Gamsol FAIL

Pathetic attempts lie in not being able to open up my bottle of Gamsol mineral spirits.

I'm not the only one! I'm not the only one! Sarika couldn't open up her bottle either. Faulty packaging! The edges of the tin are too close to the lid or some such hooey balooey.

Graphic Designy Goodness

NB: Brighten the Corners

Wednesdays are for Drinking and Drawing Naked People!

Went to Drink-n-Draw at 3rd Ward tonight, it's exactly what I've been looking for: drawing from nude models, and free beer. The beer is a total bonus, I was just looking for a place to do figure drawing, but what a sweet bonus it is! The model had the best curves for drawing, and great contorted poses filled with delicious negative space. I'd never enjoyed drawing feet before, but I did tonight: she knew how to use 'em. The motown they played was DEFINITELY appreciated, The Supremes, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, marvelous! It was hard not to move around in my chair and sing along... I am absolutely going back, it felt so good, I completely lost track of time and was shocked at how fast the hours flew. As it should be! Best part though? Being able to talk about the gorgeous sliver of space between the model's arms and her breast during one of the poses without getting weird looks.

I may or may not have inhaled a biiiiit too much fixative, however. But my drawings are safe and unsmudged! Very very important, of course.

Bookbinding Supplies

Getting back into making things with paper and glue. I made a box. Teacher said it was the nicest one in aaall the class. Then again, I was the last to leave, so he could've said whatever he wanted. But I need to redo my top, the wrapper was one square too short on the inside folds...uch. At least the top isn't too small, he said the fit might be snug but I think it's perfect.

Shopping list:

• mat board
• blades
• paste
• good paper
• fabric
• T-square
• cutting board
• thread

Yeah...most if not all of these things I already have...in Oregon. Lameness is everything not fitting in my suitcases whenever I journey home. Although, some things just would not fit in my suitcase, so no helping that. Although, come to think of it, I was in limited supply there, it's mainly just that green cutting board and the T-square that seem like superfluous purchases. I don't even know what the hell that green thing is called, the rubbery board with a grid that you can slice and dice upon worry-free. What is that called?? Just a cutting board? Uch. I feel like it had some special name...

Three Goats A-Leaping, FTW

Making myself business cards. Frustrating until inspiration hits. Goats! My family's crest is three goats, "dancing," "leaping," what have you. Idea? Draw the goats dancing around à la Matisse's La Danse I.

However, simplification is key. I sometimes [all the time] get too caught up in my ideas and then they snowball into one huge complicated endeavor.

The dancing goats are enough. I don't need to go and model them after Matisse, it's just too much. Cute idea though it is...it doesn't really connect to me as much as the goats on their own do. Yeah yeah, when I was 14 I was told I painted like Matisse, but that's the extent to any connection there. And I don't paint at all like him anymore, and it was only that one bloody painting that looked like it might be in his style. I mean, he's not even my favorite artist. And so, obviously, my conclusion (and my teacher's conclusion) is that Matissifying the goats is superfluous.


I'm so glad my class liked the goats card best, seeing as how it's my favorite, I spent the most time on it, and it has the best story (er, it's the only one with a story).

Now, I need to find my fracking pencils so I can re-draw my goats.

Get back to where you once belonged

I'll go by my first name or Ms. v. Last name too hard to pronounce for most anyway.


Shannon will be tickled pink. And Sarah. And Luce. And Andy. And Joe, Mickey, Barry, and Penny, all of them. This is such the right decision to make.

Art Love

I picked up my pencil and sketchbook today. I drew and drew. I want to draw more tomorrow. I think I will.

Unexpected Sunshine!

Omg, omg, gorgonzola mashed potatoes, omg! And black angus ribeye. And delicious shallot and red wine sauce. Yum-diddly-um! And Washington Merlot (forgot to write down the name! blast!)

What an absolutely delightful day I had! Love art. Saw so much art today. Walked so much today. Conversed so much today. And with such wonderful company! Sabine and Arjan are a delight, Sabine is darling as always, and Arjan is very nice. It's such a pleasure to have them stay here.

