New growth...

The last of the etchings for a while...

Craving minestrone soup now!

This is the 'soft-ground abstract thing' I mentioned a few posts ago. I was cutting up and adding cabbage to some minestrone soup and rather liked the look of the cross-section. I knew I wanted to have one more etching for my portfolio, so decided to crank out one cabbage-inspired piece. Packed up the cabbage slice and sat it next to me at school while I drew into the soft-ground. Etched it that day and printed it at the next class.

The result is this funky-looking thing. The color was the Prof's idea. Three ink wipe. It's nothing spectacular, but for being a last-minute experiment with my fingers screaming at me to stop drawing... not terrible. Fully committed to the effect of soft-ground. The ballpoint pen drawing that went in to the making of this looks almost exactly like the print--only black.
I liked the black prints actually.  So, while I only had time to get about five of these triple-color ones, I pulled an extra black and this blue fellow. Leaning towards liking it better than the above version. Dunno.

Anyway! I named it 'Take Root'... and there ya have it.

Still struggling with the domain madness. Meh.
Got a finished copy of a CD I did the cover art for and it looks AWESOME!!! HUZZAH!
That's exciting.
Also exciting is what I'll be doing over winter break... transferring everything on my computer to my brand-spankin'-new computer. Sticking with a PC. Windows 7. Rather intimidated about the transfer process, since I'm so deeply embedded in this computer, which I've been using for like 10 years. It's a mess. XD

I'll be posting some old stuff over the break to keep things moving.

Last run...

I thought nine prints was a lot for one open lab... today I got twelve!!!

Used the technique I mastered last semester for the final printing days. Inked two plates, signed up for the press (there's always a line), then inked another plate while I waited. Printed the first two, new paper in the water bath (we can't put more than two in at a time), signed up to print, inked a plate while waiting, printed... rinse... repeat. I should've taken a picture of my inking station because it was the most epic inking station EVER!

IIRC, the twelve prints include:

• 2 'Rare Solace' in purples
• 2 'Swelling Disruptions' in orange-red
• 2 'For Science' in standard black
• 1 'For Science' in deep green
• 4 Cabbage in three color inks
• 1 Cabbage in blue

The Cabbage plate is the new soft-ground abstract drawing I did. 'Abstract' is relative. We had minestrone soup the night before and when I cut the tough stalk out of the cabbage I thought it looked cool. I wrapped it up and took it to class... drew and etched it that day. It's sort of intriguing. Actually, maybe I'll scan on of the proofs tonight. I took the Prof's advice on the inking colors and I don't know if I'm convinced it looks good. I liked it in black. And the blue looked nice today. *shrug* It's a minimal effort plate, so I'm not very attached.

That's it then! No more etching this year. Just signing prints and the portfolio review next Wednesday. Finishing up the HTML/CSS final stuff. My site is done, so only peer reviews and evaluations to do. I'm glad I stayed so on top of building that site all this time.

Winter break will be healing time for the fingers and some long awaited projects to complete! w00t!

We've lost an intellectual titan, provocative writer, and great voice of reason. I wish I could have met and thanked him.

Christopher Hitchens 1949-2011

Knowing that he was on his way out didn't soften the blow at all.

He will be dearly missed by this atheist.

Folding chairs are cool.

My fingers were cranky and then I went and drew a soft-ground abstract thing. My index finger is back to being a sausage and my middle finger is well on its way. I wanted to draw one more soft-ground plate, too, a hot air balloon similar to one I did for a recent commission. Since I can only balance tools/utensils between my thumb and palm... that probably won't happen. At this point, I'm looking at a future of web-design, because I can't keep killing my hand with drawing and painting.

So, while I wallow in finger-swelling misery for the last week of class, I'll post these. Did them during the painting class I took last year. We only had a model once I think. It's the only time I've ever painted the figure from life, which is kinda sad. Still pretty terrible at drawing/painting figures. Have never practiced enough. As far as my hand problem is concerned... I won't be getting more practice anytime soon.

Lots of red, since I tend to not use much red.

Something looser for fun.

 The striated blue background in the last one still annoys me... otherwise I kind of like that piece. I wish I could paint again. T___T

In regards to the previous post:
Went back and forth with a Blogger Help dude... eventually he suggested I contact Google Apps. Did that, but it's probably going to take forever to hear back. *sigh*

It would be so nice to have a functioning hand for the last printing lab on Friday.
Probably not going to happen.

Oh, and obviously the Republican candidates are a freakshow, but that 30 second ad by Rick Perry that's making the rounds... hoo boy!
Not sure if I've ever been so thoroughly repulsed by a person in such a short amount of time.

Saw a great response on Reddit. It deserves a re-post:

I'm not ashamed to say that I won't be voting for Rick Perry, but you don't have to tune in to CNN every evening to know that there's something wrong in this country when politicians can openly spew homophobic, unconstitutional rhetoric and still garner support. As citizens, let's end Perry's war on reason and tolerance, and fight against radical conservative attacks on our secular heritage. Separation of church and state made America strong, it can make her strong again.

 Word.

A backward glance...

