Painting for my art teacher...

I painted this for the silent auction, although due to the high costs of shipping, I wasn't able to ship it as quickly as I'd have liked and am not sure if it will actually be in the auction. If I can't get it in the auction I will give it to him as a thank you... but I was curious to see what you thought.

New Drawings

My friends here is my latest. Let me know what you think.

The Teachers Behind us...

I found out today that my very first college art professor from Maine is dying of cancer. I don't know any more about it, but this huge shadow of sadness has overwhelmed me. I have not seen him for a few years, but he had such a huge impact on my life as an artist I just feel.. oh, I don't know what to feel. I wanted to share with you all, my art sisters from Concordia, because I thought you would, most of all, understand. I can look back and see how each art teacher has shape me, pushed me almost, into the artist I am today. I took his class as a freshman because I was required to and I left at the end of the semester an artist. I learned all of the basics from this professor and a ton about myself. Once I passed in an assigned drawing (my second year there) and he took one look at it said for me to do it again. I protested saying it would be late and yada, but he looked at me and said, "I know you can do better." Those words have echoed in my head many times when working on a project or a painting and it has helped me push myself to a higher standard. I hope he knows how much of an impact he had on me and students like myself.

Another professor at the university is hosting a silent auction and several of us are donating pieces. I just feel like this doesn't even come close to expressing how much I have appreciated this professor.

Anyhow, thanks for reading.

whoa

I officially sold one of my texture paintings online. I was totally shocked, but super excited. Off to UPS. I just can't believe it!

Check out the website if your curious to upload some of your art: www.ugallery.com

I didn't realize that I had missed InDesign, but designing does make me happy. As long as I'm not doing it all day long!

My mom teaches art at my former elementary school and they have wanted to sell Christmas cards for a while. This is some art from last year that I cleaned up for printing. So it's not technically mine, but I spent plenty of time working with it since Vistaprint failed me. Long story, basically they don't let you print on the back of folded cards.

I hope all is well with you. I've been extra busy between being sick and teaching and working a maternity leave with the children's choirs. I miss you all, and making art, so hopefully we can get some up soon!

another fun one i did on friday!

the first one is the soft cover version, and the second one is the hardcover with flaps version . . .

i thought of steve miller while designing this book . . . you know, what with the gluten-free thing and all . . .

a cover i did this morning

i finished this one this morning, and though i'd share! (i was just excited that i got to put a bedpan on a book cover . . . haha)

job opprotunity!

hello loves!
i just wanted to let all of you know that the place where I work is hiring 3 more cover designers right now!!! E-mail or facebook me if you want more info! i'll put in a good word for any of you!
love!

p.s. adel. . . love the new piece!

a new piece

just the beginnings of my latest canvas. thoughts?

Happy to hear from you all!

How happy to see you all in my inbox this evening. It was exactly what I needed!

I am too exhausted to explain fully, so I'll give a bullet pointed list of my work exasperations.

-I took a part time job at a brand new charter school. It's Spanish language immersion, so we're technically only supposed to speak to the children in Spanish (most of them came knowing no Spanish.) Gorgeous school with romantic, beautiful, untouched furniture and half walls between classrooms.

-This means I teach three classes of Kindergarten and two classes of first grade music on Mondays as well as supervise recess, and facilitate conversation with one of the first grades as they eat their lunch family style.

-Now enter inner-city children into the equation. Educational idealism (i.e. abject stupidity and lack of planning) met a very harsh inner city reality. The first day of school we had bussing mayhem, children jumping over half walls, continuous screaming, and absolutely no response to direct commands in English or Spanish! Making lines or a circle was completely out of the question. Worst day of my life no question.

-Today at least two lessons went ok, but for the afternoon I never really got everyone's attention to listen to anything. Now I'm going back for a second Tuesday in a row as an emergency floater assistant for the first grade teachers who have 20 children each with no assistants and several special needs children in each class.

So if anyone has any behavior management tips for non-responsive children that don't care about much of anything let me know. Unfortunately food bribing and beating are probably out.

