Some Advice:

If you do AP art next year be ready to work, I can't stress this enough. You don't necessarily have to stay on top of everything all the time, but if you wait till the deadline to work then you better be able to create good work under alot of pressure. But really arty is fun, so why fall behind in the first place, if you love art enough to be in the class than you will do well and learn alot. I would also caution you to think of a really good specific concetration. Since all your work will be about this one idead make sure you have are excited about it, and that you have room to grow in your concentration. If this sounds tricksy, it is, so spend some time just thinking about your concentration and mapp out some possible pieces before you decide.

My Favorite:

My favorite piece was the Jesse reno piece. It introduced me to a different way of painting, and helped me to relax a bit about being a perfectionist. I also loved that i was able to use my fingers and really have fun with the colors before I even had a vision for the piece. It was extremely freeing to create this way. Also it won me a prize and I had never made money on art before then.

What I Learned:

I learned that I work best in my own space. I have alot of trouble being inspired or doing good work when I am around other people or in a place that I am not comfy in. I also learned about being created and how to make something out of my own head and not just copy it from a picture. I found that I am not quite able to draw directly from my head, but if i see some amorphous shape I can turn it into a creature in my head and then draw that. Its alot easier for me to be creative this way.

ACTIVITIES!

I absolutely adored the Jesse Reno workshop. He had such a unique way of doing art, and it was wonderful to learn from a truly succesful professional artist. His style was so much fun to emulate and I think it helped everyone to let go and have fun with their work a bit more. For me personally he helped me with layering, and in allowing the paint to form its own picture instead of forcing it and controlling it. He allowed me to be free with my art and his own peices were inspiring.

I also loved the art field trip downtown. I enjoy looking at art, and being about to gallery hop and experinece a whole bunch of different artists was inspiring and definetley helped me to decide on my concentraion.Plus who doesn't love getting Voodoo doughnuts in the morning? Ithink it helped bond the art class and Made us more of a art family, instead of a bunch of spereate groups.

I wish that we didn't do the LO reads book, since it was a terrible book and the art that came out of it was hardly inspired. I also wish we did mroe things with the AP 3 d class. When the classes were at the same time, last year, it was really nice to bond between the two AP art groups. I loved the comraderie between the two groups, and that it created a whole art community. This year we didn;t get the same opportunity and I missed it.

In ten years i see myself raoming the african savanah and the jungles of south america, doing feild research that is funded by government grants. I will also be keeping an artsy journal and drawing all of the things I get to see.

