Before, After, meanwhile...

Forever ago, I posted about a class on Skillshare that I was taking during a far too busy time in my schedule (at least I probably should not have been worrying about this kind of frivolity).  Due to the fact that I was so busy, I could not properly keep up with the homework, though I thoroughly enjoyed the class.  It was one of those happy projects mixed in with several other big projects that kept me going and sane during a big grind.  After all, happy is important and just as important as important, right?

I never completed the class entirely (at least on my end), but since then, as I've found the time, I've worked in the extra "homework" on my own time.  So, here's one of the assignments from the class...

The Console:

Before...

After...

It could still use a little bit of work... but it's getting there.

Meanwhile...

Meanwhile, I've been rearranging the apartment like a mad ant creating the perfect ant hill.  I'm determined to make a work space... and so far it's working.  The shot of the closet is proof of the first step.  

Pairing down and consolidating is the name of the game, so my first objective was to combine Joey and I's clothes into one closet, instead of spread out around the apartment like they had been.  This closet used to be a supply closet, but then it turned into a crazy nightmare because it simply could not hold all of the supplies and art projects that Joey and I both have.  It was silly to think that it would.  Once, while trying to work on a project for work (our computer used to reside there), the closet literally caved in on me and I had to crawl out of the mess.  Therefore, I'm creating a solution...

A solution that will allow me to do more of this...

Artwork. 

 Sadly, I don't have any recent artwork that I've been working on.  I was scrolling through my pictures thinking that surely there was some doodle, at least, to use as an example to represent my illustration, painting, collaging, or something... but there was really nothing.  This laptop has not seen A SINGLE piece of new artwork since we bought it close to a year ago.  That needs to be remedied, so put it on the list at #1 of Studio/Workroom activities.

This...

Sneaky Snake

This (the pom bottle) to this...

Before...

After...

Recycled plastic vessel into pretty bud vase.

AND this...

Although I love having Darla as a work partner, a bed as a desk does not properly suit laptop, scanner, and printer.  Neither does the coffee table or the kitchen table properly conduct themselves as a workspace for Art, Sewing, and Crafting projects.  It's time to get organized and get working (properly) over here.  If Joey and I are going to be creating and working properly, then we don't need to set ourselves up for failure by having a dysfunctional space.

So... that's what's happening in the meantime...

What do you guys think about the console makeover?

Happy Wednesday!  See you Friday!

Design Pics...

Hey ya'll check out my designs... ON THE RUNWAY (What!?!)!!!

 

It's pretty crazy...

 

♡

MFW recap...

Whew, this weekend was a whirlwind of point A to point B, figuring out where I needed to be and what needed to be done in order for the fashion show to go as planned.  Obviously I was a minor character in the big scheme of things, but I definitely didn't want to be the minor character who botched her part of the whole performance!  I had to walk down the runway with one of the models displaying my outfits, and the whole time, in my head, I was thinking to myself, "Stand up straight, don't smile like a doofus (I do this often), don't trip and fall off the runway, .... slow down, you're going too fast...", and so on.  In my mind, I was imagining myself somehow exiting onto the runway in a Kramer-esque entrance, but I think I pulled it off ok :)

It was insanely cool to be behind the scenes, observing every little inch of collaboration amongst so many different varieties of people.  To be a part of it and to meet so many new and talented people was such a gift.  To be invited into such a colorful and eclectic world with so many ambitious, creative people felt like a gateway back into a lost lifetime of projects and art-making... THIS. FELT. GOOD...

Here's a peek into the events of the weekend.  Most of the pictures I think I'm going to have to find from photographs taken from the event, due to the difficulty of getting a good shot in (it was *crowded*)...

Left Photo: Models, with EMDP garments on and ready to walk, mingling before the start of the show. The model to the left of my picture, wearing the white blouse is wearing my blouse and skirt outfit.  I haven't been able to catch a better picture of that one yet.  

Right Photo: Joey and Dani, my sis-in-law, with their tickets, coming into the show.  Joey looked particularly dapper Friday night ;)

My awesome group of family and friends waiting for the show to start. Love you guys!

 My blouse and skirt design...

My green tunic and pants walking down the runway. Peyton, the model, was very cool and told me that she loved the pants and that they were super comfortable (hooray!).  I wanted to fist-bump her before we walked down the runway, but she was busy concentrating on the job at hand. OH well.

Some fierce observing from the crowd...

There is definitely more to see from the show than what I have, so, when I get more, I will share it then.  In the meantime, Joey, being the amazing man that he is was a *total* hunk of a supporting husband.  He was completely out of his element (I felt out of mine!), but was there to constantly support me, and, of course, as best friends always do, have a good time...

Joey and I taking fashion week for a Carr ride...

p.s. - check out my business cards that I made before the event!  Any that I passed out were hand-written, however, I want to get a new ribbon for my type-writer and type out the info for future cards...

Hope everyone had an awesome weekend!

♡

MFW

This week is going to be a busy one, complete with lots of "to do's" for work, the start of an online interior styling class that I signed up for (which I'm *really* stoked about), and, at the end of the week, I'm attending Memphis Fashion Week which will feature two outfits that I designed for their Emerging Memphis Designers Program (EMDP)!!! Crazy!

