Summer 2011

I'm so thrilled to be back in America! My home.

This summer will consist of anything I can do artistically before my final school year begins:

• Working on unfinished/older pieces
• Creating one to two new pieces
• Drawing more/work with photography
• Applying to exhibits/galleries/publications
• Getting an A in my online Art History course
• Updating my website and store
• Updating blogs!!! And writing more
• Odd jobs

Suomi in Springtime

Finland is such a different country when the snow is all gone. The greenery is wonderful. Flowers are rearing their pretty little heads.

The plainest of birds are actually not that plain-looking.

The bumblebees I've seen are black and orange, not yellow.

I enjoyed walking outside without a jacket, or big boots. No gloves or scarves. Girls in tank tops. Kids with ice creams.

I've had an incredible, stressless time here. I'm quite happy with the work I've made, my interim paintings that were mostly for fun and experimentation. It's definitely going to be the big thing I'll miss (besides my friends, of course) when I go back. I've been so happy at school. I will miss that happiness. :P

Hopefully I will kick it up a notch this summer. Start making prints; marketable works.

Ooh, Finland. Now that your weather is gorgeous, I almost wish to stay. ...almost. ;)

SkinMD winner, and things.

I'm disappointed by the turnout of my giveaway, but I guess it's to be expected from my absence. It might be this way for a while, until the summer. Then I'll only need to worry about a job; blogging will be more frequent and hopefully making art, too.

Anyway, the winner of the SkinMD lotion was Sarah, or #3, as selected by Random.org. Congrats, Sarah! I hope she enjoys her free bottle of lotion: it really works! ;)

Lately I've been under a lot of pressure, and personal issues have come up. I find myself in a bad place frequently. This spring break was a nice breather, helping my family paint walls and seeing an old friend again. However, it's back to the real world, so please bear with me as I miss posting or aren't able to leave you guys lovely comments! I promise this is not the end of my internet presence.

I hope you are all doing well, and, if you Etsy, that you're finding success! Much love.

My apologies!

I know, I know: where have I been!?

Trust me, there are good reasons for my lack of posting. School has really been grinding down on me; Drawing 3 especially. Also trying to get together info for the art tour trip, and filling out scholarship applications. I even have to prepare two works to be featured in the Student Exhibit later this month. (Yay!)

Very soon I promise I'll post up a giveaway for wonderful lotion that truly has healing powers. Stay tuned for that!

In the meantime, if you have the chance, I'd appreciate any viewers to visit ArtRaw's online art competition. I've entered and voting is currently open. Please take the time (if you can!) to visit my three entries and rate them. I'm not asking you just go and vote 5 stars, I encourage honesty... but someone already voted 1 star on all three, which is a bummer, so I ask for a little mercy. ;( If you truly believe my work to be so low, please leave a comment with constructive criticism for my improvement.

You can visit my entries here: http://ifontis.com/index.php?option=com_simgallery&func=viewalbum&aid=78

Thank you for your all of your patience! ;)

Back in the game.

So, the first week of school has come and gone. To start off Painting II, we did an alla prima of a still life specifically for each of us. I wasn't too happy with mine, but then again, it's hard for a perfectionist like me to feel great about uncompleted paintings, which alla primas essentially are. I forgot to take a snapshot, sorry! (Not that anyone is too interested, hehe.)

Art History class is pure lecture, and frankly, boring to a right-brained individual like myself. I need to be stimulated. At least in my other education class, the teacher is peppy and non-monotone. Oh well, I shall get by.

I've just received a bottle of SkinMD lotion and am very excited to review it! After doing so I'll post a review, which will contain a giveaway for a full-sized bottle, so stay tuned for that. :)

Speaking of giveaways, please check out this lovely lady's blog: A Blonde Walks Into a Blog... She is giving away an IPOD NANO!! Can you believe that? Wow! Don't miss it!

It ends on Febuary 1st, so get those entries in! I wish I had a cool gadget to give away to you lovely readers, but I don't, so that's why I posted this.

Motivation Monday.

I will do well today. My Printmaking final will be great. The matte redo will be great. The items are great, the title is great, and my critique will be great. Some flaws will occur, as usual, but it will not tarnish my overall design.

I will do fine on my Ed. Psych exam. I will make the necessary grade, or better, to get an A in that class. I will be prepared for it, though I haven't had much time to study. I will do well on it by taking my time and breathing.

I will get all As this semester, no matter what. I will do well today.

Okay, let's go! :)

And now, the Winner!

I'm very happy with the response my big giveaway received. After the deadline passed I went to random.org, put in the numbers, and came out with #27 or...

MissKnits! Congratulations, Mel! The prize-givers have been contacted, and I will mail out my prizes on Tuesday.

She has a lovely shop of handmade items, as well as a supply store at BitsfromMissKnits. You can also check out her blog here.

