Do The Creep

Is it weird that I have an entire folder on my laptop called "Manson Photos?" And by Manson, I mean the deranged serial killer version.

Sorry, bro

Granted, those pictures are research, experimentation and inspiration for an assignment. But still: you say "important person," I say "Charles Manson?" But that's the thing--inspiration can come from literally anything, whether it's rainbows and unicorns, or serial killers, or...dust or something.

My personal inspiration for this first piece (a portrait of an important figure crafted out of other pictures and textures) really came from the word "important" itself. We often think of "important" with the connotation of "good," but it's not necessarily the only interpretation. And who can deny that Charles Manson was an extremely important figure? He was certainly a directly important figure in the lives of both his victims and his followers, he was important in media and the popular imagination, and he is the center of an important incident in American history.

...hi there

And SO we have Portrait #1. I went for an extremely narrow frame of the face, but still included some of Manson's most recognizable traits--the swastika on his forehead, the Helter Skelter reference and those crazy, crazy eyes. The entire thing is composed of layers and layers (and layers) of pictures I took of random textures, as well as overlapping colors and exposures. I constructed the "Helter Skelter" image like a ransom note from different signs around campus and used it as a kind of foundation to ground the rest of the piece.

As an Adobe newbie, this finished portrait is the result of much experimentation, and I hope that it conveys the ambiguity, confusion and uncertainty that I associate with Manson and his story.

BUT the murderous fun doesn't end there! Part 2 of the assignment had us create a companion piece out of text. And what word better sums up the influence and importance of Charles Manson than "infamy?"

A more traditional portrait in composition, but this one still maintains the layers and visual impact of the first. Text is such a fascinating medium and I absolutely loved playing around with all the tools Illustrator has to offer! On the docket for next semester: a typography class! More text adventures to follow...

So IS it too weird to have a "Manson Photos" folder? Maybe...but it inspired some pretty rad art-ing, and I'd say that's worth a pretty large quantity of weird (and sometimes even requires it). A more apt question is maybe "Did I feel completely sketch carrying two full-size portraits of Charles Manson on a public bus?" (to which the answer is a hearty YES). Or "So NOW what do I do with my serial killer art?" Luckily, I have a pretty fantastic, pretty serial-killer-obsessed sister who says she can find some space on her walls for a little bit of creepy inspiration.

Desktop Blues?

So basically the entire concept of this blog rests on the idea that inspiration might be anywhere. Sometimes, though, I feel like I spend most of my "anywhere" time on my computer, which doesn't always lend itself to exciting adventures of inspiration. But there's an easy solution--why not make the very act of popping open my laptop an inspiring experience? We see our desktop wallpapers all the time, so they have a lot of potential to affect us. Yes, I realize that it's just a background, but that doesn't mean it can't brighten your mood or trigger some inspiration!

I haven't even had my laptop for a year yet, so I don't have too many past pics. But the first one I started out with was this beauty:

Just look at that sexy bridge!

It's the Tower Bridge in London! I'd never even heard of the Tower Bridge before, let alone been there, but I can always dig some sweet architecture. Especially bridges for some reason (and doors. Doors are cool), and this one was awesome! Wallpapers are something personal and arbitrary. I don't really have to have a REASON for why this picture spoke to me; it just did.

And now I have my current background which is SO BOSS.

I don't even LIKE tomatoes!

Warhol is one of my all-time faves, and his soup cans always energize me and inspire me and make me think crazy-possibly-creative-but-mostly-crazy thoughts. This background? Not for everyone. Not everyone wants a million colors screaming at them every time they open their laptop. But that's just the point: for me, it's perfect. For you, there's something else that'll give you a little boost whenever you use your computer. Desktop backgrounds are something so easy to forget about; it's called a background for a reason. But with a minimum of effort you can inspire yourself anytime, anywhere (even if that's while you're lounging in bed).

P.S. A glimpse at a possible future desktop background:

Doesn't that just make you want to DO something?

Because I still haven't gotten Tokyo out of my system. And THAT is a picture I could wake up to every morning.

Collagepalooza!

WOW it's been a long time! But I think you'll forgive me because it's time for...(drum roll please)...an Art Update! I finally got back some of my first pieces from my art class, so why not put up some pictures to balance out all those words of the last post? So without further ado...collages!

