arghhhh!

So I got a packet from Cornish today, and it told me that I should have my application in by November - fine, I can do that. But the portfolio review is in DECEMBER/JANUARY. I seriously don't know if I can have everything I need done by then. Cornish's requirements are 5 black and white observation pieces, and 5 pieces that have a central theme. Knowing what a slow worker I am, that could be a problem. But I am going to get on this right away! I'm going to start my flower concentration pieces ASAP, so if I have at least five done by the end of the year I should be set, and there's my charcoal still life that I'm almost finished with, and I'm planning on doing another self portrait (my last one was based off a photograph). So I need to come up with three more black and white things. I can do this!!

(Yeah, so basically right now Cornish is my first choice, Evergreen's my safety school, I'm visiting Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland next weekend, and I need to set up a visit to Western soon. Trish recommended applying to no more than five schools, so I should be okay with four, and even if I don't get into the other three, Evergreen is hella easy to get into. So it's all good.)


Anyway, my sketchbook. Goddamn, I love having a scanner!



The rough of my still life for APSA. We were supposed to do shiny objects but all the things provided in the classroom sucked, so I did most of mine at home. My attempt to satisfy the Rule of Thirds - the vase in the upper left, the wineglass in the upper right, the cup thingy in the lower right, and the middle candle slightly off center despite being in the middle segment. I'm still not done with the final, I'm having trouble with the wineglass and the candles. The cup and the vase look really nice, though. I might bring it in to Linda on Friday and ask her for help. It's due on Tuesday.



Notes (I write in my sketchbooks a lot):
Caroline @ Farmer's Market, 9/6/08
super rough draft. the eyes are all wrong.
It looks nothing like her. Decent starting point, I guess.
face is too long.
So yeah, that basically says it all. I'm working on this painting right now (acrylic and colored pencil) and it looks much more like Caroline! I might set it aside for a little while just because I can't use it in my Cornish audition, and those pieces need to be my priority... Also, the scanner fucked up the colors a lot - I DID actually color in her skin, it's not supposed to be glaringly white.



Elise @ the Farmer's Market 9/6
outlining shadows. some kind of weird shapes in there, w/her hair...
dark eyes.
i want her hair to match the flowers.
She looks too innocent, she needs to be more devious!
it has everything to do with the lighting.
This is going to be in oils, which I've never done before, so omgexciting. I may or may not use this for my flower concentration, but right now I'm leaning towards not.



Way to Normal leaked. I can't wait to buy it off iTunes next week. The sound quality of the ripped Myspace tracks is awful and makes my ears hurt (and normally I'm not a big stickler for that), and that's too bad because the album is mind-blowingly awesome. Delicious pop hooks, tons of profanity, hilarious tracks juxtaposed with heartbreakingly gorgeous ones, and piano hammerage galore!! What more could I want out of a Ben album? Let's have a dance off.


I went to a protest today and I might have pictures soon.

it's been a while

Yeah, I know. I haven't really been keeping up with this blog. I suck. I'm not really doing what I wanted to accomplish with this blog. I'll try to fix that.

So what has Annie been doing lately?

In the past month I've been to two gigs - Radiohead on August 20th and Vienna Teng on September 4th. They were both fabulous.

Radiohead:
15 Step
Reckoner
Optimistic
There There
All I Need
Pyramid Song
Talk Show Host
The National Anthem
The Gloaming
Videotape
Lucky
Faust Arp
Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Climbing Up the Walls
Dollars & Cents
Nude
Bodysnatchers

1st Encore:
How to Disappear Completely
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
Idioteque
In Limbo
Street Spirit

2nd Encore:
You and Whose Army?
No Surprises
Everything in its Right Place

I DID get Idioteque, thank god. The first encore was hands-down the best part of the show. Except maybe for when Thom fucked up Faust Arp and started singing a Neil Young song. I went with Chris and the Ayrisses, and our seats were pretty bad - very last row to the left of the stage. I found myself very jealous of those lucky bastards in the pit. (At least we weren't on the lawn. It started raining immediately after the show ended.) I'm compelled to compare this show to the Nine Inch Nails gig, and I'd honestly have to say that NIN was better. Partly because I'm more familiar with the music, partly because nothing is cooler than Trent's lightshow, and partly because I was in the pit for NIN. I like more intimate shows. But anyway, this was still a really great show and I'm glad we made the trek out for it.

Vienna Teng:
Whatever You Want
Gravity
City Hall
Blue Caravan
1 br/1 ba
Kansas
Green Island Serenade
Idioteque
Antebellum
Pontchartrain
I Don't Feel So Well
Harbor

Encore:
Grandmother Song

You see what happened there? I got to hear Idioteque at two different shows in the space of two weeks! Went to this show with Caro, Lise, and Lina, and had an awesome time. The Triple Door is a really nice place, and not only was our table smack dab in the middle near the front of the stage, I got to have really nice tea before the show started. Vienna is basically the cutest human being alive. The Dreaming songs translated beautifully with the band - I think it's been cemented as my second favorite album after Waking Hour. The new songs also sounded ace, particularly Antebellum. Harbor was a lovely surprise. I only wish that she'd gotten to play for longer. We got to meet her after the show, and I got her autograph. I accidentally left my camera with mom, because I am a FRIGGIN' TARD < /Captain Hammer >, so no pictures.