My fingers were cranky and then I went and drew a soft-ground abstract thing. My index finger is back to being a sausage and my middle finger is well on its way. I wanted to draw one more soft-ground plate, too, a hot air balloon similar to one I did for a recent commission. Since I can only balance tools/utensils between my thumb and palm... that probably won't happen. At this point, I'm looking at a future of web-design, because I can't keep killing my hand with drawing and painting.

So, while I wallow in finger-swelling misery for the last week of class, I'll post these. Did them during the painting class I took last year. We only had a model once I think. It's the only time I've ever painted the figure from life, which is kinda sad. Still feel pretty terrible at drawing/painting figures. Have never practiced enough. As far as my hand problem is concerned... I won't be getting more practice anytime soon.







Went back a forth with a Blogger Help dude... eventually he suggested I contact Google Apps. Did that, but it's probably going to take forever to hear back. *sigh*

Unreal...

Just spent six hours... six solid hours trying to figure out the domain issue.

I got nowhere.

I'm totally exhausted. Getting any kind of help through blogger or google apps or anything else that is necessary to get things working... is apparently impossible. Never, in my whole life, have I come up against so many brick walls, infinite loops, and labyrinthine paths of non-information with technology.

Astounding.

I couldn't even post to the help forums because I got a pop-up limiting the characters in my post to 8129. Firstly, what kind of character limit is 8129? Secondly, my post was less than 1000 characters!!! I re-tried this on different accounts and reloaded browser windows and I got the same thing every time.

I need to access my DNS info at eNom. The way to do this is through Google Apps. I can't login to Google Apps because it requires a Username and Password that I never made because the process was automated through Blogger. I can't retrieve that information because (1) there isn't anything to go on and (2)it wants to send my info to a secondary e-mail account, which does precisely zilch. When I click through the option that 'I don't remember my secondary e-mail account' it sends me through a recursive loop, right back to the same problem.

Six hours of this. Six hours scouring various google searches and forum postings and articles.

I intended to go to bed early. It's now 5:23 am.
I could cry.

UPDATE: A day later... tried posting to the help forums from my mom's Mac and it didn't give me the character limit problem. Fingers crossed someone can help me out.

Great success...

...at the lab.

9 prints! 9!

"...and they call it a nine. A NINE!"

4 more Science editions, bringing my total to 11. Experimented with two transparent rolls on it. The first didn't have enough contrast. The second was interesting. Then printed those old abstract plates that I mentioned. The first caught a dip in the plate, but the next two were pretty awesome looking!!!

The weekend is for finishing HTML/CSS homework and another soft-ground drawing on a plate if I can make the time for it (and my fingers put up with the strain).

Domain should be AllisonClaire.net here pretty soon.
Giddyup.

Change in the air...

I should be in bed. 3:17am. Eep!

Printing lab in seven hours, which means I have to be awake in five. Been up all night figuring out blogs and potential website domains. The HTML/CSS class has definitely shoved me in the direction of trying to get a real site up for my work... in a more commercial sense. So, yeah. The domain will be changing here, among other things.

Left: Wild abstract plate that took four long acid baths with soft-ground and different things painted out. Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. Printed one proof with orange, which was kind of interesting.

Right: Science plate edition!

The main reason I'm going to the open lab is to print this puppy. I think I'm at six so far. Should get four more... if I don't sleep through the lab hours. Must sleep! The goal is four more Science editions plus I want to try a transparent roll with it. A different look. AND THEN, if I have time (and some extra brain cells) I want to do a couple more iterations of those deep bite abstract prints I did in the Spring. I had a vision of rolling them up with pale gray and an orange linear gradient stripe... can't shake it until I try it. Might not work with ink, but it looked awesome in Photoshop. We'll see.

Need to update my Flickr photostream and put that to better use.
Aigoo, so much to do!

Oh, and my fingers are still problematic... I'm just... yeah... pretty fed up...

Thanksgiving was nice, by the way. ^^
Bedtime!

O,O

Nothing like finding out in the paper that a bunch of cops were in the neighborhood because a dude stabbed his father to death down the street.

Aaaaalrighty then.

Making science happen...

11.11.11 has come and gone.
Time for an etching update!
After completing the Shamisen edition I've been drawing and grounding plates and working on other projects. It's the kind of work that is totally unsatisfying because it's all of the in-between busy work in order to do the stuff you really want to do. Of course, it's necessary--and the process alone is enjoyable. It just can't compare to the feeling of results.
I started the Science plate by doing a simple line etch to get it to a 'coloring book' state. Then I made a rig and soft-grounded the plate. Registering the paper sketch to line up with the line-etched plate underneath was a bit of a headache, but an important one. I used a ballpoint pen, since it has given me a nice range in the past.

Put it in the acid for 20 minutes and came out with a really amazing looking piece of zinc.

Inked and printed two. One on proof paper, one on nice paper and the value was consistent.
Below is the original line etch from state #1... with state #2 beside it. Easily the hugest single leap I have made between states. I wanted high contrast. I wanted black, since all of my previous plates have been weak in that regard. I got both. It's a little messy still. A few things to scrape and burnish and touch-up. But frankly, I'm ecstatic.

