i art a day.

This morning I rolled out of bed at 6:45 am – after being in bed for exactly 3 hours – took the dog out and took myself to school. I was surprisingly animated and surprisingly on time, early even. As I walked into class and pulled a stool up to the baker’s bench, waiting for the rest of the class and the Chef to arrive a nervousness began to take hold. This is it. The FINAL final of this quarter. You smell that? It’s freedom and it’s only an hour away…just try not to fail.

I’ve never really had test anxiety. Even in architecture school I had no problem getting up in front of 30 people and talking about my designs. But this is different. I can’t talk my way out of this one with clever ideas and vague theories. You either know how to make Creme Anglaise or you don’t.

And just like that, it was over. 2 pages, 35 minutes, 100% on my notebook, and a flattering vote of confidence from the Chef and I was home free. A trip to DiBruno Brothers for 1/2 pound of Delice de Bourgogne and a baguette was definitely in order. Over the next 28 days I intend to:

I can hardly wait!!! While I’m completely in love with my classes it’s going to be so nice to focus a little on just me and the things that I want/need to do to relax a little. How is everyone else’s summer going? Any big plans?

Folks, it’s been a pretty rough week. I wanted to put my life worries away, sit down and write a longer post about all of my furry creatures, but I’m staring at the clock thinking about how much school work I’ve got ahead of me. No Bueno.

As it goes, there’s only two more weeks of school left. I’ve got two projects to finish, 2 notebooks to type up, one take home “exam” (okay – it’s really just making sourdough bread, which is pretty effing sweet), and a LOT of studying to do. I should be able to get it all done, but the longer posts will have to wait till next week. Needless to say, Sunday can’t really come soon enough.

Hopefully after this quarter is up I’ll have plenty of time and a little extra sanity to iron out some of the rough areas of my life. There’s always a bright side though, and things can only get better, right? I feel like Jay-Z…

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been doing a great deal of baking, trying to come up with a small collection of things – a menu if you will – of treats that I’ve got confidence in telling people I can make. Of course, it’s one thing to tell someone how great my brownies are, and quite another to show them.

The next best thing to actually eating some sweets is looking at delicious sweets. So in order to visually document my baking “line” I set up a little make-shift photo shoot – seriously low budget, and have gotten some decent results. A couple of friends have asked me how I’m putting these shots together, so here’s what’s up!

What you’ll need:

1. A camera. Any camera really. I’m using my point and shoot Nikon Coolpix that’s like 5 years old and totally user-friendly. Sure, I know how to manipulate it because I know my way around a more advanced camera, but my point is that you don’t have to go overboard here. Don’t go and buy a new camera, and don’t think you’ve got to have any special skills (unless you consider focusing a skill). A film camera will even work just as well, but be prepared to use up a lot of film and wait to get your prints back (who has that kind of patience anymore!?). $0

2. At least 1 spot light. I picked up a 150watt portable clamping flood lamp from home depot because I can clip it on to just about anything and it puts out some serious wattage. You will need a second light source to light the other side of your set-up, but consider using a floor lamp or a desk lamp that you can angle towards your set. $15

3. A large flat table. I’ve been using my dining room table (contrary to the boyf’s wishes – see above), but a desk, folding table, or counter are all fine too. Just make sure it’s wide enough to spread out a little on and high enough so you aren’t hovering above your shots. Free!

4. Backdrop paper. Actual photographer’s backdrops can be REALLY expensive (and usually very large). Unless you’re lucky enough to find someone trying to give them away on Craigslist – chances are you’ll need to settle for something cheaper. I’m using Fadeless Art Paper Rolls (24″ wide by 12′ – more than that isn’t necessary unless you think you need it) and hanging (taping) them up behind my table set up as a colorful backdrop. NOTE: while white backdrops seem like a good idea, white is a hard color to light properly and shoot, and will often turn out grey in the background or mess your light meter up. Instead, consider a color or lighter neutral backdrop to take the edge off. $2.50 each (I bought 3 for variety)

5. OPTIONAL BUT RECOMMENDED: Accent Fabric. I went to Wal-Mart and picked out a couple of fabrics with simple patterns that I knew would match my backdrop papers and would coordinate with the vibe of the foods I want to snap photos of. I bought a yard of each to cover the table I’d be setting up the photo shoot on. Each yard was about $4 each, and I picked up 3 or 4 yards, again for variety.