A Thoughtful Song lyrics

Well I feel just like a child, Yeah I feel just like a child

Well I feel just like a child,Well I feel just like a child

From my womb to my tombI guess I'll always be a child

Well some people try and treat me like a man

Yeah some people try and treat me like a man

Weel I guess they just don't understand

Well some people try and treat me like a man

They think I know s*** But that's just itI'm a child

Weel I need you to tell me what to wear

Yeah I need you to help me comb my hair

Yeah I need you to come and tie my shoes

Yeah I need you to come and keep me amused

From my cave to my graveI guess I'll always be a child

Well I need you to help me reach the door

And I need you to walk me to the store

And I need you to please explain the war

And I need you to heal me when I'm sore

You can tell by my smileThat I'm a child

And I need you to sit me on your lap

And I need you to make me take my nap

Could you first pull out a book andRead me some of that

Cause I need you to make me take my nap

And I need you to recognize my friends

Cause they're there even though you don't see them

They got their own chair, plate, and a seat

You know I won't touch my foodUnless they eat

From the roof to the floorI crawl around some moreI'm a child

And I need you to help me blow my nose

And I need you to help me count my toes

And I need you to help me put on my clothes

And I need you to hide it when it shows

From be my daddy's spermTo being packed in an urn I'm a child

And when I steal you gotta Slap me til I cry

Don't you stop til the tears run dry

See I was born thinking under the sky

I didn't belong to a couple of old wise guys

From sucking on my mama's breast

To when they lay my soul to restI'm a child

Well I guess I'm always be a child

This song represents what I want to be when I grow up, a kidlet

Well the AP showcase is behind me and all thats left in art is the ap downloading. Its a strange feeling, like the beginning of the end. I know we all did a great job and i was blown away by the art work that everyone showed. All the guests were stunned. I am sure that AP 2d can loook back on this year fondly and without regrets. I know the incoming seniors will grow even more next year, and those of us who are going to college will continue to pursue our art there. Before this art year I want at all sure that I wanted to spend any time with art in college, but after this year I know that I could not be happy without art. While I did not end up going to RISD, an art school I will stil be doing a double major with art and bio. The success that I have had this year inspired me to pursue art as more then just a hobby, and what little art I did make gave me a glimpse of how many more ideas I have.

Anyways good job everyone!

and thanks

This past weekend I went on my college visit to Miami. I was potentially going to go there and become a marine biologist. While I love the area (and the cuban food) I will not be going there next year. I heard that the teachers there are more about research then teaching, and thus the classes suffer. Also the classes outside of the marine bio and pre med weren't all that great. Instead next year I will be going to Whitman, a small liberal arts school in Walla Walla Washington.

Whitman has a beautiful next arts department, it is 4 stories tail and shaped like a credent moon. On side of the building is entirely glass walls. and the studious that they have for seniors are entirely glass rooms. They had a wonderful printmaking shop, a wood shop and a metal working shop. I must say the ceramics left something to be desired, however I spoke with the head of the art department and he was very supportive. I know that next year I will either double major or minor in art, and become a part of the small but strong art force at Whitman.

well Ive been out sick for almost a week now and it hasn't been alot of fun, but on the bright side I have had alot of time to work on my paintings. I will finally be back in the classroom today to show off what I have done. I have only finished one of the three! but I drew out the other two and they will be much smaller then the 5 ft tall monster I have been working on. As much as this deadline is scaring me I am really, finally, excited about the work I am doing. Its taken this whole year to get in my groove, but these last few pieces are ones that I can truly be proud of. they are definitely strongly influenced by dali, but theres a bit of jesse reno in there and a bit from some new artists I discovered on a art website called Fecal Face. The art on it is wild and fun.

Im off to Miami tonight for a college visit, which should be wonderful on my sinuses :( but really i can't complain. I even found an artist named Jeff Soto, who did a art blob about his trip to miami for an installation. It got me all excited for my trip and the art that I might get a chance to see there.

till next time

I am definitely feeling the crunch right now. The end of the year has snuck up on us so quickly! I am struggling to come up with the conceptual piece of my paintings. I know what i want in them to a point but I'm missing that picture in my mind of what I want the finished project to look like. I know myself and I need to have that finished look in my head if I want to create something I can be proud of. I got some books to be inspired by but this deadline doesn't leave much room for inspiration! So I am just getting my whine on for a little bit and then I can man up and dive into it. I love art and I love getting into it I just need that flash of inspiration to get me going... anyone have any great ideas they aren't using?? probably not. well ill see you all in class Monday for some high pressure creation.

I went on an amazing road trip this spring break. Nikk and I packed up everything we thought we might possibly need and drove from here to the redwoods to sanfransico to santa barbara LA and finally finished at the san diego zoo. San Diego zoo is the most amazing zoo i had ever visited and the animals are all set up in their cages so its always easy to see them. We got to watch two huge grizzly bears wrestle (playfully), they would tackle eachother and throw seaweed and one divebombed the other into thier pool of water, they were great. I sketched the whole time and got some interesting drawings. It was a bit of a struggle because the animals were always moving. Santa barbara was the most beautiful place I have ever been and I am probably going to go there for school next year. LA was crazy and hetic but I loved Venice beach and I have this great new dream to be a street artist and sell my stuff on the boardwalk. Some of the things they were selling were ridiculous and Im sure some creature art and felted things would be snatched up in a hurry. Of course San Fransisco was wonderful and I got to shop on Haight street, which is home to my favorite store. I got to play with my grandmas art stuff when I was in San Fransisco. She lives right by there and she does art all day everyday. One of my pieces was done there. All in all it was a wonderful inspiring trip. I came home full of ideas and I can't wait to get back down there this summer

