New Year, What's Been Going On?

I can't believe I haven't updated in so long. A lot has happened. Graduation, Christmas, New Years etc. We've been staying relatively busy with our CETP applications (which are being sent out TODAY) and our TEFL course (which I should be doing but the 20 or so tenses of English verbs are currently frightening me away). I have also been working on a new painting. I initially meant to submit it to Spectrum 17 but the deadline is in a week and there is just no way that I will be able to finish. I am submitting my Venus de Milo painting however. Fingers crossed! One of the Christmas present that John and I received was Pimsleur's Hungarian audio CDs. We have been doing a lesson or so every day and can now form real sentences, ask directions, order in restaurants etc. It is a tricky language but extremely fun to speak. Without further ado here is a picture of my newest painting in progress. It is still in the monochromatic underpainting phase.

It is called "Bubbles over Budapest" and I still have a long way to go.

Painting...Finished!

Tomorrow is the big day, I will show my painting in front of around 200 people. I am extremely nervous but hey, I finished it! Which is never expected really... But here she is: The picture sucks yet again because my phone camera is awful. That is why is is grainy etc. But the point will get across I hope:

I feel relatively confident about the critique but after having stared at one thing for hours and hours and hours, it is hard for me to judge her objectively. It it sort of a blur to me now. Maybe it will look different in context. Wish me luck!

Painting Progress Part Harom

So I broke down and did the face today. It was scary but actually went pretty quickly.

Here she is:

I based her on a picture of Jessica Stam, the model. So there you have it.

Painting Progress Part Ketto

I have been working on my painting a lot in the past few days. I am about done with the body and the fabric parts, even adding cracks and chips as per the original sculpture. I have fallen in love with her. So here are the pictures:

The fabric part of the sculpture. You can see cracks in the leg and a few other places.

The body portion. I still haven't done the face yet, since that is the scariest part.

So what do you think? Good, yes? This is going to be critiqued in front of 200 people. That's pretty intimidating but I think my piece can stand for itself. I still have a lot to do but I am pleased with the progress I have made so far!

Venus de Milo Painting Progress.

For my Art History class, we have an option instead of doing a 10 page research paper to do an art project (if you are a studio major) and a 2 page paper. I am obviously doing this option and I am using the "Venus de Milo" as my inspiration. The point is to create a piece being informed by a piece that we've talked about in class. So here it is: My modern interpretation of the Venus de Milo (of course it is a painting, not a statue)

The picture is a little poor in quality since it is from my cell phone, but you get the point. I only started working on it yesterday so I am pretty happy with how much of the first layer I completed. More to come!

New Painting

Wow, blogging has been a little slow lately...I blame the nine classes that I'm taking. I'm unfortunately not taking Advanced Painting like I had wanted to, so I am filling up my free time with this new painting I started a few days ago. I drew a beautiful sketch so I actually transferred it the proper way (with a grid). So here she is. I just put on the first layer of grisaille (gray underpainting) which will eventually be glazed over with colors to create a more rich and realistic surface. I think I love her.

Show Installation

The postcard for our show, which we got today.

Whew. Today was a long one, spent installing our gallery show. We started at 11 AM and we just got home. It's 5:30 PM! It took so long because not everybody was there to help, and there's just a whole lot to do. The show turned out really really well though. It looks amazing!

This is a small portion of the crap needed to install a show.

The room where said crap is kept. In here you will find paint, pedestals, shelves, glass, projectors, bleach, sponges, nails, staple guns, velcro, levels, measuring tapes and just about anything else you can think of. David brought us a bag of fruit to munch on that you can sort of see peeking out.

The gallery space, more or less. Everyone sort of had their pieces just resting on the wall at this point. Then much (much) rearrangement ensued.

One of the many pow-wows of the afternoon. You can see John fiddling with the projector. This happened a lot today.

Another common sight, everyone holding up the pieces so we can all see how it looks together. We took turns doing this. That black dress is one of my pieces.

After all of the pieces were arranged, measured, nailed, leveled and hung, the lighting began.

I made the entrance sign with stencils and a super king size Sharpie. I think I lost more than a few brain cells doing this. Indira made a sign with all of the artist's names, while Jeff and Quin mounted the title cards and wall texts.

My piece hung, lit very well (Thanks John), with title card and wall text. It looks beautiful!

A picture of the space completed! It looks very polished and nice. Thank God we're done. Which leads me to my next point:

The back of the postcard, showing where and when the show (and reception) is. If you come, there will be food!!!

All in all, this installation was a really great experience. Tiring, yes. Maddening, yes. Totally worth it? Absolutely.