Halloween h2o (you see what I did there?)

As I may or may not have mentioned, I hate my camera. It is a Canon Power Shot A560, if that is relevant to you. Sometimes I can take decent pictures with it, but apparently nobody else can, which is a problem when I need to appear in said pictures. So, here is a blurry one of my costume, which I will just have to rephotograph using a timer.













I also did this last minute headdress for my roommate's Día de los Muertos costume. Took about 15 minutes.

Halloween: Part 2

Clearly the mask is underway. By now it has a base coat of paint. Hopefully I'll have time tomorrow to finish painting it and sewing the details on the fabricy bits after work and before I have to wear it. As planned, absurdity seems inevitable.


On a side note, please take a moment to appreciate the extremely literal use of masking tape. That is all.

Halloween: Part 1

As a person with a brain which is into meticulous details (much to its own annoyance) I love projects with extremely fleeting applications, such as Halloween costumes. It only has to make it through one night, so I can jump right in without "planning" and "patterns" or any real "vision". I figure it's good for me to work against my own nature, and actually made a lot of effort when I was in school to do things in a sloppier manner than I would normally be comfortable with. Of course, this way of working can leave you with a lot of "Did I really just make this piece of shit?" moments, but it also can end in a lot of happy accidents, as well as extra time for things like sanity.

Anyway, I am being a mermaid, of the Magritte variety. You know, this one:


















I figure that even if it ends up being more along the lines of "piece of shit", it will still be plenty absurd. Watch out for photos of the finished product soon.

Back in Nam

I just got back from a three week trip to Viet Nam. I spent time in the jungle of Cúc Phương National Park and the mountains of Sa Pa, but mostly in the urban cluster fuck of Ha Noi. I spent a lot of time sketching and was definitely inspired to do a new installation, just as soon and I find the time and the space for it.


The jungle is LOUD.


Jungle Study, done in park cafe, involving some fictional plants.













Sa Pa mountains.














Clouds, mountains, terraced rice paddies: 3 things I don't know how to draw.











Bamboo ladder street. Everything in Ha Noi is arranged by street.















What can I say? I simplify things. My western brain can't cope with Viet Nam.










I would add more, but formatting image heavy posts is a real trial of my patience.

First post: no content.

It's been a few years since I made any attempt at blogging. Years in which I have gained a bit of insight and direction. Good, relevant years. Now, at long last, I am back. My hope is to apply a bit of the insight and direction I've obtained to my blogging.

My first and somewhat lackluster offering: my first attempt at time-lapse video. It seemed fitting for an introductory post, as it is a self-portrait.

I used a free program (frame-by-frame) to make this. If you just want to dabble it's fine for getting started, but if you're at all serious, I wouldn't recommend it. There are many frustrations.