It's definitely a print meant to be seen closely. From a distance, it is bold, but largely indecipherable. I'm totally cool with that. After I make those few tweaks I want to experiment with mixing some inks. I might try some greys or blues... or what I REALLY want to try, which is a blue to green gradient from top to bottom. Anyway, really pleased and excited to have an almost finished plate in two states. I am officially a soft-ground fangirl.

I also have a 9x9 inch zinc plate that I'm building up with soft-ground and abstract layers of ground. My Prof wanted me to do something really free and different. I'm at three layers so far. I'll etch in a layer or two more and then finally clean and print the thing. That one will be like unwrapping a present. I have absolutely no idea what it looks like.

Still pushing through a bunch of projects. Unfortunately, I started having finger problems just in the last week. One spot on my index finger again... the place where it has recurred the most. I have been vigilant about taping my fingers and wearing gloves and being careful. So, I think that officially rules out the previous possibilities of a latex or metal allergy.

So, just trying to breathe, stay positive about it... and deal.
The HTML/CSS class has helped me feel better about it actually. Learning a ton. I'm still at a very basic level, but compared to what I could do a few months ago.... yeah, no comparison.
Excited to print that abstract next week. Monday hopefully. And play with coloring For Science!

For the helluvit, here is my current assignment. We've just learned the box model and div elements. This is the first time I haven't gotten my CSS to validate. It's an issue with the two background images and I'm still trying to resolve it. Apple pie sounds so good right now.

Riiiiiiiiighhht. Okay!
Peace.

Buried...

So.Much.Work.To.Do.
I MUST FINISH ALL THE THINGS.

Rock'n'Roll...

She rocked the shamisen and I rolled the print transparently for the pseudo-Chine-collé look. Starting to flatten some of the burr now, but it's not bad! Pretty happy with the result. Next plate, ahoy!

And so much for the sunny weather all week. Even on Monday the day's forecast said cloudy with sun... it turned into multiple downpours and a lot of drizzle. Yeesh!
Today was hot though. Tomorrow will be hotter.

For Science!

Drawing drawing drawing drawing...

Lots of drawing happening recently. My method of finger-taping is thus far keeping things fully functional and therefore inspiring a lot of work. Multiple plates taking shape, multiple drawings, sketches for paintings, and projects ongoing. I'm in over my head, but for the first time in a long time--it feels really good.

------------->
This is the idea I'm building for my 'Science' plate, minus the color I added in Photoshop. It might be too daunting to make it an etching, but I would like to try. I still want a DNA double-helix in there, so there will be some erasing and re-drawing before I move to metal. It would likely need a line etch first for the linear stuff, soft-ground drawing for everything else, and an aquatint with super careful stopping out to get what I want. Eek.

The Shamisen drypoint is going well. She has some simple background architecture behind her now and a few alterations. We started doing a pale yellow-ish transparent roll on the plates to give a slightly Chine-collé effect. The prints look great. Our Prof was feeling restless about the double-drop with aquatint color and decided to forfeit that part of the project. I'm alright with that. Ha. I'll scan one of my Shamisen editions next week.

Lots to do this weekend. Drawingdrawingdrawing and the first quarter of my HTML/CSS class is wrapping up, which means coding my site for the final. The recent rain has also uplifted my mood, but the forecast-ed sun for the week will also be helpful as I walk to and from class with plates and art stuff.

The King Ridge GranFondo was lovely. Volunteering at packet pick-up late Friday night and Saturday morning (4am) was hard. Half an hour of sleep between those shifts and the overall fast-paced social blitz were brutal on me. Haven't come down with a cold from it yet, but it really wouldn't surprise me. It was fun watching thousands of cyclists take off at the start though! As long as I'm able I'll keep volunteering for the Fondo. Great event.

Oh yeah... my 23" monitor is so glorious I can't even describe it. I have essentially doubled my workable screen area. It's incredible. *weeps with joy*

Peace.
じゃね！

Copper love...

Weeeeeeeeeee!!!
I've taken four prints so far. The burr is standing strong, which bodes well as I more forward. Some background to add. Then the transfer onto the second plate, aquatint, and color decisions. Double-drop headaches beyond that.

Since I've found a method of taping my fingers that seems to prevent my swelling problems... I am a lot more inspired to work. Or at least I'm not as scared as I was.
I have three 'braincrack' plates sucking up grey matter.

• 'For science!'. A high contrast twist on the Tree of Life.
• 'Flight'. To a child, a large box is conveyer to every surreal landscape imaginable.
• 'Regatta'. A steampunk vision inspired by the yearly, local, and upcoming Handcar Regatta.

All three require a lot of drawing time. I would be happy if I could finish at least ONE of them before the end of the semester.

Getting a new 23" monitor for the computer. Excited!

Diablo III is in beta. So jealous watching some testers uploading gameplay videos. Eeee!
Too many projects going all at once. Needing to sprint to keep up. I might be headed for a youtube-worthy faceplant, but I'll just forge ahead anyhow!

<3

In Heaven

...
Eyeballs are swimming and... yeah...

