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.