.definitely not in kansas.

So, I just have to get this out in writing. Weird fact about me, I am both totally enamored by and scared to death by tornadoes... They are the most magnificent, powerful, and also destructive, terrifying forces of nature... I keep having these recurring dreams about storms. I've had them since I can remember. I always have these dreams where a tornado is coming and I can't escape it. I can never remember how these dreams begin, but the feeling of being totally helpless is engrained in my mind. These dreams are always dark and gray. Sometimes I am surrounded by storms and multiple tornadoes and sometimes I have a bird's eye view and am flying over all of the destruction. I am alone and frazzled. I've tried to look into what these could mean... some people think dreams about storms could symbolize frustration and emotional conflict or uncertainty. That's kind of scary... but these dreams do seem to correlate to specific events.. whether I am totally stressed or emotionally overwhelmed. Maybe I should make some art about this...

Crazy Tornado I found while Googling...

.9.11.

Well, friends.. it is now 11:26 PM on September 11th, 2010. 9 years ago something happened that will shake our history and our generation forever. September 11th, 2001 will be in my children's History textbooks and I will tell them about it... every year we will see footage of two American flights crashing into the Twin Towers in New York City. The day that shook America will be burned into my memory forever. I will remember walking into the my 8th grade History class and hearing students yelling in the hall that something bad was happening... and then going home to seeing those two planes crash into the towers over and over and over... I remember my History teacher telling us that we should not live in fear.. even though these acts were committed out of a dark anger and hate towards Americans, life would have to go on... we had to move forward. My teacher reminded us that heinous acts against our country have happened before and will continue to happen, but we still had to step out of our homes and continue living life... terrorists would want us to live in fear, but living in fear is not living at all. I know there is a lot of controversy swirling around that day of whether it could have been stopped or handled better, it still does not change the fact that it happened... it was significant and had purpose. So looking ahead to the years to come, we must always remember this part of our history, but try to gain something from it... maybe an appreciation for what we have, for the ones we love, for the freedom we love. I know for me, watching these documentaries today of everyday people... students from NYU watching the events occur... one minute those towers were there, one minute those people were breathing and the next, they were burned up in airplane fuel or crushed in debris.

Let's live as though tomorrow is not a promise and love as though our time is short. Don't wait to live out your dreams until it is too late... don't leave your loved ones with an unkind word.

.empowered.

Hello friends! As promised, I am posting pictures TONIGHT! Yay! Not much to blog about really... My first critique went well in printmaking, so I am happy... now I just have to start brainstorming my next project. Well, here are the photos! Enjoy and good night :)

.masterpiece.

So, prints are all finished and laying on the drying rack in the printmaking studio! Phew! Our professor gave out enough paper to make 8 prints, so I took advantage of all the paper and made all 8 (our project requires 4 finished, final prints). The first two prints were strictly collage and then I went back into the plate and added wet media (mostly glue drawing). I took two more prints with the wet media and still felt like I needed more contrast... the image I worked from was super high contrast and dramatic, so that's the effect I wanted on the plate. FINALLY, for my last four final prints, I decided to tint my ink with red. I also decided the best way to get the contrast I wanted was to manually draw the highlights in on the plate while inking it. The result was pretty good! Of course, I have no pictures to show what I am talking about, but I will be bringing my camera into the critique tomorrow to show you what I'm talking about!

Right now I'm struggling between work and school. It's so hard to balance the two... right now I just want to be working on my projects and really growing in my art... however, realistically, I have to work a good amount to pay for these classes! What a pickle! I recently looked back at my goals that I set for this year... I don't need to stress, right? I need to look at the positive...

1. I have a supportive family! My parents have been so great and have supported me throughout my college career. They have taken so much extra stress from me, which is such a blessing. Many of my friends are not only dealing with the stress of school work and paying for school and working, they are having to pay rent, cook all their own food, and worry about dirty roommates... It's so amazing how much more stable I feel living at home.

2. I have my health... obviously, I should always be thankful for life. I am blessed everyday to wake up and see a new day. Just waking up everyday gives us new opportunities... we have a new choice everyday to be positive or negative, be optimistic or pessimistic, or looking for new opportunities versus stressing over failures or short comings.