Probably the hardest part of watching it is knowing what inspired Jaejoong to write the song in the first place. While recording in LA in 2010, he spoke to his good friend Yongha on the phone. Yongha offered they should go out for drinks when Jaejoong got back to Korea. Yongha killed himself the next day.
An experience similar to this affected my own family early this year.
No judgements here. Suicide is brutal... from every angle.
Shared by many survivors, including Jaejoong, is the feeling that if you could go back in time, you would never leave their side. You would change things. You would treat them differently. You would do... something. If only you knew.
Sometimes you can't know, but even that doesn't throw off the burden and grief.

No more about that.

In Heaven: The album is lovely, honest, personal, and very much outside-the-box as far as the Kpop industry is concerned. We'll see if any broadcasters step up and allow them to perform on TV. Junsu's acting is pretty adorable in the video. Jihyo is gorgeous and well-cast. Very pleased with the way it's shot, the colors, the pacing, etc. The Gregorian chant bit in the intro is a nice addition, too. Apparently, there will be a 10 minute long version released. Not sure if that's a rumor. Regardless... lovely. 300,000 preorders on the first day. Unheard of. After two years of hell--it's a good time to be a JYJ fan.

Playtime...

Semester #50281347538485
Fall '11
First project for etching is a copper/zinc duet. Drypoint on copper with either the theme of work or the theme of play. We will ink the drypoint and print it right onto the zinc. Drypoint the zinc a bit and eventually aquatint it to block in color... and double drop for the edition. Double dropping scares the bejeebus outta me. XD

Totally uninspired for the project, I browsed the interwebz and flikr. Found some lovely vintage Japanese photographs. Rather liked this woman playing shamisen. Trying to figure out who the original photographer is. Some related images were Tamamura, but I don't think this was.

Above left: raw scan of my copper plate after one session of the scratchy scratchy.
Above right: reversed and inverted in Photoshop to get a sense of where I am.

Still a lot more to do, but I'll take the first proof on Monday and keep at it. Still terrified of double dropping. I haven't even done a proper aquatint yet. Eeeeeeee.

Also taking HTML/CSS online. I guess we're building our student server site for two quarter classes. Decided to make my topic on etching since I'm up to my eyeballs in it anyway. Lately been working with a musician on album art... drawing hot air balloons. I might do a simple/different version for myself and make a soft-ground etch out of it. Mostly just loving the coding process. Tedious Allison loves tedium. And I'm almost choked on my drink when I opened a classmate's site. His topic is My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Brony alert!

Parallel parking is fja;9i3edmkmcvaeeesfmvneie guh.

JYJ's album releasing on September 15th! Guess who already pre-ordered! Yeeeaaaahhh!

Each time 9/11 comes around my atheism surges and I have to watch beautiful things to calm myself down. Like this...



Love.

Lightning-struck Summer...

Above: Old piece. Black construction paper strips, vaguely a la Mondrian.

Nothing special to add. I've been painting and drawing some things for myself and for projects. Once the semester starts I'll post the bits and bobs that I can. The Summer has been mostly me being stressed about all the artsy things I'm trying to get done and not doing them because I'm stressed. That happens a lot. I don't feel like I accomplished much, but part of the slowness is related to concern for my hand and its bouts of swelling. There hasn't been another incident since I starting using vinyl gloves religiously... for everything. But I still think it's at least partly a mechanical thing--not just an allergy thing. It could just be scar tissue. Whatever the case... I'm being careful. I'll draw for a few hours and feel that sensitivity. The skin a little raw. The sense of something foreign in there with my bones. So I rest and wait. Take a day off. Seems okay so I work again. But it's always the same feeling and it worries me. Makes me cautious.

With that caution, I head into my gazillionth semester at the JC. Taking a website building class and Advanced Etching. I should really take silkscreen, but I'm so attached to etching right now that I want one more semester of it. See if I can manage anything I really like.

Big changes in family and their jobs. Speeding right ahead.
Not me. I'm still putting along. Aiming to get my driver's license finally. Practicing with my permit. Trying... no... I will close the deal this time. I will get my license before 2012. Chyeah!


As for the lightning... POTTER!!! Deathly Hallows pt.2 was great. Were there silly additions? Of course. Was time wasted on unnecessary non-canon stuff? Of course. But I thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless. Here's the thing. The books are about Harry discovering his history and his role in it. They are about mothers and their sons. They are about sacrifice and love. They are about Snape. Far more time is spent on these things than on Voldy and his cronies.
The movies, on the other hand, focus disproportionately on Voldy and his cronies... arguably the least important aspects of the books.

IMO: The overarching plot of the series climaxes at The Prince's Tale and Harry marching to his own death.
However, the climax the movies always built towards was the Harry vs. Voldy showdown. Because of this, it's a letdown by default.

In the books, Voldy's death is epic, but it's not the most epic thing that happens at the end. When they translated that to the screen, the death was not epic enough for all that build-up. The movie-viewer is left feeling like, 'that's it?', because the epic book stuff is downplayed or not included at all.

...This is getting long and I didn't think I was going to write about this. ANYway, the stuff that came from canon was really well-done. Alan Rickman is a BAMF. I was pleased with The Prince's Tale. Overall, the young actors did wonderfully. *applause*
For the record, I saw it in 3D and 2D and preferred it in 2D. But the 3D Potter glasses are nice souvenirs!