For spring break I am getting in the car and driving down through California, car camping as I go. I am so excited to be warm and out of the bubble, but even more so to try a new sketchbook challenge. I have been reading a book about different famous artists and their sketchbooks. It has inspired me, not to keep the sketchbook journal which is usually painstakingly thought out and finished, but to draw as I feel inspired and attempt to fill a whole sketchbook with this one trip. I aklso go this funny book about creative drawing and I will do one of the exercises everyday. On the way there are all sorts of art museums and galleys to see, especially in San Fransisco, and i plan on visiting many of those. Only two more weeks before my warm, artsy trip.

My concentration is an exploration of surrealism with animals. I want to focus on a juxtaposition of two regular things that creates a new perspective on the objects. The original french surrealists had many methods of tapping into the subconscious to create works of art. These methods are the inspirations for my art work. My art work shed a new light on everyday things, and they force the viewer to think about things from a new perspective.

This piece is a piece where the fish are supposed to melt into the water as if they are half fish, real and half water. This would add a surreal element to these beautiful fish. Unfortunately I feel that the original idea did not translate well in to the piece. I like the movement of the little red fish, but the other two seem a bit static. I kept variety by making the fish of various species and colors, however I feel the balance of the piece brings all the fishes together well. I fell the fish were done well technically, but the background is a bit messy and perhaps lacking a middle ground. AL in all I feel the final product did not match the idea i had in my head, but I still like the fish and the watery designs I super imposed onto them.

On night I awoke with an idea for a painting. I wanted to create jellyfish that were made of thousand of little butterflies. I have tried multiple time now to create this image in my head. This attempt is the closest I have come, however I am missing one important piece. Jellyfish are translucent, not opaque, also butterflies overlap each other and all fly in a similar directions. While I did not capture these important bits I still love this piece. It took hours to draw each little butterfly and even longer to color them in. It was a labor of love and I would be crazy not to appreciate this piece, due to its intricacy alone. I like the balance of this peice and the movement of all the little butterflies. Some negative points are the scratchyness of the upper butterflies due to adding too many layers of pencil.

This weekend I did a massive art cram to create three 16X20" drawings for my application to RISD. Initially I thought that I would have to work hard, but I would still be able to sleep. I was wrong. On Saturday I spent half the day cleaning my room to make my brain less cluttered and then started my first drawing. It was a drawing that utilized both sides of the paper. i started at 4 pm. Fast forward 12 hours and there's me, still only working on one side of the drawing and getting more and more exhausted by the minute. Finally at 4 30 I go to bed, thinking tat i wil just wake up and draw all day Sunday. Sunday morning rolls around. Sunday afternoon rolls around. And around one o'clock I wake up and get cleaned up and eat breakfast. I finish side one. At this point Im telling myself that really i have four drawings, and i have finished one, and really the side I already finished was the hardest side. so everything else will be easy from here on out. Then there's valentines dinner which lasts a few hours. And I am back to work at 9pm. at about 3 in the morning drawing one is finally completed. I have to get the drawings and two essays in the mail by 3 the next day. i would be panicking except I am so tired I can't function. I fall asleep and wake with a start at *am the next day. Now it is a race against time. Drawing 2 is complete around noon. With three hours left to make drawing 3, write two essays and get all the requirements to a FedEx shipping center I kick it into high gear. I get drawing 3 done, needless to say it is not my best work, by 2. The last hour was a frenzy of typing, lableling everything with my adress, and the worst part: folding. Now drawing 3 is not great but I am proud of drawing 2 and 1. Drawing one was a two sided drawing where the top is a picture (drawn from a photo i took) of me standing in a pond looking at my feet while the rain hits the pond surface. There is a fish tail plunging into the water, on the underside it is a drawing of a school of fish, with a lot of depth looking up at the bottom of the feet and the surface of the water. The second drawing was a creative drawing of a junked out bike in a pile of refuse with these strange garbage creatures crawling, floating, and growing in the pile. RISD forces the applicants to take their large drawings and fold them into quarters. FOLD THEM. it was a travesty and I may never recover. After the mad rust to the shipping center I went over to a friends house and painted trim until I could stand up anymore. Great weekend eh?

