No Resting

It's finals week and I feel like I've been punched in the chest about a a dozen times. I love making art, but finals and grad school apps are killing me = /.

Notes on my new series

I spent the night brainstorming and planning out my next series of sculptures. So far I have the conceptual part of it hashed out...

1.LIMBO

-a place of imprisonment

“Killer of Trooper Sentenced to Life in Prison.”

- Nov. 8, 2010 WFTV

2. LUST

-appetite that sways reason

“Fairfield Teacher arrested in sex scandal.”

- Nov. 11, 2010 The Reporter

3. GLUTTONY

-over indulgence with food, drink, addiction etc

"The way I look at it, if you have expensive tastes,

you gotta be preprared for expensive losses."

-Nov. 8, 2010 Charlie Sheen

4. AVARICE & PRODIGALITY

-insatiable greed for riches/ hoarding possessions

“Barefoot Bandit wanted for 3 million in thefts.”

- July 12, 2010 Newsweek

4. WRATH & SULLENNESS

-veangeful, ill-humored

“Let the American people be ready to reap what the white house leaders have sown.”

- June 3, 2009 Osama Bin Ladin

5. HERESY

-opinion contrary to the church

“Homosexuality is a deviation an irregularity, a wound.”

- Oct. 2008 Vatican Official

6. VIOLENCE

-suicide, genocide, etc.

“there's a lot of different forms of violence in our society, and so much of it is rooted in our incapacity to recognize ourselves in each other.”

- April 17, 2007

7. FRAUD

-deceit

“Who is Bernie Madoff? Many Investors Didn’t Ask.”

- Dec. 23, 2008 Time Magazine

8. TREACHERY

-betraying relationships

“Chicago man kills brother over $2 Debt.”

- Jan. 30, 2009 Fox News

Hansel and Gretel

This is my second panel, in progress. I'm going to put hansel and gretel in the scene. This is where they follow the stones back to their home the first time they're abandoned. It's going by oh so slow....

The Divine Comedy

Gustave Doré's illustration to Dante's Inferno



Dante’s Inferno has always had a great deal of influence in my writing. It is the type of literature I thrive to understand and conceptualize through, and now that I revisit it six years after I first read Virgil’s tale I am once again inspired by it.

There has been a great deal of emphasis in my thought process recently on the idea of gluttony and greed, and I now realize that I was revisiting my study of Dante. Graduate school is looming over me and I want to show each program that I have a cohesive vision in my work. I’ve decided to challenge myself in these two coming months to create a unified series based on the nine circles of hell. I can’t wait!

Oops

So this is what is left of my relief nightmare...Yes he once had a body and his forehead was not cracked in half, but disaster struck. I need to be more careful with my pieces = (. He was made out of a new red low-fire sculptural clay I was using. It's shrinks considerably when it's bone dry, and it more brittle than the stoneware I've previously used. Instead of glazing him I decided to test out metallic spray paints on him. The aluminum look isn't working for me, so I'm going to try a more rustic bronze look. I tried the crackle spray, but it looked too arts and crafts for my taste.

Printmaking

I need to light a fire under my ass. I haven't etched or carved anything I can honestly be proud of. Sculpture is just so much fun...To the drawing boards...

Young Love

I found an old picture of my grandparents. Timeless and beautiful, I'm inspired. Etching? Painting? Sculpture? I'll think of something...

Low fire Clay Sculptures

So I don't have pictures yet for these, except for the high fire stoneware mask that I made. It;s fairly big, and I really enjoyed working on a larger scale. I'm experimenting with low fire sculptural clays for my next sister pieces. I love working with clay that has grog in it. There's a very primitive, rugged feel to it.

CPTED

This summer I had the opportunity to take an Advanced Design Lab with Professor Reedy at UCF. We all competed for the chance to design a traffic box on I-drive as part of an initiative to prevent crime through art in Orlando. It was a great opportunity and my hard work payed off because I won. Only one problem...they are taking an extremely long time paying me!! rrrrr lol I'm grateful none the less.

Hansel and Gretel

I'm illustrating my rewritten version of Hansel and Gretel in low relief polymer panels. This is the beginning of the first one...

This was my proposal to my professor:

I struggled trying to put a modern twist on Hansel and Gretel, and instead took a step back and tried to analyze the meaning behind the tale. It will be set in a more modern day, as will be seen in the setting and character dress. I have chosen to convey the tale in a more morbid light than the Grimm Brothers chose to interpret it as. I didn’t want to overwhelm the audience with blatant imagery of present day society, so instead I chose to keep the story concise and true to its nature.

My relief sculptures will illustrate the duality of good and evil in everyman. Modern day society tends to shy away from the often unforgiving nature of human existence. Abandonment of children, the darkness of overindulgence, the weakness in youth, and the wrath of wickedness- these points will all be touched upon in each panel, as the story progresses.

Although social norms might dictate us a society of ‘sugarcoating’, per say, we all revel in crime and punishment. There will be no room of jewels and precious stones for Hansel and Gretel. The children might be inexperienced in the start of their grim journey, but they learn the way of the world in the end. They are rewarded with their lives and nothing more. The parallel between the stepmother and the witch will be no coincidence in my tale; they will be the same character. As for the father who has followed the lead of the guised witch as his wife, he will reap no benefits for his weaknesses. He too will pay for his abandonment behind bars.
In conclusion, all of the characters in the tale will reach their absolution. Hansel and Gretel will lose their innocence, the father will lose his freedom, and the wicked witch will lose her life.

The Gorey Project at The OMA

My first piece of art in a museum = ). On exhibit at the Orlando Museum of Art for the Gorey Project!

Polymer Clay

I am having so much fun using polymer clay. They're all still in the preliminary stages. I don't know why I never tried to sculpt characters before, it's therapy.

This is my tooth fairy character in progress:

Casting

I'm curious about casting, and this was my first try. I used a silicone mold with a plaster mother mold. I cast the white guns out of plaster and the black guns out of a silicone mixture. I broke most of the plaster gun triggers because, as always, I'm clumsy as hell.

I love ceramics. These are some hand built and thrown pieces I've made in the past.

Woodblocks, Paintings and such...