:)

From a sketch I did.....The background is my lame attempt at trying to add a background. hahahaha. they're meant to be in a supermarket. I love the rest of it except for the background.. oh well. hehe.

Did this one a while ago but never bothered to post it...? I quite like it for the most part......but I keep feeling like I need to address this background issue. Just not sure how! I'm terrible at perspective, so I might try something like a colour wash ala Jack just to experiement and see where that takes me. I don't think his type of colour splashes would work for mine but I hope it'll give me new ideas.

I think it's safe to say that Abe is sticking with me for a while now :)

More coming soon :)

not yet!

Gonna update some time tomorrow....made a few new drawings. I'm just screwing around, trying to push my boundaries slowly with my drawing style.

Been a bit distracted lately....I have to deal with my visa paperwork as well as the strong possibility of us moving out before our lease is up in Feb. Although I do really love this place, I can't imagine staying here another complete year when we so desperately need more space.

I felt disgustingly sick today...I had such an awful headache that crept up on me and basically left me incapacitated. I wonder if I'm allergic to cheesecake....I hope not!

What Now...?

So, clean up is complete....Installation taken down, walls repainted, bags full of work brought home and now adorning my apartment walls (there's not a blank spot left on the walls now....)....what next?

Not sure what exactly I'm moving twords now. There's some serious crap I've got to figure out...visa stuff, work (do I REALLY want to work in Footscray?....the place is covered in graffiti and I got harrassed by a bum there today....), and then the other stuff.....Cuddletown, maybe expanding into something else?

Footscra adventure (as already mentioned a bit above)....it was very hot, and there was a lot more to look at than I thought there would be. Explored 3 dollar stores...the last of which I saw on the way to kmart (which was meant to be my ultimate goal). I glanced at it and then stopped dead in my tracks, and came out with some great great shit.But controlled myself pretttttty well and I must say I am proud about it.

Did a couple more drawings which I'll post tomorrow.

Trying to bea bit more aware of what I eat. I go through stages....cooking, no cooking. This is the "cooking is enjoyable" stage which will probably fizzle out once I remember how much I like Pizza Hut.

Time for Kindle....reading What Dreams May Come, the book the movie was based on. Very different but wonderful. These subjects excited and comfort me <3.

Bonjour Sherbet!

Thought I'd post a few of the things I've been screwing around with lately.

Simple drawing on mdf coaster. I was going for a pastel parisian look...kinda fails but it was good for a start :) The colours remind me of Sherbet ice cream....:D

Second one I did....I quite like it! I realise that I do need to address the background issue with this one. Also the character looks to finished. Part of the beauty of mdf is the colour, so to cover it up completely is a shame.....and the characters always look beautiful a bit undone.

Unfinished as of yet....just another test. Balloons! In this one I like the unfinished aspect.

This is an earlier work in my Lincoln series.....to refer to the unifinished look that goes so well on mdf. I can see now how much my white outlining technique has changed...I've made it too tight now....this sketchier version is much nicer.

Lovehearts :)

My Lady and I at Hungry Jacks at the Melbourne airport.....ahhhhh......I miss her so much already.

Grad Show was tonite.....wow...it was pretty intense! I had a mild panic attack just seeing all the people everywhere, most people I didn't recognize. Turns out it was an understatement when Jack said there's a huge turnout. woah. haha.

There was so much art work, so much hard work everybody put into the show. It was really impressive, inspiring, and tiring doing all that walking and intense gazing!!

Me and Chris mostly stayed to ourselves as I had no clue what to talk about with people. I noticed a trend where the artists would stand in front of or around their own work..Well, I thought that was a bit weird, so I didn't stand near mine, though I was dying to hear what people had to say about it (it's ok to snoop if it's your own work!). Alas, I won no awards, which I knew would happen since Abe isn't exactly big news in Australia (another reason why I'll always be proud of being an American, next to free refills and Walgreens!).

I didn't expect how strange I'd feel to have won nothing. I felt like maybe my work is just laughably bad. Of course, as Chris told me, I'm definitely not the only one who didn't win anything. And in the end, I enjoyed myself, and the experience, and I feel proud to have been able to represent Mr. Lincoln in Australia. 

I realised tonite I'll never be entirely satsified until one day, hopefully, I'll meet Lincoln himself in eternity and give him a bear hug unlike any he's ever had!

