Robot Vagina

I thought I would start out with a semi-disturbing, weird, vulgar-ish dream I had a couple months ago. I chose this dream because my classmates (especially Janine) find it to be so creepy. Here goes:

In my dream I am an adopted daughter, the same age I am now which is 27. I have 3 siblings who are also all adopted. There is one female, about 18, one male about 19 and one loner boy who's about 17. Our adopted parent, yes only one parent, is an alcoholic woman, blonde short hair, attractive, but wasted all the time. The reason she adopted us is so she could get money from the government. She was already rich, we lived in a huge house, but she wanted more money and wanted to make it look like she gave a shit about someone besides herself.

I was hanging out with the girl and boy (19), and we were discussing how the loner brother was so weird and isolates himself. I decided I would reach out and try to get him to open up to me a bit. This is something I would totally do in real life. I went to his room and found him sitting on the floor tinkering with one of his robots. He had about 100 little robots that he built himself and he was constantly working on them. I said something like, "hey, what's up? So, what do those little robots do anyway?" Without even turning to acknowledge me, he picked up one of his robots, programmed it, and let it go.

It instantly darted across the carpet towards me, jumped up my skirt and started robot style (hella fast, hella precise) sewing my vagina closed. I smacked it BAP! it swung down from the sewing thread but was able to swing itself back up and finish the job. I was PISSED! "What the hell did you do that for? I only use this thing to pee!" I yelled at the loner kid. As I looked up to yell again I saw he had gone around to all of his other robots and began programming them.

"Ahhh shit", it was armageddon in the adoption family household. Us against the robots. If one little robot was able to tightly stitch my vagina closed, then what were all the other 99 robots capable of doing?

I ran downstairs to warn the others, thread hanging down from under my skirt I thought to myself, "why didn't I just let the robot finish his job, now I'm stuck with a janky ass sew job". I got to the living room where my two other siblings and adopted mom were and yelled, "everyone get out of here! He's attacking us with robots! They're all coming right now!"

They just stood and stared at me blankly, except for my mom who was sitting on the couch spread eagle, no underwear wearing a looney tunes xxl t-shirt, drunkenly mumbling. "schmlelel"

"You're flashing your vagina to your children!!" I yelled at her. She didn't respond whatsoever.

"We can't leave mother." Said my sister.

"Um, your mother is a drunken slut! You're going to die! You need to leave right now!"I said.

The 19 year old boy looks at me with a perplexed look on his face, "but we are a family we have to stick togeth-" POP!, he's interrupted by a loud noise. We look over at our mom and see she had been shot in her main artery running along her upper thigh and dark purple/red blood was pouring out of her. She was so wasted though, she had no idea she was bleeding out. "what, what happened?ah uh I'm bldeeding. Someone cut me. Whro clut me?" she slurred.

"No one cut you, you were shot by a robot, you're dying." I snapped back. (a bit cold-hearted in my dreams sometimes)
I look back just then to see the entire army of robots led by loner boy coming down the stairs hanging from the ceiling, on the ground, on the walls, everywhere.

"Fuck you guys, I'm out of here." I ran out of the nearest door towards the field in the back of the house, got to a point that was safe enough and took a deep breathe. As much as I wanted to go back and see what had happened to them out of curiosity, I already knew that family got FUCKED UP in there. Thank god it wasn't me...

Ex'pression College

So I started Ex'pression College in September and thought I'd start my blog up again. It's pretty tough learning so many new programs at such a fast pace. I'm hangin' in there though! So far we have learned Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Final Cut Pro, Pro Tools...to name a few. We are currently learning Flash and building our websites. It's fun, but frustrating.

I have a paintings to add to the site. I was in a lot of art shows over the summer which was sooo much fun. I also painted live with some local Metal Bands and a local Hip Hop community called The Majority. I actually sold some paintings too!

More art!