I'm equally excited and nervous about the weekend.  When I entered the contest I had no expectations of actually getting in, so, needless to say, after being chosen as a participant in the EMDP, I was totally inspired to get to work!  The experience of designing an outfit, and then slowly bringing it to life from scratch has been an awesome experience and one that has reinvigorated the itch to design and create from start to finish.  Hopefully my wardrobe is going to see a lot more home-sewn-loving in the future!  

Here are the two designs that I, with the help of my amazing mom and a seamstress, and the support and encouragement of my husband, brought to fruition and "runway ready" for this Friday. 

 The first outfit fitted by a model before alterations (above); the second outfit (almost completely finished of alterations) worn on a body form for the RSVP photo shoot featuring Memphis Fashion Week.

What do you think? ...

Wish me luck!

♡

Unravel patiently...

To tie up this loose end, here's my work from my MAT show.  Dots proved to be an extremely cathartic experience (much needed!), after handing in my panic-inducing thesis.  I need to revisit that giant, messy method of dotting again...

Unravel, patiently

Pen and ink with watercolor

22"x30"

♡

Work in Progress

The work for my Graduate Art Show is due on Monday, so this weekend, the goal is to wrap up and finish my pieces, frame them, and make sure that they are ready to hang/present.  I'm still working on the biggest piece, however, once it's finished, I'll scan and post it.

Personal Artwork

This page will track what I am working on in my personal work.  Right now, I'm working on my Graduate Art Show, and Joey's V-Day present...  It's not finished yet, but here's a sneak peak:

8x10" Mixed Media Collage

This was inspired by a project that Joey and I came up with in order to challenge each other to create something from random bits of information.  I'll go into more detail once I've finished.

Back to square one...

It seems as though that since I was a young child, when I first picked up a pencil, molded clay, and began to enjoy the actual process of making art, life hit fast-forward and sped up entirely too fast for me to keep pace.  During Elementary and Middle school, Art was hands down my favorite subject.  I enjoyed drawing and was good at it, so, naturally, along with Algebra, Economics, Junior Varsity Volleyball, and other required subjects, I took Art in High School.  When I soon realized that creating Art was just about the only thing that I was good at and one of the few things that I truly enjoyed "working" at, I decided to go to college to focus specifically on Art.

Here, at a higher level of education, I could delve deeper into the skills, the history, and the concepts that one must learn, understand, and develop individually as an artist in order to succeed in the more abstract and emotional world around us.  Then, as I'm sure most people are familiar with, four years of Undergrad simply exploded in front of my face with the intensity and passion of an orgasm.  It was fun, beautiful, I worked hard, stayed up entirely too late, and nearly starved to death.  I hardly understood life or my education half of the time, hardly understood myself half of the time, and it was four years of my life that I hold dear to my heart and would never take back... ever.  

After graduation, however, there was a lull... a slight panic if you will.  I'm sure I'm not the only person who has experienced this neurotic rest stop in life where one finds themselves in an ordinary job (I was waiting tables) and you realize that all of the information that had been stuffed into your brain is slowly leaking out... oozing straight from the grey matter of the brain and out of the ears.  At this point, I looked for a change... a badass tattoo, moving to California, leaving the country, anything; the real world was a scary trap that I didn't want to find myself stuck in.

However, by the end of the summer, just before I had decided to move out of the city, I was offered an opportunity that I felt would be silly to turn down.  I, through a grant from the governor and along with many other local artists and recently graduated art students, was called with a job offer to teach elementary Art in an inner-city setting.  I didn't say no, and, though I have had some of the worse days that one could imagine... ever; I have had some of the most intensely great and ultimately satisfying days that I know will dwell with me always.  My students are my kids, all 500 some-odd of them, and no matter how crazy they drive me sometimes, I can honestly say that it's because of them that I love my job.  It's the lack of time and energy for my personal artwork that I have recently missed and it's that aspect of my job/school that sees me "blue".

Shortly after I started the job, I started a masters program to gain certification and attain my Master's of Arts in Teaching.  Here's where we hit the "fast forward" button to "stop", at the finish line of gaining my MAT, and I am now in the scary reality of adulthood that I once feared in Undergrad.  I am in an extremely frustrating yet gratifying and dependable job... obviously nothing to complain about, and for that I am extremely grateful.  However, I'm also at a point in my life where I am extremely frustrated with the amount of personal work that hasn't been created in the past 5 years or so.  If you were to peek into my portfolio, you would see that there is hardly anything recent that I am proud of.  I have taken a very stable path in my area of skill where I teach my students what I can about what all the Arts have to offer.  However, my selfish inner spirit yearns for more me time, and the risk of working hard, failing hard, and, hopefully, succeeding with the passion of what I love doing... actually DOING, is the very thing that eats at me now.  This desire is screaming to be let loose...

Here is where we push "start" again.  I'm slowly devising challenges and goals for myself to right this wrong that I have done to my own artist.  I've decided to use this blog as a means to record, inspire, motivate, and challenge my creative side and hopefully, in the process, do the same for others as well.

To guide you through the blog, I'll have separate pages to link specific areas of interest, such as Personal Work, Student Work & Education, Photography, Illustration, Art History, Film, Music, and Literature.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to narrow it down to a shorter list, however these are ideas to be whittled, and I'll tweak as I go along and the blog and I slowly learn to use our legs.

Here goes nothing...