandoned lumber behind a building in Marietta by a dumpster. So what did I do? I loaded it up in my car at 11:00pm. There had to be close to $200.00 worth of lumber that I collected. I plan on using it to build surfaces for capstone. Super pumped!

link I don't want to lose

http://www.dmoz.org/Arts/Art_History/Periods_and_Movements/

Just so I don't lose this link

update Monday, 3 October

Not a lot has happened capstone-wise.. Working on grad school which I consider related because I've been wanting to find out information about deadlines and if I'll be able to include my capstone in my portfolio. I'm waiting to hear back from Miami of Ohio with answers on this and visiting possibilities.

Other than that, I've been studying Art and Gender (ARTH 373) on and off for the last 18 hours. It is going to be a hard midterm fo sho.... yah...

This room is crazy warm, by the way. Not digging it. That's all.

Semi-Random Pictures

http://www.huntsearch.gla.ac.uk/artimages/52297_o.JPG
 "Le Voile Persan" 1909

http://www.unirioja.es/listenerartcriticism/images/human.jpg
"Study of the Human Body" 1949

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2566/3951515430_4bfcfdbf57.jpg
"Frankie: 5min Study" 2009 Martin Beek

http://www.horizonfineartgallery.com/slideShow.cfm?tArtistId=235&tCounter=1&tType=Artwork
"Figure Study No.64" Zin Lim

Steven's visit

Steven of Off-White Designs, in addition to being a Marietta College Design Alumni, presented today. His capstone was design oriented, but it did show the working process of capstone which was helpful. It sort of helped me to see that there are a lot of unexpected physical bumps in the road even for design majors.

My capstone, re-search time!

update Monday, 26th September

What has happened since last class that is capstone related?

....

Well, I attended the portrait day of the life drawing class and got to do some portrait work. It went a lot better than I had thought it would since I haven't done portraiture in such a long time. I got to test out nu-pastels, which I haven't used before. They're pretty great, but not my favorite in comparison to sauce and conte. I bought lighter skin pigments of the nu-pastels to try out as well as a case to store my pastels, sauce, charcoal, conte, etc. Feelin' sort of legit about it.

I also began to research. I have no proof of this, but I did begin. I looked over an introductory chapter of my western art book that had some valuable basics. I particularly enjoyed a passage that explained and showed a animal study that went from realism to complete abstraction. I also saw some example artworks on the Ohio University Graduate program website that had some interesting qualities. They were completely abstract with lines eventually became forms. I want to give it a go on my own figure studies, maybe even figures in motion.

I was just given a recycled board from Prof. Nash to work on - score!

blog. blog. blog. blog. blog.

Hello cyber space,

Progress, well.... yah, about that. Actually!

...

I drew in the life drawing class again and I am trying to attend the class regularly. I was also invited by Prof. Nash to a local life drawing group that meets monthly. She said it is sort of sketchy and the lack of professionalism is sort of apparent, but it does give you access to models and it is kind of expected from an amateur group. Anyway, I'm kind of ok with the whole experience since it is more exposure to new figures. She suggested that I use gesso-ed boards to paint and more importantly draw on. She also showed me how to build them.

In short, I have began to look at the physical process, just not the styles/ approaches of various eras of figure studies.

now it's time to bug Skyler since she is complaining about not having any comments.

bloggin away... September 19th

I. am. very. tired. 'bout to get over it though and talk about capstone. That's the first challenge. The second challenge is to adjust to this whole MAC thing including this awkward little keyboard. It feels like elementary school. I think that's the last time I was required to journal. Kind of cool to be revisiting the concept and sort of sad it has taken this long to return. The feeling is just the same. You know, the one where if you aren't typing when teacher looks it makes you feel guilty.....

ok, capstone. I'm doing a figure study. That is a really broad way of putting it and honestly it is pretty broad in actuality. It is sort of my fear at this point. I don't want to end up with a whole lot of 'random'. Granted, I feel like the purpose of blogging and having a capstone class is to prevent said randomness. I think what will end up happening is a bit of exploration will take place, I will reflect on this, then venture in the directions that are coherent to this project. I do know I would like my capstone to be both 2-D and have a 3-D element as well.

Alright, all done homie.

The next step, I believe, is to research how other artists handle the figure. I mean it is a broad area of study; spanning over many artistic and related social movement. That statement is completely vague in that I couldn't give specifics of how views and handling of the figure have changed, but I do know of the movements. Guess that's where the research comes into play.

Additional steps taken thus far include my sitting in on Prof. Nash's life drawing class that is currently being offered. It feels good to be studying the figure in depth again. It has been a year and a half since I last visited this form of the arts.

gettin to it

I've been re-visiting life drawing via dropping in on the current life drawing course being offered. It feels great to be drawing the figure again! It's been about 2 years so well over due!

proposal day.... should probably sleep at some point

yup, throwing myself under the bus. Stoked about presenting today! Looking for major feedback (brutal feedback is cool with me) so I can get in gear with my project! Curious to see which of my proposals becomes favored. Ok, done talking to cyber space now.