Female model, charcoal on drawing paper 18x24


Ink and brush on paper 9x12



ink and brush on paper 9x12

Vincent Van Gogh and Me

Vincent Van Gogh has been my favorite artist for some time. I was first introduced to his work in high school by my art teacher Mr. Svendsen. Recently for art 12 we were required to choose an artist and replicate one of their drawings. I chose "Sorrow" by Vincent Van Gogh. It is a drawing of his live in alcoholic prostitute, Sien.



The top picture is my version of Sorrow.
The bottom picture is the original drawing by Vincent Van Gogh





Although Van Gogh led a short life, committing suicide at the age of 37, his life story is very interesting. I especially enjoy reading the letters he wrote to his friends and family, I believe there are 847 in total. Most of the letters are to his brother Theo, the only member of Van Gogh's family to really care about him. Theo financially supported Van Gogh through most of his life as well.


There are many theories as to why Van Gogh committed suicide. It's never been officially stated as to what mental conditions he actually suffered from, though theories include: epilepsy, bipolar disorder, sunstroke, acute intermittent porphyria, lead poisoning, and Meniere's disease. He also was said to have syphilis, that's what happens when you live with a prostitute I guess. He drank absynthe, smoked cigarettes and would stay awake for days with little to no food while painting.











I can relate to him in the way that he gets lost in his head, and his fears. He was always scared of going crazy and dieing before he was recognized. It seems to me he had anxiety. I have anxiety and am constantly scared of something happening. Sometimes I think I have fatal diseases, sometimes I'm worried about a test I already took. I'm worried about dieing too young. I don't know if it's an artist thing or not, but the anxiety and worry thing Vincent and I def. have in common. I find it helps me understand my anxiety by reading his letters and seeing how much his worrying did him no good and was mostly irrational thinking. Then, there are times when I think, "he did go crazy, and that's what he was afraid of." So, did he manifest his worries into existence or was his insanity inevitable? Hmm. Either way, I'm much happier and more relaxed when I am grateful of what I have. It takes practice to keep the negative thoughts from taking over, but I think I'll get it one day. I think I'm going to see a therapist at my school also.


Back to school/art stuff....


During the time the drawing for art 12 was due, I also had a art history paper due. I chose Van Gogh's, Skull with a Burning Cigarette. I feel like it tells a lot about his state of mind at the time he painted this. I also chose this piece because it doesn't look like the typical Van Gogh paintings.


So, anyone even remotely interested in art history, art, or psychology should read about Van Gogh. Google "Vincent Van Gogh" and you will get a ton of great websites. There are also a ton of books out there. I listed a few of my fav.'s below.





Websites:




http://www.vggallery.com/




http://www.webexhibits.org/vangogh/







www.vangoghgallery.com/







http://www.vincentvangoghart.net/





Books:

Vincent Van Gogh, by Marc Edo Tralbaut

Vincent Van Gogh, by Pierre Cabanne

The Portable Van Gogh, by Robert Hughes

current art life

There is going to be a student art show, juried by Nicole Lee from the Sonoma County Arts Council, next semester. The deadline for entries is Dec. 10.Right now I'm trying to finish up a few pieces to enter. They are all drawings/paintings of my cousins, so far they are turning out really great. As soon as I finish them I will post them.
After that, I wait to hear if I made it in the show or not (everyone is in the show, some are selected to be in the gallery, the others are going to be shown on a slideshow). Either way it's a great experience and my first time doing something like this.

On another art note....I had my second portfolio review with my figure drawing instructor, Deborah Kirklin, last tue. She gave me an A-(the "-" was based on presentation, I'm a little messy sometimes) which I worked very hard for. We also spoke about my plans for next semester, and she encouraged me to take her oil painting class . I think she's a great figure drawing instructor, very encouraging, firm, yet laid back. She's also younger and more "hip" than a lot of my past art instructors. I'm looking forward to her painting class.