Like I said, I was so happy to have you in my inbox. This all makes getting an MFA to teach university students look much less scary. I mean, seriously, what was I thinking? I hated school my entire life up until Concordia. I just wanted an assistant job taking cute little spanish speaking kids to the bathroom!

a few more covers

this first one i had some fun with . . . although i am not entirely happy with the spacing of the text on the back in the big black box . . . silly poems and they're ways . . .



i made this one this morning . . . and i love it! ha . . . the only thing i don't like are the stupid tiger eyes . . . the author specifically selected that image, so i made it as slight as possible . . . but i don't know, looking at it now, they're starting to grow on me . . .hmmm . . .


ps adel, i LOVE your tattoo . . . too cool . . .

FOR SALE

I'm officially for sale!! A little pricey for now, but you have to start somewhere! lol

www.artgaragesale.com/jmo

Paris!

So as some of you know and some of you don't, I spent the last week or so in Paris on a personal adventure and art quest. My accomodations, a flat rented out over the summer, was located in Montparnasse, the neighborhood of philosophers on the southern side of the city. If you ever go to Paris, I would completely recommend this particular kind of lodging because I felt like I really was living in Paris instead of just staying at hotel or hostel as a tourist. It also provides a kitchen with whatever cooking utensils the person chooses to leave available so you can make your own food--very convenient and cheap :).
Anyways, the entire experience was an aesthetic dream. Yes, the museums were fantastic (the Louvre by far being my least favorite, sad to say, just too old of stuff :) but it was the culture that fascinated me the most. It is an entire culture of people that are raised with artistic appreciation and fashionable taste. And how could one not be? Even the seedier parts of the city have beautiful architecture and tree-lined boulevards with benches and parks.
Every day was an overload of the visual senses. There are ancient sculptures or majestic fountains in every plaza. The people dress with taste, even when going on a picnic in the local park, which is a very common experience. Even dining is considered an experience and the food is always presented in an incredible arrangement that makes your mouth water. The bakeries are the best. The colors of the fruit and the pastries make them seem impossible to resist. And of course, the cappucinos come with cocoa sprinkled on top of the foam. Can life really be anymore visually (or tastefully) satisfying? :)
I happened upon modern sculpture gardens mixed in with the old and found the modern part of the city just as fascinating as the older parts. The Modern Museum of Art was by far my favorite museum and the Madeleine Cathedral was my favorite cathedral, not for the architecture but for the surprise modern sculpture I happened upon inside. An assignment had been given to local current artists to create modern interpretations of the architectural and sculptural elements of the cathedral and these pieces were then displayed by and around the elements in the cathedral itself (with explanations that of course, I couldn't read :). The artists used the normal elements of sculpture including metals and plaster but also branched out into cloth and plastic bottles. One copied the inside of some of the architecture using all plastic bottles, another with cloth. Sculptures of Mary, the cross, and the saints were scattered, one of light metal wire suspended from the ceiling. It was absolutely fascinating and by far the best thing I happened upon by chance.
All of that to say, while I would never bore of visiting Paris again and again and again, it is not some place I would like to live. It would become a fashion death trap and far too proper of a social situation for me to ever want to conform to. It is a fascinating way of life to observe but one I would probably find suffocating after the first month. Shoot, the looks of disgust I drew when I burped were enough to tell me that!

Watercolor

Amidst the madness of moving preparations I have discovered that I completely love watercolor. It started out because I am a big fan of this site, but for the past few weeks have hated their designs, often thinking that I could do better. Friday I was "trapped" at work (my boss had her baby that day) and thought of the little man's art supplies that his water colors were the least kid-ified. I mean, watercolors are supposed to be washable, right? Anyhow. This is my first attempt -What do you think? Would you wear this on a t-shirt?

But really, did another one for a wedding present and have two more in the works right now. I am super loving this and I can't for the life is me figure out why it took me this long to figure out that I loved this medium.

