fluff

Two weeks ago when in NY we went to the Shake shack and I saw a celeb whose name was escaping me at the time. It turns out it was Elizabeth Banks. She was meeting with someone extremely jewish looking....I am guessing it was a producer of some sort. Anyway, this revelation came this evening while watching a promo for Role Models. this is not important, but I thought I should mention it.

Swooning for the Swedes

Anticipation of employment is not the same thing as having it; however, I still managed to spend money I should not be. I see a Swede and I can't help myself. If I ever go to the country I will have a very difficult time finding the wall space for all my purchases. That being said here is what I got:

Transfer (which I will put on tiles or something to make some affordable Camilla art


Tea towel....which is awesome and will be framed for another piece of wall art....hurrah

For those of you in the market for awesome things check out Third Drawer Down

A full plate

Projects!!
I am lazy when it comes to uploading new work that I cannot scan. JJ is usually the photographing/photoshopping go to person, but she is busy being broken (lazy) so here is my latest.

Whale and balloons on wood panel


Little boy in a whale and balloon on panel


Bird and flower on a plate.


I am doing a whole series of paintings on plates for sale at the holiday festival. If they sell well I will do a slew more for Brooklyn craft fairs. They are a lot of fun. I got the idea from another crafty blogger. Hers are a lot more expensive than mine will be, but to each their own (maybe her plates are organic).

The paint is old and moldy

Sometimes it takes distance to see what is right in front of you.....

Talk about Hallmark. But really, I usually need some time away from my work to figure out what is wrong with it. I was not completely satisfied with the direction of "Lift" so I kept working on the 3rd round and finally feel happy with the results. Its difficult because this not for anything except another group piece and so having only myself as a critic makes it that much harder to know when it is done. And really, done is such an arbitrary thing. I could keep redoing this painting and every time it would look different. At a certain point it becomes like a stilllife.....boring moldy fruit.

So here is the moldy fruit.

I dont't know????

This is an exercise in group illustration. This was the first attempt:

This was the second attempt:

And there was a third attempt, but it is really bad. So now, I don't know. They have things that are good about both. I am still happiest with the first. Compromise parts for the whole....

Post grad angst

I forgot completely

Charrow

yay!
(I will post a longer more substantial post later but for now Mgmt- Time to pretend pretty much sums it up:


Its just a start I feel like there will be more to come, but click on the links and look at my work if you dare.
I'm feeling rough, I'm feeling raw, I'm in the prime of my life.
Let's make some music, make some money, find some models for wives.
I'll move to Paris, shoot some heroin, and fuck with the stars.
You man the island and the cocaine and the elegant cars.

This is our decision, to live fast and die young.
We've got the vision, now let's have some fun.
Yeah, it's overwhelming, but what else can we do.
Get jobs in offices, and wake up for the morning commute.

Forget about our mothers and our friends
We're fated to pretend
To pretend
We're fated to pretend
To pretend

I'll miss the playgrounds and the animals and digging up worms
I'll miss the comfort of my mother and the weight of the world
I'll miss my sister, miss my father, miss my dog and my home
Yeah, I'll miss the boredom and the freedom and the time spent alone.

There's really nothing, nothing we can do
Love must be forgotten, life can always start up anew.
The models will have children, we'll get a divorce
We'll find some more models, everything must run it's course.

We'll choke on our vomit and that will be the end
We were fated to pretend
To pretend
We're fated to pretend
To pretend

Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah, yeah

Carbon copy conundrum

I have been trying to be productive in this in between time which is difficult for my wandering brain. I did a very cute sketch on the plane back from NY and proceeded to do the first painting of said illustration. Now as you might know if you spend enough time around me that I redo an illustration at least 4 times....I hope to get it down to two eventually. For whimsical paintings this is not the case, but for illustrations with multiple people, background, dramatic lighting, and theme it takes a little more screwing up in order to get it right. I copied the sketch on tracing paper and as the first painting looks lack luster I went to copy it to another piece of board. I use a home made carbon sheet, but the sheet is no where to be found. I spent the last three hours looking for the sheet and only half paying attention to Pushing Daisies....an amazing show that takes all the cuteness and creative stage settings of amelie and makes a great show. SO now I have to wait to redo my painting. I hate waiting.
To make a home made carbon sheet is very simple if you have the right ingredients:
Vellum, bestine, and pastel (chalk and not oil)
Take your piece of vellum and rub the chalk pastel all over it (I use blue because it makes a subtle line), then take a cloth or paper towel and rub bestine over your now chalk covered vellum, and let it dry. Ta da! You now have a reusable piece of carbon paper. Your final step is the bring it to my apartment because mine is missing....
But really its great and you can reuse it many times. The bestine seals the chalk pigment into the vellum and makes it resistant to rubbing off except when you transfer.
On a brighter note I spent the evening sending emails to reps. If you are an illustrator looking for a rep, also known as representation or an agent, go to: http://www.workbook.com or http://www.directoryofillustration.com/ (this one I have not tried yet). I know there are more sites, but I am just getting started. Hopefully tomorrow I can do another version or two so I have some images to upload.

We got in.

Here is the flier and some info. more to come about the week in NY.

minimalist porn

When does design become kitschy clutter? This is the question I argue with myself every day when I look at the long list of design (print, packaging, interior, furniture, and ornamental) blogs I look at for the first three hours of my day. I try to limit myself to 30 minutes, but by the end of the day I feel like all I have done is look at blogs of other peoples design and art.
Now getting back to my original issue, some of the design out there is really no more than pretty clutter. People talk about the great little things they make or find and repurpose, but sometimes those purposes just become another thing that collects dust. Keeping this in mind I am trying very hard to not keep things even if I think I can DO SOMETHING with them. I look at a handmade book (not made by me) and thing "I can recover the cover and make it my own and then sell it at a show" or "I will paint this mug and make it look unique and funky so maybe then I will use it." This is how my clutter is born; good intention is the seed of the clutter baby. So while I still create clutter (JJ attests to this all the time) I am trying to be mindful of how long term it clutters my life. If I am selling a book on half.com then I can only keep the book for a limited time before it is decided that it will not sell. Right now I am trying to part with a pair of Diesel jeans I bought on ebay. I have had them for two years now. They do not fit, will never fit, are a bad wash, and the cut is really bad...wanna buy them?! No, but really, I brought them to my local used clothing store and they were not interested. They said the cut and color were not in right now (my seed of hope was left intact...very bad), but I could keep them and see if they would sell later. The problem with this is how long do I keep them before they become just another clutterer in my life? I could make money off of them, but I would be losing money if I were equating space with money. If you are like me most of the things you keep are somehow going to save you money or make you money and have nothing to do with sentimentality. This makes things even harder because one day those jeans might sell and they take up so little space in the mean time. But these things add up and eventually your space is filled with "might" and "could." I am moving to NY where every square foot really is going to cost me money and I hope I can keep that in mind. In fact, one day I hope I have the strength to divest without reservation and live in a space that would make minimalists blush.

The way the paint cracks

I met with Steff Geissbuhler yesterday to discuss my portfolio which was a cool thing. He was the seminar speaker and it was really cool to hear him talk about the NBC logo (which he designed) but which sat on the shelf for something like 6 years before it was finally introduced because NBC did not have enough money to change all the watermarks on their cameras, microphones, and everywhere else they hide a logo mark. He was a very nice guy although I think we were both a little akward. He was trying to talk to me and relate a little, but it was blatanly clear that he was older white male in his 60s and I was a young strangely groomed, overly punctured, homo and we were never meant to understand each other. I mentioned that "we" were moving to NY and he asked who "we" was. I said my girlfriend and he (in a manner as frighteningly like my father) said "oh why don't you two do a project together." I mentioned she was a writer, but still it was the kind of random comment one gets when someone does not know what else to say when you mention casually that you are a big HOMO. My father said an equally random "I accept you people" statement when he said at dinner "I have a gay woman in my office." This statement was made completely out of the blue and having nothing to do with the dinner conversation.
Despite that Steff was really nice and helpful. He questioned some of my design choices in a really good way. It became clear very quickly that my illustration work was much more successful than my design work. (He did like my DIY/recycled business card and asked if he could have one) It is not say that my design work is bad, but my illustration work is what people get excited about. This is the second time this has occured. I had another interview with a company and the main woman, who had a sour lemon resting face, was looking at my design work and as soon as she flipped to my illustration work her sourness broke and she said "I love this." You never know if someone dislikes your work until you hear them say something they particular like. Later the younger of the two people from this company said I would fit well at Rolling Stone magazine.
I know review in NY will bring positive and negative responses, but I hope I have the ability to take both with a grain of salt or drop of paint or pixel...
In the mean time here is a new design for a generic station set I am working on

