i had one between my legs, too.
Happy First Birthday Caid!
Poor guy. Too bad no one cares about him. (:
"Real" post coming soon...maybe...
Sunday, October 15
It's October! And that means...
Pumpkins and Birthdays!!
i had one between my legs, too.
Happy First Birthday Caid!
Poor guy. Too bad no one cares about him. (:
"Real" post coming soon...maybe...
i had one between my legs, too.
Happy First Birthday Caid!
Poor guy. Too bad no one cares about him. (:
"Real" post coming soon...maybe...
Thursday, October 12
Tuesday, October 10
Majesty Snowbird
Last night's show was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. I hope and pray i get to see Sufjan play many more times in the future...his performances make you feel alive and safe and hopeful. They are otherworldly.
This video isn't from the show we saw, but it might as well be. This is a video of the "theme song" for the tour, last night they were wearing the same costumes, playing the same images on the screen, and he introduced the band the same way...you'll see. (:
The song is incredible...i hope he puts it on an album, but it just won't be the same as hearing it live! It's long, but it's worth it...even though the sound is bad.
The best way to hear Sufjan Steven's music is live and in person with the colors, lights, sounds and stories he tells. The man has been blessed by God with incredible talent and integrity, and he's passed that on to so many people. When he played Casimir Pulaski Day i nearly started crying...people around me were. Hearing him sing about Jesus dying on the cross last night in a concert hall filled with hipsters and "indie rockers" was nothing short of a miracle. Sometimes it was so quiet as he sang you could hear yourself breath...
if you ever get a chance to see him...go. just go. seriously.
This is a music video for the artist who opened for him, My Brightest Diamond. She was stellar, i bought her album. She also helped sing and play guitar and piano in Sufjan's performance as well. Gorgeous video...i think she's mesmerizing to watch. She'll be the next big thing, folks, mark my words.
i also got a sweet shirt. Pip, Sarah and i all got one...they say "Ride the hatch!"
All in all, what an inspired and amazing night! Thank you Lord!!
This video isn't from the show we saw, but it might as well be. This is a video of the "theme song" for the tour, last night they were wearing the same costumes, playing the same images on the screen, and he introduced the band the same way...you'll see. (:
The song is incredible...i hope he puts it on an album, but it just won't be the same as hearing it live! It's long, but it's worth it...even though the sound is bad.
The best way to hear Sufjan Steven's music is live and in person with the colors, lights, sounds and stories he tells. The man has been blessed by God with incredible talent and integrity, and he's passed that on to so many people. When he played Casimir Pulaski Day i nearly started crying...people around me were. Hearing him sing about Jesus dying on the cross last night in a concert hall filled with hipsters and "indie rockers" was nothing short of a miracle. Sometimes it was so quiet as he sang you could hear yourself breath...
if you ever get a chance to see him...go. just go. seriously.
This is a music video for the artist who opened for him, My Brightest Diamond. She was stellar, i bought her album. She also helped sing and play guitar and piano in Sufjan's performance as well. Gorgeous video...i think she's mesmerizing to watch. She'll be the next big thing, folks, mark my words.
i also got a sweet shirt. Pip, Sarah and i all got one...they say "Ride the hatch!"
All in all, what an inspired and amazing night! Thank you Lord!!
Monday, October 9
AAAAGH!!
I'm about to leave to see Sufjan Stevens!!! I'm very very very excited. I think i'm going to go scream and cry and laugh all at the same time.
It's fall. It's cold. And lovely. WONDERFUL...!
oh, and here are some pictures from Oktoberfest...
Yay (:
It's fall. It's cold. And lovely. WONDERFUL...!
oh, and here are some pictures from Oktoberfest...
Yay (:
Saturday, October 7
Thursday, October 5
Why i love Mucha
the following is the conclusion of an epic paper i wrote about my trip to Europe this summer. Thought i'd post it because i've been thinking a lot about it lately.
Enjoi...
Our time in Prague went by in a blur, and before I knew it, it was our last full day in Europe. Katy and I had decided that because our first jaunt to the Mucha Museum was so short, we would spent our last day there drawing. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. Seeing the Mucha Museum was my biggest reason for going to Europe. I was not going to leave knowing I could have spent more time there and never did. We walked around that little museum and sketched and browsed and absorbed for over 5 hours with a lunch break in the middle. If it wasn’t for the stuffiness, heat, our tired arms and legs, and the fact that we were already exhausted, I could have stayed until closing! I admire him so much, for his unfailing graphic sense, his elegance, his sensitivity astounds me. Yet he could render out a figure as well as any old master.
