this is Christmas

i haven't really done much art this month. but it's Christmas time! so here's a Christmas sketch. it's super rough, as all i had was a cheap pencil (which i soon gave up on) and a red ballpoint pen.

it represents what Christmas means to me, which turned out to be a good reminder. 

have a very merry one!

 

thankful (better late than never)

[i originally wrote this post the day before thanksgiving]

i'm sorry to have temporarily abandoned this blog after my show! it was a crazy whirlwind of events and now it's down. 

it seems too short, but looking back, i am so grateful for so many people who helped me get through it. people kept telling me, "yes! your show's up! you did it!" 

but i felt i couldn't rightfully take credit that I did it. yes, everything depended on me doing it, but so many people got me there. i couldn't have done it alone. 

i hesitate to name names for fear i'll forget to mention people (and i'm sure i will) but i feel like i need to thank those who were with me through the entire project. because all of these people are all very talented in many capacities themselves, i'm including links to their online stuff if applicable.

i know it is a LOT of writing, but it must be done!
besides, there are some fun memories to preserve in these little anecdotes. 

check out some of the reception photos on my (rarely used) flikr! :) 

--

thank you to:

mallory and jeff: for being some of the biggest support even though you're both out of state. you were there when my ideas were just wee baby thoughts and helped me synthesize and develop them into strong and mature concepts. you were also my emotional sounding board and i'm pretty sure both of you heard me break down more than once, yet encouraged me to call again when i needed you. 

josh, for being kind and patient while i likely crowded your space as well as renee for sacrificing your desk so i could have a place to work.

zach: for helping me miter the poplar to make the cradles for the boards, even though it was late and chilly and the machine made silly cuts. and for stopping by to check on my art and for your quiet enthusiasm for it.

al: for helping me finish making the boards and cradles. and for talking in an irish accent while doing so. it went ten times faster with you there and was ten times more enjoyable.

jenny, talisa, danielle, danny, sam, hayden, mel, chelise, jacob, griffin, kim, ammon, jonnie, miranda and so many others: for general excitement for my show, curiosity to understand and expand my concepts and constant support and unending encouragement. 

joseph: for your visits to the studio, and for your continual excitement. you've seen my work progress throughout years and your encouragement has always helped me to continue.

normandie: for being here when i finished. for proving it could be done by completing a stellar show yourself, for eating your lunch next to my desk, for pita chips and peanut butter, for our talks about hard things and art and life and hope. 

steven: for often checking in on me unannounced and breathing over my shoulder to make sure i was working. believe it or not, i'd count on that as a pop quiz to keep me on task.

rebecca: for empathizing and encouraging. i loved creating our shows at the same time. and for the consolation milkshake talk time that night we took them down. 

annie: first for being an example to me when you did your show a couple of years ago, and then believing in me so i could do mine. for being an angel of a friend. 

tawni: with my weak immune system, i can only attribute the fact that i didn't get terribly sick during this project because of your wonderful food. honestly. besides, our little chats were often a highlight of my day.

ellis and adam: for kindly demanding that i make awesome art and expecting nothing less. 

bronson, bryan, jacob, steph, normandie: for helping me get the show up on those walls! that was quite the feat. i honestly couldn't have done it without you guys. especially you, bryan.

devin: for just getting it. 

mariah: for checking up on me, for being excited for my project when i wasn't, for making me eat and reminding me to sleep. for taking care of my entire reception so i wouldn't have to worry about it and when i was sad, to help me to stop being sad and be awesome again. 

and speaking of my reception-- thanks to jess, aaron, amber and vinnie, for volunteering to make things run as smooth as melted chocolate. 

professor harris: for believing in my writing. and for seeing me as a writer when i was too scared to admit it.

robby: for agonizing over the poplar and masonite. for helping me figure it all out. for doing so many odds and ends that made everything go faster or nicer, even when it cost sleep. for making sure i was safe late at night after working. for believing in my victory.  

steph: we started our collegiate artistic journey together and we ended it together. thank you for your encouragement, kindness, enthusiasm, ideas, and open ears. for being stern when i needed a coach and for being understanding when i needed a friend. we were meant to beeee! 

my studio owl girls--hana, chelsea, rebecca and melissa (as well as kelsey and her boy scott!): can i thank you enough?! for all those long (sometimes sleepless) nights in the studio, for learning the party rock anthem dance, for your encouragement and critiques. for wanting to see me succeed.