For giggles.
I started reading Potter in the Summer of 1999. Books 1 and 2 (3 wasn't out yet). That December, I picked up Book 3. Loved everything about them. PoA was such a joy to read! I drew fanart and made my own Potter memorabilia for fun.
Clay figurines included! They're totally crappy, but I love the associated memories and that I cared enough to do it. They are pre-movie, so their look is purely inspired by the American edition illustrator Mary Grandpre and my brain. I'm grateful that I was invested into the books long enough before the movies that the characters are still my own.

When I pick up any of the books to re-read, the Harry in my head looks like he did in 1999. He isn't Dan Radcliffe. Alan Rickman, though I adore him, looks very little like my Snape. I'm glad for that.

Blah blah blah.
Pottermore is amazing. Got registered within the very first minutes of the Magical Quill Challenge and then got my beta welcome e-mail last night... at the end of the first day of the site being opened. The extra stories/information from Jo is priceless, entertaining, and amusing in a way that she has such a knack for.
The Sorting Test is a little questionable seeing as I was sorted into Gryffindor. I am totally not a Gryffindor. Doubtless, the Sorting Hat would shriek, "RAVENCLAW!" before it even touched my head. Ha. That's okay. Ollivander's wand test is completely fantastic and there is a MASSIVE amount of background information about wandlore.

Pottermore:
I am AurorSeer155. Gryffindor. My wand is Cherry with a Phoenix feather core, 10 and 3/4 inches. Slightly yielding. I'm 81% into brewing an Antidote to Common Poisons and have so far earned 28 house points. w00t!

For all of the Potter lovin'... Thank you Jo! <3

Now in color...

Worked on it for a couple of days and then it got too damn hot. Can't be painting during the day inside when it's 96 degrees outside and the whole house is closed up tight to keep out the heat. I know acrylics are pretty safe, but still, I require ventilation.
So yeah, kinda fun. I'd like to go in with graphite or prismacolors and mess with details and silliness. But now that the weather is cooling, I need to be working on the bigger paintings I have planned/need to finish. I'm slacking off far too much.
I'm thinking about FIDM... the $$$ is terrifying though. *sigh* Dunno what I'm doing. I think I'll take an online html class at the JC. Maybe advanced etching. Maybe silkscreen. Ugh. Too many things on my mind and no real direction. Same ol' same.

Harry Potter in a week. T______T
I think I'll go through an entire box of Kleenex before the movie even starts. But I know, once it's all said and done, I'll be walking out of the theater like this...

And then I'll go through another box of Kleenex.
^^

Summertime re-hash...

A quick followup to the Spring etchings. Two color variations of Rare Solace and Swelling Disruptions. I had so much fun with mixing the inks and trying different roll methods. I could've played with them for the whole semester. Sadly, I only had a few days.





I cranked out a bunch of the Astrolabe after adding some tones and the rosette on the left. The last few were bluish. I decided on the title, Nostalgia is a Precarious Navigator. I still feel like it needs more, but I'll let it rest for now.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming...

Yay, Summer!!!
My goal is to get five paintings done before Fall semester. That, and getting a driver's license and a job if possible. Plus, I'm doing some other art projects for friends. Yeeeee.


I don't know what this is or where it's going, but I've been painting it for the last couple days. Acrylic on Bristol. I actually drew it during Winter Break last year, but didn't get a chance to paint it. The process was lifted from one of Mzzz. Larsen's classes. During the gallery's sculpture show, we went down and sketched some of the maquettes. Then we cut the sketches into interesting pieces and moved them around on paper, tracing the contours. We finished them by 'irradiating' with simple black gradients. I rather liked my piece, but I think the Larsen kept them all.

But... I still had the sketch cut-outs!!! So I figured I would make my own little project. I think I'll be painting in some big areas of yellow-orange next. Maybe some bright green. Something bold. We'll see.

A Musical Interlude...

---IGNORE THIS POST IF YOU CARE NOT FOR THE KPOP-NESS---
Disclaimer: This thing is so Junsu biased it’s slightly ridiculous. XD
I am a rock music listener by preference… DBSK was, and JYJ is, my only real interest in anything boy-band-ish. I have a thing for interesting vocalists though. I first heard Junsu’s voice five years ago, and thought, now THAT’S a voice. A year later I came across DBSK’s accapellas and have stanned them ever since. When the lawsuit happened, I was more emotionally invested in JaeChunSu for whatever reason. The line they split along didn’t surprise me, in the ideological sense. Nothing against HoMin, I’m just more attached to JYJ.
I had fully planned and prepared to see JYJ last year during the showcase tour, so when San Francisco got canceled it was seriously devastating. When the San Jose show was announced, I knew I would do anything to get there. Bought tickets as soon as they went up for sale. Then, with the help of the amazing ladies over at JYJ4SJ, I was able to make some travel arrangements with a couple of complete strangers. L and M. But Cassies are never really strangers to each other, are they? ^^

