For now

I am pretty excited about the upcoming semester. I am signed up for a sketchbook studio, a relief printmaking studio and the 400 level metals class. I am also doing an independent study/internship thing with the printmaking instructor with laser-cut prints which should be an awesome experience. I was also asked to be a TA of sorts for the 200 level metals class which I hope is fun instead of frustrating. Plus I am apparently co-president of the print club at Iowa State so that is awesome. I am really happy with how my life is progressing in metals and printmaking, which is great because I intend to make those my focus for my integrated studio arts degree.

I got a new job at the same store. Instead of working as a sales associate up on the retail floor in the art department I am now the web design assistant down in marketing. This mostly entails taking pictures of products, cleaning them up in photoshop and then putting them on the web for sale, but I do get to do some design work and some coding as well which is fun. Looks a little better on a resume to be a web design assistant rather than just a sales person in retail. Plus I have had my fill of retail for a while. Over five years...

Classes start on the 20th and I hope I am ready for them. I feel like I haven't done enough this summer to keep up with my art. I guess we'll just have to see how it goes.

Hey, pst, guys...guess what?

So, my pendant won Best of Show in the juried show. I was....pretty surprised.

Also, work in progress pics of my cylindrical container. It is closer to done now than these pictures show, but...yeah. Only one leg left to build and then attach the legs and then final cleaning and then DONE.

This is the bottom of the main cylindrical part of the container.

Here is the top of the lid. It is a nice shiny bowl shape.

Now the bottom of the lid with the retaining ring to hold the lid in place on the container.

Here is the cylinder itself.

Here is the lid placed on the cylinder and you can sort of see the beginning work of the legs off to the right. Not even close to done in this picture. But pretty, no?

I also made this color wheel in my color studio class. Blegh. Painted swatches using acrylic paint and then cut them all out to make the fish shapes. Each fish shape is a true hue, plus two tints and two shades of that hue. Took forever and I broke so many blades.

woo

So, that pendant that I did last semester got accepted in a juried show Thus, woo.

My classes are going pretty well this semester. I haven't gotten any grades back yet for anything, but I think I will be okay.

I love my metals class. We are making cylindrical containers and mine...will be pretty. IF I can pull it off.

Maybe...pictures later.

Final Metals Piece

So, my final metals assignment/project was to make either a belt buckle or pendant using riveting. I decided on a pendant because I would never wear a belt buckle.

Here is my in process work.

And here is the finished product. Though I still have a bit of polishing/sanding left to do. It is all brass plate with brass rivets. But I did copper plate some sections so there is a color change in the metal that is pretty fun.

Portrait

So, we are doing some life drawing stuff for our final assignment in my drawing class. We have a student model for us and we have to draw the neck up. This is my final so far as a work in progress. I feel like there are a lot of things I still want to fix/tweak and it is not close to done yet. But I am having a lot of fun drawing this and I am really liking how it is turning out.

Drawing and ring

I finished my color complimentary drawing but forgot to take a finished picture of it. So here is another in process picture that is at least further along than the last one.



I also finished my ring (for the most part) I think there are still some small things that I want to polish up and refine but I am pretty well pleased with it. I am intending to take another more advanced metals class next semester. Pretty excited about it.








I am also going to be taking a sort of professional prep course next semester. Basically a prep course for entering the professional world of studio arts. I hope it is helpful and not a throw away course.

So colorful

Worked some more on my full color complimentary drawing today. It is due on Thursday of next week. One day after my ring is due. I hope I can get it all done in time. I am sort of anxious about it. Here are some in process pictures. A lot of it is unfinished color blocking. I still have a lot of detail work and refining of forms to do.

The paper I am using is wonderful. The color blend really well on it and it picks up the chalk pastels beautifully. I guess for a 5 dollar piece of pastel paper it better be awesome.

Silver ring

So, our first assignment in my metals/jewelry making class is a sweat soldered ring. I have some in process pictures below. I still need to clean it up, file rough edges, apply my sweat solder pieces and polish it up. But I am pretty excited about it.

Experimentation

So, I got a water soluble graphite stick and what seems to be an aquaboard to test out from work. And here is the test. I don't know that I was meant to test them on each other, but I figured it might be neat.



You can still erase the grays and black back to the white of the board because it is graphite, and if you re-wet it you can easily rework it into something else. I am kind of a fan.

Blue!

Finished my monochromatic drawing yesterday. It is due tomorrow so I am glad I am not doing any all nighters to get it done. It is very....blue.



Our next drawing is a full color drawing, so I get to use ALL of my colored pencils, not just three of them. Joy!