For those who didn't win, don't be discouraged! I'll be holding another giveaway soon. Makeup lovers, definitely stay tuned!


Well, tomorrow is my last day. Printmaking final, and an Ed. Psych exam. I'm kind of nervous!! I really hope to make all As, I worked my butt off this semester and it has been the toughest so far. Wish me luck!

And thanks for visiting. :)

Quick update!

So, today was my first "sick day." I didn't attend class this morning because I've finally caught the sickness. I had a perfect streak going of zero absences in all my classes! Luckily, the other two classes for Mondays were cancelled, so I've been able to get rest. I still feel bad, and I think it's stress. All of this is piling down on me once again. I ran into my neighbor earlier, and after discussing finals he humorously added, "And then the crying starts." No kidding!

But, a little ray of sunshine to peek through this mess: I won a giveaway! Well, two to be exact, I just mentioned one on Twitter. First, my dream of owning a pair of feather earrings came true thanks to Tina of Flock Together Crafts! And today, I got an email from therikrakshop about winning the fabulous Sponsor's giveaway. So there are some happy pieces to my stress puzzle. Hopefully the luck will continue! :)

(Edit: Just found out that I won this giveaway, too! A while ago I won an eyeshadow color from Orglamix, featured on my pirate Halloween outfit, and now I won a collection!! I am so excited! This makeup is divine, I encourage you to take a look.)

One more thing, before I go. I love dripping and splattering, experimenting with direction, and also different media. For a few days I've been building up on a 18x24" canvas layer after layer of coffee, tea, and India ink. Here is the result:


Should I put it in my shop? :) What do you think? Should the presentation be different? (Flip around, sideways, etc.)

One last thing... it's getting close to that time. I've been unable to produce a good one so far, but it's about the time for a giveaway. I'm two away from 100 followers, I'm over 300 on Twitter, and it's near the holidays. Once that 100 is reached, I'm going to produce a giveaway, hopefully one to blow your socks off! Stay tuned! (Tell your friends *wink!*)

Wordless Wednesday.

(Forgive my slow postings, the art finals are approaching and they are more than just tests, they're accumulative, comprehensive works that take much time and attention. Please bear with me!)

The PLT.

I just want to say, the PLT is not easy. Don't think about cramming for it the night before. Many factors play into this test. Studying for it is the main reason I could not post a Friday featurette or anything, sorry.

For those who aren't familiar with the PLT, it is the Practice Learning and Teaching test. It is part of the Praxis II, tests taken by future teachers. The PLT questions depend on which one you take. I just so happened to take K-6, upon hearing from a fellow Art Ed. classmate that it was the easiest. Well, it isn't, really.

The PLT K-6 deals with educational psychology and theories/practices of teaching. The test has four case studies with three response questions for each. Then there are 24 "discrete" multiple-choice questions about theories and so on. The m.c. questions were fine, but it's the case studies that suck. You're expected to finish all of this in only 2 hours! Your answers to the case studies must be thorough and relevant, and well-written. You've technically got 25 minutes for each study and its set of questions. I don't do well when pressured to write nicely under a short time limit. I get nervous and sometimes don't articulate myself well.

For those who are somewhat familiar, the study questions basically consisted of two questions in each question: give TWO ways of doing something better (or two things done wrong, or two ways a teacher did something), and explain those two with strong reasons. The practice books I read in my local store did not have these consistently, so I was surprised by it. I'm.. not too confident, to tell the truth. Hopefully I will have passed my state's standard. I'll find out by December 11th.

For breakfast, I had good ole brain food. If you're preparing to take an important test, consider brain food!! I had wild Alaskan salmon, brown rice, and a Cranery drink. Açai and blueberry drinks or the fruit itself are incredibly good for your brain, along with authentic cacao dark chocolate, 70% or higher. (I hate dark chocolate, unfortunately.) Bananas work, also.

I don't know if I'm really cut out to be an art teacher! :(

Woodcutting.

Woodcutting is not easy. No, really, it isn't. The first couple of assignments in Printmaking involved cutting linoleum blocks, which wasn't the easiest thing to do per se, but at least linoleum is soft. (Tip: placing the block in contact with heat makes it even softer. I put boiling water in a small tin, covered it with foil, and placed the block face-down on the foil.)

Woodcutting is our weapon of choice now, and it's difficult. The block has to be bigger (minimum 8x10"), and we're using wood (mine's some sort of poplar). The tools have to be continuously sharpened, and they've been used so they aren't in perfect shape (too expensive to purchase on our own). You have to consider carving against the grain, and around knots. I tried my best to purchase blocks that had little to no knots on either side. Even then, it's still arduous, and it's so easy to slip and knick an area. Once it's cut, you can't get it back. The one pictured above is a re-do!! :(

I just like the look of my pen drawing, which is there to simply mark my areas as guidelines. I'm really worried about getting to the details of the metal handles on the brushes... not sure how to go about cutting those correctly.

