A bit of Madness

     Recently I have found myself flooded with many, many things to do and of course no time to do it all. I'm in the middle of midterms, I haven't been feeling very well, and the recent rainy weather makes me want to do little else than drink hot chocolate and watch re-runs of That 70's Show. I knew that keeping up with Inktober would be hard this time of year, and unfortunately I haven't. I have been making all this other art though, and now that things have calmed down a bit I intend to keep doing ink drawing (I have a bunch of ideas in my head!). 

     I feel a little disappointed in myself, but I have been working really hard on other projects. 

     This is a drawing that I thought I could turn in as my midterm for a draw-naked-people class I have. I went to a ballet class on campus (yes! they let guests sit in and watch!) and tried to get some inspiration. After hours of pencil shavings, ballet videos online, and some dancing of my own I came up with this. And I really like it, it was a total challenge, and I'm proud of it; however, my professor was having none of it. 

. . . He wants me to make figures that move and are dynamic (So, cartoons?) He says that I'm too logical and focus on anatomy too much. Art teachers, you can never please them.This is what I think I'm going to try now: 

     I still want to still show that frame-by-frame action, just with these sorts of figures.  Up next is my current relief print: 

     For this print we're doing what's called a "suicide technique." Such a great, cheerful name, I know! It's a single block used for all the colors; first the white is cut out, then the lightest color, second lightest, all the way to the darkest color. It is a little scary since there is no going back on this one, every cut, every inking, is final. I think it'll look great when it's done though. I'd like to think it's Sally Ride in there (even though the suit is wrong for her time). Also, pay no attention to the NASA logo I totally forgot to carve mirrored so that it'd be right on the print. 

     Finally, I'd like to share some clay sculptures I have done. 

     This is a flamenco dancer sculpture that I've been working on for weeks, in a very slow, very agonizing process. But she's done! Now she just needs a long ruffled dress. She will basically be a 3D representation of an illustration I made over the summer: 

     I hope I can do the bottom part of the dress in just a couple of weeks. After that, glazing is fairly simple. 

     Lastly, I leave you with a truly remarkable piece, the Kim Kardashian bust. 

     This one is really amusing for me because historically busts have been of rulers, military leaders, royalty, poets, philosophers (think Nefertiti, Augustus); people who really influenced society, history. And now we have Kim K.I have nothing against her, she's a human and deserves all human rights. But she's famous for being famous really, she isn't a singer, actress, writer, or political figure. Yet, why is she so popular, why do we know her name and not the name of other women who do their make up really well and have several siblings? Why has our culture become to interested in people just for their glamour? 

     Anyway, just some clay for thought. 

     Hope to write again soon!