Dr Seuss Christmas day 3: Today I started on the toy store. It's actually going much quicker than the last one. instead of the garland, i decided to do strings of oversize colored lights. This is it at the end of the day today. I should finish tomorrow, and will start on the music store.

Dr Seuss Christmas

I'm once again working for Event Central, doing a job for TD bank.

It's Dr. Seuss themed. There are three "stores;" a bakery, music store, and toy store. On the one side, they are facades.

I'm in charge of the back sides, which are supposed to be the interiors of the stores.

Here's the first one - the bakery.

The picture is a little wonky, because I took two photos from a ladder, and fused them together. I'm pretty pleased for it only taking two days. My favorite part are the mechanical arms doing all the work

Here's a slideshow of the rest of the details.

Page 6 - Rough sketch

This is the rough sketch for the next page of my children's book. I can't find my transfer paper, so I probably won't get to it until tomorrow. I'll scan the finished product when I'm done.

"At school she was never called on,

Even when her hand was the only one raised."

Finished Drawing Board

Here it is, done except for a sealer coat. I'm pretty pleased.

Grant really likes the way the skin is segmented.

It goes to figure that I cannot go a week without painting. While cleaning up the second bedroom/ studio, I was disheartened when I realized how sadly undecorated the walls were. And I was also thinking about a place to store my drawing boards. Then I started thinking.

I could hang my drawing boards on the wall, BUT they are so boring and brown....but they don't have to be.

Which leads to the painting realization and to this:

It's not totally done - more shadows and highlights necessary, but fun and exciting for hanging on the wall.

PS. In case you didn't know, Glidden paints at Home Depot has sample paints premixed - so means that you don't have to talk to the paint attendant person. Which on second thought, I might be the only one who might not get paint because of the specific reason - it's worse than the deli counter....

I am an evil person

smoking lady is moving

for shizz





...I might have taken pictures....

Pumpkin Carving

This Thursday, McCarter had its annual Pumpkin Carving Party. It was the first year that I went, and it was pretty fun.

I had searched online for some inspiration and I saw some pretty ones that had been drilled out, so I grabbed Grant's drill and went at it! Matt Pilsner, who takes prettier pictures than me, was snapping pictures left and right, and caught one of me with the drill:

I ended up working on mine longer than anyone at my table, but it turned out very pretty, and was quite a hit.

I carved it all the way around too.

Grant had a hard time deciding what to do, since he wanted to do something geeky, so after some brainstorming, he made a pumpkin Pantone swatch, which everyone thought was funny.

Carrie and Shannon's pumpkin turned out very well too.

All of the pumpkins turned out pretty nice.

Deb's Marathon

Deb & Rachel's Marathon went really well. So well, that Deb was bored:

It was a long, very rewarding day, but I got sick, and am still sick, so no long posts. Here is the link to the album.

And here is a slideshow:

Lesson 4: Lines. Using a dark brown or black paint, a fine brush or a paint marker - my preference - and a straight edge, lay in the lines that define the individual boards. This step can be done any time after the graining has been done. It is unnecessary to wait until a glaze is applied, unless you want the lines to have a flat appearance, which is more realistic, but i also find it distracting from an audience stand point.

Lesson 3: First glaze. Take a clear water based sealer-whatever sheen you'd like, tint it with until it is a green or yellow, depending on the color wood you are aiming for. Apply with a large, nice brush. I've chosen a low lustre or satin, and a raw umber-ish green. Tomorrow's lessons: Brown glaze and lines!

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Lesson 2: using a purple paint, thinned with water, and assorted graining tools, lay down the paint one 'board' at a time, and pull up the paint with the graining tools.

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How to paint a hardwood floor. Lesson 1: paint the floor a base color. A blend of some form of yellow and red is best, but just one will suffice. I've chosen a yellow. Next, measure the width of your boards and draw or use a chalkline to snap the boards. Next lesson: graining.

Today -and maybe tomorrow, Sue will be taking you on a magical journey, through the world of scenic painting. She is painting a hardwood floor. Learn how!

FWD:

Picture Blogging from the cellphone! How cool am I! I got my new red chucks yesterday, and they make me happy. Grant got his very first pair too - black high tops - very classic. Make sure you complement him. And me.

Guest Post

Since I know you all want to know about Elyse's first month of college, here's a guest post from her - complete with photos of her class work. (I actually asked her to give me a run-down of the projects so I got it right, but she wrote it out so nice, that I just decided to post the email!)

ok, so here's a rundown of the projects

the three skulls: we were to do a planar analysis with three different views on a skull. So all straight lines and using shapes to create depth, along with varying thickness of lines. Not substantial shading. He repeatedly told me he wanted to "kiss the upper jaw" of the middle skull. He really liked the cheek bone on one of the other two. i got a 92.

The crazy squares with the wave thing: she wanted us to use certain elements of design (line, shape and value) to create principles of design (unity, variety, balance, repetition, rhythm, movement and emphasis) We were to use geometric and organic shapes to do so. No solid blacks, so even my darkest of darks aren't solid. I got a 92 because i mounted it at the last second and it was too small, i knew this but did not have time to spare. She lets us resubmit after critique, so i remounted it and turned it in again and got a 95.

the gelato: we were supposed to use the Gestalt theory to create a picture out os several small designs. the theory is that our eyes will complete the picture even if when viewed from close we can see that its not as it appears. We gridded off an original photograph, either our own or someone else's (I used my own) into half inch squares. We then created a grid of equal size on bristol board. each cube had to have a different design, no repeats. We were supposed to use varying sizes of designs and values to make it correspond with the square on the picture. I used a lot of different characters from different alphabets as well as mathematical symbols and some whole words to create my designs. towards the end, a lot of them turned into random squiggles. Haven't gotten a grade back yet, but she seemed very please with it during critique. There are a few spots i would change, such as the contrast of top left and bottom right corners in relation to the rest of the picture, but overall i'm happy. there were 300 squares total.

the skeletons: We were to do a contour and cross contour line drawing of two skeletons posed in class. We needed to include at least skulls, rib cages, and pelvises (?). The final is to be done in ink, but i as well as my professor loved mine in pencil so much that he suggested I transfer the basic lines to another pieces of paper so i would not lose the original pencil drawing. I think its freaking sexy. There were stupid robes holding the skeletons together and he kept trying to get me to draw them to help with angles and proportions, but i told him they were ugly. he laughed, i think he likes me. SO i'm working on the ink part now, its due tonight at the end of class.

in 2D design we're strating to make these crazy box things with patterns. I'll keep you updated on that.

SCAD hosted an Andy Warhol exhibit last night with some of his works from the myths collection. There is some lecture tonight and workshop tomorrow with a guy named patrick connors... Looked at his website, not inpressed at all with the layout and design of the webpage, but his stuff looks good.

I heard its snowing in part of PA today, its a sunny warm fall day here. Robert Redford is in town filming a movie and some of my friends saw Justin Long yesterday. I think thats about it.

What a rockstar!