The concept of doing a collage was really weird to me at first. I mean, isn't that what I did in like third grade? But after getting that skepticism out of my system, I realized that it was actually a very cool opportunity to re-examine the elements of art. And some of my favorite elements at that! I'm a very texture oriented person in everything I do (clothes, food, you name it), and art is no different. I'm also a big fan of lines. Pretty ground-breaking, I know.

Anyway, the process was pretty cool. We started by just making pages and pages of shapes, lines and textures out of a variety of different media. Then we cut them up and created two compositions: one with a defined figure-ground relationship, and the other undefined.

Funky!

This is my defined piece! As you can see, the figures kind of have a flow to them--the heaviest, darkest and roughest figures create the foreground and the rest kind of fades off. I really dig this one, because while it's defined, it still has a little ambiguity. And for me, ambiguity = more visual interest = more fun to create AND view!

Funkier?

And now the undefined! This one took much longer to do; as artists we really tend to take for granted the ingrained tendency to create some definition and order even in a piece with abstract subject matter. And at first this collage does look like it's relatively ordered. It's only when you continue to look at it that you notice that certain elements just don't add up: a kind of subtle ambiguity, I guess.

I also had to make another collage that was based on recreating the emotion of a single color. It actually turned out really well, but unfortunately the coloring in the pics I took is kind of terrible, so I'll have to upload it some other time. (Maybe I should invest more time in developing some photography skills).

So that was my first college art assignment! Overall a very surprising experience in both the assignment itself and the time it took to place the elements exactly right. And of course, an inspiring one in its re-evaluation of certain elements and artistic tendencies. Inspiration that has led to some more pretty cool pieces (at least for me to create!), so stay tuned for more art updates!

Buzz

I have two preferred settings: doing absolutely nothing and doing absolutely everything. And while there's nothing quite like doing nothing for an extended period of time (who DOESN'T love that?), I have come to discover that I like doing absolutely everything even better. I've become aware of this over the course of many years of careful, scientific investigation (...yeah), but this week was a great reminder of how much I love being busy.

This Tuesday I got some fantastic news: I found out that I get to be a Graphic Design Assistant for my school's student government! I'll be part of next year's Communication Department, and while it may be just a volunteer position, I am SO excited to get started (and a little nervous too). The thing is, I know I will probably end up spending a giant chunk of my (already limited) time on this...and I wouldn't have it any other way!

There's something insanely awesome about knowing that as soon as you finish one thing, there's always something else to challenge you and engage you, and that this cycle will never stop. Right now, I'm about to help launch a promotional campaign for the Earth Week activities sponsored by my environmental club at school. AND I was recently asked by a girl on my floor if I would create some art for her. FOR MONEY! And sure, I've got all this plus class and homework and other activities and an interview on Saturday and an internship search. But someone wants ME to make them art, and that's pretty much the coolest thing that's ever happened to me.

So basically, this laundry list of current events in my life comes down to one thing: I like being busy. But it's more than just "liking" it; that buzz of activity helps me and inspires me. I'm motivated by the time constraints and the pressure, and it has helped me produce some of my best work. I love knowing that around every corner there's something new for me to try, but not quite knowing what exactly that might be. I love having all these potential (and now concrete) outlets for creativity. So maybe I won't be getting a lot of sleep anytime soon, but that's ok. Blasphemous as it may sound for a college student, I've got something better than sleep.

Tokyo

As I mentioned in my first post, this semester I leapt into my first college-level art class! It's been a really great experience so far, and a source of A LOT of inspiration. So you can expect to hear about it A LOT.

Hopefully I'll have pics of some of my earlier projects up soon if I ever get them back. But for now let's focus on my current project, which is very exciting to me right now! My assignment is to use various print techniques to explore spatial qualities with a foreign land as the subject matter. My subject? Tokyo.

So the girl who loves cities picks the biggest city in the world. SHOCKING. But I just can't get over how amazing it is. Since the biggest city I've ever lived in is Milwaukee, all of those people occupying one space is pretty much impossible for me to imagine. But when I try, it's absolutely mind-blowing. I'm an absolute freak for cityscapes and architecture and people and lights, so Tokyo naturally gets my creative juices flowing. It's everything I love about Milwaukee and cities, but on steroids. Really, really powerful steroids.

The current layout and progress so far...pay no attention to the blank rectangle.