my bfa advisor chris thornock, for pushing me to go outside of my comfort zone to produce something that really mattered to me. and for your excitement. cuz that stuff is contagious. 

everyone else in the studio. and my professors. especially cynthia hogan and dave mcclellan, for always believing in me as a person, as well as in my work. that has helped me more than either of you will ever know.

jason lanegon and the mates in gallery 303 and friends in the print lab. the first two for being extremely helpful and the last for keeping me laughing and sane.

everyone who came to my reception: yes, everyone. i was overwhelmed with happiness and gratitude and the responses i got made it all worth it. 

my family, who have always believed in my art and never questioned my career path. maybe that was silly on your part, but i'm very grateful it was a battle i never had to fight. 

and YOU. yep, you reading this. thanks for taking the time, and for being interested or curious or bored or whatever brings you to this blog. it means so much. 

--

you guys. my show went up and came down. it was successful. and WE did it. :) 

happy thanksgiving! 

*thanks to joseph for that first picture and stephanie for the reception photos on my flikr*

thanksgiving stream of consciousness

i have kind of a wonderful thanksgiving/bfa reception post lined up but don't have all the pictures yet, so you'll have to wait in suspense!

til then, here are three disjointed thoughts and the way they connect.

#1. one of my best friends and amazing photographer stephanie jarstad (click here) had her final bfa show reception on november 16th.

she gave cameras to local blind people and had them photograph what they found "beautiful" through their other senses. thus, her exhibit is a compelling display of her photographs of these people plus their photos and beautiful artist statements. in essence, it's an exploration of "beauty".

please attend if you can; it'll make you re-think beauty and look through a different pair of eyes.

poster designed by hayden davis

up until NOVEMBER 29 // byu hfac, gallery 303 // open m-f, 8am-5pm. 

--

#2. at steph's reception, i was talking with a friend about how hard it would be for us as artists to lose our sight. he mentioned, "or to lose my right hand...". i suggested that we could try our left hand, and he took it as a challenge.

when he took the challenge and started to draw left-handed, (awesomely, i might add), i was guilted into swallowing my words and trying it myself.

here's what i came up with:



#3. okay, see that little turkey in the bottom right? there. thanksgiving. thanksgiving!

and we come full circle. kind of.

the innocent eyes exhibition reminded me of all the things that are beautiful in this world. the things we don't "see" as beautiful that surround us every day. i'm thankful for those things as well as my own eyes and my right hand as well as my left, as well as the ability to create.

happy thanksgiving. :)

i survived!

my bfa show! it's real!!

and the opening reception was glorious. more on that later.
it'll be up til wednesday, so check it out if you haven't!

so what am i doing tonight?
well, there is another show with a submission deadline tomorrow......







we'll see if i can turn this into something before then. :)

ALSO. i'll be painting on TOMS shoes again tomorrow in nordstrom's at city creek from 1-4pm! if you're in the salt lake area, stop by and say hi! (other TOMS events here)

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y....NIGHT!

well, my show was supposed to go up yesterday, but i'm most definitely still working on it.

let's hear it for 2 hours and 45 minutes of sleep within a 36-hour time period! wooo!

sidenote: artists know that this is not uncommon for us. 
although over the last year i've been a whole lot better at that sleep thing...i guess i'm just making up for it now.

there's lots of stuff that goes into the publicity and the reception, so look! i'm super proud of my little invites and poster. i realized later that i was able to incorporate illustration, photography and graphic design (plus hand-drawn type!) which is probably why i loved making them.

steph took these photos for me when we were on a break (her bfa photography exhibit goes up the week after mine comes down!) and we laugh a lot.

so...my opening reception. food, pictures, words and maybe some tunes. also, great company. tomorrow night. come!

til then, i'll work on making sure there is a stellar show to see.

t-minus one week

well, i suppose the correct equation would be

T - < 1 week

because my show goes up in less than one week. i'm not freaking out (at this very second, though you may check back to find that a falsehood at any given moment) but i'm determined and i'm excited.

who says art majors don't use math.....