I barely slept Thursday night. Only a few hours at most. On Friday morning I got a ride from my brother into San Francisco. Bad traffic delayed us and by the time we got to Caltrain Station I only had about 15 minutes to spare. I was ready to bail onto the sidewalk, but my brother insisted we try to park, which led us around the corner… ONTO THE FREEWAY. FACEPALM. I flipped out, already being worried about the whole day and the time-crunch. Ugh. While I called L and M to warn of my lateness, my brother was possessed by a‘Steve McQueen is Bullitt’ moment and broke a whole lot of traffic laws to get us back to Caltrain, where I really did BAIL BAIL BAIL… and hurried inside the station to find the girls. From then on, all of the traveling went smoothly. Yay! Trains are cool. Moving backwards at 70+mph with graffiti screaming past the window is cool. About halfway through the ride, M realized she forgot her ticket at home. Poor thing! So we decided to go straight to the box office once we got to San Jose.
We took the DASH shuttle to the campus, ironically named, as L said. A more apt name would be the CRAWL. XD

With a little bit of coaxing at the box office, M got a replacement ticket. That was a relief! We headed over to the ‘Funmeet’ to pick up our Mickey ears, fingerlights, and signs, but were anxious to check-in at our hotel so we didn’t stick around.
(Update: A photo of the three of us getting our stuff was on the Soompi news post. LOL.)

The Sainte Claire was a nice hotel. Clearly a product of a bygone era. The room was small, but comfy. We dropped our stuff and ate a little before heading back to the Event Center, where we joined the river of fans moving up the stairs and through security.
Inside, I headed to the floor seats and had a brainfart about the seat numbers. I was row P, seat 7… forgot that the numbers were only odds and I was the 4^th seat in from the aisle. When the girls in seat 9 and 11 arrived, my brain started working again. I could see Cheezu, so I texted her, while everyone screamed at the Mirotic clip on the big-screens. Yay for meeting people you only know online! Thank you for the fangoods, Cheezu! I tested out my camera, which is old and cranky and can’t zoom if you’re recording, knowing that it would disappoint me soon. Ha.
And to the girl sitting next to Cheezu with a shirt like Junsu’s Soccer jersey… you’re awesome!

The seats filled and I realized I was surrounded by Asian people. So many different languages. I giggled when the row behind me filled with women closer to my mom’s age. Japanese women behind me and Korean women to their right. Eavesdropped on the Japanese conversation behind me. Sooooo cute. Hahaha.
Since JYJ calls them all ‘Noonas’, I’ll call them ‘Unnies’. ^^