My other studio art class, Art 3, has been very tedious. A lot of mixing paint, figuring out how to make Nuetrals(browns, tans, burnt umber,etc.) Secondaries(green,violet, orange) and Tertiaries(yellow/orange, red/orange, red/violet, blue/violet, blue/green, yellow/green)using Primary (red, blue, yellow) colors

some art stuff

This is a work in progress, self-portrait. Vine Charcoal on 18x24 drawing paper


This is a charcoal drawing of my coffee I did in my sketchbook, 11x14.








Another sketch from a picture of a pin up model, pencil on 11x14.

Pen and ink...latest figure drawing stuff

These are done using bamboo brush, ink and pen.

This one was done using a larger bamboo brush dipped in diluted ink to create the form. After it dried, (only about 2-3 min.) I went back in and applied pen and ink for the contour.

latest stuff from figure drawing

bamboo brush and ink

I didn't think I would like this or be very good at it. It actually was a lot of fun, and it forced me to trust my abilities and just go with the flow.

Almost done

Finished my mid-terms and did very well thank you very much! So, I only have about 5 or so weeks left in the semester. I can't believe it went by so fast. Now I know what my mom has been talking about all these years. I just never stuck with it long enoug to find out myself.
I'll post some of my recent art class stuff later tonight.

I went to Yosemite last month and boy was it fun! I had to study a lot, but it was so relaxing and peaceful there I didn't mind a bit. I ended up not being able to rock climb : ( Next year for sure. I learned how to play chess from Ruby (cutest first grader in the world). It was the funnest group of people. Matt made the best food, my mom made the best desert. It was an overall awesome time.

That's about all for now.

Mid-terminator

So, life has been stressssful. I'm dealing with school one day at a time. I am going through mid-terms right now. I just presented my first portfolio for Art 12(figure drawing) today which went really well. I was supposed to do my Art 3 critique today, but it got pushed to thursday.

This friday I'm leaving for Yosemite! I'm sooo excited! I need the break from school and life. I'm going with my Mom, Matt(My mom's bf), and a bunch of strangers, so it should be excellent! I'm rock-climbing for my first time on Sunday.

Over the weekend I went to the Glen Ellen fair and got myself a corn-dog. Trust me, it's a big deal. The corn-dog....not the fair. I went with my sister and Andrina, we had a good time, lots of laughs. We went to the pumpkin patch Saturday night, did the maze and made it out through the entrance in 30 min. We don't consider that cheating.

I've been feeling kinda down in the dumps lately, but today I felt a lot better. I think I have been stressed out from school. I should be back to my old-self after mid-terms.

All about the Ass-Ripper

So, I love Pilates. I said to Diana (a girl in my class who's also one of the cool table girls in my Art 3 class) "wow, I feel like a little kid discovering my body for the first time." It's the coolest thing though, because I can feel the results after only like 4 weeks or maybe 5?

The instructor is I'd say in her 60's with the body of a 20 year old and she totally looks like tburnette from three's company.



Anwho, there's one weird thing about this class...An overweight woman in her late 40's rips the loudest ass I've ever heard. Every single class she does it. My sister tried holding back her laughter last week during class but couldn't and did the spitting laugh. You know the one, when you know you aren't supposed to laugh at something but you just can't hold it in and all at once it comes spitting out...almost like this woman's farting I guess.

What I don't understand is, how does she come to class twice a week making her nasty butt songs while everyone else is quiet and relaxed trying to concentrate?

Every class right after we get out my sister and I discuss this. Today she started the conversation with, "damn bitch, what are you eating? It sounded like she sharted today. The old man in our class doesn't even let loose." Oh, Alyssa.

My theory is she enjoys coming to class so she can release herself and doesn't care what anyone thinks. Okay, that's great and liberating, whatever. Why doesn't she drive her flatulent ass through McDonalds (cause you know she does) on her way to pilates with a personal trainer and spare the air for the people who aren't walking gas bubbles?

Anyone else have an ass-ripper in their class? Or, is anyone an ass-ripper who would like to defend this broad?

At 3

work from Art 3, I'll have to tell you more about these at a later time. Gotta get ready for Pilates!

