Painting weekend

Last weekend before schools out... ah! Well I've been painting here's a pic.
I wanted a discussion on people using animals that can't defend themselves, here a girl is using a boa as a scarf when snakes can't even warm their own bodies. I still need to work our her jacket and her hair.

and kevin being... kevin

Noel Night

Our quite springy booth

So this is a week late, but I had a booth at the Annual Noel Night in Midtown Detroit. Lee, Derek and I shared a booth selling our wares. Derek had prints and magnets, Lee had painted bowling pins made by him, his bro and their friend, and I was selling my stuffed owls, and the CCS Senior Illustration Calender! I made 20 little owls and sold them for $8 or 2 for $15 which was a hit, and I made sure to package them in brown little bags with shredded paper for nesting, and each one had a tag with their name and saying that they need hugs and love. So cute. It was great I sold out of my owls, lee and co. sold most all of their pins, and of course there is derek art gracing some folks walls. While I was there I bought some buttons from my friends in AIGA, and a ceramic tile and bowl from another, and a mug from my bud matt. It was so fun to see everyone and their handy crafts. I totally plan on doing it next year.

Lee countin cash

mr. leyland's penguins

where'd all our product go?

77 Boadrum

This makes me happy on a sad day.



77 Boadrum lead by the band boredoms on 7/7/07 at 7:07pm.... I wish I was there it was probably complete ambiance, and pure sound.

Somerset

Here's my final piece for the somerset show. It was so fun seeing those dresses, and I was so excited i rented the movie (Phantom of the Opera), and the dress wasn't even shown! There was a short clip of just the top. I was so sad cause the dress was gorgeous and I wanted to see how it moved. The chandelier is drawn from the movie, and I was inspired by Chuck Jones (he did looney tunes for awhile) for the background style. On the final print out I did some sewing on it with the machine, I'll scan that one in when I get it back!

Oil Spill

Here's a good scan of my painting "Oil". I still need to fix a few places with some touching up but over all this is pretty much finished and scanned in, yay!

detail

LinoCuts

On thursday I took part in a demo on making linoleum cuts and making prints from them. It was led by the wonderful Francis Jetter! Check out her art here http://www.fjetter.net/. Well she showed some of her work and showed us her process, then we got to play with the linoleum. It was great because I hadn't done that since high school. The one problem I ran into is that I drew directly onto the linoleum and when I printed it since the face was in reverse it looked kinda wonky, but it gave the drawing such a different life. So here it is... oooh

The Left one is the print, and the right is the print in reverse which shows what the girl looked like when I carved it. It's really neat how different they are.

Posters

I had a couple of posters I've had to do over the past week.


One was for class and you had to do a photo montage. I think on this one i want to do some hand drawn type, because they don't mesh together.

This one was for our Illustration Potluck. I found the type in an old type book and copied it and the images are old 50's-60's cookbook images. I love those pictures because most of the time the meals are outrageous and the pictures look so gross because of the colors are over saturated and such.

Hope you like!

Accidental Show

The Accidental Show is here! One night only at Scrummage University Gallery!!! Tons of my friends have art in the show, Kristina, Jeff, Andrew, Kat, Derek, Lee, Matt, and so many others so everyone in detroit saturday night should come and party. I have two pieces in the show.

this is mine on accidental oil spills.


It's a really bad picture and I'll update when i have scans. My other piece about zebra mussels I haven't scanned yet and also i'm not very happy with it.

So come and have fun!!!

Fashion Illustration

In my fashion class we had to do an illustration of three figures. This is what I came up with :) I used the magazine Flaunt for inspiration.


Also here's a quick peek at my polar bear painting, I'm still working out some tweaks in it.

I'm also working on three other paintings that I'll post the progress on. Two are for the Accidental Show, one on Zebra Mussels and another on Oil Spills, and my other painting is a personal one. I'll keep you posted.

Blog Action Day!

Today is blog action day and for my input on the enviroment I decided to discuss what I read in a small article in Newsweek about how many countries like the U.S. and Russia are trying to lay claim to parts of the Arctic Circle so that when the ice melts they will be able to get all the benefits of the oil, gas and diamonds below the ice shelf. So now I start my probably incoherent ramble.

Russia has already put their flag underneath the ice claiming a section and also they are trying to prove the arctic is the'rs by which continental shelf it's on.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/296004/putin_tries_to_lay_claim_to_arctic.htm



"This territory claimed by Russia submitted to the UN Committee that administers UNCLOS is said to contain substantial hydrocarbon reserves, on the Arctic seabed:

The 1982 International Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) establishes a 12 mile zone for territorial waters and a larger 200 mile economic zone in which a country has exclusive drilling rights for hydrocarbon and other resources.

