finally getting it done

| March 17, 2011

*digital collage of recent paintings and an old polaroid photo

For the past few days I’ve been spending long hours in front of the computer cleaning and organizing my work on different hard drives. The number of duplicate files in different folders—as well as the lack of work documented since I’ve left school (not that I’ve been producing a lot)—was slightly overwhelming. But I’m glad it’s finally getting done. I also came across photos of my time in Providence, Boston, and our family trip to the Grand Canyon. Funny how much things have changed (especially BJ’s hair), but also how little has changed. My work now seems lighter, a little more colorful, but still reveals the weakness for minimalism that I picked up earlier on. I’m looking forward to updating everything soon!

 

sun bathing sessions

| March 14, 2011

It wouldn’t feel like Spring Break without the sun. It rained and thundered all morning, but after passing out from a sugar and food coma this afternoon, we woke up to clear skies and gorgeous sunlight. Igby was happy she got her daily sun bathing session in. (We’re watching her for a week while everyone is away)

pizza on a stick

| March 13, 2011

My parents and siblings’ Spring Break trip to SCAD was delayed a few days, so we squeezed in a visit to the rodeo Saturday afternoon. Beautiful weather, great food (except my sister’s pizza on a stick), and plenty of people watching…

 

 

mini desserts and pastries

| March 7, 2011

Houston. Please drive better. We had a scare Saturday morning: an impatient car abruptly moved right into our lane, driving us off the road, up over the curb, onto the sidewalk. And the driver didn’t even notice! Thankfully, we ended up with only dented hubcaps and no injuries—a blessing, but nonetheless, it was a little hard to shake off.

After a trip to Kaboom Books where I got to visit the owners’ sweet dog, the rest of the weekend was nice and relaxing: a good game of darts at my cousin’s birthday, tidying up the house, brunch at Shade, dinner for my mom’s birthday where forwent the traditional cake and instead shared mini desserts and pastries, working on personal projects, hunting for treasures at the Texas Art Asylum*, and catching a matinee of The Adjustment Bureau (3.5/5 stars: great cast, but maybe a bit anticlimactic).

* For you teachers, it’s less than a year old, but they have plans to open up another store down the road where teachers can grab bags of stuff for a few bucks.

Wittgenstein

| March 2, 2011

Wittgenstein- part of an ongoing series of portraits for a friend. Philosophy isn’t my strong point, but it’s interesting to find fun facts about each person when I’m gathering ideas. Like Wittgenstein- Did you know Klimt painted a famous  portrait of his sister for her wedding(If you look above the ear, you can spot the top of the painting)?  For me, these little things make them a little more accessible and human.

Gratitude

| March 1, 2011

Thank you Jennifer, Megan, and everyone for the sweet comments/posts about the brooches! I always find it hard to find time outside of work to make my own things and when I do, they usually never get completed or see the light of day. Hopefully, the upcoming spring break can be devoted to troubleshooting and wrapping up these projects. I’ll probably be missing New York City during that time, since it’s been sort of a tradition to spend my break there (I guess it doesn’t help that I’ve been getting caught up on all the past Gossip Girl seasons). June birthday in NYC, maybe?

I made these watercolor paper cuts while brainstorming lessons for my students. We’ll see how they turn out. Now I have to make some more “masculine” examples for the boys :)

– C

Emotionally elsewhere

| February 24, 2011

Still rolling Sofia Coppola’s movie around in the mind. It has its share of critics, which is fine, but I think a lot of them are missing the point, and revealing their own hang-ups with her charmed life and career. Better to set that aside.

As I see it, Johnny Marco suffers from a malady called celebrity. The entertainer can’t be entertained: a steady stream of Hollywood pleasure-on-demand has deadened his nerve endings. Joy must belong to his humbler past. Things are different now: all that material success has led to an inner failure, something nicely hit upon by Walter Benjamin (1928: success dulls the mind) and Willie Nelson (1977: so-called successful lives leave behind the basics of love).

In Johnny’s pampered present, he’s absent. Physically he’s there, drifting through the parties and the junkets, into the anonymous bedrooms. But he’s emotionally elsewhere. Often seen as the summit of American success—the rise from mere man to big-screen hero—Coppola gives us an insider’s view of stardom as a somewhat tragicomic condition of existence. From her casting (Chris Pontius, the girl from the Office) to her art direction (the spot-on “Berlin Agenda” poster) one can safely infer that she has a sense of humor about this: the crucial “comic” in “tragicomic.” After all, it is not exactly profound or innovative to argue that money and fame do not beget happiness; this is not Somewhere’s aim. Instead the film serves more as evocation than argument, watching with sympathy and patience and even humor how today’s cultural gods reveal and cherish their humanity, how they mourn its surrender, and ache for its recovery.

-B

heart to heart

| February 22, 2011

I had fun making the first Valentine’s heart, and kept at it. These are inspired by some of the prints that caught my eye while browsing style.com. Most are from previous seasons (Too hard keeping up with everything!) I’ll probably send some late V-day cards.

  1. Marc Jacobs Fall 2011 rtw
  2. Jil Sander Spring 2011 rtw
  3. 3.1 Phillip Lim Resort 2010
  4. Marc by Marc Jacobs Spring 2010 rtw

– C

keep cilantro and thyme alive

| February 20, 2011

Next weekend will be super busy with my kids’ big art contest of the year, and BJ will be flying to Seattle for his mom’s 60th birthday. Pictures from the past week so far…

  • Sandals?! Enjoying the springish weather on campus.
  • Testing out my brooches
  • Teacher block. Brainstorming Art 1 watercolor lesson that will appeal to all skill levels and doesn’t involve painting Georgia O’Keefe-esque flowers?
  • Received invites (that B helped design) for our friends’ Chicago wedding. Booked tickets!
  • Sigh, my total lack of will power gave into this sparkly ring at Anthropologie.
  • This plant is still living! Goal for round two: keep cilantro and thyme alive.

Also… delicious brunch from Shade in our neighborhood (I keep thinking of their fresh pastries platter), celebratory coal-fired pizza with siblings at Grimaldi’s, and caipirinhas at Oporto

— C