first day of the painting major

So... First day of Painting class!
we really didn't do much besides start setting up our studios. I hauled a suitcase of supplies from my dorm room to the art school. People probably thought I was moving out.

Anyway, John said he was disappointed that this blog kind of dropped of.

So... bees and i think I'm going to experiment with melted crayons and transparent paper. lots of transparencies. yay!

and rabbits, probably. they are bound to show up.

Port Plus

oh I've been so lazy on here. I've been lazy in general about my artwork this summer. However, I'm having the time of my life as an RA for Portfolio Plus. I get to play professor a bit, get to spend time with a super lovely human being, Jonathan Monroe-Cook, my co RA, I get to take a digital photo class, and I get to color my hair when I feel like it.

So even though I'm not working on commissions, I feel like I'll have more motivation when I get back to work. Really. I haven't done much because of space issues-- with places in the art school locked, making art can be a challenge.

So anyway, I'm wanting a rabbit more than a boyfriend right now and craving life in general.

Camas and Commissions

So it's been such a good week. It was super nice having Bobby, Grace's boyfriend, here. He's really good to be with-- very easy to talk to, but it's not just surface conversation.

Anyway, as Bobby and I were building a slide for Will, Will ran away and Bobby said, "Hey! Where are you going?" And Will replied, "I'm going to get a cama!" (which of course is a "camera") And Bobby and I bust up laughing. a few minutes later, Will was back with a camera, and he documented the whole thing. He must have taken over 100 photos, but unfortunately, the "cama" wasn't working so well, and all of the photos turned out SUPER washed out.

However, Grace had an old digital camera, so last night she wrapped it up and gave it to him. Will was so excited. He ran around and took so many pictures. Before bed, but after brushing teeth, we uploaded them to the computer. I was SO excited because some of his photos were REALLY good! I'm not just saying that because he's four, and I'm not just saying that because I'm his older sister. I'm saying that because they are good.

In other news, I now have 11 commissions to work on this summer, and I'm so excited. I can basically make as much money painting this summer as working at safeway last summer. God is being way to good to me.

And the last bit of musings is that I'm really wondering if I'm bi-polar. I know I've wondered this before, but I really kind of think I am. I suppose I don't experience SUPER low lows or high highs, but I would say moderately high or low. Right now I'm manic, because every thing is going well, but give me till August, and I'll bet I'll be crying every day. Maybe this is what a lot of artists go through. But it's in my blood too, so, maybe...



This is St. John Vianney, one of my commissions.

commission

hey there, my faithful readers.... (clears throat)

I've been working on a commission for a prayer card for a seminarian. I was working on it at Christmas time, but coming back, I knew I would have to start something different. so after a terrible thirty second sketch, I decided it was time to unscrew though oil paints again and start on a canvas.

And then there was Mary in a blue robe, with child Jesus and the priest offering the bread up to them, and Jesus is reaching out maybe in child like curiosity, but also knowing that this is his body, which is given up for all, and there is Mary, like she knew she was born to be the Mother of all, just sitting there, letting Jesus do his thing.

I'll upload a photo, but it's a few days old now.

more from ii.blogspot.

Leah's week 11:11 (make a wish!)

So this past week I've mostly been working on projects that I find to be really interesting: the 144 wax saint candles and the coloring book. I realize that these were both conceived of as drawing projects, but the more I think about it, it makes sense that they fit in with my theme sequence as well. Although they have little to do with pomegranates or beets, they both have to do with things I have been thinking about this whole semester in theme sequence: for the candles, light, the hand-made, saints/holiness, and for the coloring book, like John said, it's sort of like I'm putting myself in a position of educator/mother by creating this book. I've also had an appreciation for nature this whole time, and it makes perfect sense that I want to capture the beauty of the animals by studying them and drawing them for hours on end.

This week I plan to work on both of these projects, hopefully finishing the santini before the coloring book. I hope to have the santini done by Thursday, and leave the whole weekend for the coloring book.

From week 11

From week 11

From week 11

From week 11

From week 11

From week 11

From week 11

more from intimateinfinite.blogspot

Leah's week 12(x12=144)

So this past week I've been making 144 little saints. I've been drawing on the side, because sometimes the spirit moves me--and discovering that my work is all really based on the same things--mothering, but also fear of abandonment, which scared me a little when I realized my personal life was showing up in my artwork. Suddenly my it wasn't about making a coloring book any more.

Going the L'Accadamia on Thursday was a very much needed experience (Regan and John scolded me for not having gone before then.) So I can finally say I've seen the David, I fell in love with a sacred conversation (in which it looks like St. Agnes is holding a large rabbit), and I was influenced by the large sculpture hall.