The Other Stuff:

- Iron & Ironing Board for making sure that accent fabric is super flat and photo ready.
- Tape (masking is good, scotch not so much) for securing the backdrop paper to the wall/bookshelf/whatever & accent fabric/paper to the table.
- Plates/glasses/silverware if you’re shooting food. If you’ve got presentable pieces then that’s great! Work with what you’ve got! You can also find cheap presentation platters at thrift stores and Ikea-type places.
- Stands/props/background objects if you’re shooting crafts & handmade goods (flat artwork is a completely different beast).

Now start taking some photos! Don’t be afraid to take 100 photos of the same thing. Switch up the angles, reorganize the set-up, switch out props and try different backgrounds. Go high, go low, zoom in and out. If you’re using a little point and shoot camera experiment with all of the different settings. Go macro and zoom way in and try out the low light settings to see if they help the final image. I take at least 50 photos every time I set something up, so keep taking pictures until you’re sure you’ve gotten at least one good photo.

First I’d just like to say a big THANKS to everyone reading my blog <3 I started this thing two years ago as a way to force myself into thinking creatively (almost) every day to try and re-light some of that creative passion floating in me somewhere. My 2 year blogging anniversary was earlier this month, and yesterday I had more blog reads than I’ve ever had! (and they primarily weren’t from search engines!) So again, thanks for reading! You guys are wonderful and really help me to push myself further!

On that note, earlier this week I sat down (after my sewing machine had crapped out again) and decided to get my hands a little dirty and made this little thing:

I love the tiger image, which is one I used on my window design project for a lamp and had a scrap of it left over. As a quick project I glued the scrap to a 9×12″ canvas board and used acrylic paints (red, yellow, blue & white) to make a sort of graphic collage poster. Nothing fancy, but it was a nice exercise to sit down for a couple of hours and just think about composition and graphic appeal within the constraints of a limited palette.

Sometimes it’s hard to motivate myself to paint, or even draw. I like to have an idea pretty well thought out before I even put pen to paper, which in many ways is self-defeating because often the best way to work something out is on paper. I guess I’m afraid of “failing” or creating something that isn’t a masterpiece, which is something I’ve been working pretty hard on getting over. Failure, especially in art is such a vague thing. It implies laziness or lack of talent or a poor idea, when it’s possible for even a master’s piece to fail (not that I’m comparing myself to a master by a long shot). In the gallery I work in I’ve seen some phenomenal artwork hung, and then taken down a month or two later because not a single piece was sold. Has the work failed? Or the artist? Or the public? Failure is perhaps a word substituted for an unknown – a proxy for an unexplainable outcome to a highly anticipated event.

The top 5 things that get me in the creative mood:
+ A warm cup of tea to focus me.
+ Cracking open a design book that shows artists’ sketchbooks and process drawings.
+ Browsing craft shows & art competition deadlines.
+ Thinking about the future and my hopes for it.
+ Sitting down with a piece of paper/canvas/pen & ink/brushes and forcing something to come out.

From a young age I’ve known that I should expect the very best from myself, and work up to that level at every opportunity. After all, if you can’t expect the best from yourself – how can others? At some point though the messages got a little mixed, because I was so busy looking around at others trying to find what “the best” was. Sometimes I kept up and sometimes I was behind. I went through periods of creative arrogance and creative self-loathing, before realizing that 80% of the time I should have been more focused on what I was doing and what I COULD do, and only 20% on what other people were doing. I look back now on a lot of the work that I feel like I could have done better on, if I had just concentrated a little more on myself and what was in front of me and a little less on the work other people were doing.

When it comes to my artwork, I know I’ve fallen short of my best in the past – by my own standards – even if I didn’t recognize it at the time. My intention these days is to recognize that as long as I’m pushing myself to try, as long as I’m trying to do something I like, and as long as I like what I’m doing, I don’t have to worry about failure.

