Murder your Darlings

Meaning: don't keep using things you are good at or that are precious to you. Expand your horizons, try new things. Don't get too wrapped up in something that you fail to see its shortcomings.

This has been particularly helpful as I navigate artist ruts and episodes of un-inspiration and embarrassment at failure. I'm at the point in the semester where I'm feeling stuck, like I've hit a wall and I can't quite break it down to the glory and amazing talent on the other side. See, I don't even know what's on the other side cause I haven't even broken down the wall yet. I don't have the means to, I'm just standing there staring at it. 

Murder your darlings is supposedly a F. Scott Fitzgerald quote, supposedly from the Great Gatsby, but I have read the whole book and have not stumbled across it yet. Which means it's probably not there. But nevertheless, it's still inspiring. 

Good luck getting out of ruts this week! Murder your darlings.

Happy Monday!

installation art?

The week before break was stressful. So, needless to say, I did all my artwork for the week on Sunday night. It took me nearly 7 hours. I was up until 4:30 in the morning... which is not normal. But its crazy how you get going and you forget that all the lights are off and your roommates have been asleep for at least 5 hours, and you're on movie number 3 to keep you going. 

Anyway. These were a product of Sunday night. And, as late as it was, I actually love them. I'm continuing to work with broken mirrors and maybe some more chalkboard. I made a challenge for myself this week to make my artwork public in some way. Not just a picture of it, but the physical artwork. I want to put my work in places for people to see them. This freaks me out, but I'm doing it anyway!

Happy Tuesday!

Pacific Northwestern things//how I cured my artist slump

I had a break from creating this week, as I was fully occupied with doing adventure-y type things in Washington state. A lovely state indeed.

We did many things like frolic in the tall tree'd woods, wander up high mountains, look over quiet waters, and I did some serious soul restoring.

Before I left, I was in a serious artist slump, as the title suggested. You know what a slump is, whether you know that you know it or not. It's when you're just not into it. AT ALL. Seriously people. There is nothing in the world I least wanted to do less last week than create any kind of art. This break came at the perrrrfect time.

Something happens to you when you're in the presence of a mountain. I can't describe it well, but if you've ever been there you know what I mean. Its a simultaneous I'm-going-to-vomit, I-can't-handle-this, I-wanna-live-there, I'm-breathless, I'm-dying feeling. You know? Like everything you know is gone and the mountain is the new love of your life. You want to run away screaming and jump and fly over the whole thing at the same time. Wat.

I hope that made some sense. I can't really use words to describe it. If only facial expressions were allowed on blogs, I think that would help.

Anyway. Back at it this week. I'm now inspired by nature and will maybe make some nature-y things. Happy Monday!

Commissions and other such mishaps

This weekend I had the joy of working on something extra special. A friend and I created this super amazing piece by request from another friend. It was a blast to create.

We made it on chalkboard canvas and used chalk, white paint, gold ink and markers, and a lot of planning. It was modeled after a manuscript page, and it was of a lovely poem piece that touched my heart over the course of this past Saturday when I spent the whole day with it. And what a dandy companion that little piece was.

I will post the full picture soon!

Happy Monday! 

SUCESS AT LAST!

Today I snuck in the room. THE ROOM! The secret room where dreams come true. I am working on something fun to submit for a possible portfolio item. 

I've also discovered that working large is much more fun because there is more room for mistakes, which happen quite a lot. And it makes me feel much more like an artist working on an installation piece rather than a student doodling in a sketchbook. If you know what I mean. 

happy FRIDAYYY

In which I fail on two sleuthy accounts and go online shopping instead

Some inspiration images of what I had wanted to do today.

This week we were supposed to use a different kind of media. I was sick of pencil and paper anyway, and upon daydreaming in class I came up with this super undercover, private-eye kind of mission. 

So. My Wednesdays are usually very busy and I just don't have time to drag my butt on down to my studio. I'm normally busy busy straight through until about 9:15pm, and by then all I want to do is nothing. But yesterday, at around 6pm I got this wonderful idea which kept me going all through work. I happen to have a key to a super secretive room because of one of my jobs, and it has a chalkboard running all the way around the room. I had been inspired by Dana Tanamachi lately, and I had wanted to try some chalkboard lettering. 

So I told only one friend about my secretive endeavors. she gladly agreed to meet me in the secret room after she grabbed some things. On my way over, I saw my roommate. I lead her to the secret room, and we started talking, the way you do when you haven't seen someone you love in a whole 7 HOURS (for golly sake). 

So we're blabbing away, by now it's about 9:30, and there's no sign of the friend I asked to meet me there. All of a sudden, several guys walk into the room holding brooms and buckets. They're all oh uhhhh, we need to clean this room and we're all oh! okay no problem we'll leave right away and they're all oops we probably interrupted something really intense because apparently me and my roommate always look like we're about to burst out crying when we are talking. awk.

So we left. We walked back to our room because my dreams of chalkboard-sketching-late-at-night had been shattered. My friend tried to find us but instead saw the guys who walked in on our apparently deep and intense conversation. So she went home too.

Discouraged, I woke up this morning and had another brilliant plan. There is a HUGE stack of cardboard in the Senior Sem studio space. I wanted to make letters out of cardboard!! there is a sign over the stack in the studio that's all don't take cardboard without permission and I'm all dude. I failed last night on my sleuthy attempt at art, and I will not fail again! I tried to grab one from the bottom of the stack so the note-writer maybe wouldn't notice, but allas, I was not strong enough. I tried from the middle, and kindof towards the top, but I couldn't do it! There were some kind of synthetic donut-looking things on top of the stack that was maybe someone's art project, and I didn't want to disrupt that. So I gave in on yet another attempt at secretive undercover art. 

I am not browsing amazon right now with my new gift card. Probably. 

happy thursday!

Everyone knows the opening line of the Great Gatsby

Despite the title, that's not the answer. That's a C. S. Lewis quote, duh.

In my younger and more vulnerable years, my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.

"Whenever you feel like criticizing any one," he told me, "just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had."

You have heard this, whether or not you remember or even faintly (don't) recognize it. You've heard it. It's brilliant. This is the kind of writing that gets you, to the core. ugh, I mean really. How does he do it? Where can I get the Fitzgerald gene? Is there some magical word bank in the clouds that I can have access to? Do you need a membership or password?

One day. Courage, dear heart.

Or something like that. 

happy Tuesday!

'destruction'

before...

          ... and after

This was for last week's assignment to destroy a work of art. I covered it with charcoal and redrew it in ink over the top. I kinda like it better... especially that middle part.

I have quite run out of things to say on this blog. I mean, here's the work. Look at it, you probably don't have time for a long explanation anyway. I mean I know I aint got time. Because look. I'm a college student, I have homework and projects and papers and tests and friends and working out and food and sleeping (wat) and shenanigans. I shouldn't even have time to create for 1.5 hours a day. But I am lucky enough to have that be my homework. Geez.

It's jolly good to be an art major. 

Happy Monday!