New piece....

This one is in the beginning stages...but excited about it!

New class project

Here is the new Pictorial Space class project - bird's eye view this time.

I was proud of myself...got a LOT more done in the first class period this time! Now I'm just refining as I go - I need to create some more space though. All the shadows are the same and it needs to go back into space more - I am going to lighten up the darks in her leg area more I think.

pics 1 & 2 - day 1 - check out my cross contours all you Conservatory-ers who had my class! :)
pic 3 - 2 class periods on it. Teacher made me add the shoe...I guess it balances out the composition a bit more.
pic 4 - 3 class periods on it (just need to finish the mirror and work on some depth)

gone too long

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything...I have NO idea where the time went. It flies. Seriously...it's MIDTERMS???? What?

Anyways...here are some experiments I did with plexiglass.

* The first one is an oil stick drawing in plexi
* 2nd - a color drawing underlay - with plexi on top (looks a little too comic booky to me)
* 3rd - a tonal drawing on brown paper with plexi over it (with minimal oil stick - just to lay in the dark tones for the drawing)

What do you think? My mentor said that I need to concentrate more on making a solid drawing and not playing around with the materials and surface as much. But I like where this is going.....I just need to really refine.

Off to LA...will post my new drawings for that class tomorrow. xo

Exciting News

This month, I am going to be featured in ThisGeneration.net's art-related October issue! One of my art pieces is on the front/home page! I wrote a short essay for them on being a 'working' artist and going back to graduate school. Another good friend of mine, Gavin Conner, and his music will be featured on Oct.4 on the site.

What is this website?? In their words:

"The Generationalists review the times through a lens of the bigger questions and implications we see. We share stories on what matters to our daily lives, including our comedy routines and observations from classrooms, boardrooms, supermarkets, day cares, the World Wide Web, traffic, farms, road trips, unemployment lines, and our developing or questioning of motives and thoughts. This space is best defined as an online journal and community for our times and our lens - proof that we can keep ourselves Tweet and Facebook free and still form full sentences and paragraphs. Maybe share a nugget or two of useful truth we find in this world."


Please go check out the article and website!

http://thisgeneration.net/5/post/2010/10/take-5-visual-artist-rachel-edwards.html

Pretty final version...

Here is the nearly-done version of my earlier posted worm's-eye-view Pictorial Space drawing...(if you click on it, it enlarge and you can see it better!)...it needs some final darkening in places and it's a little too uniform over the entire surface, but I'm pretty happy with it. [Ugh..I hate looking at things after you 'finish' them...her head looks WAY big now.]

New drawing starting on Thurs...bird's-eye-view!!!

"40 new emails???? Oh wait...they're all from me..."

It's only been one month in grad school, things haven't even started getting busy yet, and I'm struggling to keep myself organized. I got to see my girlfriends this weekend and my friend Julie Rais laughed out loud when I told her how I was keeping myself 'organized'...I just keep emailing myself from my phone so that whenever I think of ANYthing, I know that I will see it again as a reminder in my inbox! Crazy, I know. I have a planner, but rarely look at it. I just saw Julie's own blog post (click here to read) about 'finding balance' - something we all strive to do - and totally identified, although she looks like she is keeping track of things much better than I am!

Stay tuned....I will be posting the pretty-much-finished-version of the interior space project tonite/tomorrow! xoxo

Art Listings/Events!

Openings
Sat., Sept. 25 (TONITE) 7 - 9:30pm - "Mind, Body, Soul & Amorous Synergy: New Works by E. Manansala and Velvet De Oro - Thumbprint Gallery

Friday, Oct.1 - Khalid Alkaaby - Iraqi Impressionist showing at Alexander Salazar Fine Art, downtown http://www.alkaabyart.com/

Sat., Oct. 9 - Niji Yakuza + Aboretum at Project X: Art, Solana Beach

Sat., Oct. 9 - "Magnetism - The Power of Attraction" The Art of Mr. Maxx Moses/Pose 2 and Isaias Crow/Crol at Thumbprint Gallery

Sat., Oct. 9 - "Under the Influence": The Art of Scott Rohlfs at Distinction Gallery, Escondido - art, live music, and Stone beer

Already opened BUT go see: Sept 10 - Oct 10: "Damages" by N.C. Winters - Subtext Gallery

Fri., Oct. 29 - Dia De Tues Muertos Group Show: at Subtext Gallery

Events
The Uptown Social Club: Sundays at A/C Lounge, 8 pm - 12:30 -"Creative Exploration through Live Painting and Dee-Jaying"

Basic Tuesdays: at Basic Urban Kitchen and Bar, Oct. 12/26 7 pm - 12 - "art & Music"

On-going Shows
MCASD - July 18 - Jan 2: Graffiti/Street artists; work also on display throughout SD's streets - 3rd Thursdays are free from 5-7 pm

My "Aha!" moment...

All you ex-students of mine are going to love this...

This is what my teacher said to me after she looked at my way-detailed drawing that I had already spent 12 hours on and only had about 1/8 of it done, and it's due Thursday (as in 2 days!)...

"Rachel, make sure you adjust your technique and process to the specific assignment AND to how much time you are given to get it done in...don't do crazy detail if you don't have time to get it done!"

I looked at her, literally smacked my forehead, and recounted the gazillion times I have said those EXACT words to my AP art kiddos.....it's funny how something I KNOW and is ingrained in me, I didn't do!!!! I laughed.....had to.

Class Update

Figuration, Representation, and Modernism :
This class is um...confusing me. I just read an entire article on 'the body' (which makes sense give the title of the class) but it was about disease in the 18th and 19th century, and how doctor's never looked at symptoms as ways to tell what is wrong with a living person...they just dissected once someone died to figure out what was wrong with them. And HOW does this apply to art/art theory/art history - especially the idea of 'the body'????????????????????????? You see my dilemma...and I have to give a presentation on it on Thursday!

Studio - Pictorial Space:
Week 2 working on a worm's eye view of a girl standing on stairs. We did a neat process for composing which included using plexiglass to literally trace the composed view (requires a very stable arm to hold the plexi in the air) and then transferring this traced view from plexi onto tracing paper....

Pictures are above:
The view
My three planning sketches
Chosen composition
Beginning (VERY beginning stages) drawing

New MFA studio!!

There's not a whole lot IN my studio, but that will change soon :)