//

picture 1: texture, scumbling and glazing studies for the second image in this post. 

picture 2: the actual final painting alluded to in the aforementioned post.
picture 3: typography for that same image (i did the majority of this piece in a day!) 

picture 4: this will be one of the more technically complicated pieces. the reference photo is in the back, which was one of the most intriguing photoshoots i've done for some time.

i wrote the above text yesterday (saturday) though i'm just getting around to posting now.

which is good, because i just had a riveting conversation with a friend about my show. he's an art education major, and as we discussed some themes and difficulties and processes and it left me feeling invigorated and pumped to get working on my show. i'mma go to bed tonight like a kid on Christmas eve, just waiting for 5am to roll around so i can pop up and start painting.

maybe you're a little excited, too?

composing without a net

yesterday i had a talk with a friend who's a [dang good] music composer.

he said that he had the opportunity to take a lesson from renowned composer david rakowski, who enlightened him on how he composes his amazing compositions. 

rakowski said that he used to compose really meticulously, trying to make sure everything was just right. 

then he decided to change this mindset. nowadays he puts restrictions on himself, like composing 100 piano études, writing each in only six days, without revising*. he explained that composing like this is like walking a tightrope, but there's no safety net at the bottom. sometimes he makes it all the way to the other side…and sometimes he falls to his death. 

cool thing about this, though, is if he falls to his death, he just starts a new composition. but by composing without a net, his compositions have the capacity to be more organic and interesting.

my show is next week. i am more behind than i'd like to admit. 

to finish this project, it's time to start composing without a safety net. 

[*rakowski talks a bit about it here]

//

picture 1: this is the first painting where i really just threw caution to the wind. i'm about halfway along the tightrope with this one; we'll see if i fall off or not. 
picture 2: it's like a game...find the painting i was working on last night, the stickies that keep my life in order, some studies i've done, a big ol' lamp that i brought in to literally shed some light on my work and i'm also in there somewhere. they're all very hidden, of course. 

you're invited.......

.... (!)

tangled typography

my show may be a little different, because it incorporates my words as well as my art. i don't think it (or i) would be complete with only one or the other.

it took a long time to edit the words for this piece, and all day saturday to get the typography right. i drew and re-drew and re-drew. and my hand kept cramping up. however, it was pretty rewarding; i like doing hand-drawn stuff. here's to hoping that i don't mess it up with the process i'm putting it through today....

friendless foodless environments foster focus

honestly, the alliterations just kinda come out.
no idea why.

i skipped an activity the other day* where friends and food would be involved in hopes of finding focus. it worked!

stuff has been slow but a little better.
loooooooook.

//

picture 1: looking at a piece through a mirror often helps pinpoint errors a lot faster than just looking at it straight-on. same concept of turning it upside down, etc.

picture 2: super excited about this one. it's based off of one of my favorite places and my hand literally cramped up after i finished drawing it. 

picture 2: start of a painting. after taking this picture, i worked on it some more and really messed it up. i couldn't stand to look at it for about a week, but when i worked on it again i was pretty pleased with the result, which you'll see in the show.

[*confession: by "the other day", i mean the day of september 17, which is when i wrote this but forgot to publish it. so i changed the content and posted now. good alliterations shan't be wasted in this space of the interwebs.]

evidence of construction

i know i'm super bad at updating. but it's because i've been working hard! my show is in LESS THAN THREE WEEKS. 

(!)

more info on that soon.

this whole process has taken longer than expected. it might be because with the help of some dear friends, i made my own boards to paint on. 

so...my fingerprints will be all over this project. 

//

pictures 1 + 2: raw materials (masonite and poplar), cut to the near-perfect sizes
picture 3: after we measured/mitered/nail gunned/glued/clamped/routered the cradles to the boards 
picture 4: gessoing all those pretty wood surfaces
picture 5: waiting for the gesso to dry....

sleepyhead

i have updates for you.
i promise i do.
but today i'm just a sleepyhead.


so i started drawing my to-do list in my hair (to justify the drawing time)
though it ended up getting mixed up in a stream of consciousness.

also, i drew this while listening to this song.
you're welcome.

six small studies still simmering

i don't even know what that alliteration was about.

anyway, i talked to chris thornock last week and he suggested i make 6 small paintings (5x7 inches) within the week to just explore and experiment before I really get into the big pieces for my project. i made them diptychs and it's been really fun! i've used different processes on each one and have done lots of stuff i've never tried before. the subjects relate to my actual paintings.

