summurtyme

Good first day of summer vacation.

-Cleaned bathroom, kitchen, and living room.
-Painted a small portrait of Lady Gaga. (for her V magazine contest) She turned out kinda Mexican though. (see above).
-Walked, worked, walked.
-Watched ANTM season finale (finally).
-Face mask, Facebook chatting with mother.

Tomorrow?

Jog! Work! Reading! Hurray!

Death day: an explanation.

I have deemed today, "Death Day." Why, Heaven? Why so terrible and life-threatening? This. Is. Why.

-Today I had an interview at 10:30. Free People. Gotta look cute. Woke up at 7 am.
-Interviewed, came back, headed to class.
-Endured 2 classes. Bonus! last class was canceled and I spent the time watching Oprah instead.
-Home. Time to pack for California. Here's where the whole death part begins...
-I plan on watching Glee at 8 and then sleeping from 9 to 11:30ish. At 11:30, I will wake up and prepare myself for the bus. The bus? YES THE BUS. The last bus leaves at 12:13. I will then take this last bus to the downtown light rail station. From there, I will take the light rail to Seattle Tacoma airport. I will then SPEND THE NIGHT/CONSUME ENERGY DRINKS at the airport in order to stay awake until 6:30 am, when my flight leaves.

"Heaven that's stupid, why wouldn't you just wake up early in the morning and go to the airport then?"
I would. Oh, I so would. But the first bus runs at 6:24 am...6 minutes before my flight leaves. So there is no other way of me getting to the airport.

Needless to say, I am nervous about this whole situation, but I don't really have another way of getting to the airport...so...that's that.

Thoughts, oh hey.

Blog! What's up! Here I sit at my friend's house after spending the night, sipping tea and watching The Soup.

I've been following a couple Seattle street style blogs lately and I think that they generally aren't the most inventive. Now that I possess Le Camera Extrordinaire, aka Canon Rebel TSI, I have a little bit more legroom in photographing objects with accuracy and control. Maybe I should up the ante and start photographing people myself? I'd need to "go out" more often but that doesn't bother me ;) [winky face aka most awkward face ever].

I dunno. I always want to take on projects but never follow through. I think that's my main hurdle in life.

Post numbah two of my re-commitment.

Hi y'all. Sitting in a coffee shop (Fremont Coffee Company) attempting to be cool by sipping a cappuccino and eating single origin artisan chocolate, no big.

BUT what is more artistically relevant was this morning's Image and Narration class. Not only did I take on the fun in-class assignment of drawing Lady Gaga in various states of abstraction, but my classmates and I also shared 3 of our favorite influences. Not just for art, but for life in general. Here were mine:

Harry.

Disney.

Bowie.

I could go on and on about my influences and why I love them, and what they have done to personally impact me and the world but I won't. Maybe later. What was more interesting were some of the influences that my classmates presented. Particularly this artistic process video...it positively gives me chills:

SUPAKITCH x KORALIE x POSCA from elr°y on Vimeo.

And this terribly creepy short animation, titled Alma.

Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.

Its. ALIVE.

I SHOULD BLOG MORE, so here I am.

This is a medium for creativity, why not take advantage of it? I must admit, once my blogging buddies started dropping off the radar, I became less and less interested in participating. But, as much as I love and appreciate my blogging buddies, I don't need to blog just because they do, and if they do blog more often, then all the better! This really should be an experiment for me, personally.

Time for a blog re-vamp. New quarter, new classes, new goals (new clothes). I solemnly swear (that I am up to no good) that I will blog once a week.

Back to basics: art. I had my first class of Spring quarter today, Image & Narriation, and check out my textbook...

Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud

This isn't a comics class, but the textbook really brings light to narritive thought and process. It is exciting to read and easy to understand. Looks like for once I will actually be reading my textbook...

So anyway, while reading, I came across a reference to Max Ernst's A Week of Kindness. Surreal, collage, and comic-y! 

My favorite frame. Surreal.

Many of the pieces depict morphed half-human-bird-lion creatures, but are drawn in a careful, deliberate, and detailed way. It suggests that these creatures are indeed a part of reality, and are as real as the carefully carved and upholstered chair that they stand beside.