Started off with a nice breakfast together, then off to MoMA for so many hours and so many floors, and so many ideas bobbing around in my head and chock full o'inspiration. Oppenheim, de Kooning, Picasso, Flavin, Miro, Oldenburg, Giacometti, Dali, Mondrian, Matisse, de Chirico, Magritte, Duchamp, Boccioni, van Gogh, Goldin, Walker, etc. etc. etc. I don't think I've ever had such an appreciation for "modern art" as I did today. It's about bloody time! I always knew this time would come, just like the time when I overcame my museum boredom at Pratt and it was like a light turned on. Maybe it was because the last time I was at MoMA I was bitter, distracted, had a migraine, and wasn't allowed to photograph the Manets. The first time I went was with Eric and Jeff, and I definitely enjoyed it then. I don't know. Maybe this time I couldn't help but recognize nearly every name I looked at, nearly every room had at least one work of art I had studied in my art history classes, and just knowing that I knew what the hell I was looking at and knew something about it before I even had to read the bloody info card was a heady feeling indeed. It feels delicious. (And I found a Cindy Sherman poster on sale, score!)

Off to picnic lunch in Central Park, crazy crazy animals. I don't know what was up, but that squirrel and that little bird were NOT afraid of us, and kept coming back time after time. Nutters!

Then a walk downtown, Broadway was blocked for pedestrians, which was super sweet, chairs set up and live music playing. Off to Chelsea, a rest in a playground, my "type" at seventeen sitting on the bench next to me (Arjan, "do you want to go back?" kidder!), wander round for galleries, more Flavin, interesting video installation (wide open space, many films at once, on the same topic, from different cameras and spaced at different times, showing different frames of thought).

Ambled through the High Line, what a treat! I wish they would carry that to the actual streets of the city! Mother and child asleep, a diaper on the child's head. Cobble stones below peaking through the asphalt. No rain (unlike weather predicted), blue skies, rays of sunshine streaming between distant clouds across the Hudson.

A meander to find Gay St. It was a lot less gay than I recall. I don't know why, but I remembered cobble stones. Cobble stones there were none. Houses not as cute in the daylight. Poo-poo! But I found it, my navigation skills at least are good.

Busy restaurants, adorable inns, a party of elderly ladies at Lips. Meander, meander, and finally the Cornelia Street Cafe, getting there just in time to snag the last available table. Bottle of wine, conversation, steaks all around. Deelish. And, to top off the wonderful day, a group of men singing 'Duke of Earl' on Bleecker. Priceless!

'Henry's Women'

There's an exhibit of paintings of all the women in Henry VIII's life at Hampton Palace. I yearn to go. Pine to go. Desire it. These paintings have never been seen before by the public, and they are certainly not on the internet. Some bare an entirely different likeness than the canonical, and oh to go see them would be divine. Maybe I'll be able to go to Europe this summer and swing by England before the exhibit ends.

Henry's Women

Forain

I am in love again. This time it is Jean-Louis Forain. His lines! His colours! His brushstrokes! Oh my! Such aesthetic deliciousness is captured in his figures.

And only better yet - he is little known! It is only someone to discover, to learn more about, and I love it.

Taste & Aesthetic

"Less is More."

Gordon Ramsey so instructs many a chef.

I believe this carries over to art as well. Hints of figures or objects, peeping out of the canvas or paper, alluding to the blankness from which it formed. I personally find this to be aesthetically pleasing.

Also in relationships. The less you get, the more you want. Just a taste. To wet your appetite. Just a little nibble. To make you hungry.

You can't have one without the other. As Missie and I discussed over dinner Tuesday night, the inevitable coexistence of love and heartbreak. There has to be a balance, the good and the bad, it is an absolute impossibility to have only one.

Balance.

My glass is full.

Reds

Using cadmium red to highlight the underlying alizarin crimson makes the drapery POP.

Tedious is the process, but rewarding is the product.