I respect Mucha both as an artist, and as a human being. He is one of those individuals that just had too much to say and do to keep still. The man simply never stopped. He worked because he wanted to, and because he needed to. He just had no time to waste with so many pictures and ideas crowding his mind! His work on the Slav Epic, a series of twenty enormous paintings would be enough, alone to occupy someone for their lifetime. He pondered and toyed with the idea for years, and once he finally got down to starting them, it took Mucha 18 more years to finish them all. “…the Slav Epic is an astonishing display of Mucha’s stamina and dedication, marrying his talent for historical painting, his compelling use of symbolism and his mastery of the flat presentation and muted colors of his Decorative works. If he had done nothing more, this work should forever free him of the accusation of being a ‘mere poster painter’. (Mucha, 17-19)
Mucha was a success in every sense of the word, because of his devotion to what he loved…his art, his family, and his country. It took him a lifetime to sort it all out, but his heart was always in a place where he desired to be of service, he desired to do something different, and he never slowed down. I don’t know what it is like to have that kind of drive…it seems like every individual I have truly expressed admiration for has been someone very unlike me. To say that I came away from this journey into whole new realms of creativity and thought unchanged would be a terrible fallacy. My mind reeled for weeks after coming home…in a way it still is; which would explain some of the ramblings in this paper. I find, with myself, there is a fine line between being so inspired by an artist I can’t wait to start painting, and having so much admiration for someone’s work I get discouraged, throw out the usual “why bother?” and go sulk in a corner. Happily, I experienced the former a great degree more than the latter inclination.
Alphonse Mucha was once quoted saying: “The aim of my work was never to destroy…but to build bridges.” And he lived by that; no matter what trials he might have been enduring. “At the end of the 1930s as he looked back upon a life span of nearly 80 years, the Decorative art that had been the font of his fame and glory had all but disappeared from the public scene, the patriotic values that he held so passionately had become an anachronism and the great Epic that had been the capstone of his life lay rolled up in a dank museum basement, homeless and largely forgotten. His personal misfortune was compounded by he knowledge that his nation seemed on the cusp of losing its newly-won freedom, apparently destined to return to German rule of a Nazi hue and to the agony of another great war.” I read this and I ask, what would anyone else do in a situation like this? What would I do? “At that moment he was engaged in studies for his final project, a monumental and celebratory triptych, The Age of Reason, The Age of Wisdom, and The Age of Love. It was the ultimate expression of the benevolent and optimistic faith that guided his life…The circle of Mucha’s loving vision had enlarged, undiminished by the disappointments of the years, beyond the Mucha Woman, beyond his beloved people, to embrace all mankind.”
(This is the same excerpt i have a few posts down...)
He built bridges, and that’s what I want to do. I was inspired by individuals who tried to be a part of something bigger than themselves, to celebrate darkness and beauty; death and life; joy and sorrow. We weren’t created to do without one or the other. To forget that there is love and bliss to be had in this fallen world is to fool yourself into the belief that there is nothing worth living for. To ignore the existence of hardship and strife is to cheat yourself of the pure joy of being joyful! Mucha found this balance and flourished within it. As an artist, that is what I so desperately hope to do. And only time can tell whether or not I will someday build bridges of my own.
(all quotes from Mucha by Sarah Mucha)
Enjoi...
Our time in Prague went by in a blur, and before I knew it, it was our last full day in Europe. Katy and I had decided that because our first jaunt to the Mucha Museum was so short, we would spent our last day there drawing. I couldn’t have asked for anything better. Seeing the Mucha Museum was my biggest reason for going to Europe. I was not going to leave knowing I could have spent more time there and never did. We walked around that little museum and sketched and browsed and absorbed for over 5 hours with a lunch break in the middle. If it wasn’t for the stuffiness, heat, our tired arms and legs, and the fact that we were already exhausted, I could have stayed until closing! I admire him so much, for his unfailing graphic sense, his elegance, his sensitivity astounds me. Yet he could render out a figure as well as any old master.