It feels bittersweet....I don't think the reality of everything has dawned on me....the fact that school is over with for now and I'm floating out slowly untethered from everything I've known. Brings to mind that Free Falling song...Tom Petty right?

Well, it's late...Nite all :)

Bummer.

After almost 2 weeks stay here, my lady V is now officially on her way back to America.

It felt really strange coming home to an empty apartment last nite....and equally strange not seeing V on the couch today...not hearing her laugh and ask me questions I never could have thought up.

I don't know what to say about seeing her again...besides that I am so grateful to have been able to, and thankful for V coming here. It feels a bit more like home here, knowing that she approves of Melbourne and enjoyed herself here.

We didn't get to see too much together, as I had so much more work to do for the Grad Show (which opens this evening..it being 3.42 am Monday morning.), but I did try to show her around as much as I could and had such a fun time even just watching tv with her.

There were some issues yesterday when she got to Sydney.... she had a 24hour wait for her next flight, and wound up getting kicked out of the sydney airport (apparently it closes from about 11om to 4 am due to "curfew" so as not to create too much noise pollution late at nite...sheeesh....) and then couldn';t find a hostel with any rooms for the night and so had to stay outside the airport for a few hours......Ughhhh. I got so damn scared, since there was no way to contact her.. Chris helped me call airport security and try to track her down cause I had no idea if she found a safe place to stay. But she did give me a call like 5 hours later saying she was fine but had to sleep outside.

I'm eagerly awaiting a text from her when she arrives at LAX, I'm thinking some time around 9 am my time.

Still feels like none of it ever happened....saying goodbye was midly easier from the first time. but didn't hurt any less really.I felt so empty walking out of the airport alone.

Well...time for bed now I think. I'm anxious about the grad show tomorrow.....I'm worried everyone's getting dressed up fancy and all I have is a hideous snoop dogg shirt I bought last week......hahahaha......I;m also nervous about the apparent crowd that's going to be there....and whether or not I'll sell anything. Only time will tell....ooooooOo. haha

First Look!

It's been a long long time! So I update now with a few pictures from my installation :D! The Grad Show is Monday.....I am so nervous.... :-O

I'll put better pictures up after the opening on Monday :) I would love to hear any comments and critiques at the moment :)

Less than a day left...

... Until Vanessa enters the Land of Oz!

I've got so much to do...it feels completely like a dream.

Grocery shopping and buying new pants today, then back home to cleancleanclean.

It'll be an early morning tomorrow! 

Woosh!

MAN what a week!

It feels like it's been months! That's how taxing it's been.

Spent like 3 days painting disgusting bird-crap walls white. thenan another day to paint my installation wall purple. Then another day to install my work...then another day to tweak things for my review. THEN today went to measure everything and labour over how to price my work.

I have never priced any of my work before. And it's A LOT harder than it seems. you don't want to undercharge or overcharge, and there are so many factors to consider. I think I changed all my prices at least 3-4 times. It also gives you a bit of a nauseating feeling, trying to put a price on something so personal.

After our assessment, a bunch of us met up at Riverland, a really nice little bar along the Yarra river. I tried cider for the first time, which was tasty! and had so much fan chatting with everyone and telling crude stories (naturally!) and generally unwinding after all the work. Nick's girlfriend brought us celebratory chocolate cupcakes with candles...heeheehee....! At one point Jack pretended to propose to me. That brought so many lols, it was AWESOME. I really want to meet up with everyone all the time and just kick back and talk shop!

My beautiful lady best friend Vanessa is going to be here in Oz in a matter of 3 days! I am still in shock that seeing V again is truly reality. I don't really have words!

I am loving my Kindle like crazy. After a hitch, which I worked out thanks to the magic of the internet, it's working beautifully again and I find myself addicted. If I'm sitting idly about, I immediately reach for it. and I think I've downloaded about 56746 samples of books. I got a beautiful lime green case for it as well, and will probably be ordering a skin for it to protect the actual device from scratches and colour warping.

I've got a few pictures of my installation so far, but too lazy to get them off my computer (took em on my phone, so it's annoying to get to them). so tomorrow!

<3<3

Lincoln x 4

Yay another update!

I was working hard the last couple of days to finish a new piece up! It's been seriously busy here. I had a paper and art piece due, but luckily the topic was ghosts so I had a pretty easy time writing it. I just HATE writing papers in general. And I always hate doing endnotes and bibliographies! I never know what exact style to use so I always wind up doing a strange mix. LOL. Good thing I passed on going to Harvard ;) ho ho....ho.....ho.......

