February 3rd, oh man.

I apologize to the virtual blogspot world and to my "followers" (ALL FIVE OF THEM) who I'm sure are utterly devastated about my neglect for this blog, having not posted a single thing since February of last year. I suck. However, this is my second attempt at blogging, perhaps semi-regularly, if I can manage that much. I'm still working on my flickr account. Until then, I will post images of my own work a well as the work of my talented art faggy friends.

The next few months are going to be kind of ridiculous. There is an upcoming show at Carroll Community College that I am participating in. Here are the Deetz:

Maryland Printmakers at Carroll Community College Great Hall Exhibition

Show Title: BIG and SMALL

Monday Feb. 8 - Friday March 19 2010

Also, last week I finally submitted my entries for Richmond's 2010 artspace National Juried Printmaking and Photography Exhibition. I should hear word from the jurors whether or not my work was selected by mid February. If it is, THAT IS VERY GOOD NEWS FOR MEEE. I'll keep y'all posted.

One more business related bit:

I'm applying to Pyramid Atlantic's Summer 2010 internship program. Pyramid Atlantic is a Fine Arts center/gallery/press. And they also have Book Arts and Papermaking programs... of which, I can proudly say that I have FINALLY declared my concentration! So basically, this sounds like the most perfect opportunity EVER EVER. Gail, the Chair of the printmaking dept. at MICA, and also my teacher of 2 years, wrote me a super great letter of recommendation. Exciting.

And also super stressful.

In other news, NOT related to school and/or art, what-so-ever:

Pink's performance at the Grammy's this year was FUCKING incredible. Anytime Pink wants to wear nothing but glitter, dunk herself in water, and fly high over head doing acrobatics with a sheet between her legs, is fine by me. After watching this, I had a really amazing dream that I was flying through the air of an auditorium and everybody was applauding me. Thanks, Pink [and sleep inducing cold medicine].

It seems like I am getting progressively sick each day. This is the worst cold ever, ever.

It's still lonely in the fast lane.

It is virtually impossible for me to maintain 90% of relationships in all ways, shapes, and forms. It seems as though I'm inclined to associate with, or perhaps fall for those who's desire to stick around is either questionable or completely non-existent. Maybe I'm addicted to impermenance. The impermanence of these women is devestatingly reminiscent of related episodes from when I was younger. And consequently, I make decisions based on an unchangable reality, decisions that will serve as reminders of a profound feeling of love and pain. All too often, it's my better judgement that gets left in the dust. Or maybe, just maybe, it's the exact opposite - I want something that is constant, some sort of resolve, but I will never have this. I'm in a enduring state of waiting, longing, closeness to something that I once had. But it's over. And I can not be happy with it. Can't let it go. Because it seems like practically every aspect of my life has been, to some extent, determined by this one fucked up thing that I will never be okay with, that I am ashamed of, and that I do not know how to deal with.

I would like to conclude with 3 things I am grateful for today:

> My roommate for making me coffee and for bringing me cough drops.

> My professors in the printmaking dept. for never doubting my abilities and my drive for what I do, and for their RECOGNITION. Thank you thank you thank you, you all are amazing.

> And lastly, the Foo Fighters for Everlong. Thanks, Foo Fighters - it's too often that I forget how good y'all are.

Best,

Julie

It's lonely in the fast lane.

I've been thinking a lot about the theme I'm working with in my Relief class.

How people function in a society

How bees function as a colony

and, Where we overlap.

The main idea of this series being, to obscure how we view both parties as two separate entities while recognizing the similarities in our behavior and the correlation between human's and nature's trends.

"Queen Bee's Crutch"



"Colony Interrupted"

This was just a 40 minute Life Drawing Sketch from the model.

This is a self-portrait in charcoal that isn't quite done yet. I would like to resolve the shirt a bit more, and more specifically my right shoulder.


And lastly, recycled paper from Jon Rappleye proofs; a fairly good weight paper.

With art aside, life is pretty stressful. I'm not gonna' lie.

Who's gonna' love you now, baby?

Update, as promised!

Below is a picture I downloaded off the micaprintmaking.com website for shits and giggles. It's from last semester when my screenprinting class met with artist in residence, Jon Rappleye, in the Dolphin Press to look at his work-in-progress. I'm the dyke in the Ani Difranco T shirt up front, of course...