Russia claims that the entire swath of Arctic seabed in the triangle that ends at the North Pole belongs to Russia, but the United Nations Committee that administers the Law of the Sea Convention has so far refused to recognize Russia’s claim to the entire Arctic seabed.

In order to legally claim that Russia’s economic zone in the Arctic extends far beyond the 200 mile zone, it is necessary to present viable scientific evidence showing that the Arctic Ocean’s sea shelf to the north of Russian shores is a continuation of the Siberian continental platform. In 2001, Russia submitted documents to the UN commission on the limits of the continental shelf seeking to push Russia's maritime borders beyond the 200 mile zone. It was rejected.

Now Russian scientists assert there is new evidence that Russia’s northern Arctic region is directly linked to the North Pole via an underwater shelf. Last week a group of Russian geologists returned from a six-week voyage to the Lomonosov Ridge, an underwater shelf in Russia's remote eastern Arctic Ocean. They claimed the ridge was linked to Russian Federation territory, boosting Russia's claim over the oil- and gas-rich triangle.

The latest findings are likely to prompt Russia to lodge another bid at the UN to secure its rights over the Arctic sea shelf. If no other power challenges Russia’s claim, it will likely go through unchallenged. (See Vladimir Frolov, Global Research, July 2007)

Russia is basing its claim on the grounds that this portion of the Arctic sea shelf is connected to Russia's continental shelf, through the 2000 km long underwater Lomonosov ridge. "According to Russian media, the physical connection to the Russian intercontinental shelf means that the ridge is technically a part of Russia, and therefore open to exploitation."

( http://www.oilmarketer.co.uk/2007/07/04/russia-seeks-un-approval-on-artic-oil-grab/"

excerpt from http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=6586

According to an agreement between the US and Canada, US troops can go through the US/Canada border if there is a terrorist threat (because terrorist's do not respect borders). With Russia laying claim to most of the Arctic shelf the fear is that the US will try and control the rest of the shelf because of potential threat, and therefor be able to exploit the materials in the ground.

Canada though is fighting back setting up more military posts on their arctic border to try to protect it from the possiblitly of countries trying to lay claim to the land. It's a modern gold rush.

The Arctic ice shelf is shrinking 13,00 sq. miles a year. And at this point it seems that the countries with the most power over the Arctic are almost excited for the ice to melt, so they can get the economic profit of the natural resources that have been protected by the ice. This excitement over the possible economic growth under the ice is causing governments to look the other way when the UN discusses Global Warming and the extintion of species that will result in the ice cap melting.

As said in a few years many project this struggle to get worse and for more countries to claim land in the Arctic ice shelf. As the ice melts the rush for the natural resources will grow, and with many government's minds only on economic growth our future on this planet will greatly reduce and many other species of plants and animals will suffer, all because of our current leaders greed.

I'm done, now I will step off my soapbox. And please, this subject is all over the newspapers, go inform yourself over the Arctic ice shelf struggle.

This makes me happy

After a frustrating day it's great to just sit back and listen to wonderful happy music. "I'm from Barcelona" makes me happy, cause it's a 29 person band from Sweden... singing happy music. Love it.

Blog Action Day coming up!

On October 15th thousands of bloggers reaching millions of readers will post on a single topic, the environment. I think everyone needs to do this and be a part of this. Right now there are so many thing going on and we are neglecting the earth which made us all. It's sad that we are looking at the end, like an old sci-fi. I just hope as many people do this as possible, all you have to do is just talk, or teach, or rant. Everyone can do that once. So blog! Go to the website and register to be on the blog link list and on Oct. 15 discuss the topic. Also it's a wonderful way to maybe read new blogs that are also participating.

Zebra Mussels

I decided for the Lollybot 'Accidental' show to enter a piece about the introduction of zebra mussels into lake st claire and subsequently into all the great lakes in I think 1986. Zebra Mussels grow rapidly and cover other native clams, killing them. They also are bad for power plants and water systems clogging drain pipes and so on. The one good thing zebra mussels have is that they are excellent water purifiers, that's one reason why the great lakes have become much cleaner in the past 20 years, but the great lakes are supposed to be more murky water, and the natural species that should act as a filter are the marsh land grasses which people have destroyed for subdivisions and sprawl along the coastlines.



I don't think that shopping cart will be used anymore.
Where zebra mussels are now prevalent and intrusive.
Also I thought this picture was cute, explaining global warming in a lighter sense.