Any experienced woodcutters out there to lend some helpful tips? :)

Thursday Treasury.

Hey everyone! Been trying to catch up on school work after relaxing this fall break (maybe a little too much relaxing, meh).

Earlier today I taught my first ever elementary class. It was nerve racking but exciting, too. Along with a fellow Art Ed. classmate, we taught three 2nd grade classes an art lesson, each 25 minutes long. It was kind of hectic setting up and touching up the lesson plan, but it worked out. All three classes were pretty well-behaved, and responded well to the lesson. Basically we taught them symmetry and color theory, utilizing a folded paper where they drew a symmetrical butterfly, then placed primary colors on each side that, when smushed together, created secondaries. They loved it! A little messy, but not horrible. Oh it was so much fun!! Hopefully I'll get pictures from Patricia and will post them here.

Also, won a giveaway recently for a beautiful pink tote, I'm anxious to get it! Annnd..

TADA! My first Treasury!! Take a look:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=72767

Teachers.

It's so strange, the things you learn once you get out of high school. Responsibility, harder work, and the fact that your teachers are essentially human, possibly more so than you are!

Being at college has definitely taught me this fact. It's not just that, though. I don't think young people realize how much work goes into being a teacher, especially an art teacher. Lesson plans don't come by easy. (The actual plans might because of how amazing the internet is, but there's still having to change things around, getting the materials, assessing the standards, yadda yadda yadda...)

There's a reason they get the summer off, too! Planning nine months worth of lesson plans probably takes about the three months that summer breaks offer. One major part of my Secondary Art Ed. class is field experience. In a few weeks, another classmate (named Laura, who'd have thunk it) and I will go to an elementary school nearby and teach 3rd graders an art lesson plan. It took us half an hour just to brainstorm!! So much goes into it: the skills they learn, how interesting the lesson is artistically, not being too vague but not as specific since only less than two hours are available, etc. etc. It's crazy!

Hopefully our lesson plan will come together, and I really hope that I'll come to love this by the end of my senior year. I love art, and I'd like to be able to teach kids art, but boy... it's tough.

In other news, I'm disheartened I haven't been able to provide a giveaway yet. Perhaps soon something will fall into my lap, and when it does, I'll quickly let you guys know, so keep an eye out for it. ;)

Cute Greenman and Drawing talk.

Greenman Plaque (Moss), $15

How wonderful is this? I'd love to have that hanging on my wall. And only fifteen dollars? What a deal for such a beautiful item. It's not even small: it's 8.75 x 6 inches. If anything, this is a perfect Christmas gift. It was front page featured, too!

Got some good practice with atmospheric perspective over the weekend, drawing my little kitchen. It's much more difficult doing it outside, with trees, when the wind is blowing right in your face -- as we did today in class. I got graphite all over me! But it's a learning process.

I still don't know whether I prefer drawing or painting. I seem to be naturally better at drawing, but painting is smoother and... well, more colorful. I know drawings can incorporate color using pastels and whatnot, but I've never been too good with those. Hardly use them.

Regardless, though, we don't have a drawing emphasis program so I'll be doing painting either way. Still...

I hope you guys are doing well in your artistic endeavors! :)

Happy Ending to Week 3.

That's right, the week is done! As an art major, for the past three semesters I've had Fridays off, a very handy thing indeed. Today went by pretty smoothly, and had some joys in it.

Photography class was great! There were no problems getting the film into the spool and processing it. I managed to make three prints today, though I'll present only two because the third was attacked by a black fuzzy thing on the print's edge.



Printmaking wasn't too bad, just trying to figure out my still life. Need to work on that this weekend, along with a drawing on atmospheric perspective, Art Ed. writing sheets and a collage, as well as Ed. Psych. homework. Phew!

But fear not: the icing on the cake today was that I received the earrings I won from ljlh*designs!!


Hooray! I was so excited to see the little box. Everything is beautiful: the box, the cards (I like 'em!), and of course, the jewelry. It's perfect, too, because the blue crystals almost match the blue gem in my engagement ring. I can't wait to be able to wear them! Thanks so much, Libby. :)

I hope your week has been as successful and productive as mine. The only way it could get better is if I made a sale, haha!

Monday Musings.

I've learned a few things today.

I don't really hate printmaking. I just get easily frustrated with any new artistic medium at which I'm not immediately great. I'm a perfectionist, unfortunately, so that can really dampen my optimism when trying novel things. But it also frustrates me how hard I'll have to work even more, as well as kiss up to, my teacher because she rarely gives out A's, especially to non-studio students.