The arena was pretty well-filled. It doesn’t seem like the seats in the back were even available? So, yeah, good turnout.
The lights changed. Everyone screamed. スタット！！！
Empty: WOOOOO! OMGSUN!!! THEY’RE REAL PEOPLE!!! Lol. Fans rushed forward at some point and security got pissed. I think I noticed YC looking around, figuring out what the Mickey ears were.
IDS: Ah, those unfortunate lyrics. Heard a lot of ‘pants’ instead of ‘plans’ in the audience. Love that part where they walk forward slow. Junsu dancing. Good lawd. Somewhere around this time I noticed the girls next to me in 9 and 11 had a huge-lensed camera and a camcorder. Hysterical.
Nine is so effing beautiful. Mesmerizing song. Waving my lightstick and enjoying the lovely adlibs.
1^st Ment: JaeSu’s standard English greetings they have used at every show. AND SOMEONE NEEDS TO TELL YOOCHUN THAT IT’S NOT PIE-ROW. Hahaha. It’s a French word, bro. We say it the same as you. XD
Pierrot: Fun song to hear live. I really like the dance. Nice job, ladies. This song always reminds me a bit of the Love in the Ice vocal chants, which is slightly depressing. Lol.
Be My Girl: Oh, thank you seat for a perfect Junsu view. I died watching him, all happy and smiling, and danced along in my spirit-form.
Be The One: The lyrics are so dirty. Junsu dancing. Noticing a theme here? FML.
Security got increasingly aggravated. They were tapping cameras, getting people back to their seats, making people show their tickets. It was so distracting.
Ayy Girl: I still hate this song, but I like the beginning JYJ/dancer huddle. The ridiculous MV playing in the back. Again, impressed with Junsu’s endless energy and giggling at the huge glasses on the female dancers.
I Love You: I’m not fond of either YC’s or JJ’s solo songs… or the performances that accompany them. I took the opportunity to organize my lightsticks/signs/bag and noticed some girls getting led away for having some pretty harmless uchiwas and signs for Yoochun. Yeesh.
Sidenote: Having performed as a dancer many times in my life, I tend to have a different attitude toward the women in the Slaughterhouse crew, compared to other fans. The touching doesn’t really bother me. However, I will say this, the dancers are lovely, but they are very LA. For me, the LA adult club-appropriate outfits and choreography are rather awkward in a Korean pop performance for all ages. Just sayin’.
Mission: The drummer intro is fun. Security had forced us to sit down by then, which was a new experience for me. Sitting down at a concert seems very odd to me. I was like, WTF seriously? How do you sit down during Mission? Ridiculous! Again, all eyes for Junsu dancing his ass off. They definitely use stronger backing vocal for the song, but it doesn’t bother me at all considering the effort they’re putting into their dancing.
I Can Soar: Tears! I LOVE THIS SONG! Junsu has the best pronunciation on The Beginning album, in my opinion. He has such an excellent ear that he could mimic the lines fed to him in the recording studio. He loses a bit of it live, but I don’t mind. I like the addition of the dancer. Also noticed that Junsu sounds really good, like he’s had some rest. Utterly captivated after I gave up on my suddenly full camera. I am hopelessly biased and have been since day one. Beautiful man, bowing in the dark. XIAHNISM! MANSEH!
Still in Love: Like I said, I’m not fond of the song. JJ is always funny around female dancers. Again with the excessively erotic dancing. I think I kinda laughed the whole time. I adore Jaejoong, but his performance can lack heat, especially when he’s trying so hard to be sexy. Damn, skinny man needs to put on some weight. He sounded great though. Love the ethereal sound of the bridge and how he lets loose at the end.
Dance break: Cheered a lot, but I noticed Telisha got a quieter reaction. Lol… I wonder why. *cough*
CHAJATTA: Such a fantastic response to this song! They were so happy! We were so happy! Swinging those lightsticks like crazy. The energy lifted and everyone sang and aaahhhhhh! ^^ Perfect view of Junsu again. Captivated by his spirit. I love the way JJ sounds in this song. SMILES SMILES SMILES.
2^nd ment: Happy birthday screams and the cute reaction from JJ. The ‘sorry’ and Junsu’s amusement and saying ‘xie xie’ and laughing in that raspy way he does. *sigh*
Fallen Leaves: Return of the tears. Perfect Junsu view and GAHHH! I love this song foreverrrrrr! JYJ is backlit strongly with this song, so I brought out my sign for Junsu. It’s just a small sign that looks like the back of his soccer jersey, painted in silver to catch the light. Waited for the right moment when the light was strong in my direction and he was looking at our side. I only did it a few times, trying to not disturb the Unnies behind me. I don’t know if he ever saw the sign, but I did notice a little smile at one point when I watched some fancams. >.> Became very aware of how much I stare at Junsu. Sorry Soulmates. XD
Boy’s Letter: On the extended stage…. Perfect Junsu view again. Can’t wait to get the album version of this song. Junsu at the bridge is epic beyond belief. Nailed nailed nailed it. Cried again. Whooped and cheered after he hit all those huge notes.
Be My Girl remix: I was so happy to have permission to stand up finally. I had the slaughtermob memorized months ago and danced it as fully as I could considering we had so little space to do it in. JYJ and the dancers looked happy and excited. It was nice having Yoochun on our side for the second half and leading our end of the wave. Soooo much fun!
Birthday Interlude was pure cuteness. I sang the half-English/half-Korean version. Junsu with the Mickey ears killed me ‘cause he WOULD be totally comfortable sporting them. Then the JYJ hug made me teary
You’re: YooSu kept their ears on… soooo adorable, smiling so much. Yoochun looked so happy on our side. This is probably my favorite performance from the show, because they were being so silly while singing beautifully. JaeChun were dorks, like at the other shows, and Junsu LAUGHED at them while he tried to sing. Priceless. Then Junsu grabbed the Mickey ears from a fan, putting them on JJ and giving her a thumbs up. Precious. Trolling JJ with microphones and then stuffing them in Junsu’s face. *giggleThankYougiggle*
Get Out: My eyes were glued to Junsu dancing again and him sounding amazing. Everyone screaming, ‘HEEEYYY…HOOOO’ was awesome. Does Yoochun really yell what it sounds like he yells? Lol.
Empty remix: Again we had been forced to sit. WTF. Junsu’s dancing is fierce, nice solo… looked like he almost went end-over during his handstand, but he pulled out of it fine. Hehe. And then they told us to jump and people were like… ‘Can we?’ and I was like. **** THAT! I’M JUMPING!!! *jumpslikecrazy*
Rock audiences are definitely better at calling for encores. Looool.
In Heaven: Tears again. Some people brought their ‘kajima’ signs out immediately, but many waited for the first chorus to hold them high. This is really the new LITI/W. Emotions run high. Jaejoong sounds superb. PLEASE RELEASE A NEW KOREAN ALBUM SOON!!!
The standard long 90 degree bow and goodbyes, but then they just stood there. They looked at us. They looked at each other. We couldn’t quite get a proper kajima chant going, but it didn’t matter. They got the message, looking genuinely touched and reluctant to go. Jaejoong said a few last words, voice a bit thick. Along with the birthday fun, this lingering onstage for us really made the San Jose show special and something I will treasure for a long time. Then they were gone.

The show ended, the lights came on
My ears were buzzing, my lips burnt from dehydration and biting them nervously all day, arms tired, generally overwhelmed with happiness. Fans started clearing out. I hung around, making sure I had everything I brought.

