I can't wait for the 3 hour critique within 2 hours! awesome! not going to happen. anyway. the semester has finally come to a close and break is a day away. i can't wait. i've needed this break for a while now.

i just wasted about an hour and a half down in the matte cutting room. I was planning on getting my stuff matted for this class but the cutter kept moving and my boards kept slipping even though i was pushing down as hard as i could on the bar. the blades were just kind of chunking my stuff rather than cutting it. and yes, i tried switching the blades out. whatever. i'll get them matted for the student show this spring. anyway, now i have go do printmaking. i'm going to be here all night finishing up those images.

i never even posted my last image. so here it is.

blegh, i can't believe i didn't post for 7 days! i obviously wont reach the minimum requirement for the posts. and there's really no reason to just sit here and BS about crap to get to that point. so anyway, i'll be taking my images to spectrum to print them out. woohoo...

and that will be the end of it. 31/45 = 68.89% hmm. not good. i suppose i could post a couple more times to get it to a 70% at least.

this is the fourth image in the series. and it's my favorite so far.

scratch the primary/secondary color thing (and having 6 pieces in this series). i'm going to have 5 total and one will be without color. i don't like having an even number. and the color idea is kinda cliche also. so i'll post the new images up separately so you can leave feedback if you want. this is definitely the right direction for me to be going in.

blogger is being extremely slow today. probably because everyone is blogging about how their thanksgiving was. anyway. i am really enjoying what i'm doing now for this class. and actually putting some work out in a decent amount of time. i'll be rushing to get it all finished by the end of the semester but it's going to be done for sure. i'll probably post some new imagery up tomorrow. i've been working on my fourth in this series today. i'll also post a proof of one of my images for printmaking later on. i hope everyone had a good thanksgiving! (see what i mean?)

alright so the changes in this image are much more apparent than in the other one. the top section is now mostly desaturated but still has a little but of the red/orange in it. making anything in this image completely desaturated makes it have a blueish look and not gray. color theory stuff right there! anyway. i also changed the saturation of the lower semi-circle area to separate it from the rest. again, thank you very much for your feedback ashley. let me know what you think of the update. (i'm thinking it's finished)

ok, i made a few changes to this image. not anything drastic. i just adjusted the saturation a little bit in certain areas and messed with the contrast in some other areas. thanks for the input ashley. it's much appreciated!

here's another image i've been working on. for this one i used some left over plate residue as the texture. and then worked back into it with sketches, and color on photoshop. right now i've got the three primary colors going on with these pieces. i think i'll create 3 secondary color images to finish off the series. let me know what you think.

i'm currently scanning in some textures to draw back into. some textures are from the residue left on a piece of newsprint after rolling a plate through the press. others are from applying ground to a plate and from other processes for intaglio printing.

yesterday i was working on an image for printmaking and it took me about 4 hours to draw the image and its only 3" x 4" roughly. i'll probably scan my plate in later so you can see what it looks like.

i cant wait for thanksgiving break. it will give me a lot of time to just focus on making art and finishing up before the end of the semester. waiting until the last minute to figure out what i was doing in this class was definitely not a good idea.

this is another image. based off of the same technique and process. also in its final stages. possibly finished.

this is the one i showed at the last critique. it's now in its final stages. feedback would be much appreciated.

ok, this is to give you an idea of what i'm doing in printmaking so you can see how my new computer art projects relate. i'll be posting some new projects later today.

speaking of slacking, the only class im not slacking in at all is my spanish class. and i think that has to do with the fact that its a change of pace and something that is extremely straight forward and scheduled. i get my assignment list, and i do the assignments. it requires no creativity whatsoever. and also, its my favorite class right now because of that. im getting burned out on art. and i dont want that to happen. i really need to get my act together if i want to be successful.

it just hit me earlier today how many posts i am going to have to do to actually meet the minimum requirement. i'm going to have to post nearly 3 times per day to achieve that. insanity. slacking never pays off and ive been doing quite a bit of it lately in most of my classes. and i'm going to have no life other than working on art for the next 2 weeks. which is nothing but my own fault. it really sucks.

