Exhale

I’d forgotten how great it feels to be productive! Exhausting, but fantastic. I’m on fire!

I’m trying out a new painting technique that I’m pretty thrilled about. I love texture (why shouldn’t a painting also be a sort of sculpture?) so I got this heavy-body acrylic gel medium, and I put a coat over the gesso that’s almost like wall plaster. So I’ll get to start the painting with an underlying texture, and then build on top of it! I’m so excited about it that I’ve been putting off everything else to keep prepping my canvases… but I suppose I should stop neglecting printmaking. It’s new and difficult for me, which really means I ought to be putting more effort into it than my other classes, not less. I shall overcome! I have some ideas for my prints, at least, which is better than the sheer terror I was feeling the first week of classes.

On another note:

I see nothing wrong with painting from photographs without abstracting them. A painting is essentially different from a photograph, because it has texture, and brushstrokes, and.. well, it’s not a photograph, it’s a painting. And in my opinion, the paintings are more interesting than the photographs, because you can modify them, and because the duplication of photographic effects in paint is a fascinating and beautiful process.

My painting professor and I disagree on this point. However, this has at least provided me with a solution to the problem I mentioned in my previous post! I have to do two panels of the same subject (loosely defined), and approach them in different ways. How to approach them in different ways? I’ll just do one of the panels the way I want to do it, and one panel the way she wants me to do it! Problem solved. (Although I must admit, I’ve never really done any abstract painting before, much less an abstracted landscape, so I’m more than a bit apprehensive. But how else do you learn?)

Also, Clement Greenberg is a douchebag. He makes some good points, but for the most part, he’s just a douchebag.

Time to go dive headfirst into printmaking and see how I do! Wish me luck, friends.

Here we go again

Okay, so clearly I’m not very good at remembering to write in my blog when things get busy! Better late than never, I suppose.

This semester is shaping up to be pretty awesome. I have painting again, which obviously rocks my world, and I’m taking a printmaking course, which seems like it’s going to rock my world over as well! My art history course is interesting, even if the professor is absurdly pretentious (he has affected a British accent, even though he’s from Louisiana – ridiculous!). And then I have my geology lecture and lab, which I’m hoping will be interesting while also fulfilling that darn lab science requirement. Until now I’ve been able to avoid any classes with online quizzes and such, but alas! No more. Ugh.

My schedule feels kind of tilty – Tuesdays and Thursdays are packed, Wednesdays are moderately busy, and Mondays and Fridays I have one hour-long class at 9am. I’m determined to force myself to go, even though it’s early and short. I wish my studio classes were on different days, but what can you do?

I’m pretty thrilled about my first painting project. We have to do two panels, and I’m doing an abstraction of the image you see on your right. (I took it last week at the Congaree Swamp outside Columbia, SC – isn’t it gorgeous?) The panels are going to be arranged vertically, with a 2′ x 4′ horizontal panel above and a 3′ x 4′ horizontal panel below. The division is going to be along the white middle portion formed by the ice on the lake. It’s going to be a challenge, especially simplifying the tree shapes above and fading the branches into the sunlight  (not to mention the ridiculously subtle whites in the ice) but I’m psyched to get started. Hopefully I’ll get my canvases built this weekend so I can start painting next Tuesday!

And that, internet, is all I have to say. Happy conquering!

time to start respecting yourself, woman

I’m working to get back into the swing of being a full-time student (by which I mean actually focusing on my studies, instead of technically being enrolled but not engaging in any of the activities generally expected of a student… like going to class). I’m beginning to think that laying out some rules for myself would be an excellent plan. So, I’ve decided it’s high time I steal your Back to School Commandments idea. I feel justified in this act knowing that you stole it before I did! Here we go:

Amber’s Back to School Commandments (or, no more wasting your education, dammit!)

1. Go to class, no matter how tired, overwhelmed, or unprepared you are. Just go.
2. Check your calendar often, and keep it updated! You will get everything done, and you will do it on time.
3. Put in consistent work on long assignments, especially in studio classes. You can’t make a sculpture in a day.
4. Don’t get discouraged if things aren’t going well. If you put in the time, it will turn out alright in the end.
5. Stress is no excuse for rudeness to the awesome people in your life. Just because you’ve had a bad day doesn’t mean anyone else has to.
6. Go to the gym at least three times a week. You’ll be more productive, and you know you’ll love it once you get cracking. Make the time.
7. Go to bed, woman! You need sleep!
8. Remember your opportunity costs! It’s high time you graduated. (This means no video games, no matter what happens. You know you don’t have time.)
9. Don’t neglect your friendships! They keep you connected to the outside world, and you know how much you need that.
10. Having respect for yourself means committing to your education. You deserve a future beyond cheap portrait studios.

P.S. The best pick-me-up in the world is just a phone call away. Never forget why you’re doing this.

Remember the rules, self, and you’ll do just fine. You have one busy, busy week, but you just have to make it until Friday before your whole world gets a whole lot better.

A little extra motivation never goes awry:

“For anything worth having one must pay the price, and the price is always work, patience, love, self-sacrifice – no paper currency, no promises to pay, but the gold of real service.” – John Burroughs

Also, can I just say, one of my favorite things about my major is the fact that I can work on my most important assignments while listening to Neil Gaiman’s short stories on audiobook. I was amazingly productive today, although it doesn’t feel that way… six hours of work and I don’t even have paint on my canvas! (At least the surface is exquisite, and I’m ready to begin painting tomorrow.) BUT I was able to be amazingly productive and hear several stories from Fragile Things simultaneously. That’s pretty much the definition of a good day.

