Showing posts with label art (or something like it). Show all posts
Showing posts with label art (or something like it). Show all posts

18 August 2008

it's raining again.


i ordered a poster of this photo for my bathroom wall. bathroom art is a tricky thing. i see a lot of bathrooms covered in collages of photos, inspiration board style, and i just think, ick. how hard to clean would that be?

i like hanging pictures that i've taken. or that mean something to me. like the one pictured below, a gift from my sister.


she bought the photo from etsy, then collaged the glass to add typographical elements. it says: it's your life. have fun. relax. experience the unfamiliar, unexpected. redefine your comfort zone.

and for kids' rooms, it makes for good, cheap art:


i took macro shots of their star wars lego army. cheap ikea frames. $40 art display and so personal to them.

03 October 2007

photography


such good news: my jack is not going to die. the e.r. physician misunderstood his test results, apparently. i sort of knew nothing could happen to him, but i was scared to be sure of it.

here are slides from my first roll of film ever shot on a manual camera:



...a few of the pictures were actually perfectly exposed, and all were pretty well focused. i can't even tell you how proud of myself i was. i was expecting a disaster.

here are negatives from my second roll of film ever shot on a manual camera:



...and i processed them myself in the darkroom! this is so much fun.

i love my camera so much, it has quickly become my favorite possession. i got closer to what i wanted after one roll than after 5,000 pictures with my digital.

19 January 2007

my sister



i am excited about my little studio! the room was just sitting there collecting clutter, and now it's mine. i'm excited about making art with my sister, we've seriously been talking about this for years. at least 5. and i wonder why i am the type of person who talks about things for years without ever doing them. when did that happen? anyway, my sewing machine. exciting. being excited is so exciting, it's been a while. i taped this picture to the wall today, then realized at one point this very picture of us as princess children one mardi gras had inspired a potential art business name that i can no longer remember. it was going to be on the splash page for our art business website, which never actually got off the ground (exibit here).



i decided to use this as my creativity journal. it's a journal my sister gave me after 9/11 with a really touching inscription inside the cover. i'd always been too precious to me to use, so it's been sitting with my favorite books for five? years. but i thought it fitting for this.



lastly, i had been meaning to scan this for a while, a little picture from one of those sister gift books my own sister gave me i can't remember when (start dating stuff, sis!). it's my favorite of the book, it says a sister is both your mirror and your opposite. (elizabeth fishel) it's so true.

15 January 2007

blue

here's my finished collage i forgot to post:



it's bigger than this and square, but this part fit on the scanner.

it's paint and cardboard and magazine pieces. it's so much fun to cut and glue and drip and just generally make a mess.

09 January 2007

the longest post ever, and fully illustrated...


(college elements from instyle, october 2006.)

i did this a little bit differently today. maybe because i'm having to drink black coffee today. i'm out of creamer. it was too big for the scanner, it's really square, and it doesn't have an actual up or down. i've got some more in store for this one, not sure how it'll work out, but it'll be fun.

i've been surfing, surfing, surfing. at least that's what they called it when i was young. i feel so out of touch with everyone. holed away in this little fairytale apartment. i'm making a conscious effort to at least get out of the bedroom with it's dark red curtains (ok, a red sheet jack nailed over the sliding door...) and into the light. i truly love the view from these little windows, street and trees and a hint of water. it's such a small world, this internet world, in the sense that the blogs and such i find and like often have other links to other blogs and shops and such that i already like. it's just sort of funny to find that other people adore and cherish the same movies, books, songs. like you're all being influenced in different ways by the same things. ok. enough.


i've also been watching movies. and tv shows. the new seasons seem to come out around new years so now it's sort of a tradition to get in a years worth of television all at the beginning. i watch the sopranos and 24. 24 is my favorite, but after 24 hours of it (because of commercials it's actually only about 22 hours of it), i fully expect to be sniped down walking down the street. althought the feeling was much stronger in mid-city new orleans after 24. the latest season of the sopranos is giving me some trouble because i'm convinced i heard that tony soprano dies. so i've been waiting and waiting for him to die. to the point that now when jack asks me what i think about anything, he then says, i know, tony's a dead man.


i have been loving my blockbuster.com membership (which is cooler than netflix, since you can trade them in at the store for other movies free):


v for vendetta. very good, and thought provoking. reminded me of moulin rougeand i have no earthly reason why. becaue i disagree with what i read somewhere that it was the best love story of our time. but isn't evey an enchanting name, although evie's better i think? ooh, and during the movie we had the most wonderful take-out bucket of steamers (clams with load of butter sauce and broth) with a case of negra modelo. how good...


all the king's men. ehhh. skip this and read about huey p. long on wikipedia. it's way more interesting. i'm not sure how they screwed this movie up so much with good actors and actresses and a very interesting man's life to base it on, but they did utterly and completely. so sad, because i do love patricia clarkson, and even precious little jude and they sucked in this. and even kate winslett looked horrible and washed out. so sad. plus, the louisianian (is that a word?) accents were just. so. yucky.