Also, I may or may not have a crush on Alex Wong. So, there's that.



Things Annie Is Currently Enjoying
-Being in a steady relationship. I love being in love and this is probably the best thing that's ever happened to me.
-Being in school. No, really. It's weird. It's like all of a sudden someone flipped a switch in my head and I suddenly want to know EVERYTHING, things I wouldn't have cared about this time last year. I'm finally appreciating the things I'm being taught. I think I'm finally growing up. I'm especially enjoying AP Studio Art (of course) and World Religions.
-Who Killed Amanda Palmer?. It is awesome and will be high on my year-end list. Leeds United is simply glorious.
-Sailor Moon Abridged. Ohhhhhh my god.
-My Pokemanz! Let me show you them, in fact!





Things Annie Is Currently Not Enjoying:
-MCCAIN/PALIN. UGHHHH. My hatred for these two seems to intensify with each passing day.
-My Creative Writing class. I am just not the writer I used to be and I'm already way behind. I'm glad that this is only for a semester.
-Way to Normal still has not leaked. This displeases me.
-Twilight. That isn't anything new, it is a constant source of animosity and headdesking in my life, but I despair for a friend of mine who has succumbed to The Sparkle. (Growing Up Cullen, on the other hand, well. That is something else entirely. That something else is EPIC WIN!)
-College is looming and I'm getting kind of nervous about applications and whether or not I'll have enough work in my portfolio by the time I need to and argh.
-Senior projects. Haven't even started mine yet but it can fuck right off anyway.


Next entry I'll post some stuff I've been working on for AP Studio Art.

yessss

Dear Hillary Clinton,

THANK YOU.

Love (finally), Me

it's alright

In light of recent events, here is my "Jesus Christ Annay, chill the fuck out" playlist.



Oh man, I need this.

senior year schedule

1st semester:
1st: AP Studio Art w/Molskness
2nd: Contract - Pre-calc (APEX)
3rd: Japanese 7 w/Kawasaki
4th: Creative Writing w/Henshaw
5th: World Religions w/Johnson
6th: Contract - Senior Seminar w/Trish

2nd semester:
1st: AP Studio Art w/Molskness
2nd: Contract - Pre-calc (APEX)
3rd: Japanese 8 w/Kawasaki
4th: Contract - Art w/Linda
5th: Contract - PE w/Dad
6th: Contract - Senior Seminar w/Trish

Yessss. I'm so glad I got this worked out. I can't take the actual senior seminar class because it's 1st period only, and I am NOT switching out of AP studio art, so I get to do it as a contract, and I think I'd prefer it that way anyway. I switched into APEX math mostly because I didn't want Swanson second semester, and because it worked really well for me last year. Japanese is going to be incredibly pointless this year, as there's only 5 fourth year students total including myself. I might be taking art lessons with Linda first semester and just not counting it as a contract. Creative writing with Henshaw should be...interesting.


I am going to see Radiohead tonight, ftw. I'll write back tomorrow, or whenever, but all I have to say is bitches better play Idioteque. They didn't last night and so now I'm nervous. I want spazzy dance time!

surrender

It's raining outside and I am drinking rooibos and listening to Vespertine, and oh lord this album is just perfect. Fucking perfect. I've heard it countless times and I never lose that same feeling of awe and deep, unspeakable comfort.

Undo has me this close to sobbing. I wish I could play this song for some of the people in my life. I wish I knew how to be there for them.


My brother's birthday is tomorrow, and I already posted this on my Deviantart, but I wanted to wait until after I gave him his gift to post it here:


(Oh, also, we got a scanner. FUCK YES.) I finished my own self portrait for Linda at the end of second semester, and Chris asked for one of him, and I only just got around to finishing it, for various reasons... I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Also, I painted my wallet with the Art is Resistance logo:

Just for the hell of it!


I'm currently attempting to teach myself how to use watercolor. I've never really had the patience for it, but I figure it's something that I should learn how to do. Oils is my next plan. So, my senior project - my plan is to produce several pieces - each in different mediums - each with personal meaning - each based loosely on a song. I have a couple in mind. Right now the one I'm going to focus on is based on One More Time by Daft Punk, which is kind of an odd choice, but I got this idea that I know I have to do. That song really represents my childhood to me, so I'm going to do it in acrylic, which is the first medium I really learned how to use when I started getting more serious about my work. It'll be in various shades of blue (I want to incorporate my synesthesia into as many paintings as possible.) There's a lot of emotion here - my childhood and leaving stuff behind, my religion or lack there of, oddly enough (I never thought I'd consciously associate One More Time with Christianity, but there it is. I think it's been there all along and I never recognized it), how much I've changed.

(omg, stream of consciousness paragraph of DOOM.)