Logic!

Time to take a break from thinking about this project, because my mind is going in circles that are nowhere near rational. A good  night’s sleep will do me good. See you on the other side, world!

Pulp Art, Literally

I think the idea that art has to say something to be interesting is bullshit. What’s wrong with art existing for purely aesthetic reasons? Art for art’s sake, I say, and take your ideas about art to the NYT art pages. So, I’ve decided to make my next painting as vapid as possible. Colorful, fascile, huge, and shiny. It’s going to be at least 5′ x 5′, probably bigger. I’m going to paint this pomegranate:

I’d also like to integrate this african cucumber, if possible:

I’m going to revel in aesthetic frippery, and I’m going to love it.

So, I guess I’ve kind of proved myself wrong, in that art that’s saying nothing is still saying something, by virtue of saying nothing. Still, I think it will look awesome.

A Few Things

I need to get more sleep. I took a bath this morning to shave my legs and ended up falling asleep and missing my first class. Oops. At least it was just a 101 lecture? Still, no good.

I can feel a storm blowing in! It’s beautiful, but the wind tried to blow my sandwich away at lunchtime.

October 9th cannot come soon enough. There are things I want to tell you that require more than words. Prepare, sir, to be kidnapped.

The windows to my left are full of sun, and the windows in front of me are full of clouds. This is why I love New Mexico. (Well, and mountains. Mountains are in my blood, it seems.)

I’m trying to tease out the organized, disciplined girl I know is in me somewhere. Sometimes I can feel her rising to the surface.

There are productive things I could be doing right now, but my brain feels dim. I definitely need to get more sleep. I wish there was a good place to nap on campus. More than that, I wish I had time for a workout and a shower before my next class. I need to wake up. I’ve been trying to avoid the coffee, but I think today is a day for caving.

Some Thoughts on Wood

I’ve been frustrated with wood recently, because it’s a new medium and I’ve been struggling to get my head around it, but it has won me over once more! There’s just nothing quite as beautiful as oiled wood, and no transformation quite as thrilling as unfinished wood to finished. I may even choose to work with wood again! Mad, right?

I still have quite a bit to do on my sculpture – I’ve got all the starter holes drilled, but I need actually get the nails in, and I need to cut, sand, and oil the pedestal. I’m optimistic about getting it done, though. (Good thing, too, because this is the last night I have to work on it!) I’ve had ants in my pants for the last few hours, because the wood shop is closed for a 3D class between 5:30 and 8:15. Just a few more minutes and I can get back to work!

Also, my car is now filled with the intoxicating scent of lumber. Smells so good.

I’m conflicted about my love of wood, though. In my personal opinion, there’s nothing as lovely as wooden furniture, wooden kitchen implements, wooden anything really. BUT in addition to my love of wood, I have an even stronger love of trees.  Shall I have to stick with pine, because the trees grow so fast and thus very little of the pine lumber in the market comes from old-growth forests? This would seem like the ethical choice, and it’s the one I’m leaning towards. (I’m using Douglass Fir on my current sculpture, and while I don’t know the source of the wood, I think I can safely assume it’s grown for lumber as well because it’s so cheap. Old-growth wood is, pretty consistently, expensive wood.) The environmentally conscious part of my soul is satisfied with pine. However, the aesthetically inclined artist in me is ever drawn to the other gorgeous, more expensive, more detrimental woods. I’ll take beautiful forests over beautiful art any day, because art grows a lot faster than trees, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say it makes me kind of sad.

Wood shop is open again! Later kiddos.

Returning to the World of Interwebs

I have been lured back into the land of the blog! Mostly because it seems that quite a few friends have gotten into the habit, and I’m beginning to miss it. Here goes nothing!

So, as a way of getting myself started again, a list:

• Working with wood is HARD. I’m pretty new to the world of 3D (I like flat things better), and when this new way of thinking is combined with the need to use power tools without injuring myself, it becomes a bit much. I am not happy with my first-ever wood sculpture, but I am at least satisfied that I have explored a new medium, and given it my best effort. And once I’m done with this sculpture class, I can go back to photography and painting.
• Also my clothes are perpetually covered in sawdust, and I get wood chips in my hair. This is a minor irritation, but it also makes me feel pretty hardcore.
• My efforts to ease my cat’s fears of the family dog have this far been unsuccessful. I’m hoping to make her understand that yes, the dog will chase her in circles, and find her where she’s hiding, but then all she wants to do is look. Today I took Nuri (who is cat) outside in the backyard, where Rita (who is dog) came excitedly to find her. Nuri puffed up into a spitting furball and peed herself, while Rita took a nap.

• Hopefully my next painting project will turn out amazing. I am excited.
• I’m not sure if I’ll keep up with this blogging thing, but I’m pretty excited about it. I like the thought of having an organized vehicle for getting random thoughts out of my brain. I think it unlikely that my posts will be intelligent.
• I need to get Photoshop and Illustrator onto my new computer. Picasa just doesn’t cut it.
• I’m sleepy.