I respect Mucha both as an artist, and as a human being. He is one of those individuals that just had too much to say and do to keep still. The man simply never stopped. He worked because he wanted to, and because he needed to. He just had no time to waste with so many pictures and ideas crowding his mind! His work on the Slav Epic, a series of twenty enormous paintings would be enough, alone to occupy someone for their lifetime. He pondered and toyed with the idea for years, and once he finally got down to starting them, it took Mucha 18 more years to finish them all. “…the Slav Epic is an astonishing display of Mucha’s stamina and dedication, marrying his talent for historical painting, his compelling use of symbolism and his mastery of the flat presentation and muted colors of his Decorative works. If he had done nothing more, this work should forever free him of the accusation of being a ‘mere poster painter’. (Mucha, 17-19)
Mucha was a success in every sense of the word, because of his devotion to what he loved…his art, his family, and his country. It took him a lifetime to sort it all out, but his heart was always in a place where he desired to be of service, he desired to do something different, and he never slowed down. I don’t know what it is like to have that kind of drive…it seems like every individual I have truly expressed admiration for has been someone very unlike me. To say that I came away from this journey into whole new realms of creativity and thought unchanged would be a terrible fallacy. My mind reeled for weeks after coming home…in a way it still is; which would explain some of the ramblings in this paper. I find, with myself, there is a fine line between being so inspired by an artist I can’t wait to start painting, and having so much admiration for someone’s work I get discouraged, throw out the usual “why bother?” and go sulk in a corner. Happily, I experienced the former a great degree more than the latter inclination.
Alphonse Mucha was once quoted saying: “The aim of my work was never to destroy…but to build bridges.” And he lived by that; no matter what trials he might have been enduring. “At the end of the 1930s as he looked back upon a life span of nearly 80 years, the Decorative art that had been the font of his fame and glory had all but disappeared from the public scene, the patriotic values that he held so passionately had become an anachronism and the great Epic that had been the capstone of his life lay rolled up in a dank museum basement, homeless and largely forgotten. His personal misfortune was compounded by he knowledge that his nation seemed on the cusp of losing its newly-won freedom, apparently destined to return to German rule of a Nazi hue and to the agony of another great war.” I read this and I ask, what would anyone else do in a situation like this? What would I do? “At that moment he was engaged in studies for his final project, a monumental and celebratory triptych, The Age of Reason, The Age of Wisdom, and The Age of Love. It was the ultimate expression of the benevolent and optimistic faith that guided his life…The circle of Mucha’s loving vision had enlarged, undiminished by the disappointments of the years, beyond the Mucha Woman, beyond his beloved people, to embrace all mankind.”
(This is the same excerpt i have a few posts down...)
He built bridges, and that’s what I want to do. I was inspired by individuals who tried to be a part of something bigger than themselves, to celebrate darkness and beauty; death and life; joy and sorrow. We weren’t created to do without one or the other. To forget that there is love and bliss to be had in this fallen world is to fool yourself into the belief that there is nothing worth living for. To ignore the existence of hardship and strife is to cheat yourself of the pure joy of being joyful! Mucha found this balance and flourished within it. As an artist, that is what I so desperately hope to do. And only time can tell whether or not I will someday build bridges of my own.
(all quotes from Mucha by Sarah Mucha)
Tuesday, October 3
another portrait!
we do them once a week. On top of two other painting classes...i've never painted so much in my life!!!
this one turned out okay...it was interesting because i got the side almost completely in shadow. Anyone ever tried painting shadow mass? it's a challenge. i needed that. i wish the picture didn't have a glare on it. photographing a wet painting is tricky.
Still trying to figure out what to do for these paintings...(see the end of sept. 25). nothing's coming to me. a little panicked...but that's okay. i'm used to it. (: hahaha
this one turned out okay...it was interesting because i got the side almost completely in shadow. Anyone ever tried painting shadow mass? it's a challenge. i needed that. i wish the picture didn't have a glare on it. photographing a wet painting is tricky.
Still trying to figure out what to do for these paintings...(see the end of sept. 25). nothing's coming to me. a little panicked...but that's okay. i'm used to it. (: hahaha
Monday, October 2
randomness from the last week or so...
Alors, je suis triste ajourd'hui. Mais c'est maintenant Octobre et c'est si beau dehors...il fait du vent...et il pluit un peur...pourquoi suis je malheureux? Beaucoup raisons...trop beaucoup.
