Unfinished

This evening I busted out the paints on a whim.



The original idea was something totally different. Lots of oranges and reds and explosions and whatnot. But when I did the sky, I liked the intense blue so much that I left it. It still needs something, though, and I'm not sure what. It strikes me that the horizon should be a little lower if it was to stand on its own the way it is... so I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. I just know it would be a shame to cover that blue too much. I might end up doing a modification of my original idea. That's the beauty of acrylics. I can leave it for now and come back to it later and no harm done.

I've hung it up in my living room just so I can catch glances of it every now and again and maybe figure how to finish it.

I'm pleased to announce my triumphant return to photo-taking!

So yesterday I finally snagged my new camera. It was $10 off, and it was the last one they had in stock, too. Everything was coming up Milhouse! I got a Nikon Coolpix S210. Like a good little Capricorn I read the manual last night and played with it a little today. There's a ton of modes and settings and options, but thankfully it's pretty easy to just click-flash-here-have-a-photo. In light of that, I went around my apartment experimenting and taking better pictures of some old projects I've already posted. First, the old stuff:

Here are those photograms I did in my art class and hung on my wall back in September. It was probably a little too hasty - I didn't mount them very well and they're kind of wrinkly and un-smooth. Oh well.







Here's that collage I mentioned that I made out of CD liner notes, currently on my bedroom wall:



And here are some shots of that ink drawing I posted way back at the beginning of the blog, when I had to use the camera on my Macbook. I started it in Gaspé in the August of 2007 and finished it over the next few months. You can probably see the words I based it around.



"Must not sleep,"



"must warn others."



The words are from "Commencement at the Obedience Academy", by Aesop Rock.

And now the new stuff:

This is what Kyle painted when we took my new acrylics for a test run. He very graciously let me hang it on my wall. I particularly like the funny 70s sunset at the top and the little round window-y part underneath it. The colours are more vivid in person, it was just bright in my apartment when I took the photo.



Here's a necklace that I don't think I've posted yet. I bought a bracelet at H&M that had these great little origami crane charms, but I never wore it because the charms were always clinking on my desk while I wrote and it drove me crazy. So I got a length of chain and some jump rings and made this lariat necklace. I still don't really wear it, but it's more because I haven't figured out the best way to put it on. I might turn it into a regular necklace eventually.



This is my first attempt at a tuxedo t-shirt for my brother (see last post). It failed. I guess it's a little punk rock, what with the splatters of bleach and fuzzy design, but, well, eh. I kept it to sleep in. It's huge.



Here's a top I made last summer from an idea in a book on refashioning old clothes. I had this ugly, paint-y Episode I t-shirt that was too big, so I made it into not-quite-halter-ish tank top. It's really comfortable and it looks awesome under a cardigan. I just wish it wasn't Episode I.



And this is a Presidents of the United States of America t-shirt that was also way too big. Again, I followed a pattern (if you can call it that) from the same book, but I'm not really crazy about how it turned out. The front doesn't drape very well, though I like how I tied the straps.



I'm not sure why this shot went all crazy glowing coals red, maybe it was the sun and the combination of red shirt on red sheet. Anyway, if you can't see, I cut the back up the middle, cut strips into both sides, then tied the strips into knots. Neat idea, but I didn't really measure, so the two sides aren't even, and also it looks kind of funny when I put it on. Maybe some wear and tear and lots of washing would soften the shirt up, I don't know.



Anyway, there's a Whole Whack O'Photos. I'm hoping to get the rest of my Noro yarn soon, so maybe I'll have some knitting to show off.

Oh, I almost forgot. This is two of the four balls of Noro Silk Garden that I need for the scarf. It's very pretty.

Post-festivities post.

Still no luck on the camera. I've been to Best Buy and Future Shop a few times to go bargain-chasing, but everything is always sold out by the time I get there. At this point I'm willing to just wait a couple of weeks and try again when they've got everything in stock again. I'll have a couple of things to show you, too. Kyle and I broke in my new acrylics and did a couple of paintings last week. I just got some canvases for my birthday, too, and I'd really like to do some more painting. I don't know much about it and I'd like to learn.

I have a few things I'd like to get done, too, since Christmas is over. I think it's time to finally bust out the new (to me) sewing machine and do a couple of things that I've had lying around forever. I also need to get down to the yarn store and pick up some more Silk Garden so I can get this Noro scarf started.

But it's back to class tomorrow (today?). That's the first priority I guess!

Lots of crazy crap on the walls

I recently found myself with nearly bare walls in my living room. I hate painting rooms, and I'm reluctant to do it when I'll just be moving in less than a year. So I figured I'd better buy, make, or steal something to make my place look less I just moved in and more like I've been living here for two years (which I have).

I stopped by an art store and bought two medium-sized canvases. I painted one today with some acrylics I had from my studio art class a few semesters ago. I really enjoy painting, but I'm not that skilled and I'm hopeless at painting anything realistic (everything tends to look cartoonish), so I thought I'd go with something very simple.

First, it has to be said that simple design does not equal easy. I didn't realize how difficult it is to get a good sharp line or do small details. As a result the edge of the red portion is not quite straight. Also, the big fields of colour show brushstrokes really clearly, and it was hard to get the colour opaque and an even shade. Looking at the photo I can still see some streaks, which I may touch up later.

It was a lot of fun to do though. Painting, for me, takes so much careful planning and preparation, from coming up with the design to mixing colours to choosing brushes, that it's not quite a spontaneous expression like drawing or writing can be. It's more like doing a craft, like making jewelry or knitting. In any case, at least I have something decent to break up the white expanse above my TV.

I also wanted to add that I did something with some of the neon yarn I posted already. I made a scarf out of the neon yellow, neon green, and a navy blue. I knitted 3 strands together in a big giant garter stitch with orange pony beads. It took me about two hours, it's bright, and it's long.

Good way to do a project when you don't want to put in too much time or effort. I think I did this while watching a couple of episodes of the X-Files.

Still to do: get my digital camera back so I can stop using Photo Booth to show off my stuff, and frame some photo-lab-black-and-white-objects-type photos I did ages ago in my art class. Results to follow, I hope.