Art on the Plinth

Hi everyone. I heard about this awesome art project on the knitting podcast I listen to.

Sculptor Antony Gormley is putting any average person living in the UK on the Fourth Plinth (an empty sculpture pedestal in Trafalgar Square usually for King's statues). Anyone can sign up and names are randomly drawn and then they get their hour of fame in downtown London to do whatever they wish! You can watch it live on the website.

so, i met this author at awestruck last weekend . . . and we hung out for quite a while on friday night (good times) but this was on his blog, and its freaking hilarious!

http://jesusneedsnewpr.blogspot.com/2008/03/famous-people-who-dress-like-christians.html

http://tinyartdirector.blogspot.com/

this is a blog of an artist and his daughter . . . she tells him what she wants him to paint, and then critiques it . . . oh, and she's 4 years old . . . too cute!

fun with layers . . .and my mad illustrator skillz . . . .

haha, when i saw the title of this one i was so excited to design it!
ha, so this one was one of those, aww crap, the author's image is way too small . . . they sent in the picture of the guy on the motorcycle . . . so, i put a treatment on it and then overlayed it with the map . . .

i pieced this one together . . . the table, jukebox and police hat are three separate images

Adobe Garamond

so fun fact . . . the inventor of garamond was not a very nice person . . . and a lot of religious people don't want to use garamond in their books . . . not because of his immoral behavior, but because its the font that was used in the harry potter series . . . dumb, no? esp. since its such a great font . . . blah.

By the way, I LOVE THIS WEBSITE! You all are so talented!

Here's the other piece I did first... not my favorite.  What are your thoughts ?

new art

Hey all- This is one of my latest.  I seem to be addicted to circles.  This canvas is probably 18"x18"... I think I might make an enormous painting like this.... what do you think?

The Sketchbook Project

I saw this trolling Craig'slist for jobs (sigh). It was up there since the exhibit will be coming to St. Louis next April. It sounds kind of cool. Sort of like PostSecret for Sketchbooks. 

If I understand it you: 

1. Send them $18 (There's always a catch isn't there?) 

2. Fill up the Moleskin sketchbook by Dec 1. 

3. Send it back to them. 

Then the exhibit of sketchbooks tours the country and has a home in their library where people can hold them and check them out. Also maybe get publicity on their website? 

Thought you might like. 

hmmmm . . . black and white . . .

Silly facebook

I realized I haven't exactly posted my very end of the year late night projects. Someone asked me to post this on facebook, and everyone loves it. I'm ok with everything but the bottom half of my face. Am I just being overly critical? (I did love working with the Caran D'ache watercolor crayons though. I'm hooked!)

Penland update: I ended up not loving the Penland experience as much at the end as at the beginning. I'm questioning my ability to actually enjoy anything. It was mostly that I was "cooped up" with the same teachers/students for more than a week without really anywhere else to be or anything else to do since it's so remote. It didn't help that how the class was organized didn't really help me learn what I wanted to learn. So I ended up frustrated at the end since I felt I could have probably learned almost as much with a library book and my mom at home. But everyone else said how much they loved it, so again my questioning my ability to enjoy things. 

Also hard for me living 24/7 with the liberal art community. I don't necessarily mind it, just not all the time. Ironically I didn't feel I could totally be myself. Didn't realize how much I was feeling that way until I left. May also be the city girl in me didn't like being in the woods the who time also. So it was a learning experience in a lot of ways. I underestimated the impact the people around you have when you're in a secluded area. It was sort of like the opposite of the Concordia bubble. Don't take this the wrong way, Adel I think it would be absolutely perfect for you. 

Job search update: I applied and got what seems like a very positive response from a local spanish newspaper who needs a part time graphic designer. Part time not good for health insurance, but maybe enjoyable. I'm surely qualified since I speak spanish (and they just counted that as a plus) and right now their publication includes stretched pictures. HORRORS!