J'ai faim. Je veux...some sushi.
b-bye.
Tuesday, September 26
more
another portrait...yay
underpainting...
"finished" portrait.
I think in the actual painting i got her likeness better...but I wish we had one more day on some of these!
No matter. i still enjoy it.
an underpainting i did of my friend Danny...
No one can ever accuse me of not showing my work ever again. ha.
i will read The Great Divorce again, Joey. thanks (:
hungry.
underpainting...
"finished" portrait.
I think in the actual painting i got her likeness better...but I wish we had one more day on some of these!
No matter. i still enjoy it.
an underpainting i did of my friend Danny...
No one can ever accuse me of not showing my work ever again. ha.
i will read The Great Divorce again, Joey. thanks (:
hungry.
Monday, September 25
Brushes, Blues and Bridges
try saying that ten times fast...
Sarah's hands...
sweet.
i can't believe how much i have to do!!! I haven't spoken to any of my friends in nearly a month. Well, except for pip and Andrew because they just showed up one day but besides that...
i'm sorry everyone! there's just so much going on and i'm just trying not to get overwhelmed.
lots of it is good...the rest is just my stupidness.
anyway.
okay.
so, there's this class.
i have an assignment wherein, i have to do a painting about "what i feel art is"
or something
it's very vague
and it has to be figurative...hmmm
this assignment is the result of a big ol' controversy that happened here at LCAD a few weeks ago when one of the teachers (my figure painting teacher, actually) put a painting into the faculty show that was...well...a bit explicit.
Now, in figure painting, there's artful nudity, and then there is tastless nakedess bordering on the pornographic. This painting was without a doubt, the latter. Anyway, i was shocked, appalled and offended when i saw that the painting was going to be put up and displayed. What were parents supposed to think...? Young prospective students...? Families? This wasn't a show in a museum focusing on erotic paintings of females...this is a private school!
I was so close to saying something about it. And i think i would have.
Thank God, however, someone came to their senses and the piece was pulled from the show. My teacher, of course was beside himself with anger and offense and considered himself as being misunderstood, censored, etc...in his class we got to hear allll about it. Not surprisingly, everyone in my class was in passionate agreement with him.
So, my teacher gave us an assiggnment, due at the end of the semester, that is supposed to portray what our feelings about art are, what it is, what it should be or some other mumbo jumbo. Using the human body as the focus, of course. So, many of my classmates have been talking about what they want to do. Brilliant ideas like gigantic paintings of male genitalia, transvestites, or just about anything shocking or offensive. How immature and pointless can you get...?
Talking about the whole situation with another one of my teachers, Betty, she agreed with me. What happened to art that is meant to be beautiful? Art that is uplifting? Art that is...HEAVEN FORBID...Godly?
Granted, some of my favorite works of art (visual, musical, &c...) revel in the dark, the melancholy, the downright depressing...
Yet that is only one side to being human. One of my all tima favorite artists, Alphonse Mucha, celebrated beauty, life, color, delicacy, and hope. I wrote in a paper recently:
"Mucha was once quoted saying: 'The aim of my work was never to destroy…but to build bridges.'
...He built bridges, and that’s what I want to do. I was inspired by individuals who tried to be a part of something bigger than themselves, to celebrate darkness and beauty; death and life; joy and sorrow. We weren’t created to do without one or the other. To forget that there is love and bliss to be had in this fallen world is to fool yourself into the belief that there is nothing worth living for. To ignore the existence of hardship and strife is to cheat yourself of the pure joy of being joyful! Mucha found this balance and flourished within it. As an artist, that is what I so desperately hope to do."
Why is so much art created only to destroy?