Today's Sketches

Today Syd Mead came to our school to chat with us. He did all the design for the movie 'Blade Runner' and multiple other projects, he's the father of Sci-Fi movie design. He use to teach at CCS so he comes back often to discuss his art. So during the presentation I was sketching out the people around me.

My next project I'm workng on is going to be a poster of the Polar Bear and it's soon Extinction. I think this image would also be good on shirts. This is a sketch of my idea with some basic color put on in Photoshop.

Oh Ottawa

So last weekend, (over a week ago, I know I'm late on posting) I went to the Ottawa Animation Film festival. It was amazing, except for me having a little cold and riding a bus for 9 hours. I met so many incredible people there and saw amazing films. My favorite was the music video "Umo" by OOIOO, a japanese girl band that conects to nature through their music. The stop motion animation was by Shoji Goto, he was so nice, my friend Hilary and I talked to him for awhile at the animators picnic.
Scene from "Umo" by OOIOO

There was also this movie "Madame Tutli Putli" by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski which was an incredible stop motion. It was beautiful and so well done. The filming of it was incredible and how they achieved the look just baffles me. I'm still trying to grasp the metaphysical meaning behind it.
Scene from "Madame Tutli Putli"

Another favorite I had was "Milk Teeth" by Tibor Banoczki. It was a mix between paper and 3-D.
Scene from "Milk Teeth"

Also "L'eau Life" by Jeff Scher was pure visual enjoyment. It's a short made for the internet (look it up and view!), it's rotoscoped watercolor animation, which he did 2,141 paintings for... It's gorgeous.
Scene from "L'eau Life"

The Animators picnic was crazy, there were so many people there and I got so many business cards, now I need to start sorting through them and getting in touch with people. Everyone was so pleasent there. I'm so excited to get into contact with the people I met and just build up a relationship and get their opinions on my art.

I loved Ottawa, it's such a beautiful city, and I loved the movies. I don't know what else to say. Other than wonderful weekend, I wouldn't give it up for anything.

Pretty Ottawa

Somerset Project

After trying to recover from sickness over the past week, I've decided I need to update! So here are the drawings I did for our project at the Somerset Collection, where we had to draw on location the period costumes from famous movies. I loved it so much, the dresses were incredible!

Sketch again

I went to The people's art fair this saturday at the Russell complex, It was great we ran around the buildings and found cool, dark passagways and boxs of old manuals. So we made paper airplanes and threw them out the window at people enjoying the fair below. There was this crazy puppet show/concert. It was cool but kinda creepy because of the context of the music... ek.

Well here are some sketches and a quick color study for a possible painting.

Projects!

Today I had so many starts! This morning I met up with some students from the Graphic and Interior Design department and was placed into a group with them to work on the sponsored project for the American Heart Association and their Red Dress campaign. It'll be fun cause I'm hooked up with a lot of kids I know and Lee and I get to work as an illustration team.

Then tonight I went to the Somerset Collection and started drawing for the sponsored project the illustration department is working on for them. We are doing fashion drawings of Costumes made by Cosprop which is an international costume design firm that works on the biggest historical films. The costumes are amazingly detailed. They treated us so well, we were treated to coffee and pizza from California Pizza Kitchen. Our waitress brought us the best cheesecake... amazing. I'm really excited for these projects, I think they'll go well.

Currently I'm working on a cover illustration for studio, and I chose the book Ishmael which is the most amazing and life changing book.


Work in Progress


Sketches




I'll upload my sketches when I get them saved onto my hard-drive.

more sketches

people faces and diana


girl with long arms and ridiculous outfit


mark with little spirits

sketches

i decided to upload some of my newer sketches so here they are.

just some sketches of boys and a girl...

sketch from the book a farewell to arms where catherine's hair is described... i love that part.

sketch of myself

Prudence

This is Prudence... a little Owl I made. As you can see she keeps me company at work. This is how I've been spending my time, making owls. I'll post more pictures of the other Owls I made, some have tails and some are really big. I'm planning to sell my owls and other animals (coming soon, I'm making the patterns) on Etsy for fun and who knows maybe a little spending money. I'll also post pictures of my quilt I'm making for my mom as soon as I barrow someone's camera.

I also need to get to school and use some of the scanners to upload some sketches, haven't done any painting yet, but it'll come. I've been so busy at my job. Also I'm excited cause next week I'll also be working at school again being a TA for all the little highschool kiddies at art camp. Yeah young minds for me to mold! And I get to show them how to properly format their files so they can easily be printed (so when those kids come to CCS my job at the IC will be easier!). I'm excited to see what the kids in high school are now like... I'm so old!