ok so this isn't really art related, but I am all shook up and were supposed to use this as an outlet right?
I had my Brown interview today, and it doesn't get any more nerve wraking than that. Some key moments were when the alumn told me that usually only one of all the kids he interviews actually gets in. The he said about twelve kids in the entire state of Oregon actually get accepted. Then at the end of the interview he asked me about my accomplishments. I told him I took first place in the George Fox shoe, got gold keys in Scholastic, and other artsy accomplishments. He respond by asking if I done anything else, saying that one kid interned at OHSU and another wrote published articles. He asked " Haven't you done anything like that?" I felt more then a little bit inadequate. No I have not published a book or been to the moon. I am a good student and a good artist. I am free spirit and a unique individual. But it was painfully apparent that I do not have the "Je ne sais quois" that Brown students should have. He was a nice enough guy but I feel I must kiss my Brown hopes goodbye and turn my dreaming elsewhere.

I went to George Foxon my way to visit my dad this weekend, and guess what? I won first place. And this wonderful little school is giving me 250 dollars. I was so surprised and happy. The art director showed me around the art facilities and showed me his art gallery, which was very edgy for a christian shcool. It was about the beauty of the female form and how its not something to be ashamed of even though modesty is important. I aslo visit alot of galleries in ashland and i got some ool ideas about how to pump up some of my past concentration piecies. I seriously can not wait to see if they work out!

sorry about the spelling errors :)

my computer is having issues but i am going to download a document for my update

• Magically I got my computer to WORK! I'm very excited, not only about figuring out how to type in this little box, but about art! Partly I am just amazed that it was finally sunny today. It felt like spring and that sun renewed me more then sleep ever can. I'm actually considering buying one of those light boxes that replicate sunlight for people who dont feel energetic when the weather is dark. I'm one of those people--which makes it hard to live in Oregon during the winter. Anyways the other reason I'm feeling excited about art is because of a little at home research i have been doing. For Christmas i asked my brother (who works at borders) for a strange book about creativity. The authors main theory is that creativity is not something that either you were born with or you don't have, it is just a skill. The skill has a nice simple foundation: creativity is taking a drawing and then doing things to it until it becomes something else. The book is a series of little activities that represent different techniques that take a regular image or idea and make it "creative." The book was a little simple, and the ideas seemed boring enough, but it sparked a bout of creativity in me. I wrote down a whole list of concentration ideas that i am so excited about. I seriously cant wait to dive into two of them for my next concentration pieces. The third reason I am so excited is because of portfolio day last Sunday. I got great feedback that really made me proud of what Ive been working on and even more excited to delve further into my art potential.
  I can't wait to be back in the art room tomorrow

O and I taught myself how to make apple pie, what a great accomplishment.

I'm having some issues trying to download these photos, so i guess every one will just have to wait with bated breath for my "in progress" pictures. I should have done an in progress journal so i could have ranted and raved about how much trouble my jellyfish drawing was.

So i have a favorite artist who does amazing work. She takes drawings of people and abstracts them. Somehow she achieves twisting, writhing, milky effect so the subject appears as if seen through smoke. It's amazing. Her name is Maureen Gubia and this her website:
http://gubia.neurasthenic.net/
I tried some of her techniques, but they didn't quite work out for me. Her hair is alot of fun to recreate. t did an abstracted portrait of my little brother and the hair was by far the best part.
see you all at school!