ready.

is it grimas yet? i'm so ready. totes ready. any time now.

hurry up!!!

see:

the tree is decorated and the gifts are wrapped and gathered.



i made pompoms.



even greggs is in the spirit!



hurryhurryhurry. hurry!

la fabrique, malorie, and myrtle & pearls

last week was filled with the kind of fashioney good times i dream of living every day. oh. goodness me!

my oh-so-talented friend josee put on a fashion show along with two other design talents, malorie and genevieve. it was an incredible undertaking - the first show for all three of the designers, and all self-organized/put on. and done in just over a month of planning... amazing! the show was held at Teddy's downtown, and showcased some 35 (or was it 40?) looks. on real models (thanks to mode models), with a real makeup artist (the brilliant nickol), and for reals hair-dos (by a very talented lady by the name of alecia). all this amazingness, and josee was kind enough to invite me along for a few design/prep meetings, and to the pre-show photo shoot. pretending i am a stylist is the greatest thing!

i also had the pleasure of wearing one of josee's designs to the show. and my hair was finger-waved by on miss jenna, and nickol even did my makeup. in 5 minutes in the bathroom-poor-light - the best makeup job i've ever had. holy heck. she is goooood.

i'm not gonna say it was BETTER than christmas... but it was HECKA close. and that's saying an awful lot.

many thanks to josee for including me, and to the other girls for making me feel welcome and useful. it was thrilling, and the show was amazing. so so proud of all the work they did.

retraction statement

i will not be applying for the rdc residency.

i can't afford that many months without pay and with red deer living costs.

it is a sad decision, i guess, but it is an adult decision. and sometimes you have to make those.

to balance it out, i did eat an all candy lunch.

and, also, it means i can sing in susan's grad choir. and singing is very very good.

being an artist again. maybe.

i'm going to apply for a residency at red deer college. it would be three months starting in january. and i would do a bunch of etchings of girls. and it would be nice. to be an artist again. for a bit at least. however: residencies don't pay cash dollars.

so. creative friends. any ideas on how a girl could make some cash dollars in red deer for three months in winter? discuss.

also. know of any other residencies in cool places that i should look at? discuss. too.

happy fancy dress day

because everyday is halloween if you're karl.



and happy candymas from his model too.

go get shot

i am almost almost over H1N1! i have been one of those lucky ones who managed to get the flu before the vaccine was available. so for the last six days, i have been doing almost nothing except whining, watching tv (both real and internet types), napping, wandering around mom and dad's, and (most often of all) re-filling my hot water bottle.

i do not recommend you get swine flu. swine flu is no fun. it makes you hurt tons. also, if you have a job which only pays you if you're there, it causes brokeness. lame!

however. i am now caught up on: glee, dexter, dollhouse, fringe, season 1 of weeds, season 5 of sex and the city, so you think you can dance dance dance (and s.y.t.y.c.d.d.d. canada), project runway, grey's anatomy, criminal minds, and gossip girl.
also: the september issue (which i watched twice, cause i thought mom should see it too...), waitress, half of synecdote new york, and rachel getting married.

AND i get codeine at night.



that is all there is to report. now go get your shot.

who to be or who not to be

halloween is super close. what should i dress up as?

karl lagerfeld?



lady gaga?



coraline's other mother?



other?

i think i'm on heroin...

*

most people were trained to do the jobs they do. like. properly trained. in school. for many years. if you go to med school, you probably will end up working as a doctor doing just what it is that you have studied to do. and people will give you money to do that job. not so for those of us with fine arts degrees.

we are lucky if we make money a few times a year from what we've been trained to do. sell a painting here. sell a painting there. don't ever expect to be able to pay your BILLS with money made from same sales...

but twice - TWICE - in this past month i have been given money (good money!) to do EXACTLY what i have studied to do. I have been paid to sit in a room and draw people's faces. face after face, person after person, draw draw draw... for a scheduled, pre-determined amount of time for a pre-determined hourly rate.