Homework for figure drawing

This is a hand exercise. We first read about drawing the hand and hand movements and then applied what we read into the homework. I should have done this exercise using more schematic sketching to show where the bones and joints are and where they bend, almost as if the hand was see-through. I think I'll redo this one.
This a homework exercise on proportion and perspective using Sight Measurement, using a pencil to measure the relationship of one body part to another and the angles of each part.The model is my friend Andrina's boyfriend, Rob. Thanks Rob! Just for the record, Andrina did all the sheet adjustments while simultaneously serving as Rob's cabana girl.

This is Andrina

more figures

This is a blind-gesture sketch which was done without looking at the paper while sketching and without lifting the charcoal from the paper. This was difficult at first because I wanted to check to see my progress, but the exercise isn't about making the sketch look good. This is to practice capturing the weight distribution and movement of the model and comes more from the artist's feeling than technique.
Another blind-gesture
This is a schematic drawing, I call this, Chick in a Chair.
This is a little different than the other sketches. For this exercise we used he side of the charcoal and shaded in the fom of the body, pressing harder where the shadows were darker and lightening the pressure on the charcoal where the shadows were lighter. Then we went back in with a charcoal pencil and used countour lines to define the shape of the body by holding the pencil lightly at the opposite end of the tip using the index and middle finger and thumb.

Figure drawing

These are sketches from my figure drawing class. The first two are schematic sketches which focus on the parts of the body geometrically. This is done using the side of a conte crayon.
This is a gesture sketch of a female. A gesture sketch is usually done quickly keeping continuous contact of the charcoal on the paper. This teaches the artist to relate/empathize with the model and become kinesthetic with the model, capturing the movement and weight distribution of the figure. It also is a way to practice seeing the figure as a whole and is a technique used to practice filling the whole paper with the figure.

These are two drawings from my Art 3:Intro to Art and Design class. This class is a lot like high school art classes I took which introduce the concepts of Art. It's nice to have a refresher course on the basics of 2-D design. Plus, the girls at my table are awesome and we have a lot of fun during class.
The top drawing is a self-portrait using contour line to suggest the areas of shadow. We used charcoal on 18x24 in.


This is a blind-contour drawing. We had to keep our charcoal on the paper not lifting it at all for 10 min. (this exercise can continue for as long as the artist has patients to look) while looking at ourselves in a mirror. We also could not look at the paper at all. It's a way to train the eye into "seeing", improves an artist's patients while drawing, is a calming almost meditative exercise or experience, and a great warm-up. Looks kinda like Picasso, wouldn't you say?

First day of Figure Drawing Class!

These are the sketches and gesture drawings I did in my Figure Drawing class today. The woman who modeled was in her 50's and had really hairy armpits. It's all gravy though, she was fun to draw. Hopefully we'll have a young hot guy next week! Doubt it.

The List

If any of you have ever listened to Alice 97.3 San Francisco morning radio show Sarah and Vinnie, then you've heard of a guy named Hooman. He gave me a list of tasks to complete which he felt would benefit me as an artist (including Pilates 2x/week). He's a successful guy and has worked hard for what he has accomplished thus far. Therefore, I value his advice and will perform these tasks to the best of my ability. I am also very appreciative that he took the time to give it to me in the first place. The list is as follows:

1) Create a Website updating frequently (artbyjus.blogspot.com)

2) Visit one art gallery a week

3) Attend one art event a week by myself and make friends while I'm there

4) Pilates 2x/week

...this is in addition to my classes and work. I have one Art History class, an English class, Pilates, Figure drawing, and Intro to Art and Design. I also work MW from 9-4. I think I have always been too scared to push myself for fear that I would fail. Hopefully by blogging about my experience it will help me to be accountable. I'm also hoping to gain feedback from anyone who cares to share. I'll be posting my completed art assignments and am looking forward to constructive criticism from anyone. My short term goal is to transfer to CCA in fall '09. Wish me luck!

Justine

p.s. this is WEIRD and uncomfortable for me to share my personal life for everyone to see. So, bare with me.