I have a couple other songs/ideas in mind, but no other really detailed plans.

still can't brain

Okay, I lied. I'll write about the project when I have a better grasp on what it is I'm doing and can actually explain in words what I'm trying to do.

mrph.

I visited Cornish today, and I got struck with an idea for my senior project on the ferry on the way over. And I want to write about it now, but I've been awake for too long already and I can't brain anymore, I have the dumb. So I will tomorrow.

Lights in the Sky over Seattle, Washington

I know, I know. I didn't get the opportunity to sit down and write about it until now - my week ended up being a lot busier than I thought it would be.

So, the setlist:

999,999
1,000,000
Letting You
Discipline
March of the Pigs
Head Down
The Frail
Closer
Gave Up
The Warning
The Great Destroyer
1 Ghosts I
25 Ghosts I
19 Ghosts III
Piggy
The Greater Good
Wish
Terrible Lie
Survivalism
The Big Come Down
31 Ghosts IV
Only
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like A Hole

Encore:
Echoplex
The Beginning of the End
The Good Soldier
Hurt
In This Twilight

And it was perfect. Seriously, this was just an amazing, amazing show. I couldn't have asked for anything more (except La Mer.) Personal highlights were:

1,000,000: I love this song sooooo much and experiencing it while being crushed in the pit was a lot of fun. Everyone's just going completely nuts and I'm having that moment that I always do at concerts when I'm still processing the fact that "omg [so-and-so, in this case TR] is actually RIGHT THERE playing this song". Whee!
Discipline: This is probably my second favorite song on The Slip and I am completely unashamed. I love when NIN does gay disco anthems. I am disappointed that I didn't see anybody take their shirt off and dance, but it's okay because it was still awesome.
Head Down: Most-wanted song, and I got it!! I wasn't too impressed by the DVD rehearsal vid, but it sounded like the band finally had it down. Also, the tambourine made its triumphant appearance, and I was pleased.


1 Ghosts I: This was AMAZING. This is where I mention that this was as much a lights show as a music show - the visuals were absolutely stunning. I was kind of wondering before the show started how they were going to integrate the Ghosts stuff with the rest of the show, but they did it.


The Good Soldier: The other song I really really wanted to hear, hooray! And more tambourine.
In This Twilight: I FREAKED because I knew he'd never played it before. It was really beautiful, especially the piano outro. The show ended on the perfect note.



I'm really lucky to be a NIN fan at this point in time - now that Trent's got himself straightened out he's churning out amazing material and putting on equally amazing shows in such a short period of time. He continues to be a huge inspiration to me.

(Oh, while I'm here, Crystal Castles was awful. Like, seriously awful. And it's too bad, because they have potential, I think - some of their beats were pretty cool - but that girl needs to have her mic taken away from her until she learns how to sing. And I mean SING, not just alternate between unintelligible whisper and equally unintelligible spazzy whine.)


And now that I'm talking about epic fail, let's talk about the most epic fail of all!


As evidenced here, here, and here.

Seriously. I have no words. Except for WHY ARE THESE BOOKS POPULAR. WHYYYYY. At least they are here for me to laugh at. Just. omg. SO AWFUL.

SATURDAY.

THAT'S RIGHT. I will write all about it when the day comes!! Provided, of course, that the pit doesn't kill me.

In other news, I am updating my DeviantArt account again, lolwat. Oh, you know, I'm looking at this page right now and realizing that I never posted my art challenge pieces here!!



(original stock image here)



(original stock image here)

finished product:


Val's prompt for challenge #24 was to use a picture of any couple (no Tori photos) and one of two lines from the song Lust: "lust in the marriage bed" or "you know you'll drink her". I chose the latter, and wanted to use a nameless anything couple rather than someones taken from a film/series as suggested. I ended up spending so much time on the drawing part (I actually went over deadline - Val was kind enough to give me an extension) that I didn't get to work much on the actual sig. I'm not fully satisfied with it, but I won, so I guess it's okay. Things never turn out the way that I see them in my head...
Lust is one of my favorite Tori songs, and also one of THE most intense synesthesia triggers. I tried to replicate that as best I could with the colors in this sig, and failed rather miserably by my standards. I did as best I could. To me the song is a very vibrant gold and crystal, a different shade than the background colors I ended up with. As far as the actual drawings go, not much to say really; the song's message is so deeply sewn into me that the blueprint for the sig showed up and I just ran with it.

While I'm talking about visual portrayals of Tori songs:


I got it on Monday! a day early! I love love love it. It's so neat to see how people interpreted these songs. How certain lines inspired the entire framework for a story - "counting my feathers as the bells toll" for Here In My Head, the "vanilla" stanza from Siren...and the artwork is just so beautiful! It's really amazing how varied each artistic style is from story to story. I actually feel kind of inspired to start something new...


Real Life! It still exists. I am doing great. I honestly feel like I'm the happiest I've ever been right now. ♥


Man, I just reread this post and I sound really pretentious. I'm sorry. I have a limited way of phrasing things...
To balance it out, I am having WAY TOO MUCH FUN playing Pokemanz. I am an uber dork. And how!