Haven't heard anything from CPH. I'm completely fine with that. 

some of my covers . . .

this one the author wanted to have a her picture on the front cover . . . blah, the background of the picture made it look like an early 90's sr. picture photo, ya know? i extrated that baby! haha, i still haven't heard back from the author, i kind of think that she'll not like it, but whatever! i hope that she will . . . but its been my experience that when you do something they didn't ask for (even if it looks better) they don't like it . . . open your minds people!!



ha, speaking of an author not liking a cover . . . the author didn't like this one, and had me change it to a stupid, template looking thing, but this is one of my favs so far!



i like this one too . . . and so did the author! yay!


dittos with this one . . . i had fun designing it . . . the author had requested for a picture of a teacup and an accompanying spoon on a background of 'good and plenty' candies . . . which would have looked dumb . . . so, rather than doing that, i used the colors from the 'good and plenty' packaging and made a fun design! and the author loved it! yay! you win some, you lose some, but this one i won!



ha, here's another one where i didn't do what the author asked for . . . i'm still waiting to hear back . . . he had given me a regular old photo of stonehenge, but i saw this image on our stock photo thing and i couldn't help myself! it was too perfect!!! i really hope the author likes it!

teehee!

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1823766
this is for all of you! enjoy . . .

Penland aka Tell me to shut up whenever I annoy you with too many posts

I was writing this to Adel only, but it got to be a way long facebook message and thought you might like to hear too. I am spending two weeks taking a pattern drafting/clothing design class at Penland School of Crafts.

This place is freaking amazing. My best comparison is Lutheran Summer Music for artists. You make art as much as you want and just break for eating delicious food and yoga. This is the life.

The yoga teacher is great and my between shoulder blade muscles are finally sore for the first time ever, which is exactly what I need to have functioning arms again!

It is BEAUTIFUL here and the teachers are great. You can see the clouds coming over the mountains every morning at meals. The people are really interesting too. My only minor complaints would be that it has been raining virtually all the time and I can't sleep well since my bed is hard. But other than that it's paradise!

I will have to force myself outside my comfort zone to ask about the core student programs (opportunity to work here for 2 years) since I am still a little intimidated by the whole art school thing and get the feeling that perhaps you have to be more advanced in your work than I am. However, coming here could be a great inspiration to make things once I get home. I"m querying everyone about how them make a living and stand it. A lot of people seem to teach.

Oh, the other best part is that this is the first time I have touched a computer in 4 days. How sad that is probably a record.

Also, by the way the clothing class is way cool. We have put in the boring work making our own personal patterns and now we learned the concepts to move those lines to different places in order to design whatever shapes we want! They also have beautiful dress forms so we will learn draping too. Can't wait.

Hope this is finding you well.

Sorry, forgot the whole point of the last one...

So, my fingers typed the Concordia Publishing House address of their own accord and clicked on Employment opportunities. They are hiring for basically exactly what I did during my internship. I groaned when I read this. I mean, what WERE my fingers thinking? I'm sort of wondering if it is a sign that I should do this, but then again maybe not. 

As most of you know I was absolutely nuts while trying to make the banner and do internship at the same time. So I have been saying that Graphic Design work is the AntiChrist of actually making your own artwork and that  I should really get a boring job so I can be creative and concentrate on a portfolio. 

However, here are the pros/cons: 

+VERY close to my house, takes about 7 minutes to get there, in fact the proximity to CPH is why we bought this house (my Dad worked there at the time, in fact I would probably have his old desk, but I would avoid most of those stresses since I know the people I would work with and would not be a salary employee)

+Benefits and being able to take my very expensive nexium so my stomach won't hurt from the hand medicine

+Full time money

+Actual professional experience in graphic design at an actual company

+Keeping practicing with my Spanish and graphic deisgn

+I may be counting chickens, but I have reason to believe they would hire me since they seemed very sad to see me go two years ago

-My hands hurt horribly last time I worked all day on a computer. So bad I had trouble doing normal things when I went home and was usually too exhausted to do much artwork-wise.