//

picture 1: halfway through the process of diptych 1

picture 2: early stages of diptych 2

picture 3: what diptych 2 currently looks like

picture 4: early stages of diptych 3

picture 5: what diptych 3 currently looks like

by tomorrow, these will all be done. so be excited? or not. or whatever.

but i'm not gonna lie...i'm pretty excited about that last one especially.

small portion

so it's still slow. BUT. i had a good inspiring weekend so hopefully i'll whip stuff out like nobody's business.

monday/tuesday/wednesday of last week, i just wanted to get my hands drawing so i could actually see what i'm doing. i was a drawing fiend. here are two of the studies.

most of 'em were meh-looking. but, the book art and fear notes that an artist’s failed pieces are just as relevant as their good ones. it also claims that a lot of art must be created to make a small portion of it good. so i'mma go with that.

i tell you what, after not drawing for 7 months, it's hard to hit your stride again. but when you do, it feels great.

real-life pinboard

as i mentioned in the last post, it's been a little slow starting my project. the other day i was having a hard time visualizing what i wanted some of my pieces to look or feel like. so i perused my art pinboard, and decided to make a physical one, which really helped. i also took screen shots of music videos, paintings i've already done, and other random stuff that helped my ideas grow into something substantial, and printed those off too. there's something about stuff coming off the screen and being tangible that is somehow empowering.

i put some of them next to thumbs for pieces that i'm creating, as some inspiration. inspiration is great, not just for subject matter but for techniques, color schemes, and compositional ideas. as long as we remember the difference between inspiration and imitation.

most of these images are from my online pinboard, plus the hundley and mucha books.

now i just have to find my paintbrushes and acrylic paints, both crucial elements which i seem to have legitimately lost. nope, i'm not freaking out about it....... #lies

it's time to begin

it is high time that i tell you i'm working on my illustration bfa final show.

i'm partially terrified because i've taken a sort of art-hiatus since...january...because i needed to put more emphasis on other important parts of my life that i'd been neglecting. i learned lots of valuable things that aren't necessarily art-related, but life-related, so i think it counts. and so the bfa project has been going super slow.

but --

i made swanky little calendars today to strike [motivational] fear into my heart.

i fake-graduated college two weeks ago (as in, i walked).
i quit my graphic design job that i've had for 4.5 years.
i'm putting my photography jobs on hold.

i'm going to treat this project like a full-time job.
it's going up november 1, so be excited....

a study i did on monday. i'm rusty, but that feeling of creating is coming back, which provides great fuel. 

confession

so...i kind of haven't really done art in like...um...six months. i got really burned out and needed a break. then life just got crazy with health and home problems. sooo now i'm trying to graduate! yesterday i went to two figure drawing classes just to get back into it. it was super helpful but also really hard because i've digressed so much. below is one drawing i did. it has a ton of proportion issues as well as other stuff. but i need to just post it so that i'm obligated and accountable to get better. i just need to start drawing again; i'm hoping the skills will eventually come back.

my first full-length figure drawing in...a year? 

exhausted after attending those classes and two meetings regarding my final bfa show, i ran into my wonderful friend and fellow illustrator melissa, who asked me if i'd like to "play art". the tired, puzzled look on my face told her she needed to expound on that idea, and she explained that it's her term for doing art just for fun. i had kind of forgotten about that novel idea. below is what i drew in the few minutes i had. it was fun and low-pressure exploratory and very imperfect. a good re-start. (while i did that, she was busy with THIS. clearly, she's been keeping busy with her art and it certainly pays off!) 

s o l o // s h o w ::

so i probably should have announced this awhile ago, but i have a solo show up in downtown provo! it went up on may 4 as part of what was formerly called the first friday downtown gallery stroll, and is now the art chase.

the opening on the 4th was great; a lot of people showed up as it got going, and there were some live performers, which i loved. humus, veggies and crackers made it a party. and i really couldn't have pulled it all together without the help of my friends and support of my family.

so, even if you missed the opening, it's still up for two more weeks! probably til may 29. i hope you can make it! if you come, please sign the little book there by my business cards, so that i know you came. :)

information is here and directions are here, compliments of jake parker's iphone.