How many times have you read this same blog? Flipping through your reader you see blogger after blogger apologise for disappearing for a while, and then vowing to be more diligent. Well, today that’s me – sort of. I’d be lying if I said I had no material whatsoever, but I’d be leading you on to let you assume much of it is actually worth writing about. So I’ve sort of taken a creative coffee break.

On the up side, my sewing machine is finally fixed, I’ve got a real competition project with a real deadline coming up, and the hunt for a paying job is on (although the parameters for which that job holds are rather…loose)! I’ve also fired the espresso machine up and figured out how to make a lovely tasting - but not as lovely to look at as the coffee shop creations – cappuccino.

And I got my oil changed.

I’ve got high hopes for the coming days and weeks. =)

If you haven’t noticed recently, there’s still a couple of changes going down over here (if not – stop on by and take a look!), and today marked the beginning of the newest change to date. Today I finallygot the new Etsy shop and it’s partner business blog up and running - Library of Lost Things. Check them out at:

http://libraryoflostthings.etsy.com (Etsy Shop with new items to be added DAILY!)
http://libraryoflostthings.squarespace.com (The Blog!)

Recently, when I decided to make a stronger effort to update the shop with new items & ideas I wanted to give the project it’s own space. I started the i art a day blog as a place for my personal projects and experiences, which obviously includes building an online shop, but wasn’t exclusively intended for it. So from now on this lovely blog will be just that - my personal creative adventure blog, with a link or two over to the shop stuff when I’m really excited about something I’ve been working on for that. The i art a day Etsy Shop will also be phased out by the end of the month to make way for the new shop! It also couldn’t hurt to keep the shop front professional looking and my personal exploits a little more casual. To kick things off, the Secret Book Box was posted today and the new blog enabled for the public’s viewing pleasure! Yippie!

Over the past week I’ve gotten a couple of new toys to enhance my digital artistic repertoire including a newly refurbished Nikon Coolpix S52 (to replace my S5 that I unfortunately lost in New York last month)

and a Canon CanoScan LiDE 200 to bring my apartment into the 21st century! I’m one of those people that has hundreds upon hundreds of printed images that I need to get scanned one of these days, and it’ll no doubt be helpful to the blogging =)

And of course I couldn’t resist showing you the first shots with the new camera:

Have a great weekend!

This week - although a quiet one – has been full of some serious thought given to this blog, the shop, the website, ideas and goals. At the moment, the most this entire thing can be is a side project, a part-time gig. Sure, I’m one of the thousands of people out there that has an idea and dreams of opening my own business one day, and getting up every morning with the enthusiasm to create something amazing. Well, I’ve got the enthusiasm down, but time and resources are just as important I’m finding out. Here’s what’s cooking:

In the shop:
1. Posted 4 new items! 3 bookmarks and one hardcover notebook. While the quantity of products is getting larger, the timing is not. All 3 bookmarks were posted Monday, and the notebook today. I’m told spacing it out a little is a good way to go, for a wider range of exposure on the site over time. Even if it’s been a little while since I’ve posted something new, I’ll have to exercise some patience with updating.

2. I purchased a spot in the Paper Goods Showcase today to generate some more traffic across my page and see just how effective it is. At this point, I’ve gotten a couple more hits than I had before, but no more hearts or sales than I started the day with it seems. I’m also thinking about purchasing a Books & Zines Showcase spot sometime next week to run a similar test and perhaps point shoppers towards some of my other categories of creations.

3. Some serious organizing has been going down. Excel has gotten a workout making Supply cost sheets that factor in price, taxes, and shipping of all of the materials I buy. I’ve also set up similar sheets that track the cost of materials + fees & shipping prices to make sure I’m selling my items for enough in the shop to break even.

4. Planning for the next set of creations has begun. This includes feasible projects, materials, time frames, and quantities. OY!

At the blog:
1. A first draft of an Editorial Calendar has been made. Basically, a plan of what I’m going to write about, and when I’m going to write it. The idea is that it’ll help minimize that blogger’s block that I get from time to time and hopefully post more often about things that are actually relevant and interesting (to me anyway)!

2. The continuous search and brainstorm about an all-inclusive and beautiful site is underway. Today I spent an extraordinary amount of time seeing just exactly what squarespace.com had to offer. More on that later.