-I could get sucked into business-world vortex and forget all about anything I actually want to do in life

-The building is hideous and gray

-Corporate culture makes me want to throw up

-The work is somewhat repetitive and dull. Mostly black and white book layout with the occasional cover design to dump in. 

It's enough to make me want to call the library back about working there! 

I will know more after I go to Penland School of Crafts next week to take the Custom Wearables class there. I would love to get one of their fellowships and go there in January with Adel : ) We'll see. 

How impolite is it to tell someone that you might leave in January? Any thoughts?

The real world

I am officially obsessed with vistaprint.com 

Since I printed Christi's invitations there (which turned out beautifully) I get all their promo e-mails. So I made business cards for "almost free." (I think right this instant they'll give you 250 free and with glossy paper, so you just have to pay shipping and upload fees if you want do design your own.) They turned out "good enough." I would go for glossy the next time.

The newspaper had a good suggestion that people looking for jobs should print business cards with their info and a mini-resume on the back since it's a lot nicer than scrawling your info on a napkin and then they can remember more easily what it is that you do. So this is my attempt. I'm fairly happy with them. It's hard to tell here since they include the bleed marks, but the front is basically like the back just with a white background. 

I was inspired by this artist whose work I saw at the Art Institute BFA show. 

Let me know what you think!

Painting preferences...

So, my chiropractor informed me that I should avoid kneeling if I want to stop putting my back out of alignment... but my favorite way to paint is to spread out a tarp on the floor, lay a canvas on it and to kneel over it, painting. In light of Adel showing off her cool painting wall... I was wondering how the rest of you painted. I should probably start using my easel properly... :) ...now I have it low to the ground so, again, I am kneeling when I paint. Any suggestions?

some more pictures...

this is the orange dripped one from earlier with a new addition :)
my 'studio' space...aka the hallway in my dinky little 'house' :)

More Pics

Sorry i didn't get them all the first time :). Let me know which, if any, look finished to you.

What I've been working on the last couple of months

Let me know what you think. The drawings are charcoal. The paint is wall paint. I don't really have any explanations...as per usual. Reactions?

Non-objective, invitation update, art opening

Since finals are approaching (and we got our grades back for this project) I decided to go back into it and finish it a little more. I darkened the middle and enhanced the top. Anything still look unfinished to you? Suggestions? 

Also, I tweaked and finished Christi's wedding invitations last week and uploaded them to vistaprint.com   They're scheduled to arrive tomorrow! I'm excited to see my first official graphic design job be printed. They decided to go with design #2  by the way. It's always nice when the client agrees with the artists : ) 

I still have lots of projects to finish before finals, but I'm feeling good about them I guess. The senior show opening last week was good. (I can't believe that was just last weekend!) It was fun to see family and (now married!) Julia. 

Here's a picture or two in case you missed them on facebook. Apparently I was only giving out cheezy smiles that day. I blame the sleep deprivation. The first one is by the print/graphic design wall. My white on white stitching pieces are behind. The second one is my hanging fabric eye installation.  I put the pictures on the fabric with Lazertran Silk. It's awesome. Just use a lazer printer on this special paper and then it irons just the toner onto the fabric. No weird white lines around the edges and it is still SOFT. Love it. 

Hope spring is treating you well!

hey everyone! so, fun fact: i got a job! i am going to be working at a publishing house in bloomington, in . . . i'll be designing book covers! yay!

Other weekend project: Christi's wedding invitations

I did actually do something else productive in the last 48 hours. Christi asked me to design her wedding invitations. She liked contemporary designs and they both wanted something liturgical. It was hard to find religious and not cheezy invitations. The dresses are this kind of lilac and flowers are yellow, so tried to incorporate that also. I think we're probably doing them at vistaprint.com

These are just my roughs since I'm not sure what they will like. The ones with three colors I couldn't decide what I liked, so put it all in for them to see. Obviously the yellow comments are leftover from the pdf. Can't upload those here. Any thoughts? Is this flagrant use of zapfino font? I don't have any other decent-looking scripts.