{before the art was on the wall.
go check out the after at The IN: 44 W Center Street, Suite 301} 

family portraits video

just thought i'd check in and show you one of the freelance projects i completed mid-november 2011. clearly, i'm pretty behind in posting!

the client had already created his website, but wanted an illustrative logo for his company as well as an illustration based off of the logo. the company is a "small video production company" that creates "journalistic-style story telling, on-site videography, artful editing, and musical underscoring to [their] clients". pretty cool concept.

he was very specific and knew exactly what he wanted: a generic-looking tree. it needed to have a family-tree feeling.

sooo i created those. and then came the illustration (which had to be delivered in layers; he wanted to animate it so that the trunk came first, then the branches, fruit, etc). because the animation was going from logo morphing into full illustration (or something like that...i don't quite remember now), i had to place the illustration and logo in the exact same place in their frames. it took a bit of doing. here are the final images:

i also offered some branding consultation regarding typography, colors schemes, and layout. i'm excited to see how the company will turn out.

maybe sometime i'll post my experiments from this project (some of which are kinda cool). maybe. sometime. :)

a different painting process

i just came across my phone pictures, and found a few process photos that i took. they're not great quality, but it's interesting to see how a piece comes about. sometimes.

this was from bob barrett's head painting class last year. i love taking classes from multiple artists, because the techniques are always different. i try to emulate each professor and eventually i find what works for me and what doesn't. for example, in justin taylor's class, we often started with tight drawings underneath. in bob's class, we painted directly onto the canvas as shown below. 

similar to figure drawing, i found that i painted these best when i blocked in whatever was most obvious to me in the particular composition. in this 3-hour study, there was a strong light/shadow contrast. so i blocked in the darks and background first, because they were most prominent. the background created a cradle for the shape of her face. then i was able to work my way into refining the edges and shapes.

the end result may look familiar, because it was shown in this post.

that family class

remember this post? it was from justin taylor's head painting class. first off, justin taylor is an excellent artist (i want to paint like him!) and just an all-around stud. secondly, my classmates and our models were great. in fact, my tiny class was like a little family. or a therapy group. probably both.

after we practiced drawing for a good chunk of the semester, we started to paint. (dangit, i was supposed to post the drawings first but they're too light to photograph; i'll have to scan them. so you'll see this process backwards)

i really jive with justin's painting style: it's very drawing-oriented. when we eventually began painting, we did a drawing of our models first, transferred it to our substrate, then painted monochromatic over it, like you see in the first painting here. justin demoed on my drawing, so i finished fairly quickly and did another painting straight onto the board after (which is on the right):

then we did some studies without drawing first.
meet david. he has an awesome neck. 

then we did a series of short 20-minute paintings (left). eventually, we delved into color (right). 

(our model amanda is great, so though i'm really not a fan of this particular piece on the right, i put it up for her sake)....

...after we added white to our monochromatic paintings.

(i had to end with my favorites of this batch)

of course, we had a final project in full color, which was more conceptual in nature, and i finished it...two and a half months later. well, finished-ish. you'll see soon enough.

the big TOMS event way back when

there was a huge TOMS event that i was able to work way back on oct 15, which was super fun! it was at jmr at the gateway mall, and it was kind of a big deal. i couldn't figure out a way to blog it til now, when i caved and got the flikr pro account. (woot!)

as you can tell from those first self-portraits, we got shiny complimentary shoes and official TOMS shirt for working it. they asked us to write biographies and they put them up in front of our stations; i soon discovered i really enjoyed observing people look at the biographies before the event and get excited. i was happy to hear good things about my examples on display.


...aaaand check the commentary.

then, in december, i got to do another event! documentation of that one, and a commission, coming relatively soon. :)

remember that you can contact me to paint on your canvas shoes, too. custom paint job, just $30 (those materials are so dang expensive). i love me some swag.

este-hirsche!

so, i bowed out the estefan film during the summer, only because i started to go a little crazy with everything i had going on. i've hopped back on for just a few projects here and there. this is a portrait of estefan, in an al hirschfeld style. it's not fully approved yet, but we'll see how they like it. it was really fun to branch out into a style i've never tried.

and what did i see...

the other day, i walked into the h-fac and was pleasantly surprised to find this poster, plastered all over the walls:

i was happy because it's my drawing from last year's show. :) i was humbled that this drawing received 1st place last year, and even happier to share the so-called "winners podium" with my amazing friends natalie and nikki, whom i miss!

i'm excited to see the show for this year's competition: this exhibition is always one of my favorites.
i hope you come, too!
[feb 16 - feb 28, byu h-fac]