on spirituality, nature/art, crossword discipline, being straightedge

It's Ash Wednesday, when Christians burn last year's Palm Sunday palms and draw a cross on your forehead. And now, I'm sitting in the computer lab wondering if my appearance is being disregarded, considered, or remembered. But at the same time, I'm trying really hard not to have an itch on my brow. I'm not particularly religious. But I think it's important, and there are times when you're walking on a trail and the trees move in a pattern and the grass smells just right and it's a special moment of beauty. That's holy.

Spring break is next week, and I don't really have anything to do for a week, which is a pity. So I wanted to drive to Sand's Point and draw something. I should paint something. The least I can do is bring a watercolor set and get basic line and color down. I just need to do art over break, draw a landscape from life.

Crosswords are like hitting a brick every day. Sometimes you break it, sometimes you know how to break it, sometimes you just can't get a handle on it. But there's always a new brick every day.

I describe myself as 'straightedge', but I don't... there are people who.... there are things that just don't interest me, and they tend to be on the same plane of thought, even though common morals of society give them different values. Like, I don't smoke and my ears aren't pierced. I don't hate people who do things, illegal or not, but as long as they respect my decisions, I can usually respect theirs. If they're not killing themselves slowly.

I love the way people walk. Toes facing inwards, outwards, wide at the knees, one knee a little twisted. It's wonderful.

Prayer for a Midterm Paper

This is not the first time I've had to sit down and write a paper in a sitting.
It will not be the last time.
I just hope that I can express myself clearly, try not to use pretentious words, and still make the page amount without any stupid antics.
I hope that I will not make serious grammatical mistakes.
I hope that I will not be working on this paper during lunch tomorrow.
I hope I will be able to print it out in time.

"Education provides both society and the individual with methods of nonviolent expression."

sketches

I don't keep a regular sketchbook, these exist in what's supposed to be my drawing notebook. The first half are ones drawn last night before I went to bed, around, say, 2am? drowsiness should be apparent. The others were drawn this morning while having breakfast in the cafeteria. Oh, and the sandals were drawn when I realized, during drawing, that I didn't have non-flipflop sandals to drive in this summer (I don't like driving with flipflops).

And sandals guy walked past me after I had his drawing on the page. The last drawing, of me drawing me with hotchocolate, was finished about 40 minutes ago from this post. Overall, a productive morning. I guess.

Paintings and Crayon Color Designs

In a proper title format.

These are last week's classwork and homework, as well as what I did in Light/Color/Design this week.
We painted a still life that had two opposing lights from opposite directions, then we recreated the still life with color-aid paper, aka veryexpensivepaperthatsmellslikechemicals and it comes in every color (unless it's second semester and you have a second-hand pack).

There's also designs, color ideas, and crayon tests for a design project. It's based on all the ways to use colors my class learned all year, and we have to create designs for the 4 seasons, on a 'grid' made of the diagonals and medians that occur when you make a symmetrical golden ration rectangle/square set. aka that mathematical swirl.

cuts

I am cut up. I have cuts all over my fingers from a hard candy experiment (very hand candy), in places where the band-aids don't stay on for long. There's a pimple-turned-cut at the corner of my mouth, which will never heal because it is constantly reopened. My fingers have paint on them, which needs cleaning. My nails are, for once in my life, consistently longer than my personal average, and 8 1/2 of them are painted purple (aforementioned band-aid attempts). The worst of them, I believe, is a 1/2 inch cut that is not artery-deep, but reopens uncomfortably at the bend of a finger.

I think the worst part of this physical affliction is that it will all heal, with time. And other things will eventually take their place.



In an unrelated event, I got netflix, and started watching Firefly. And then I found out that there were only 14 episodes, and I was very sad.

long writing, music

I keep discovering albums on my ipod, thanks to friends who give me tons of music that I never get around to. So, I've been listening to Love Below, Outkast, and Welcome Interstate Managers, Fountains of Wayne. Yes, the Stacy's Mom band. The atmosphere of 'sad NY office worker needs a drink but knows it's bad for him' is like a different face of Jonathon Coulton's 'sad office worker is too busy dreaming to have any relationships'. This is also contrasted with the Decemberists's 'Victorian peasant is sad, has a sad life, and drowns after falling in love'. I love this, it feels so unabashedly bias and incorrect.

Today was the DDA meeting for the freshman in my department. We are 2D/3D animation and 'interactive arts', which I don't understand but it sounds really interesting and important. The head of the department gave us an overview of the next 3 years of our lives. I can't wait. It's going to be so much better than this year's mess.

So, that leaves me with the summer. There are so many things I want to do, many things I should do, and so many options. I know, though, that I need to redo my room. It hasn't changed much since the beginning of middle school, and now that I don't live there, it'll mostly be storage for art supplies and a studio. With a bed. And a large desk in the middle of the room, with a great studded-leather chair, a bust of Julius Ceasar that tilts backwards to reveal a secret room behind a bookcase. At the very least, a desk with storage space, and a set of bookshelves in the hallway (to replace the sideways one and clear up my room).

Some LCD work

These are all from the last 3 weeks, selected works. Oil paint, unless otherwise noted. We did Chiaroscoro, Cangiantismo, and Sfumato in the same month. Chiaroscoro bottles from life, Cangiantismo indoor/outdoor scenery, and Sfumato self-portraits.
Okay. Chiaroscuro: bottles, abstract with same palate. Cangiantismo: stained glass flower design (gouache on paper, then cut and pasted), indoor/outdoor painting. Sfumato self-portrait in a grid. And last is the case I made, so that I can carry wet oil paintings from my class to my room without getting everything ruined. It's made of a Crispix box, corrugated and pressed cardboard, duct tape, rubber cement, and masking tape. It can hold six 11" x 9" pieces.

happy valentine's day

The manifesto didn't get sent in.
Valentine's Day is coming.
And it can also be used. as a hat.
I made a film with animation in it, as in, a movement every 6 or 8 frames that come together to make a whole. I filmed it through a window and in a mirror, with the drawings out of dry-erase marker. It came out well enough for the action to be conveyed, but I don't think it's anything close to smooth. Also, I realized halfway through drawing a walk cycle that I wasn't placing the body correctly: they were too close together. So I redid it, as shown in the Richard Williams book. All 15-20 secs of animation took about 3 hours. The editing of the video took about the same time. I've gotten much better with final cut.