The four works.....just after completion! They're about 4x6inches, but they sure took me a long time to finish! Each one is on a different coloured paper. You'll see why I used bright paper below!

This s the first one I did, based on a sketch. Lincoln looks on in anticipation of a tasty smiley face gumball. This drawing also helps to make my actual candy jars (with the smiley face gumballs) from the installation make more sense.

Second one done. I am the happiest with this one. I like the drawing, and most of all I like the way the coloured pencil looks on the orange paper. Since some of the paper shows through in each drawing (impossible to completely cover), the orange infuses it with a nice warm glow I think! Mm...mint chocolate chip shake......hehe. That's supposed to be me holding a cherry :)

There's always gotta be one of these in the bunch.....the one I don't like! Actually, I kind of hate this one. Abe's skin looks like a cadaver thanks to the gross effect the red has on it. I shoulda drawn him with his tongue sticking out...

The fourth and final one for this series...This macaroni and cheese paper colour made me think of Mexican food for some reason, and I have also been craving Taco Bell. LOL. But yeah so I did Abe emerging from a hard taco shell. It's not obvious right away but you can see he's taken a bite out of the shell. I tried to use blue in each piece after the first couple featured blue colours, so that they would all be cohesive colourwise as well.

Aaaaaaaaaaandddd.....ta-da! Here they are in their lovely little frame. Because the frame looked so serious and austere, that's why I chose to have colourful papers. I think it works nicely, and I'm pretty happy with it as a whole :) I can't wait to see how it looks in my studio!

Bonus picture of my coloured pencil system...! lol. I am weird. The big container (in the back) holds all my colours. The smaller container in the front, the colours I use the most often. and the green lid on top holds specific colours I was using consistently with the four drawings. That saves me time digging through all the pencils to find the right colours :)

Bonus picture!: Chris wearing the knitted booties my aunt sent from Serbia......LOL! He'll kill me when he sees this here ;D As you can see, they are circulation-constricting. 

What's going on...

Hey all :D Thought I'd update since I made a couple new drawings.

This weekend was rough. Chris' dad came down, and we did manage to have some fun with him (wink wink oo baby that's what I like. hahaha). There were other elements to the weekend that made it really awkward and uncomfortable, but that's behind us for now. Except being forced to watch Couples Retreat. Which. as you can imagine I'm sure, is TERRIBLE. DRIVEL. Vince Vaughn has never been more irritating to me.

I'm still healing from that moviegoing experience. I wish I had had my kindle so I coulda just read instead. lol.

Anyhow, worked on a couple drawings last nite and today, so here are some pics.


Here they are together..as well as Veri Deli product placement. hahaha!

Not a great picture. I'm not too happy with this drawing either. The texture of the cardstock made it really hard to work with at such a small scale. Even so it's not a complete failure. Gets the point across! I don't think I'll be using the superdark cardstock anymore though unless I make a larger drawing.

Oh how I love this one! It's got its problems, but overall I really like it. It makes me laugh! They were meant to be going down the yellow brick road but I decided a rainbow was much nicer looking. Hahaha. That's sammy in my basket :) I think I need to add a sparkle-look to my ruby slippers though.

And. I got a package from my mom and niece and nephew today. It. was. hysterical!! My mom managed to pack in 2 super shammies (as seen on tv!), chocolate bars, a tablecloth (fancy with roses..? lol), a soft hand towel, a hat for chris (too small for his massive noggin :D!), and a lovely marilyn monroe purse (<3!). She also included two silver necklaces with crosses that my brother and sister in law bought for me. They are really beautiful! On top of that was the necklace pictured above.......apparently, while in serbia, my niece saw this necklace somewhere and insisted they buy it for me cause I would love it. LOL!!!!! I don't know what amuses me more....that my niece is aware of my love of 80s hair metal imagery so keenly or that she demanded that this treasure be purchased for me. I am so blinging now!!



I've been downloading 50s duwop songs the last few days.....my favourite song is "Sea of Love". It makes me feel so sad, though it's not a sad song...it's the way certain parts of it are sung that make me feel really strange.....kind of lonely....? weird!

Snot Rockets

Well hello hello!

