I think it might be time to move

I have been thinking about this for a while, and I have decided to move my blog to wordpress... the new address will be elysiaart.wordpress.com (nice and simple!), but I'll keep this blog up too to redirect. And then eventually (in several months or so I'll make it private - so I have it all archived just in case I change my mind!


So, if you are following me and would like to continue to do so, I'll be posting art and personal type updates on wordpress, because I think it might suit me better and I'd like to streamline my online stuff a bit more.

www.elysiaart.wordpress.com

I haven't put anything up there just yet, but I'm scanning my project so will probably post some things up there once I've finished this task.

Thanks everyone who has continued to follow me, I'll still be following peoples' blogger sites!

tutorials

Had a tutorial with my main tutor today and now this is how I feel! Unfortunately I left most of my paper at the school of art and also have some social engagements to attend tonight so the prospect of work is looking dim. I have a few pages from my weird project thing to refine ... which I suppose I could do tonight, and then maybe tomorrow I could get some more pages done? I need at least three more pages to be able to feel slightly more comfortable about my position!

During my tutorial we talked about my/my other tutor's/my joint idea although PC (let's just say that instead of saying my main tutor all the time) was unsure whether that would be effective, because some of my work doesn't link well together, for example the doll which I drew recently doesn't completely fit in with my more sustained projects.

I felt bad because I want everything to be successful but I guess stuff needs a lot more planning than I had anticipated. I feel kind of sad because I've invested a lot of my thought into conceptual bits around my work that for now it's not quite possible to return to just enjoying processes. I suppose I can do that as a side project, though.

Oh ... I should really have taken notes on my tutorial, and I have to leave the house in five mins. Just going to note down some bullet points here.

1. possibly presenting the work in a clinical way
2. 2 groups - the collected notes and such, next to the more developed drawing pages which are more uniform in size
3. is it still necessary to be drawing / within the exhibition?
4. could still have a table of 'documentation' i.e. sketchbooks and books for people to look through if they like
5. mary kelly
6. what about the selling part? selling each page cheaply still?

Thanks for reading, I'll write more again when I can.

E

home-time

Well, I wrote a blog post earlier while on a train ride to my hometown, but the app decided to lose the blog post! So I'm writing another quick post... to say that I am home until Saturday. I travelled home to surprise my mum as I am not often able to visit. Now I am here and quite tired but I thought I should rewrite the blog post although it'll probably be much shorter.

I can barely remember what I wrote about but I know I shared a bit about my plans for the first exhibition in May (there's a second to do in September). I talked with one of my tutors yesterday about it and it helped to make me feel a bit more encouraged about the whole thing. I need to speak to my main tutor soon however, because I'd like to see what he thinks about it.

For the exhibition I talked a bit with my tutor about maybe setting up an installation/environment which is filled with my drawings from this semester (pinned to the wall, sketchbooks around, etc.) and I would be there too, drawing ... maybe another big drawing where I can sit on the table... I am not sure... My work has mostly been a therapeutic and compulsive exercise so I'd like to represent that somehow. As well as portraying the idea of a creative environment. I don't know if I could include some sound? We were also thinking that I would put pretty much every drawing on sale, for a fairly cheap price. I hope people buy work from me because after the course I doubt I will have the room to store even more work. I still have loads of stuff from my undergraduate degree and can't decide whether to try selling it, or keep it, etc.

Anyway, that was a really brief explanation of what I'm thinking of doing. It makes me feel nervous but it seems to make sense to me. What do you all think? It seems achievable at least...

Oh and lastly, I also have a couple of photos of the progress of the big drawing I did:

It was quite relaxing to draw all of the sinewy muscly hairs...

I need to get a good photo of it so that I can submit it to online galleries/my portfolio!

printing my first lithograph

With patient help from my tutor, over the past couple of weeks I have been learning about stone lithography. Today I was able to print my stone, after having drawn and 'etched' it twice. It was a lengthy process with lots of steps to get the stone prepared, but it wasn't difficult. There were lots of ingredients involved such as liquid asphaltum (tar), gum arabic (used in stuff like chewing gum), powdered french chalk, resin (ochre-coloured powder), turpentine and lots of water. I am probably not a good person to be explaining the process as I have only participated in it once. But maybe, if I do it again, I will take some photos of the process. I'm sure lots of information is available on the internet, though.

Printing my stone was exciting and it's fortunate that it all seemed to work out. I gave one print to my tutor as the technicians at the school of art are currently framing and displaying students' work on the walls within the printmaking department. I'll probably print an edition of ten, including the one given away, so I have another five to print next week. My fellow printmaker Ben suggested a print swap so another couple will go for that, and perhaps I will sell the remaining seven on etsy... how does that sound?

As of tomorrow I will be away from town until Saturday night, but I may write something here anyway in the time in-between.

I'm just in the school of art at the moment, eating lunch. University stuff and work have been busy as usual and I am not sure where to begin. Recently I have been continuing with my comic type project, but I also did a big drawing on paper last week, which I'll post soon. I've attached a progress photo, though. (Just started to use the blogger app on tablet so not sure how/where this image I attached will appear...)

Also the other day I did some life modelling, clothed, for a portrait class, so I was happy to get paid for that. I'm thinking of buying a blender to make yummy smoothies ^^

Bleh, well today I am going to consider drawing something new, maybe a comic page, or maybe I will print my lithograph I was working on (more photo opportunities!).

My life seems pretty boring right now even though it's busy. I'll try making some more picture-filled posts x