I'm crossing my fingers that all goes as planned for Tuesday. I had alot of setback in terms of this project, but I've learned a ton about wax, which make me think of disappearing bees.

Anyway, I'm already excited about going back to Wash U next semester and continuing my work. Which is the best feeling and thing I have learned all semester--an excitement, not a fear, of what I'll create next. As my High School Musical Mug that I bought today says, "The future is a BIG PLACE!"

Ok! off to make more saints and clean up my space!

from intimateinfinite.blogspot.com

Leah's final post

I can't believe that this is our final blog post. But it won't be, really. I've learned how necessary it is to keep a blog for what I've done in a week, that I'm going to continue an art blog for myself after this semester ends.

So much has happened in a week. I finished my santini and was working so late on Monday trying to get ready for my crit. I discovered that although I was resistant to Regan's imperative to make the santini perfect and anatomically correct, she also said they should be individualized. I definitely agreed that they should be individualized, and as I was trying to do that, I realized that the more anatomically correct they were, the easier it was to make them unique. It wasn't a mindless activity as might be thought--I continually had set backs and had to modify my process. I had fun making them individuals. And really, that's one of the most beautiful things about the saints. Each of them are different and all they did to be saints was be 100% who they were as individuals using their particular faculties to be the best people they could be. That's all anyone has to do to be a saint--be themselves wholly, perfectly.

Once I have the revelation of putting them in the kitchen, I realized that they could have conversations--they were more interesting interacting with each other than just staring out at the viewer, so I had alot of fun playing around with the wide variety of conversations I could create.

On crit day I was worried that it would be weird without music-too quiet. But when people started lighting candles, the mood quickly became frantic. It was hot and smoky, and Regan was freaking out that they kitchen would burn down. Although I thought it was beautiful with all the candles lit, it was a little scary. And I felt like a kid who was going to be put in time out for a week because she had almost burnt down the house. And I was yelled at a bit. And my crit was definitely not how I was expecting it to go.

I had worked so hard. And I felt like I had learned a ton. I had followed my instincts--something I have learned to do this semester. But despite all of these things--both my santini and my pomagrante/beetdrawing/disappearingrabbitphotocopy installation (that I had just instinctively put up right before the crit)--were not reviewed positively.

It's such a new and scary thing for me to not know what I'm doing in my classes. Especially my art classes. I've always been at near the top of the class, and I've always felt like my opinions lined up closely with the professors. This was a good lesson in humility for me. I felt last week that I could barely open my mouth without saying something "wrong." And that is one reason I didn't say much to explain myself at the crit. It would have been so much better if I had stood up straight and perhaps joked that "oh my,that wasn't what I was expecting!"

Jana, if you are reading this, thanks for giving us those readings at the beginning of the semester about not being afraid to fail. I have been so much more willing to "take the leap". That's what art requires--a leap of the imagination. If I never take it, I can never succeed. So thank you, Jana. And you were right--Italy did turn my into an artist.

Photos! (my project and recovery--I'm starting new research, and I'm not sure what it's going to turn into, but it's something...)

let's pick up from theme sequence

so i was reading over my previous blog entries, and realized that i had written this early in the semester:

And I wish wish wish that you could be here, but maybe it’s better that I’m alone right now.

I’m afraid that that’s because I’m becoming something different, and I don’t know quite yet what that is. I feel like a pool of melted wax, and I don’t really have control of what form it hardens into. Maybe I don’t need to harden. Maybe I can be melted wax my whole life. Able repair broken things. Able to fill in cracks. To mould into any shape. Able to transform and adapt and warm. Able to unclog ears, able to seal letters, to put pretty designs on eggs. To batik fabric, to heal chapped lips.

I think the problem is that I want too much. I’ve been discovering this in my artwork as well. Often I get stuck on an idea, and then it kind of “hurts” to have to change it. If only there was a way to not care. But then I don’t think that would be right either. Maybe my role in life is to care and care, but not care about getting hurt. Maybe I should be malleable wax that can mold onto a surface, and harden, and then crack, and then melt again. Maybe it doesn’t matter if I’m always cracking. Maybe I should suck it up. I want to be happy, but… hm.

////

I think what Regan said about the first part of the semester was about looking out, and the second part was looking in, and how i was better looking outwards. Well I knew that too. I felt better about life, I wasn't as moody or stressed out, I was completely in love with everything. The second half was harder for me, I started missing people, and I was more used to Italy--the traveler's high had worn off.

More later, but I just thought I should write my first ever my-own-art-blog entry. yay!