Taking photos with a manual camera is much more interesting than with digital. The sense of mystery with not knowing how the picture turned out can be invigorating and intimidating. My other art classes stress me out, but I'm already looking forward to Photography class this Thursday. Getting the film into the spool without damaging it sucks, but it's such a small, tiny problem that it worries me not.

People are not as nice as we ISFPs want to believe. This is a sad, but true fact. Some people are just not good people. The worst part is, some people are so good at concealing this that you have to get to know them a long time before their true colors show. By that time, it's hard to let go. Even now I still miss one of my old friends, with whom I've not spoken since my 18th birthday.

But despite that, life is gorgeous. With my health in good shape, my mind clear, and new prospects on the horizon, I'll just keep on walking with my head up as high as I can lift it.

Sunday's Secret.

From Postsecret.

This is my favorite out of the bunch this week... the fact that the submitter states they cheated on their eye exam, and it's emphasized by the misspelling of exam. Gotta love people.

Which was your favorite? Visit the Postsecret website and take a look. Also, for Twitterers out there, Frank's giving away an iPod Nano each day this week, so keep a look out for that one.

I missed an update yesterday because I was so busy printmaking. I'm a little flustered because I'm running out of black ink and can't get more from Hobby Lobby; also, prints are looking bad, either too much ink or too little ink. Gah!

Friday Featurette and F(ph)otos!

Yeah, I'm a big fan of alliteration, I do it when I can. Anyway, I think every Friday I'll do a mini-feature of an Etsian where his or her items really appeal to me. For the first one, today I'm featuring crearting:

Handbound Wood Journal, 3 1/2 x 2 3/4in $18

I'm obsessed with journals (kreativlink rocks my socks), and this only fuels my fire. Journals with WOOD covers? And gorgeous painting designs? Count me in.

The only downside to these beautiful journals, in my opinion, is their small size, but I can understand the reason for it. Still love 'em and heart 'em when I can. One day I will own a custom, handmade journal, I swear it! :P

Anyway, a tiny little update. Yesterday was very frustrating and fun at the same time, a bizarre combination of emotions really. Photography resulted in fun, but began with frustration. My film would NOT go in the spool, and it took 15 minutes in a small, pitch-black, hot closet to get the film ready for processing. But after all of that, here's a "contact" sheet of my negatives and one print from my roll that I loved (though a bit out of focus):

Printmaking... ugh. Aligning 2x2 blocks on a huge sheet of paper, and making sure to ink the right amount, is really tough. Hopefully I'll still get an A for effort.

What have you guys been up to this week? :)

Wordless Wednesday.. sort of..

Pouring with rain, the morning I have drawing class. Phew! I only enjoy these kind of days when I'm allowed to sit on the couch with a warm cup of tea or hot cocoa, NOT when I have to go to school and carry PAPER in the downpour.

But... I survived. Luckily, my second class was canceled since my professor is setting up her exhibition -- neat, huh?

Here are some snapshots of my lesson for today: a gesture drawing and 2 blind contour drawings.

What creations have you made today, obligated or otherwise? ;)

Printmaking Relief Practice.

Well, I got out my carving tools, my brayer, and the ink. I decided to start with a simple shape that's soon to become relevant: candy corn. I thought that if I came up with some neat little cards, someone would want them for the holiday. ;)

Carving the linoleum is by far the hardest part of the process. Drawing the design and transferring it is pretty easy, but once you get to relieving it's rough. I'd already nicked myself a bit before my honey rushed to get me his super-stuffed skiing glove for protection.

The main thing to remember is a steady hand goes a long way. Also, keeping too much tension from entering your carving hand, otherwise you'll end up hurting your muscles. But I worked with what I had. Here's some pictures of the experiment, which ultimately ending up being fun. Patrick liked watching.

That is the result of a 3x4" linoleum block, painstakingly carved to represent candy corn. I decided to experiment with keeping contour lines and extra nicks to give it a special touch. To the right is the design repeated on orange construction paper. Rice paper is generally the best for printmaking, but I'm not going to buy any until class requires it.

Here are some tools shown. On the bottom left is the brayer, used to roll the ink onto the block. Moving up you can see a glass pan turned upside down: the best object I could find for putting my oil-based ink on and rolling (mostly cleaned off by using cooking oil). At the top, almost cut off, is my cutter, loaded with the C-blade.

Close-up of the orange construction paper print.

These are the little cards I made from the design. I really like how they turned out. The candy shows up well, especially the contours, but the empty spaces and blotches give it a nice style. I tried doing some color on one, pretty neat though messy. Any takers? ;D They're available for purchase now at my Etsy store.

I think, with time and patience, I'll come to enjoy this form of art. The cutting will always be the frustrating part... and inking enough.

My sketchbook from the SB Project will have to wait a while before I pick up on it again.