Is that a blog in your pocket or are you just happy to read me

SO we are all officially signed off. Now it is time to focus on the NY review. So what am I doing right now...sitting on my butt and it is amazing. Another amazing thing I have discovered is porcelain from a really neat blog. I saw the image in ffffound and thought it was super cool. I bought some of the stuff and will post my first attempt tomorrow after it bakes! Hurrah to crafting. In other great news I have my first craft fair in Brooklyn on Dec 6th. I am so excited and I hope it proves to be a fruitful experience. I am also waiting to hear back on another craft fair that will be happening on the 15th of Nov...one day before we move. Yes, I know this is a little crazy, but JJ said it would be fine...grantid she was on lots and lots of percaset when she agreed, but whatever. I don't know when I will hear back, but it is organized by the ICE folks so there is chance we will get in. Yes, I said "we" because JJ applied with me to sell some photographs to see if her work is "marketable." So either we will get accepted or we will get rejected.
If we get in get your wallets ready cause its holiday shopping time!

Vote or diet!

Done. I had sign off today and aside from the perfuse sweating it went well. I now officially have almost nothing to do. I have a couple of minor things to do like get ready to move, find a job, art reps, and take care of the invalid. So while I have a little time to kill I will hopefully be making more work and posting it. For now here is a poster to encourage people to vote.

charrow+freedom= economic stimulation

Oh the joy of being free! Free to do nothing. Yes, I have been spending this day, this amazing day of being done with all my work forever, shopping. I do not like shopping for it tends to bring defeat and the desire to stop eating, but not today. Yesterday was a different story. Yesturday I was dumb. I went to the store on my bike (which I could do b/c I was free of work having finished at 2 am on friday with everything) and on the way home decided on Urban Outfitters. I know this was a bad idea, but coming out of my two year computer coma I thought, "they will have something that looks flattering on me" (more like fattering). This failed attempt to find clothing left me feeling slightly defeated, but not surprised as I have never bought anything from Urban Outfitters. By the way they keep the larger sizes higher up on the shelves so as you reach for them the world knows what you wear...and a couple pairs were so high up on the shelves I thought I might have to ask for help...which would have been even more fun. Like going to a check out with Hemorrhoid cream or vagacil and the cashier having to get "A PRICE CHECK ON VAGACIL" "I NEED A PRICE CHECK ON V-A-G-A-C-I-L."
Right, so today is a new day. I was going to go to Target seeing as that usually has better results and they have size up to the triple digits which always makes me feel better. The land where size 8 is below average. I called up my reenforcemets and discussed the game plan to which she said, "H&M would probably have some cute stuff." Now I love H&M and in DC and NY they have always brought me joy, but I have heard bad things about the ATL store. For one thing it's still really new and always crowded and I have heard from people who know H&M from other northern cities that this is a watered down version of the real thing. Apparently, the buyer is not as adventurous because in the city of the good ol boy you can't be too fashion forward or an implant might fall out of a low cut baby doll shirt. Taking this into account I decided to give it a go. I have to say that even though it is a little different than the other ones I have been to (the dressy work clothing section is huge) I still managed to find three pairs of pants and one of them was a pair of womens skinny jeans.....never happened (and they look good)...no muffin top. I also found a really cool sweater. Now all I need is the shoes. I have my cowboy boots if all else fails, but there are a pair of shoes so beautiful only a picture can describe so without further ado...my lust: