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.