also, now that i have made the decision to switch, i feel more motivated in general, and i feel as though i'm finally headed in the right direction. i'll be getting some of my prints scanned in so you can see them and understand how they relate to what i'm working on now for this class.

alright so ive decided to change my concentration from computer to printmaking. i feel like the work i do in that class is much more sophisticated than the work i do in here. not to say that i couldnt make it like my printmaking work, but theres just something about the process that just cant be duplicated in here. and im more motivated by that process. that's all there is to it.

so as you can all tell, i'm really not feeling this whole blogging thing. i've never really enjoyed sharing my thoughts about my artwork or my inspiration and this is definitely not something i want to do or even really care about doing. the only reason i am blogging now is because i need to get a decent grade for posting. i wish that this wasn't my only motivation, but right now, that's all i've got.

this is an image ive been working on for a while.

an update. final version.

This is a new image i'm working on. stemming from the idea from my last post.

so ive been thinking about the whole commercial feel that my projects are having lately, and what i want to try to do is make advertisements for things that don't get advertised. so they won't necessarily be commercial, but they will maintain that appearance. i'm having difficulty coming up with things to use, but i really want to continue with this idea. any suggestions?

ok, those posts were just me taking literally the comment i received in class "put your heart and soul into your posts" ok so i did.
anyway, while we are talking about the word literal:

lit·er·al (ltr-l)

adj.

1. Being in accordance with, conforming to, or upholding the exact or primary meaning of a word or words.

2. Word for word; verbatim: a literal translation.

3. Avoiding exaggeration, metaphor, or embellishment; factual; prosaic: a literal description; a literal mind.

4. Consisting of, using, or expressed by letters: literal notation.

5. Conforming or limited to the simplest, nonfigurative, or most obvious meaning of a word or words.

look at the third entry. and focus on the word "avoiding."
many people would assume that this is what i am doing in my work. avoiding creating artwork with a deeper meaning. well. most people that look at artwork do not know the rules of composition, or know how to analyze an image for content the way artists, and art students know how. they see an image and if they like it they like it and if they dont, then they dont and thats all there is to it.

i do not want a viewer to have to dig deep into my artwork to figure it all out. If you think that I am taking the easy route, think instead of the possiblilty that i am giving viewers the easy route. people that are not intelectually inclined can immediately understand the purpose of my piece without having to dig up the hidden or disguised messages. Most of the time when people discuss art, they make things up that aren't even what the artist intended while the artist has another meaning or intention that makes perfect sense once shared with the viewer. So, the bottom line of this whole post is that what a viewer gets from my artwork will always be interpretation, even if they perceive it as i intended it to be. So, "easy way out" or "allowing all viewers to understand" will still be open to interpretation.

...and here's someone's representation of a soul.
actually this is a really cool image and an interesting take on the subject.

here's my heart...

...with some shading.

here is another image that i'm working on. it's a scanned in sketch colored with photoshop. i'm using textures from photos that i've taken for grass, obviously the sky, and i am working on putting texture into some of the buildings.

Here is an image i've been working on. Please give me some feedback (suggestions, etc.)

Blog2

i filmed a wedding this weekend for a friend of a friend. after the ceremony, the bridal party went to downtown ashland for a photo shoot with the photographer. the location was in an alley where you drive to get to the parking for home hardware. again, i saw this harmonious clash between the grungy, man made structures and the very classy-looking bridal party. to see both together emphasizes the charactersitics of each. the bride and groom looked great when placed in front of an old concrete wall and buildings with chipping paint. these background structures, however, appeared to be even more run down than they actually were.

Blog1

recently, ive been doing a lot of driving from ashland to akron and cleveland. and as i'm driving, i'm noticing a lot of rural areas with spots of urban objects and structures. in the car on the way to northern ohio, and entering the city, i notice that this balance reverses itself and it is mainly urban with spots of rural objects and structures.