Squeaky hinges.

I have a magnet on my easel that says "La Dama" paired with an illustration of a classy lady.

Today in studio we were visited by our home professor (briefly) to talk about work that we may want to do this semester. It wasn't until this morning that I realized I didn't have any solid clues to what I want. None really at all. I just know what I don't want to do. And that I want to get a really tiny tattoo of a shark on my foot -- but that has nothing to do with class. It's really frustrating to stare at the three months ahead of me thinking, man, I want to make something fulfilling. That's a lot of time to get work done, I want to spend it well.

I was asked today by Joel if I was going to make more paintings this semester. And though I want to, I know I don't want to do any more like the last one I did.



People in class think it's scary, which it is, but honestly this kind of work isn't really my ideal aesthetic. It was a painting I needed to do, but I don't feel like I need to do this kind of work anymore. I'm not really into freaking people out with sort of obvious freaky imagery. I really enjoy subtle art that sort of creeps into you slowly. That's maybe what I want to try out this semester, being more subtle and less illustrative. Who knows what will come from it.

Two days ago I finished my photo project (400 photos in a week). One of my close friends, Anna, did many inspiring things to help me out with the pictures -- yoga in the park in a golden bodysuit, numerous outfit changes and funny objects. She's amazing! I had an absolute blast. We went to the park with Julie (who's also in my class) and Anna P. who was also an amazing model in the park.

Here's a few shots from the 400+ I ended up taking:



















Taking those photos felt really, really good. I think the best part was just how much fun we had setting up ridiculous situations for ourselves.

I just got all of my film and photo paper in the mail, along with a bright yellow Holga, which I'm super psyched about. My poor friends are going to have to deal with my cameras being up in their faces all the time -- but I don't think they'll mind too much, hopefully.

Dragging.

Today was the first Friday studio of the semester. Most of us came in from a long night of celebrating the new semester at 9AM, sharp. It's so hard to work up the enthusiasm to show up on time, but somehow most of us managed to do it. This semester we have a new professor and a new T.A.

Not sure what to think at this point.

Growling.

This morning (or should I say afternoon) I woke up to the sun going down at around 4 PM. Let me just say, waking up that late in the day does not feel very good, though I definitely needed the sleep. In total I got 14 hours of sleep last night to make up for staying up late the night before. The semester is definitely starting out strangely.

After I woke up, I finally finished the really dumb poster I had to design for my school's painting and sculpture show. I'm on the committee for the show and my job was to make the screen printed posters because that's what I like to do. That would be fun, except that the title of the show is horrible in my opinion and completely uninspiring.

This is what I came up with:



Real Artists Make ______.

Really, horrible IMO. I wish I would have had the stomach to stand up and say, "I really hate this title." But I had missed the last committee meeting and felt like I couldn't really voice my thoughts on the matter. Alas, it's over now and all I have left to do is print the thing.

Speaking of printing though, I scanned the image that I used for my last set of prints.



I was really happy with the resulting prints.

Now all that's done, time for going out and celebrating the start of the new semester. Shall we?

Loitering.

Apparently, we have interns working for us... interns here at buzz. 

Buzz is the entertainment magazine that I design and illustrate for here at school (the University of Illinois in Urbana/Champaign). I was just sitting at the computer, minding my own business, when about seven people walk in with the217.com's director, Elle. They're interning for us? Wha? We're pretty much interns here already -- we get paid shit and we're all students. Weird.

Anyways. Today I started my Advanced Painting class with Professor Laurie Hogin. She's amazing. I only met her today and I swear, she's already one of the best professors I've had here at school. She does these really amazing paintings of angry animals and she has an amazing energy (and memory). I can't wait to learn painting from this woman. Not to mention most of my friends are in my class. Sometimes it really pays to be studying art at school.

In other news, I'm probably not going to be able to watch the season 5 premiere of Lost. I'm so freaking angry about it. Hopefully I can get all my design stuff done by the time Lost comes on, but otherwise I'm just going to have to deal with it.

Sweet deals.

Back at school again, the new year has started up completely different than I ever would have expected. It's been a month since I was last at studio and it's been a happy return.



Lounging about after photo today. My first assignment is to take around 400 photos by next week and pick 25 that I like. Sounds like fun, though I wish I had some really interesting stuff to photograph besides snow, studio and dead cockroaches.



I can't believe Flagg Hall is so gross. These little guys were found dead on the ground from the long, hard holiday break by Jorge and I last night. Ugggh. I hope we don't find any more.

Last weekend I went screen printing again and did one print of a series I plan on finishing by the end of the year. Each print will be of a girl holding up her horoscope in a bizarre way -- the one I did last weekend was of a girl supporting a lion on her legs while holding her body up from the bottom up. If that makes any sense. I'll take some photos of the finished print tomorrow. Which horoscope should I do next?

I also have to design the poster for the Junior/Senior painting show by tomorrow night for screen printing on Saturday. I sort of wish I was doing another print for one of my projects, but this should still be fun.



Hopefully I wont be a lazy lion, like usual.