and it might be the best thing ever. i've just finished a couple hours doing just that. drawing people for money. and i'm pretty sure this is what doing drugs feels like. do other people with more practical degrees feel this way when THEY get work? i doubt it. maybe that's why i don't have a more practical degree... anyways! back to the drugs!

i am EXHAUSTED, but there's no way in hell i'll be capable of sleeping for a good while - tooooo much left over adrenaline. i am a mental mess. i'm not sure this post will make any sense, i'm not sure any of the conversations i had while drawing made any sense. my brain is shot. and i am SOOOOO PUMPED! i couldn't be happier! i'm giddy and goofy and wishing i had someone i could chest bump out my enthusiam with. MAN this is rad.

and the whole time i'm actually DOING the work, two things go through my head over and over:
1 'holy craptowns, this is STRESSSSSSFULLLL/do NOT mess up, oh GOD!'
2 'you suckers. you are paying me right now. and i am having the most fun time i've ever had in my whole life. chumps!'

oh, and sometimes i also think:
3 'goodgod it is hot. is it really this hot? MAN i am hot...'

anyways. it's pretty awesome. just saying.

* photo-relevance is, of course, that kate moss was the postergirl for heroin chic. which is strange. because she was totes into cocaine. but i guess that was later on anyways. ahem. photo by corinne day.

fashion town, 2009!

in a somewhat awesome, somewhat worrying twist of circumstances (???), i have ended up applying for a REAL job. in fashion retail. in a lot of ways i'm not technically qualified for this job - having no real retail experience, and no real management credentials. but in the ways that matter i'm HECKA qualified. like. i love clothes. a lot. i love fashion, and the fashioney world, and all it's fashioney bits. and i like working with people. so. that's great!

but the real point of this post is this: all i've been thinking about since i applied is FASHIONFASHIONCLOTHESFASHIONRETAILCLOTHES!

which is so much awesome funness. i want it forever! i want this job! i want this skirt... from the store... where i've applied... oh i hope! only one or two more interviews to go!



with all my thinking about fashionclothes, i've been looking at a lot of fashionclothes. and here are some things i think!:

these balenciaga tights are pretty great. and wearable. and you can get very similar ones from Joe Fresh (superstore) for $8.00!!! rad!



alexander mcqueen's show is my favorite of his in a while... houndstooth!? escher-esque birds?! flouncy poofy good times!? good work mr. mcqueen. thanks for being super-great.



lanvin's alber elbaz is as awesome as ever. don't worry. he still looks kind of like a penguin, and he sitll is always all tilty. phew! he says of his clothes: 'it's almost like if the coat is hugging you... i love the sensation of clothes that are hugging you.' (thanks, style.com).

tell all your friends!

i'm home in the canada. and i need a job!

all of the places i was HOPING to maybe work aren't hiring - darn you El Nino!

but i was thinking about the past-days. when i was a nanny that one time. and that was pretty awesome. AND. the girl that i nannied has since graduated highschool with some sort of super-smart-awesome-award. so. i think that was probably because of me.

if YOU need a nanny or a babysitter, or you know of anyone who does, please PLEASE contact me! i have an awesome resume, too, which you could see. if you wanted to.



pass around the word!

adventuring

with all this travel here and there, and here and there, i don't have much time for writing a proper, longer entry. so i'll have to write a quick one instead. recap-style.

vienna


highlights:
- the SECESSION!!! klimt and schiele work up close and personal.
- ballet! oh, oh, oh! anna karenina at the state opera house. best train-death-staging.
- opera! hilariously german with german subtitles. and we got to sit in boxes! different boxes, mind, but boxes all the same.
- HUNTERTWASSER!!! i have been dying to see that house since ma-em's visit all them years ago.
- the chance to have a non-uk hangout session with emma. first one since spain? (france doesn't count cause mom-dad were there...)
-cakes, doughnuts, croissants for breakfast.