Betty suggested to me that i paint something religious (as much as i hate that word, it will just have to do). I said that i had actually been considering doing that, and i told her some of my ideas. I mean what could shock people more these days than a well-executed work of art that is rooted in spiritual truth? That is inspired by the character of Jesus Christ, and depicts what and who God is? i don't know...it's a beautiful dream (as Pip would say), but it could come off as pretentious and cliche and altogether unsuccessful so easily...
i need to be very careful and prayerful about this...
and prayers and suggestions from anyone would be greatly welcomed. i won't say any of my ideas yet...not until they're a bit more concrete.
i need to go eat lunch and go home and do homework now. and try to get the paint off of my shirt...
thanks for reading (:
Sarah's hands...
sweet.
i can't believe how much i have to do!!! I haven't spoken to any of my friends in nearly a month. Well, except for pip and Andrew because they just showed up one day but besides that...
i'm sorry everyone! there's just so much going on and i'm just trying not to get overwhelmed.
lots of it is good...the rest is just my stupidness.
anyway.
okay.
so, there's this class.
i have an assignment wherein, i have to do a painting about "what i feel art is"
or something
it's very vague
and it has to be figurative...hmmm
this assignment is the result of a big ol' controversy that happened here at LCAD a few weeks ago when one of the teachers (my figure painting teacher, actually) put a painting into the faculty show that was...well...a bit explicit.
Now, in figure painting, there's artful nudity, and then there is tastless nakedess bordering on the pornographic. This painting was without a doubt, the latter. Anyway, i was shocked, appalled and offended when i saw that the painting was going to be put up and displayed. What were parents supposed to think...? Young prospective students...? Families? This wasn't a show in a museum focusing on erotic paintings of females...this is a private school!
I was so close to saying something about it. And i think i would have.
Thank God, however, someone came to their senses and the piece was pulled from the show. My teacher, of course was beside himself with anger and offense and considered himself as being misunderstood, censored, etc...in his class we got to hear allll about it. Not surprisingly, everyone in my class was in passionate agreement with him.
So, my teacher gave us an assiggnment, due at the end of the semester, that is supposed to portray what our feelings about art are, what it is, what it should be or some other mumbo jumbo. Using the human body as the focus, of course. So, many of my classmates have been talking about what they want to do. Brilliant ideas like gigantic paintings of male genitalia, transvestites, or just about anything shocking or offensive. How immature and pointless can you get...?
Talking about the whole situation with another one of my teachers, Betty, she agreed with me. What happened to art that is meant to be beautiful? Art that is uplifting? Art that is...HEAVEN FORBID...Godly?
Granted, some of my favorite works of art (visual, musical, &c...) revel in the dark, the melancholy, the downright depressing...
Yet that is only one side to being human. One of my all tima favorite artists, Alphonse Mucha, celebrated beauty, life, color, delicacy, and hope. I wrote in a paper recently:
"Mucha was once quoted saying: 'The aim of my work was never to destroy…but to build bridges.'
...He built bridges, and that’s what I want to do. I was inspired by individuals who tried to be a part of something bigger than themselves, to celebrate darkness and beauty; death and life; joy and sorrow. We weren’t created to do without one or the other. To forget that there is love and bliss to be had in this fallen world is to fool yourself into the belief that there is nothing worth living for. To ignore the existence of hardship and strife is to cheat yourself of the pure joy of being joyful! Mucha found this balance and flourished within it. As an artist, that is what I so desperately hope to do."
Why is so much art created only to destroy?
Betty suggested to me that i paint something religious (as much as i hate that word, it will just have to do). I said that i had actually been considering doing that, and i told her some of my ideas. I mean what could shock people more these days than a well-executed work of art that is rooted in spiritual truth? That is inspired by the character of Jesus Christ, and depicts what and who God is? i don't know...it's a beautiful dream (as Pip would say), but it could come off as pretentious and cliche and altogether unsuccessful so easily...
i need to be very careful and prayerful about this...
and prayers and suggestions from anyone would be greatly welcomed. i won't say any of my ideas yet...not until they're a bit more concrete.
i need to go eat lunch and go home and do homework now. and try to get the paint off of my shirt...
thanks for reading (:
Thursday, September 21
painting process
some photos of an oil painting i did in 3 class sessions. yesterday was our last day.
(yes, the model was pregnant) the last one is the "finished" painting...i forgot to take a picture with the feet in it. /:
i wish i'd had more time to get little things like the hand and the arm just right...painting hands is HARRRD!
ta da
(yes, the model was pregnant) the last one is the "finished" painting...i forgot to take a picture with the feet in it. /:
i wish i'd had more time to get little things like the hand and the arm just right...painting hands is HARRRD!
ta da
Tuesday, September 19
Los Tacos
um...apparently the sopas were under par.
Pip and Andrew...thanks for being good friends and taking me out and cheering me up. i'm sorry the fish tacos weren't very good. adios amigos. (:
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