3. I have gifts... This might sound strange... it felt weird typing it... but it's true... we all have gifts in some area! Some of us are gifted musically, some artistically, some are expert communicators, some are good at making money, and others are great at just drawing people in. We are all gifted and that includes me. I was created with an artistic mind and creativity... I believe that the reason God made me this way is for me to better understand Him, since He of course, is the great Creator of all we see. I've always felt special in this way... I was created in His image to create! I love this fact about me!

4. I am a hard-worker! Even though I have my occasional waves of laziness, I always desire to work hard for what I have. I work hard at my job, school, and art work. Although this gets me in trouble a lot since I work myself until I am overwhelmed, I know this is an important trait to have... it was instilled in me by my parents and I am so grateful for it!

5. God loves me. He wants to know me. He reveals Himself to me daily (if I let myself see it). The Creator of the Universe calls me His Masterpiece... Now that, my friends, is something to be thankful for.

6. I have a boyfriend who really loves me... you might be thinking "well, I would hope he loves you, he's dating you" but really... it's so great to be with someone who really supports you and loves you for who you are. He encourages me everyday to be a better person and artist. He inspires me by how he follows what he loves (he's a musician) and dedicates himself to getting better at what he does everyday.

Wow, I really encourage everyone to talk about positive things when you are stressing! I already feel better. As promised, print photos will be up tomorrow night or Friday!

Here's a picture of my and Jay :)

.eggs and oranges.

Hello everyone! So, I guess this is the start of week three of school! The busyness has begun! As promised... I pulled my first print and took a quick snapshot! (Don't judge me, I took it with my phone and it's terrible):

So, this is the first print! I constructed my plate with masking tape and craft paper from Joann's Fabrics. This is just one of those projects that comes together easily... Making the plate was effortless and I really enjoyed it! My next step is to go back into the face and add more depth using glue and different variations of modeling and molding pastes. Glue bottle drawings are my favorite because they are so painterly in the prints. More photos to come here!

On the other side of the spectrum, I am struggling in my drawing class. I just can't seem to get it. It's hard for me not to outline things... in real life, people don't have outlines, we don't walk around with big black lines dividing us from the space around us.. our bodies are visually divided from the space around us by our mass. But how do you capture that with a stick of charcoal or a pencil? I don't know.. I guess it's pure magic... My drawing teacher wants us to pick a master to copy. So, here are just a few painters/drawers that I admire and aspire to be like...

Albrecht Durer. I think this man rocked my world when one of my drawing class saw a series of his prints at the St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts. It was so fun to go around with the little magnifying glasses and look at all the details in the prints, but my favorite part was drawing the compositions of his prints and drawings. Durer to me was a master in the art of creating compositions that convey depth and space. In the particular print, I feel the man's knee coming towards me and can relate with the way his body is contorting to look at the small figure above his head. 

Mary Cassatt. Okay, so I'm not sure if she is what they call a classic master, but I think she's a master painter. I have always loved looking at Cassatt's intimate spaces and figures. Her paintings portray women and I just love the way she displays the female figure. She has such a way of bringing the viewer in and making them a vital part of her spaces. She is another master of composition. If I could combine her way of creating intimate spaces and Durer's masterful way of portraying space and depth in his compositions, I would be in heaven!

Well, that's it for now, I think. I am sitting in Einstein's waiting for the line to go down to get some of their Vanilla Hazelnut coffee.. deeelish!

Oh, and I had to draw eggs and oranges for my drawing class this weekend.. not my finest homework assignment... 

.testing, testing.

Hello everyone! It's finally Thursday! I am currently sitting in the printmaking studio getting ready to pull my first test print of my new collagraph plate! I am so excited :) We've definitely had some problems getting the plate sealed and ready, but today is the day for a test run!

Things have been going pretty well, minus the lack of sleep... but here is a quick picture of my plate before the inking...

So, we'll see how it goes! Been keeping super busy getting this plate ready for today. And by the way, for those of you not familiar with collagraph printmaking. it's amazing! Dickblick.com has a good little section on Collagraph where they teach you how to make your own plates :)