a-scary paint day to make you a-scare!

in honour of the upcoming holiday we know as 'halloween' today i painted with the DEAD PALETE! ooooooooo. ghostly!

the dead palate is a fantastic set of colours tessa taught us about in undergrad. i forgot about it for a long time... or ignored it? well. i haven't used it all on its own like this in ages.

you start with three colours - blue-black, transparent red oxide, and transparent yellow oxide. (they're earth colours.)
mix each with the other in various combinations of goodness:



then tint each one (add white) to various levels. (i like to use two different whites - flake (warm) and zinc (cool).)



tada! a fantastically colourful-grey palate for your painting enjoyment! at this point i recommend taking a break to relax your hand after all that careful cautious mixing. stare at your palate and think about how awesome it is. then. PAINT!



good job!

blogging against nudity?

i painted a really terrible painting today. it was my first time in front of a model in YEARS! ooof. no good. no good at all.


but don't worry. i'll get better again. don't worry. (i'm not.)


MEANWHILE! AT THE STUDIO!

here's the latest painting paint-town that i've done. except one. i didn't put it in because it looks scary right now. like. really scary. but it won't forever, and then you can see it, i promise.





ALSO. today was project space day. which means we all get together in a room and talk about one person's project - which they've had a week to work on. often these are installation based. well the painting one wasn't my favorite ever (linked to john cage, and thus an INSTANT turn off for me...) but, BUT the sculptors had their first. and. it was great. it was HEATHER'S. she's form canada. she knows brenda drainey and therefore is pretty cool already. her installation/sculpture was really awesome, but best of all was the FREE GIN AND JUS we got after! yes. i love grad school. and it was REALLY good gin. hendrick's. i recommend it completely. go drink some now.

actually, for real?

genie pants. they were hecka-big on the runway this season. but i never thought people would actually wear them. i mean. really. not actually. some runway trends are just for the runway and that is that.



but no! people ARE wearing them! low crotches, tight ankles, baggy-bagness. lots of people. everywhere in edinburgh. i see at least one set of genie pants a day. for real.

hey guys! great news!

i can still draw!

i will confess that one of my greatest fears since i began using the projector regularly is that i will forget (or worse yet: have already forgotten) how to draw. for reals scary. and since getting accepted to study at a graduate level i kept thinking to myself 'what if...' i mean, sure i can do what i want to do WITHOUT drawing. but. BUT. wouldn't i be a bit of a fraud then? and i could draw before, but i had to work at it... so is it a skill that you keep, like riding a bike, or d you lose it? like... marbles?

well. earlier this week, while trying to get the projector debacle sorted (quick recap: everyone i asked about an 'opaque projector' looked at me as if i was crazy. i panicked. asked how i would print onto transparencies then, if that was my only option and was told we don't have the facilities to do that here... ahem. panic.) i figured i should do SOMETHING besides sit around and stare in a terrified sort of way. so i started a little painting. drawn by hand.

and. the drawing sucked. it sucked several times over. i flipped the board around, and it still sucked. i started to paint anyways - feeling incredibly disappointed in myself. but then. THEN! as i painted i reworked the drawing , little by little... and today i went in with a pencil on TOP of the paint, and drew in the detail-stuff. and then painted some more.

and SHOCK! ALARM! it is WORKING! it is on the correct path!

check it OUT! (a detail of it...)

i am a painter with paintings to paint

you can't really see them because they're so faint and made of pencil... but on those canvases there are drawings. drawings for real paintings which i am going to start TODAY! ahhhhhhhhhhhh! weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

from the comforts of one's own home

yesterday i slept in a bit more than i should have. since the school hours are limited on the weekends, you have to be in before 2pm. i wasn't prepared by 2 to be in public, so instead i decided to work from home. and in my tiny apartment, where there is no desk, and where i like to keep the heating to a minimum, the only place big and warm enough for me was the bed.

i did thought webs with terms i want to further research and understand, organized my finances for the week, listened to good brain-stimulating music, and ate the occasional piece of chocolate. it was a fine fine saturday. and i never even had to put on proper clothes.

the computer machine.

i'm at school! i'm in my studio! there's INTERNET here and it is WORKING on MY computer!!!

yeah. i'm excited. me and my computer have been a bit sad lately due to its lack of interneting abilities. it makes a computer feel sad, it does.

but now we're happy. thrilled! so, without further ado- here are some pictures of my flat! yes, this is ACTUALLY what it looks like on average: clean. i know. i'm as surprised as you are. enjoy! i do.