rocky. with the new rocky balboa coming out, jack really wanted me to see this, i never have. you know, it was really good. a love story. complete opposite of what i just assumed rocky would be like. i loved the look of it, it looked foriegn or independent, whatever that means. we did some looking up on the internet about good old sly, i had no idea he wrote rocky but, did anyone know he made his acting debut as "stud" in a hard-core porno flim???? he was kinda sexy in 1976, no?


i've been waking up early and not sleeping at night mostly because i am excited about the things i am buying for myself (even though the broke-ness is extreme. it was, after all, a resolution of mine):

i've been lying awake at night dreaming of the pretty, pretty stuff i'm going to create. mind you, this is all on faith since i haven't actually ever created anything except one pair of ugly red shorts for a high school project, one dress that my mom helped me with and one alice in wonderland doll from a cut out pattern that may or may not have even been sewed, i can't remember. but i have this crazy faith that i can do it. i want to make: dolls, bunnies, purses and a laptop bag, and dresses. oh, and an apron. and a painting of trees. there may be some heartbreak ahead.

i came across this yesterday and loved it enough to make my own of sorts:



the dna's are even cooler, although i'm not quite brave enough to try that on my own. my lovely boyfriend knew exactly what it was when i showed him the dna portraits, he even went into the cutest explanation about how they do it and who first discovered the restriction enzymes used and even worms that live in a hot vent under the ocean. adorable. last night he fell asleep and i stayed awake to daydream (nightdream?). at one point i went to adjust my position and he caught my hand and squeezed it and pulled me back to his chest, all in his sleep. i almost cried from love. sappy, but true.

08 January 2007

engaged



i know, i've already not been doing this every day. truth is, i started a few times, but just didn't like where it was going. plus, i really needed a bigger canvas than 4x6. so, today, i dumped out all of the picture pieces i've been collecting and just started randomly gluing until i thought it was done. gluing onto a leftover gift box from a christmas present, i might add. after, i cut it down until it fit in the scanner, and, viola, today's collage. how fun, nothing at all to lose is it. the rest of the scraps i'd been saving went into the garbage, i'll start completely fresh tomorrow. oh, except for this ad, that i liked too much to cut and glue. something about it speaks to me. yeah, i know it's a car ad, but i sorta want to frame it. i kinda love it. the left side of it anyway.

(the mf'ing scanner decided not to work, so i'll scan the ad later...)



i've been doing what i usually would call nothing, but today i'll call it collecting inspiration. doesn't that sound nicer than doing nothing? see, i've got lots of time, and nothing to do with my life. so, i'm going to try to do some things that i've always wanted to do. nothing world changing, just a little something to help me feel happier. i've been surfing the net, reading about highly talented and creative people. i'll try to share some of my collection here in the next few days.

ok, here's my things i want to do list:

  • wear more dresses
  • make a doll
  • get a bulletin board
  • make a purse
  • make a quilt
  • cook dinner and dessert once a month
  • frame my pictures
also, here's some things i'm loving right now:
  • eggs in a toast, the one thing i can cook
  • my boyfriend, mr. best in the world, we'll call him jack
  • the idea that i could do something that i always wanted too (learn how to sew, make dolls, wear whatever i want, etc.)
  • my awesome teacup
  • too much watching 24 and sopranos, seems like a new years tradition now
  • my christmas decorations, i don't think they're coming down anytime soon

03 January 2007

domestic goddess


(collage elements from allure, october 2006)

these pieces i pulled about two weeks ago but didn't have time to glue down. i had done an arrangement that i liked then, but couldn't recreate it this time. i'm not altogether satisfied with this one, i've learned that this is something best done in one sitting. the others i can look at and think that they captured a very specific moment, but i think by the time i got around to completing this, this morning, i had already lost that moment.

i love journals for this reason, i can re-read and entry and even though it is no longer true, i can recall the essense of it completely. photographs are different. i think it is very hard for a photograph to truly capture the essense of a moment. for me, the photograph replaces the memory instead.

17 December 2006

toilet paper.

today's collage proved that yesterday was a fluke. yesterday, i picked up the magazine and everything just came together. today, i couldn't find an order to the things i ripped out so i eventually just glued it all down. but wishy-washy, changing as i went. oh well. i'll scan it after it dries. i think using such small (4x6) paper is good, otherwise i'd be ripping things out for hours. art is about editing too, right? knowing what to leave out?


(collage elements from vogue august 2006)

today will be the first day this weekend that i leave the house. what is wrong with me? i have to do all the stuff i wanted to do all weekend into one day - and it's noon already. i have to go the the groceries, not because we have absolutely no food (literally, i ate two cans of tuna, frozen brussel sprouts and ice cream this weekend, the very last edible things in the house) but because we now have absolutely no toilet paper.