I'm sick. again. Head cold....my nose is constantly leaking. But it's feeling better after a couple days, which is good since I've got a presentation tomorrow. Also my nose is so raw and red that if I keep wiping it it's going to fall off I'm pretty sure.

Here are some updates!

A new Abe drawing done last nite while Chris and I watched a show about Stephen Hawking and his theories about the universe. Sorry for the poor photos....I took them after I put the drawing in its frame, and the glare always makes it tough to photograph.

Closeup of top portion. I'm really happy with the colouring of Abe's lips. At one point it looked like he was wearing lipstick but that was quickly fixed.  LOL.

Amother shot, this showing a bit more of the bottom portion.  I'm pretty happy with this though I wasn't so excited by it initially. I think the floating smiley faces worked out well with the entire thing, and Chris' suggestion for the worm in the apple (complete with top hat and beard) is cute! The apple is there because Lincoln ate apples quite frequently, and from what I read he usually ate them from the bottom up. WEIRDO! ;) 

Here's a funny idea, using a mini chalkboard acquired at Arthur Daleys for $5. I thought this would make for a nice new visual interest amidst all the samey-framed drawings. This also reminds me of school tablets from the oldentimes.

Here's something a bit different. I found this picture of Marilyn Monroe holding her framed photo of Abe. As I'm sure I mentioned before, Marilyn admired Abraham alot and considered him a father figure. Now it's not entirely legal to use this photo since it's copyrighted ralph greenson, but I figure if I alter it enough it may be alright to include it. It may be that I have to make a drawing depicting this instead. Hmmm..I haven't though of that before...drawing Marilyn and Abe! heehee....maybehe can be looking up from the famous vent????

That's it for now. I'll be working on a lot more stuff in the next week so check back for updates soon!  Also I think I'm gonna put up some photos of my apartment just for fun, so probably within the next few days. :)

Take care everybody! <3

Odds and (Rear)Ends

Oh it's been a few days..I've been lazy about taking pictures, so here are some showing a few of the lovely items I've acquired for my installation.

Let's get this party started!!!  booyah! haha...oh my. Remember when people constantly said "booyah"??!?!?

Oh here's a clay charm I made for Jack... It's pretty huge, and I decided it should have some butter! I added a caramel scent to it but I think that the baking process baked most of the strength of the scent out unfortunately. It does have a sweet scent but it's not quite caramel.

I figured I should have one more candy jar with a different candy inside for my installation. I found these gross peppermint circles and used my food colouring pens to draw the faces on them. I thought the peppermints looked like old fashioned candies.

Here's the handsome stovepipe hat I ordered from the UK. It came with that ribbon, which I was really happy about since the picture on ebay didn't have one. It adds a perfect touch!It's just a costume hat....but I couldn't afford a real stovepipe hat.Oh well..it still looks nice!  I'm not 100% sure where I'm putting this in my installation, but I'm thinking on the desk :)

Mini plastic party top hats....they're meant to be for party favours. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with these to be honest...but at least I've got them in case I think of something!

This is Chris' favourite of all the stuff I ordered (even above the stuffed Abes. No way!!!!). Anyhow, this is a vintage Avon aftershave done as a series with different presidents. Look how nice the box is!!!

Here's the other edge....I guess it's Abe as a whippersnapper outside his log cabin home *tear* heehee.! 

On the back of the box is the Gettsyburg Address. Such a beautifully written document :)

And here he is, the bust of Lincoln! Posing with him is another major bust in our household - Sammy's best friend, Toot. Yes, Too has a pteradactly as a companion (Tootie D). Yes, he wears a hat I made for him based on DJ Lance Rock's hat from Yo Gabba Gabba...

LOL! The head is made of plastic, the bust is ceramic I think. Inside is "Wild Country" aftershave, which smells actually quite pleasant.  I love how the head and bust are different shades of white.

Here's a photo of a closeup of the golden velvet curtains Chris won for me on ebay long ago..the first of a stream of subsequent ebay purchases for Abe. LOL. I'm still not sure how the heck I'm gonna get this installed but we'll figure it out :)

This is a picture I ordered for myself...heehee...a reprint of a cutecute Marilyn photo! I really love this picture...it's so cheeky...she's waiting for like 56 guys to return from war.. The autograph is laughably fake but it's still cute! :)

Capitol of Thailand

The fact that I'm sitting here wondering if I spelled "capitol" right saddens my very soul! I used to have such amazing spelling skills. I'm pretty sure it's wrong.