lowlights:
- there were a FEW museum/galleries which weren't worth their entry fee. and the modern art museum charged me for the MANDATORY bag check. can you even DO that? charge admission, then charge more for the bag check?! and it wasn't even a big bag.
- meat soup!!! okay. not SO much of a lowlight for me. more hilarious. emma ordered a mystery dinner, which turned out to be liver soup... gross. i did feel bad, though. for her. i gave her part of my roll...



side by side

a little secret-show of the first year MFA drawing and painting kids. we would normally be allowed to show as part of the degree show which is all up and upons the college. but this year 'they' decided not to let the first years show. because. people might be confused? lame! so we put on a guerilla show in a little side room. it opened to a decent crowd on monday evening, complete with a musical performance by alexa hare. it was a nice way to end the year with my homies.



orkney


highlights:
- tiny plane!!! oh, i love a tiny plane. watching the coastline approach. and we got coffee and biscuits!
- my rental bike! heavier than a road bike, but with significantly less-knobbly tires than the mongoose. we had a good time, me and that bike. i rode out of kirkwall on the highway (luckily a very small highway, as highways go) and along the coast past many cows and sheep.
- it never ever got completely dark. the sky stayed that sort of sapphire blue from sunset (around 11pm) till sunrise (around 2:30am).
- SEALS! i don't think i've ever seen for-reals seals before. non-zoo seals. because of the rain, they were just floating a few meters off the beach, little grey heads bobbing, staring at me all alone on the rocks. eerie and beautiful and amazing.
- orkney ice cream. i had a double cone. one scoop apple crumble, one scoop rhubarb and cream. amazing. SOOOOOO good. ooooof.

lowlights:
- the news that grandma h. passed away suddenly in ottawa on tuesday. not only am i saddened to have lost her, it also means there are no more grandparents left. there was some poetry in hearing the news while standing in a quite laneway, looking out at an amazing sunset over kirkwall and the fields and fields. i couldn't have asked for a better place to sit and think about all of my amazing grandparents, and how lucky i have been to have had them in my life. i would love to be able to be in ottawa with the family right now, and remember grandma h. with everyone, but since that isn't possible, orkney was a beautiful alternative. i smiled remembering last time i got to hang out with her, and her telling me about all the boys she had after her before she met grandpa. sassy woman. you are well loved and well missed grandma.

BP 2009

it's here! the exhibition is on in London, and even though i'm not in it, it's still hecka cool.

check it out!
http://www.npg.org.uk/bp-portrait-award-20091/the-exhibition.php


white linen by Jennifer Anderson

oh no!

i leave here in a month minus one day.

but first i go to vienna.

and then to the orkneys.

and then to belper and glastonbury.

so. um. super, then. great? great!

ready, set, YO!(ga)

OH NO! i'm in love with yoga...

i've avoided yoga for a long time. i dabbled a bit, in the youthful days of my undergraduate degree - doing a bit of sun salutation here and there - but i never let myself get into it. not really. because, well, i thought maybe it was a hippy activity. because. a lot of the people i know who are into yoga are a little... hippyish. you know. with the not showering enough. and the veganism. and the clothes made from the hemp.

i don't approve of those things. not in extremes, for sure. and also i worried it might be a bit mambi-pambi with the thinking about your feelings and thoughts and whatnot. gross.

but i quit running. and i had to do SOMETHING.

and now i'm addicted. i go to three different studios here in edinburgh. (i'm a yoga hussy. i yoga around...) thursdays is at the dance base. it's only an hour. and it's more relaxed. sort of like a casual date night at the bowl... with yoga. good times. some laughs. then sunday is a little more serious. with union yoga. it's like a good brunch at culina. sure, i have to get up early, and walk a ways, but it's worth it. because the whole day AND week are better because of it. and they have lilies there... and bamboo floors. then monday nights with bristo. it's a doing up your house all nice for a romantic night in. it's dark. and warm. it's a ton of work. you think - is this too much hassle? do i really FEEL like going to all this effort? but of course you do. feel like it. you are so happy that you did.