One of the most interesting aspects of Tokyo is the duality of its culture. This contradiction between modernism and tradition, energy and structure, urban architecture and nature is the main focus of my print series. I'm exploring this theme through color, symbols and line quality. The bright neon golds, violets, and greens of the city at night find their counterparts in the softer browns, pinks, and greens. My main symbols for the urban life are the Tokyo Tower, the Metropolitan Government building, and the metro system, while cherry blossoms, the gateway to the Meiji Jingu shrine, and the kanji characters for "Tokyo" represent the opposite.

Most of the shapes thus far were created with a matte medium/acrylic paint combination and stencils I created. The metro map and the kanji characters, however, are the products of Xerox transfers. It's a really cool process that I've never used before, but that I'd definitely use in my work again. In fact, this whole print-making thing is pretty new for me, as my only previous experience with print-making was basically torture. It's awesome to re-discover and explore techniques that you maybe only half-new before, if at all.

I'm seriously digging the interplay of the different textures and layers right now, so although I've got some work to do before I'm done (hello, white space!) I'm pretty pumped to see the final result. Here's to experimentation, new techniques and, of course, Tokyo!

The Oscars

So it's been approximately a million years since my last post (rough estimate). And since that has been my ONLY post up until now, I am clearly not a blogging master. In my defense, though, this semester has been absolutely crazy so far: lots of school and work and all that jazz. But also a lot of inspiration! So without further ado, I give you...The Academy Awards!

Shiny!

Yes, I am watching them currently (topical post!). And no, I sadly have not seen most of the movies. And yes, I have heard that the movies nominated this year were somewhat underwhelming. But watching this ceremony, under all the glamour and fashion and random Cirque du Soleil performances, I've seen some people who truly love what they do.

I may not have seen The Help, but I definitely teared up at Octavia Spencer's acceptance speech. And seeing Christopher Plummer win his FIRST (!) Oscar at 82 years old was fantastic. Not to mention, of course, those non-celebrities who are so obviously moved and touched that it leaps off the screen, making more of an impact than any well-known face could.

What brings these people together at the Oscars is their absolute love for what they do. It's passion. That passion is absolutely essential to creating. It doesn't matter what the product is: a painting, a song, a film, a dance, whatever. Passion is what inspires us to start, to keep going, and ultimately to make something that we are proud of and that represents us and that has meaning. Not everything I do is infused with passion, but when it is...you can tell.

So maybe the Oscars are a little self-congratulatory and silly. And maybe I don't really even care who wins Best Picture. But what makes me tune in every year is seeing some people who have put everything they have into what they do. Pure, unadulterated passion: now that's something worth watching.

And to be honest, the pretty dresses don't hurt either.

The Beginnings...

Inspiration is always and everywhere. It is both powerful and fleeting, all-encompassing and momentary. In that contradiction lies its horrible magic: inspiration invigorates and energizes us, but so often we fail to capture it, and it slips out of mind. Enter Inspir(n)ation: a personal record of inspiration taken and applied.

Now with the required blog-beginning cheese out of the way, on to the good stuff! I’m just a casual artist with a few classes under my belt and a lot of enthusiasm to learn and grow. Having just completed my first semester of college (!) and getting ready to face my first art class of higher education, NOW seems like the perfect time to create this space for my thoughts and hopes and their results.

In the past few months I’ve already realized one of my biggest dreams, and that’s only scratching the surface on what’s to come. I’m talking about *drumroll* moving to The City. And yes, The City deserves to be treated as a proper noun, because for me it’s always been so full of energy and life and the essence of so many dreams and goals. And while Milwaukee isn’t a HUGE city, I absolutely love it. The lights, the people, the energy, the opportunities, the possibilities: what’s not to inspire?

Hooray for Milwaukee! doodles

Even more importantly, to me The City has always been a vital element of the person I’ve dreamed of being…and attempting to become that person a little more every day is one of my new guiding principles. Walking through the streets of Milwaukee or just looking at those endless lights signifying endless stories makes that goal feel attainable. Enough waiting, I’m ready to be Me.

So here’s to The City! I loved coming here, I love being here, and I never want to leave. And here’s to inspiration! That magnetic force that makes life so interesting, may I find it in abundance (and work to keep it!). And finally, here’s to Inspir(n)ation: a place to record my story in things observed, dreamt, and created. Happy blogging :)