I am currently reading a book for Love in the Non-Western World with Chezia Thompson, called "The Dragon Can't Dance" by Earl Lovelace. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not much of a reader, at all. Never have been. But, this book is really good! I am all about reading for entertainment or personal fulfillment. It's only when we are instructed to pick apart literature piece by piece by piece that the reading becomes... well, WORK. It sucks the life and expectancy out of literature, in my opinion.

Jess and I pulled close to 20 sheets of paper made from denim from recycled blue jeans yesterday and we still have plenty of pulp left over. It's actually pretty incredible when you think about it; beautiful, soft, blue paper, which will hopefully be ideal for printing, made from people's holey, unwanted pants. The day prior to class we also pulled some sheets using pulp from recycled proofs of Jon Rappleye's screenprints. Because it had not been beaten as long, remnants of the colored screenprint inks were dispersed unevenly in the fibers, leaving a decorative speckled surface in the formation of each sheet. Gail showed us how to "hot-press" the paper after it's dry which gives it a favorably smooth surface, even though technically this is done on a cold press. I don't know why they call it "hot-press". How queer. Y'know what I was just thinking of? The expression, "beat you to a pulp"... did this expression emanate from papermaking? How funny is that.

Today is the first Wednesday in 5 weeks that I didn't have to work at 7 am, and I hardly knew what to do with myself this morning.

Another manic Monday; I wish it was Sunday

Some sample sheets Jess and I have pulled thus far in Paper Structure with Gail. Our page formation is getting better, clearly.



I have more to say, but I'm pressed for time and I really have to be on top of my readings this week.


More, later.

Cheeky old people

It's 8:13 AM on Saturday morning and I must be CRAZY to be awake right now, right? Fortunately, I'm not crazy - I just have work from 9-3, which is very unfortunate.

Tomorrow, Jess and I are going to spend the afternoon together in the paper studio pulling sheets for Gail's class. I'm really excited for the beater tests we're going to be doing Monday; we're beating denim. That's right, turning blue jeans into paper. Cool, huh?

Last night I started working on a self-portrait in charcoal for Life Drawing. It looked sweet as hell for about.... 3 hours, that is, until I overworked it and now it looks really flat. And I mean really flat. I should have just given it a rest and came back to it the next day. Live and Learn.

Tonight there's a free benefit show at Sonar for the Maryland Food Drive. As much as I'd like to say that I'm going to support the cause, I'm actually going because my friend's band Odd Girl Out is playing and I really dig them.

As if people aren't rude to me enough at work, I really could do without people being rude to me when I get home from work. People are assholes. Especially old, well-to-do, jewish snobs in Owings Mills. Seriously.


This is what my heater sounds like. I have three roommates who can vouch for me:

There are not enough hours in a day.

This is my first blog. Like most any college student I, of course, have a facebook, myspace, deviantart mostly for social networking. I want to take this blog a little more seriously to document my progress related to school and my art. But I can't promise I'll keep it professional 110%. I find very little time to keep in check my social life and sanity, and sometimes both get a little too ridiculous.

Today, Quentin taught me this ghetto litho technique of transferring photographic images using a xerox. Granted I've never tried my hand at litho, making the spontaneity of it both exciting and craptastic. I printed out a picture of Madonna and Child which I upped the contrast on photoshop. Then I took that xerox and saturated it with gum arabic and inked it. I mean, it's an extremely basic approach to a litho transfer using SHITTY ditto paper, might I add... so I didn't expect a masterpiece. The saturation caused the paper to buckle, and when I ran it through the press, the wrinkles appeared over Madonna's face which gave a cracked, aged painting feel to it, which is actually quite nice.


I'm currently juggling three works in progress' right now, and I feel like I could really dish out some great work IF I had the time and energy to focus on school. The idea is there, the skills are getting there, but my concentration is not all there. My job detracts from my productivity in the classroom.

On a more positive note, this past Sunday-Monday in conjunction with parents/family weekend was MICA's annual Raw Art Sale. This was my first time selling my work and I'm pleased to have sold about nine prints. This feeds my hungry ego. And, needless to say the extra money is also extremely helpful.

And to conclude my first blog:

My life drawing prof. had us take a picture of ourselves and mirror each side of our face to see what we'd would look like if our faces were symmetrical. It's shocking how different one side of your face is from the other. Thank god for asymmetry.