and it's not even flaky! this whole sport. the people who are really doing it? they're working real hard. and they're hecka fit. and i wanna be like them. and i might even like drinking coconut water sometimes. but i'm not gonna stop showering. sorry. no.

fun with your friends and neighbours

studio time is basically gone for the year. which is kinda sad, and kinda nice.

but i did get my act together and do a few photoshoots with my classmates. so i can paint them in the future.

and i'm really happy with how they turned out.

thanks to: laura, kadie, alexa, fran, and eva. rock on.


fran and eva


laura, kadie, and alexa

awesomely awesome day o' printing

the other day i went to get my etchings all from etched state to print state. and normally i burn out pretty fast in the print stage. but the studio was empty the WHOLE TIME! which was awesome to the maximum. so. fueled by the power of dance and lady gaga, i actually had a great time and printed for hours, and even had fun times with colour!!! new and fun and great! the photos are rubbish, but the prints, i think, are rockin awesome. i'm pretty happy with them. self high fives all over the place!


she - having the advantage of knowing it was coming - did most of her crying earlier in the day
blue


dark, dark silvery-grey-mauve


toppling tower (in Jill Sander)
pink


toppling tower (in Jill Sander)

fashionable people

here's the newest painting on the go. the trouble is that hand in (that's portfolio in UK speak) is next Friday... so i only have another week and few days to work on it. AND the college is closed Monday and Tuesday. so. it may not get done. until later. when i'm home? who knows. but maybe it WILL get done. it could happen.



in other news, i met with beverly hood today. i don't know exactly what her job is, but i do know she gave me all the options for exiting the college. and here is what i now know:

i will be awarded a postgrad certificate and 80 credits for my time at eca. not a postgrad diploma. that would involve completing the research/critical study elements of the course and paying some fees. and not an MA. that would involve staying on till september and paying more fees. so. yay! that is good. it is SOMETHING that i can write down instead of 'failed to stick with it in an MFA at eca'. sounds much better than that. also, i met with my name tutor today, and he says i can have a reference from him anytime. which is really nice. especially because i didn't even have to ask. thanks charlie. thanks! now i just have to fill in a withdrawl form, and they'll take back my student card (sad!) and make me pay all the printing fees and whatnot and i'll be on the outs. strangely simple. just like that.

thanks guys

on friday i took down the show at the tea tree tea, and i even patched the walls myself! wow!

many many thanks to the awesome Jaime and Drew who were so kind and friendly and open to Justin and i. i promised Drew i'd mention him and the cafe in the major documentary that is bound to be made about me. but in the meantime. a mention in my major blog should count. i hope.

it is all for reals

this week, on tuesday, i broke up with grad school.

i met with the head of our department, glen, and let him know that i have decided not to return to eca next year. it has been a hard hard few months deciding. and it was a hard hard day making it official. glen had a lot of very kind things to say about me, and my work, and my attitude, and the hole i'll be leaving in the program. it was nice to hear. it is too bad that this is the first time i've heard any of it.

it is very bittersweet, now, telling those people in the program who i have grown to care for a great deal. i know i'm making the right decision (the school continues to frustrate - or infuriate me - daily) but i'm going to miss some of my classmates very much. so i'm going to try my best to enjoy their company and the time i have left.

sighing and sighing. what a strange thing...

whoa, dude!

check this out... okay. it's nuts. these:




when left to kick it in various acids, and then covered in ink, and then pushed up against some papers, turn into these:


as yet untitled...


gummy vampire

!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!

yeah. etching is so awesome. and i'm getting a little better-more-savvy. day by day. although i didn't leave the one of ben and emma in the first acid long enough... but i think i did a decent job in inking to make up for it. a bit.

oh. also done today: one mystery etch. to be shown at a later date. ooooooo! surprises!

edmonton peeps.

i've just read this on facebook, and i'm very sad and concerned...