So, with all of that in mind, I’m picking up and heading down to Virginia for the weekend to paint some walls and tackle a couple of little projects at the parents’ house. Have a great weekend everyone!!!

This was my journal from June 2006 to November 2007. I picked it up at Barnes & Noble for about $8 with the hopes of writing a profound depiction of my life. I chose the red cover with black image as opposed to the black cover with red image because I thought it was so striking. I still think it is. But, today I’m gutting it. In the 2.5 years since I picked it up I was only able to fill up 1/4 of the pages – and most of them I’d be too embarrassed to go back and read myself, much less allow anyone else to skim for a glimpse of my innermost revelations.

I have no doubt that the lines are filled with juicy accounts of relationships past and troubled entries of struggles in my educational and emotional lives. But, looking at them now they are entirely irrelevant. Projects that no longer matter – I have the degree. Relationships that I grimace to think of the turmoil I endured – for no apparent and justifiable reason. Most of all, I realize that the dramas outlined on those pages aren’t really me at all. Sure, there may be a couple of entries that touch on “why I am the way I am” – but overall they’re a collection of other people and other places, without too much written about what I know and feel about my situation.

Chances are I’ll probably keep the covers and implant new signatures into it, either with another lined pad or sketch paper. It’s hard for me to part with any kind of book. In the mean time I’ve started a new journal (one that I made from scratch) that I’m not using to keep an account of daily arguments or little moments (“today I was walking to work and tripped on that stupid piece of sidewalk that juts out – always gets me!”), but the bigger ideas. Thoughts on art, books, religion, important events, politics, the way I live and see things. Maybe, just maybe it’ll turn into something I’d be excited to crack open in 20 years.

In the grand scheme of things, the most consistent and fulfilling journaling of a sort that I’ve ever done has been here on this blog. It’s gone through a couple of face-lifts and the subjects have varied widely, but in the 15+ months and 57 posts fleshed out here, I can see myself. Hopefully this year that will grow much larger! These are the things I think about and do, the things I want to think about and do. Of course, there are a couple of guest appearances, but it’s nice to really explore something that I expect to be interested in years from now.

everyone’s gotta start somewhere, right? well here we are. i’ve decided to start a design/painting/paper/film/art/anything blog to inspect the creativity happening around me as well as the things that i create. above all, nothing can be developed and refined without practice and the goal is to take a picture or find something new to think about or complete a piece everyday. maybe this place will serve as a space for inspiration on days when nothing will come, or as a despository for loose ends.

day one.

last night i went to first friday downtown, which was great because i don’t think i’ve been to one in over a year. some of the work was good, some of the work was bad, some of it was inspiring, and the rest i guess i just don’t remember. it seems like there has been an influx of “urban” art in the gallery scene. work once confined to overpasses and abandoned buildings has been recreated on canvas and hung on white walls in old city galleries, going for thousands a pop. some of these pieces were brightly colored, smooth and exaggerated while others mimiced the walls where the art would be found out in the real world with surly images collaged like newspaper clippings and paint strewn across the surface like the drops from a spray paint can.

don’t get me wrong, i love the aesthetic quality of graffiti (well, good graffiti anyway) but half of the attraction is the illegality of it all, and the resistance of the social norms. it’s a political and cultural statement, that i’m not sure is made when hung in a gallery by the cheese and wine. it’s almost as if the elite are buying the work, making the statements inconsequential…making them void of all meaning. those same people that the resistance is against are the ones browsing through the images. many graffiti artists have an absurd amount of talent, which is why i think their work should be on gallery walls next to the work of any acrylic or oil painter, but maybe the subject should be reconsidered? it’s toss up, what is gained and what is lost by bringing this form of art indoors?

a couple of people i was inspired by:
ken vallario
arcenio martin campos
mike ming

also, it’s not often kelly drive is closed down and it’s super nice out, so while biking up to the art museum this afternoon i got to stop and take some photos of the other side of the street for once. nothing fancy, just a snopshot or two.

hopefully i can get some nice photos this year of the seasons changing. i’m not so much interested in the precision of the photo as i am in the quality of the color.

one more thing: i’m open to thoughts and ideas from everyone else. if there’s something you like (or don’t like) or something you want to see, just drop me a note and tell me about it. thanks!

- jenny