16 December 2006

some thing i can do...

life paused.

i want a new camera. a real fancy kind. and then i'm going to sign up for a photography class. i've always wanted to do it. but for now, my goal is to develop new habits. i'm going to try to take one sharing-worthy photo a day. i figure i can wake up in the morning and go out and explore. it'll be a reason to get dressed at least. then photoshop and everything before posting.

she's inspired me. i'm also going to start collaging, at least one a day. i'm going to get some blank cards or paper to do it on.

this will help.

update:
so, i did my collage for today:


(collage elements from domino december/january 2007)

i didn't have gesso or a notebook but i knew if i didn't start at once, i just wouldn't. i gathered what i did have into a shoebox: elmer's glue, some markers, scissors and 4x6 photo paper. and i grabbed the first magazine off of the stack. i had a feeling i wanted to express - something about fighting to remain yourself and be true to your goals and dreams through (even a good) relationship - and the words and images just jumped out at me. i finished in less than 10 minutes. it buckled trememdously, so i just stuck the finished piece in between two big books after it dried. just now, i took it (perfectly flat) and pasted the date and today's journal entry onto the back. it scanned weirdly, but i kind of like the effect, the magazine photos look more like computer art.

this reminded me of my first try two years ago. why is it that i turn to art to make me ok when i am alone or things are bad, and as soon as things are ok i give up on it?

09 November 2006

yes



we talk about getting married sometimes. i always say i don't care about rings and stuff like that. he surprised me so much. i had no idea he was going to do it now.

we came home from work and i started working on the computer. he said he was going downstairs to the atm, but really he went to the jewelry shop. he said he thought i knew something was up because he took so long. i was so involved in work, i didn't notice he left yet. he sat down on the bed and said i love you, i said -- this is ugly, but i was aggravated -- how much? cause it better be a lot for me to do all this work. ugly, huh? and i never say things like that. and he said my name, and i always have to catch my breath when he says it, and i think that's when i turned to look at him, and he was pulling this adorable little box out of his pocket, and i just couldn't figure out what he was doing, because i knew he couldn't be doing what it looked like. and i kept saying are you kidding me? and is this a joke? and he just looked at me and then he said will you spend the rest of your life with me? and i could not believe it and the ring was the most pretty, sparkly, thing i'd ever seen, and i think it took me forever to even say yes because i was so stunned.

i still can't believe he did it. i had no idea i would feel so differently afterwards. i felt so secure anyway in his love, in our relationship, but now i feel so... happier? more secure? i knew i couldn't imagine a future without him, and now i feel like i don't ever have to even try to.

05 October 2006

i missed my blog

i haven't blogged in so long, i haven't had any internet access at this stupid apartment, also no phone or cable or any-fucking-thing. but last night, mysteriously, a wireless connection came back to me. i don't know where from but thank god, so i'm just gonna blog randomly.

the library here rocks. it's a block from my house, plus you can order books from like a million other libraries right on the internet and they will get sent there to pick up. they email you when it's in. is that the coolest thing ever? i read a hundred photography books plus the unbearable lightness of being which i love and of love and other demons which was kind of depressing and the russian debutante's handbook which is weird so far.

also i've read every fashion magazine on the stands because i've been flying every freakin' weekend somewhere. really. this had led to thinking about fall fashion and since i have no style right now, i've decided i want to look like christina aguliera, which is impossible since i spend 3 minutes tops getting ready everyday and her "vintage bombshell" hair alone would take me an hour. i did let me boyfried buy me a fancy lowcut black dress which i love and i don't even feel bad about it. i've been working! at his office and it's so busy. just until they hire someone next month and i go in late and leave early, but still it counts.

i'm making tiny cherry cheesecakes in heart-shaped tins today. i need to send my sister the suri cruise vanity fair. what a cute little baby. i still love katie holmes. i'm listening to a cover of enjoy the silence from copy, right? (i love that site; i love covers period; plus, i still love mazzy star!). i also saw robert weingarten's palette series gallery in dc last weekend and his art was really cool. i'm inspired again to start painting and hanging shit up.

04 October 2004

today


I need a release before I burst. Maybe this isn't it. Maybe this is.

The hardest thing for me is letting go. In art and photography, but also in life. Not lining everything up, not trying to be perfect. Being okay as is. Because really, perfect is boring. Perfect is fake. Perfect is unachievable. And the people, artists, writing, photography that I admire most are the most imperfect and the most real.

Last night, I made my first piece of art in, oh, twelve years or so. My first painting since watercolors in coloring books and paint-by-number sets. A collage of the day. It might not be perfect, but I love it.

Word of the day: wistful \WIST-ful\ adjective

1 : full of yearning or desire tinged with melancholy; also : inspiring such yearning
2 : musingly sad : pensive