"Gilbert Bouchard is missing.

Gilbert is a visual arts writer/critic based in Edmonton, Alberta.

Gilbert hasn’t been seen since Monday/Tuesday morning around midnight. He’s white, brown hair, blue eyes, 5′10″ and 250 pounds.

A search party is being organized for Sunday.

If you have seen him or have any further information, please contact his family at 780-761-4156.

You can also contact Edmonton police at 780-423-4567 or Crimestoppers, 1-800-222-8477."

there's a photo of Gilbert posted on http://andrewfoleywritesthings.blogspot.com/

models, bees and bikes

first of all. here is the newest composition sketch for the newest painting. (okay. not a very complicated composition. i admit...) the for reals painting is just under 5 foot square.



and then. two new etchings. these didn't go SO well, and i haven't spent a lot of time trying to print them as best they can be printed. because the print shop shuts early, so i got kicked out. sigh. but. this time i did the whole process all by my self with no help from my mentors jon and justin. so. yay me! (oh, and the photos of them are not super rad either. i swear the second one IS straight on all sides... i swear. but.)


i heart bikes



waitress for the bees

everyone keeps asking if she's you. but she's just a girl with your haircut.

new term new skill

okay, yeah, i know. i KNOW. i know. i make fun of printmakers a lot.

it's my job. as a painter. because i don't understand what they do. so. i mock it. makes sense to me!

but.

today.

i learned how to etch. i made an etching!

i haven't printed it yet. but justin taught me how to prep the little sheet o' zinc, and put the ground on it, and then i drew on it with the etchy-needle. or. scribe? tomorrow i will put it in some acid (or something?) cover it with ink, and PUT IT ON PAPER! rad.

here's how it looks now. all backwards and whatnot. (please note the socktopuss in the top corner.)

BPoo Award

so, not surprising but still disappointing, i have not made the shortlist for this year's BP portrait award. sigh.

but. according to flora flicker, the exhibition manager, there were over 1900 applicants and only 56 shortlistees. so. i suppose i can't be too upset, now can i? no. i can't. i'll just have to try again next year.

and the next year.

and then again after that.

until they realize i'm best ever portrait painter extraordinaire.

i can handle that.

and i DID get the applicant's discount on the exhibition catalogue. so. that's cool too.

maquette

there is a little wee show on while i'm away at the circus space near my flat/school. i did a drawing for it. it was a bit rushed and random, but. well. here it is!


deliver it quietly

anyways. i'm going to canada now. or. in a few hours. see you there!

storydrawings - for reals

come see our show! it goes up on sunday. at the tea tree tea in edinburgh. just off lothian. i won't be there. but you should go all the same. and have a coffee or tea. it's nice! i even cut matte board.



(we made bookmarks. thanks to justin for photoshopping them so nicely.)

ship(ment) of dreams

after talking to one zillion (or ten...) delivery/courier companies, and being re-directed/rejected by them all, i finally found someone willing to carry my oversized parcel to London even though i didn't have an account with them.

bless you, interparcel, bless you.

and so! my hopes for fame and fortune - or at least a free dinner in London with the portrait world elite - are crated up and ready to be picked up and carried away to the BP portrait award committee in the big ol' city. it should arrive there sometime tomorrow. wooop wooop!

thanks, too, to max, the workshop technician who so kindly offered to make my crate, and then did a bang-up job of it. and i mean bang-up as in awesome. not as in he beat it up and put dents in it and the like. that painting fit in there like a glove. fits on a hand... a well-fitted glove.

check out that beauty!





now if everyone could please hold their breath and cross all crossable things until April 10th when the decisions are made known to us applicant-types... great. super. thanks!

*** post-note. painting is now delivered. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. ***

storydrawings

some of the things and stuff for my show with justin: (mostly done... a little in-the-works.)