Sunday, December 30, 2007

visually

This year was





























































or, in a word, long.

Next year: ?

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

new additions



I've added a few new silhouettes and drawings to the shop.

In anticipation of this weekend, when I'll be totally without internet access (therefore unable to list or relist anything, horrors!), I'm going to try to list a whole bunch of things, which means work work work tomorrow and the day after.

Stay tuned!

Saturday, December 15, 2007

fuck (braille silhouette no. 3)



It's an inappropriate word, but really, what other word so succinctly and viscerally sums up that gnawing feeling that you've just made a horrible mistake?

etsy mentioned in the nyt

The article is titled "Handmade 2.0". Pretty neat.

I'll write more later, but right now I'm recovering from spending four months' tip money at Bazaar Bizarre.

Friday, December 14, 2007

braille silhouettes, no.'s 1 and 2





"Hello" was especially fun and went surprisingly quickly. I've been trying to think of ways to incorporate some typography into the shop and I think I might have started exploring it in earnest.

more warrens and such









The two warrens are the first time I've really played with negative space in these woodgrain silhouettes. I like the way they turned out. I'm even thinking of investing in a good set of knives to cut more intricate designs (still just using scissors, alas) so I can try tackling a really big project along these lines. Maybe a whole ecosystem in hibernation.

More coming later tonight.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

FINALLY over

Get it? Eh? Because I just finished my finals - "finally"? Eh? Eh? Eh?

Sorry.

Tomorrow is a day I have all to myself. I'm going to:

1. mail out the two silhouettes that were bought by two very patient people (thank you for letting me get through my exams first).

2. clean like the dickens

3. finish Camden's mom's Christmas present (I'm knitting her some gloves)

4. make lots and lots of cookies

5. bake a chicken pot pie, because Camden asked me for one while I was in the middle of taking my online History of the Middle East final and I kind of snapped at him because I was in the middle of answering a question and he pulled this face:



and I felt so bad I told him he could have whatever he wanted for dinner tomorrow, and without a second's hesitation he said "Chicken pot pie!"

I think I've been had.

I've been working on more of the woodgrain silhouettes, so stay tuned for those and a couple other surprises.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

workworkwork



Nothing has made me wish I could drive like this quarter has. The bus ride to and from campus embodies everything that is wrong with public transportation. Any time I decided to skip school has usually been decided by the question, "Do I have the energy to take the bus today?"

At least the quarter's almost over. I haven't finished picking up the pieces, but hopefully I'll manage to scrape together something resembling a decent record.

In the meantime, I'm working as hard as I can on developing several pieces to consider for my portfolio and registering for classes that can act as a vehicle for it. The painting above is a detail from a work in progress - I still have to fill in the top and bottom with a wash and ink detailing - and one of the pieces I exhibited in October. It was even more unfinished then, but it worked out in the end.

So far I've only registered for two classes (ceramics and environmental biology) but I'm thinking about registering for a class in color theory; kind of fiddly and pointless, but it occurs to me that some of the best advice I've had from my painting teacher has been in the application and use of color. I bought a book recommended by Camden's uncle, Blue and Yellow Do Not Make Green, but I haven't given it a good look yet. If I can finish it in two weeks and still think I need more color training, I'll go ahead and take the class.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

holy crap that took forever


"Hidden For the Winter"


Notice how the whole thing is in one piece? That's because I only use scissors to cut my silhouettes. Normally it's not an issue, but for this piece it was like fetching water with a sieve. I was originally going to make it even more complex - there were plans for underground warrens of rabbits and moles at one point - but by tonight I was abridging the root structure just so I could bring it to an end.

I didn't know my hands could cramp in so many places.

Still debating whether or not it's going to go up in the shop.

Saturday, December 1, 2007

the girl who trod on a loaf



I've been rereading Hans Christian Anderson a lot lately.