Tumbl'd

http://bunnyeyes.tumblr.com/

Yes, I made another tumblr. This one will be devoted to reblogs and general random-ness. (If you can recall, my first tumblr is devoted to pictures for my family back home in California.)

So, GO!

Expectations

Photo Credit: {this is glamourous}

Do you ever let your imagination run wild and then end up disappointed that reality doesn't match up to your dreams? I have this problem often. I realized this a year or so ago and ever since have been attempting to suppress my dreams of perfection to the back of my head, but they still pop up and push their way through. My primary source of fanciful dreams? Holidays.

Perhaps not Christmas, because as I've previously wrote, my Christmas traditions (usually) leave me with nothing to expect. Which is a good thing. But these open ended holidays, mainly New Year's and Valentine's day, are the ones that trouble me the most. Their possibilities are endless and the way that the media, magazines, and/or artistic bloggers hype them, I have no choice but to expect for events to pan out similarly to their ideals. Does this make sense?

For example, think of the ideal New Year's bash. Most women are wearing sparkling cocktail dresses, hair coiffed perfectly, in the most seductive of heels, donning fun party hats or glasses, while sipping champagne. Am I right? The icing on the cake of this fantasy is the gorgeous and devoted guy on her arm, simultaneously ready to get a little crazy and sweep her off her feet in a new year's kiss. When these realities don't work out for me, (which is, EVERY YEAR OF MY LIFE) I can't help but be disappointed. Because I mean, this is reality right? This is what we expect to happen!

And here we are, on the eve of Valentine's day, the events of the past year are looming on my doorstep, and I'm afraid that tomorrow they will rule my day. My expectations of a sweet date, a pretty dress, and maybe a romantic dessert were shattered one year ago, and they will be shattered again tomorrow. I can't help but think of this day and connect it with all that I can't have, which then ruins all that I can have: delicious chocolates, cute cards, and fun with friends.

I am trying really hard to accept what I can and can't have, while simultaneously trying to weasel some romance out of the dregs of my life.

Fresh Interests

There have been a few things on my crafty little mind. Here's the breakdown of what has been preoccupying me while I ignore my classroom lectures...

Friendship bracelets made of embroidery floss. Or even hemp. Gotta start making loads so in the summer I can line my wrists with them and give them as gifts.

Macrame of all kinds. 1970s, kind of embarrassing, but seriously beautiful...

The idea of decoupage-ing my boring white bathroom clock. I was thinking, random magazine pictures to form a rainbow-y pattern (it would match my bathroom).

ALL the recipes on Bake it in a Cake. Pictured above is a Strawberry Shortcake Cupcake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting. I can barely afford food but I am really considering dropping some money on the ingredients for some of these delicious treats.

What projects or interests have been on your mind lately?

even Despair

But when the days of golden dreams had perished,
And even Despair was powerless to destroy,
Then did I learn how existence could be cherished,
Strengthened, and fed without the aid of joy...
Dare not indulge in Memory's rapturous pain;
Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish,
How could I seek the empty world again?

Tumble Tumble Tumblr

A while ago I posted about a side project that I had intended on developing: The Rad Moms and Dads tumblr. I wanted to post street style of young, hip parents to prove that even though kids come, you can still have good style. Sad to say it did not work out. Frustrations with my camera, and shyness about photographing random people on the street kind of made it fizzle.

But! I just repurposed my tumblr, making it into a family friendly photo blog about little things I do in Seattle. It will mostly be cellphone pictures, uploaded from wherever my adventures take me. Check it out: Duwamps Diary.

I anticipate some subjects on Duwamps Diary to overlap on this blog. For instance...my internship!

I'm now a visual intern at Anthropologie! This is the largest Anthropologie store in the United States, so there is plenty of room for creative display, which is my exact job. I help create the parts that go into the overall display, for instance, I spray painted 300 of these clothes hangers in an ombre design, front and back! Then, I helped hot clue and wire the pieces together for hanging. My visual manager takes care of most of the actual instillation. 