Not much has been going on on my end art-wise. Chris and I ran around the city yesterday doing errands, namely purchasing those fiddly things we always forget to buy on normal shopping trips (ie 150 metres of baking paper, naturally.). I did get a few cheap frames from the local dollar store and they need filling with ridiculous Abe artwork. 

I've been feeling somewhat down the last several days. Just issues with family, and feeling uncertain about things and, as a result, angry about it all. It seems like from time to time I need to just cry that garbage out. I find the concept of being friends with your parents really strange. What would it feel like to not feel like a caged monkey around my dad? He's got a notepad and he's writing things down as he's observing me, all of these notations negative and warranting, in his eyes, immediate change.

Anyhow.... I dyed my hair for the firsttime last nite. Well, mildly bleached it. The top was getting a gross mousy colour that just made my hair look perpetually greasy. Chris helped me with it, so we had a good lol. In the end I didn't get enough on so it's not completely light where it should be so I'll have to do those bits over again. They make it sound so easy in those instruction leaflets!

Haven't heard from V in a while, but I did get her itinerary in an email, which was funny to read and exciting.

Off I go now...have a great remaining weekend my lovelies :D!!!

I'm Back!

Finally, a proper update. It's been a while!

Here are pics of my most recent works. Please ignore my terrible messy studio. LOL.

Here's a shot of my shelf in progress. I spraypainted it blue, and bought candy for the jars. I wanted to have candy jars because Abe worked in general stores, so I thought it'd be something he's familiar with. The three new framed works look nice on the shelf, though I hadn't originally intended for them to be on the shelf. The shelf is pretty big.

Here's a closer look at the three most recent. I'm really happy with them. I used a green paper as the background, so they all have a strange greenish tinge. I thought that was appropriate since it's Abe as insect. These are all done with coloured pencil and graphite.

Here's another look. Can you tell what's happening in the three pictures? Jack said it wasn't obvious straightaway but when he looked closer he understood. I hope it does come across with most! There's a meaning behind it :) The first one took me a good 6 hours because I hadn't used this method of drawing on coloured paper. But after that the others took maybe about 2 hours each.

Large circular particleboard coaster. I decided to make some Abe cells because, well, they're cute and they make me laugh. I was thinking alot about the metaphysical, and how energy never disappears, just changes form. I imagined Abe's dispersed cells going on to infiltrate and affect different things in the world. 

I don't like this one much. More particleboard, but the smiley is off-center and the black outline looks kinda blah. It's still alright though.

More particleboard... a square placemat again. I drew this randomly in my sketchbook and the idea made me laugh, so here it is all coloured. Abe didn't drink alcohol (he was a teetotaler) so I figured he'd appreciate a nice cold soda for his swim.

His profile makes me laugh bigtime! The pursed lips makes me think of Powdered Toast Man from Ren and Stimpy. How do you like that snappy bathing costume?? Only Abe can pull off horizontal stripes!

Another small particleboard coaster...this one is beveled, so it's cool in that sense. I just made a smiling toast and here he is up on the wall.

Here are some of the beautiful things I've bought online and received today! Chris was like santa when he brought the packages to me this morning!

Here is my beautiful American troll doll I bought from Kathy on ebay. She sells TONS of troll dolls. She is also incredibly sweet and I've had alot of fun corresponding with her <3!>

My Abe plushes!!!!! Chris claims the one on the left looks like Beethoven/Bach/Mozart....but then we looked up pictures and actually no, it doesn't really look like any of them. Except for maybe the crazy hair. :D  Sammy is having fun cuddling his new Abe pals. Gosh, how cute are they??????

My beautiful vintage granny rug.....I had to pay like $42 for shipping because it's so heavy. But isn't it so so pretty??? I love the bright colours and the fringe. hahaha! I think it's gonna look GREAT draped over the beanbag I plan on using in my installation. Looks nice and will cover the ugly beanbag! 

Well, that's it for now. Chris is waiting for me to finish my update so we can go into the city. We're going to the shops and then having lunch and then going to watch the Broncos game. It should be fun but busy! I've got other stuff I need to take pictures of so I'll probably update again tomorrow :)OH!!!! I got a special surprise call from Donny yesterday evening!!! It was so fun hearing his voice again and having a bit of a chat!! It made my night :)

Have a great weekend everybody!!!!