Another project that I was assigned was to paint watercolor circles in shades of brown and turquoise on a piece of canvas. This canvas will be hung between two pieces of wood and then lit from behind, so it's going to be a huge lamp! And it's going to be in the customer bathroom for everyone to see! This is really exciting.

But usually I don't do solo projects, and the internship is more like shop class! I do a lot of sanding, painting, cutting, miter-sawing, and measuring. It's great though, and great experience. And most importantly, it's exposing me to a 3D, physical method of art.

Plus, I get a discount.

vimeo vlog

I finally did it guys. I made a vlog. I hope I don't sound like too much of a brat (I do).


Untitled from Heaven Lee on Vimeo.

If you would like to participate and make your own Regional Dialects vlog, here are the directions!

Say these words:

Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught
Now answer these questions:

What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?

What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?

What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?

What do you call gym shoes?

What do you say to address a group of people?

What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?

What do you call your grandparents?

What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?

What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?

What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

Teacup times

I am at the Teacup, doing who knows what, drinking some kind of Mountain Something Green Tea...which is delicious by the way, no honey needed, feeling like today has been a waste of sorts.

FACT: One of the employees here is wearing silver nailpolish, and reminds me sharply of Stefon from Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live.



Conversation going on directly behind me:

"He's never been kissed before...so he just kind of looked at me like 'oh my gosh I just got my first kiss' and then he kissed me back...then he texted me when I was at home and said...'that was my first kiss and I'm glad I got to share it with you." uhhhh dear Teacup please turn up the music I don't want to be an unwilling participant of this conversation.


Current song playing: You Raise Me Up but not by Josh Groban. Pretty sure this is on one of those Foundation for a Better Life commercials which makes me cry.



Yes, even as I previewed this commercial oh-so-quietly in the middle of the Teacup, it made me tear up.

Even though today seems wasted, directionless, and vaguely depressing, I must admit that the pure, clean taste of this green tea is just what I needed. Other things that I need: exercise, food, and a job, but let's look past these stressors to the present. I am warm and content and should really be getting on with my homework...

Map collages

Time for art! I stumbled upon Matthew Cusick's map collages the other day, and cannot get over the pieces precision and creativity.

Using different colored maps, Matthew constructs portraits and landscapes with remarkable depth and life.

This is amazing. I think most people are interested in maps. They tell stories. Everyone can relate to pointing out a landmark on a map, highlighting a roadtrip pathway, or circling their hometown. Using this personal-to-everyone medium and applying it to portraits leads to a stunning result. I think we all picture our lives as "journeys" so a lot can be said to the intentions behind the portraits.

However Matthew doesn't limit himself to portraits, look at this rad car!

There is so much more to this illustration than the fact that it is a car. Be sure to check out the link to see a very delicate portrait of an older gentleman, and some intriguing landscapes.

hi, blog

Oh, Saturday. Your possibilities are endless. Let's hope that you turn out to be:
a. productive.
b. social.

goals: blog, paint, shower, clean, sand and spackle.

I'll check back with you later.

5:30

Hey blog, how's it going? I have so far blogged, painted, been social, and cooked a healthy breakfast. Next up: painting, pizza-ing, drinking.

9:00

bye, I'm going out!

The Sartorialist

So, although I have always enjoyed the aesthetic of The Sartorialist, I never fully appreciated the blog until I saw this video. This guy is genuinely cool. I hope you enjoy quiet and careful look at a man's personal design preferences.

jumble

-Sometimes I really dislike listening to music. When most music brings up memories and others have potentially emotion-stirring lyrics, why listen to it? If it has the ability to put me to tears then maybe I should not be involved with it. It is sad because I just watched VH1's 100 Best Artists of All Time and was inspired by about 90% of the list...maybe in a few days I will listen to music but for now my iPod sits dormant.

-My stress manifests itself in many forms: body aches, stomach aches, headaches, and the general tears/restlessness/constant chatting.

-Talking to people I trust always alleviates this. At least somewhat. Especially when I talk to my mom, though. She has to run after my two little brothers now, so chats with mom are few and far between (and short). But getting a good 20 minutes in is like a balm to my injured soul.

-Lastly, I have just recognized that I feel guilty for idolizing blonde, white girls too often. Let me explain...wait. Let me write a seperate post about this.