I don’t know why she picked me out. Maybe she noticed my shirt. One of the Korean Unnies tapped me on the shoulder and I turned to her.
“You’re a Junsu fan?” she asked.
“Yes, I am!”
She pointed towards the middle section and said “His parents are here.”
O.O
I knew they went to the LA show, but I didn’t know they would be in San Jose.
“Ah, thank you!”
She smiled and I glanced over where a small swarm of fans was moving slowly this way from the middle section. I tidied up my things at last and then looked up, straight into the eyes of the Mother Goddess herself… not five feet from me, and nearing. 4 feet, 3 feet, 2… a slow procession down the narrow aisle, graciously greeting fans.
I think I was more stunned seeing Junsu’s Mom than seeing Junsu himself. She was exquisite as ever, a vision in white, I swear she was glowing… when I finally tore my eyes away from the sunshine smile she shares with her son, I saw Papa Kim at her side. Bright-eyed, cheerful, adorable, proud, Papa Kim. Goodness me. I had a very visceral reaction to seeing him that I can’t even describe. I have a fascination with their family, not just because of Junsu, but because I didn’t know people like that existed. It could all be a façade, of course, but if that’s the case, it’s a damn solid façade. Regardless, getting familiar with Junsu’s personality during DBSK activities made me powerfully curious of the environment he was raised in, because he seemed unreal with how real he was. Then I saw some footage of his parents, his brother, and it all made sense. I’ll try not to ramble much, but I’ll say that I learned a lot from the Kim family. Learned what a difference a stable family makes. Learned how parents can be encouraging and supportive and loving without hesitation. Learned how passionately a person can be kind. Learned how much I deeply I appreciate that kindness, and how much the environment I grew up in, lacked such consideration. Years ago, and from a great distance, the Kim family gave me an immense feeling of hope at a time when I really needed it.

All of this passed through my thoughts as they moved within reach of me, but I’m not the type to chase down famous people. I stayed put and simply watched them, a chant of thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou in my heart. They paused briefly to talk to the Unnies before continuing on, like they were sailing on a cloud of fangirls. I smiled and nodded my thanks to the woman who had touched my shoulder, then sat hard on my chair, stunned and reeling from it all.
Then Cheezu was there, bringing me back to Earth, coming around the chairs to spaz a bit. You kill me with your cuteness girl. I hope you know that. ^^ <3 It’s an odd thing to meet someone you’ve known for a while, only online. Super glad I finally got to meet Cheezu, and her friend, too! Fellow Junsu fan! Yeeaaahhh!
Then we were ushered out of the seats and out of the arena. A grandmotherly woman was a total sweetheart at the side exit door, telling us ‘they’ll be going out the back soon’ like it was wonderful little secret. So cute. And I was left pondering why she had that job. Hoping that she was a volunteer and not just unable to retire for financial or other reasons.
Back into the night air, still relatively warm, and surprisingly dry. Forecasts said rain for Friday night in San Jose. Cheezu bounced off to go JYJ hunting and I found my girls L and M at our designated meeting place. We took a few pictures together in front of the marquis and headed back to the hotel in high spirits.

Sweat/shaky hands make for crap piccies!

Needing refreshment, we ended up getting directions to a market at the front desk and walked there. I got some much-needed water. Distracted by thirst and my JYJ high, failed to grab my change out of the self-serve machine, which one of the attendants chased after me with, moments after getting out the door. It was only a few dollars, but thank you, sir! LOL.
Back to the hotel. Hydrating hydrating hydrating.
How long did we stay up? Until 2am or so? Talking talking talking. I absolutely could not have asked for better people to travel with. Thank you L and M!!! And thank you to M for letting us pick her brain about Kpop from the Korean perspective… quirks of language, cultural differences, Dongbangshinki, and JYJ, of course! Being a very isolated Kpop fan, getting to talk about it with fellow fans, including a native Korean person was seriously amazing and a hugely valuable experience.

I have no idea how much I slept. Not much. I think I only dropped off briefly a few times, nerves and brain still racing too much. Gazed at the ceiling, recalling the concert, trying to carve the details into my memory. We got up around 8:30, ate a little, packed, checked-out and got a taxi back to the Station. The northbound Caltrain was crowded and slower. The cars gradually filled with Giants fans at each stop, smatterings of the orange and black all over the place. Back to a wet San Francisco, where I parted from my companions for a car-ride home to the North Bay.

That’s it! A lot of firsts. First pop concert. First train ride. First time in San Jose. First time traveling without family. All kinds of good stuff (I don’t get out much. Lol). As much as seeing JYJ was a long-time dream of mine, I got a lot of other things out of the experience than just the joy of seeing them perform. Simply walking onto the campus and seeing the fanmeet going on was a special thing for me. I ONLY have people online to share my Asian-music interest with. Offline, I get ridiculed in all the usual ways that Kpop fans get ridiculed. So, to be with a large group of people, many ages, many different backgrounds, coming from different parts of the world, and share that mutual interest with them for the night… *sigh*
It made me inescapably happy. I felt safe and welcome and glad that I had made the effort to get there.
For that, thank you to my fellow Cassies and JYJers for being awesome!

A smattering...

Been a weird couple of weeks... psychologically. I won't go there. Ha.

Color prints! Crazy color prints!
Here we have Swelling Disruptions rolled with three colors. It features a red to orange radial gradient and a deep blue violet rolled haphazardly toward the edges. Oh, and the bevel is rolled, too. I've done a few variations with this inking. One is hanging in the display case outside our class, which has more orange, less purple. Apparently, the original black on white version is hanging in the Student Show at the gallery right now. I haven't gone down to look yet. I'm a bad art student.


A version of this one is also up in the gallery. Rare Solace rolled in blue, printed, and before cleaning the plate, rolled again. My deep etch plates are comparatively boring to the others in our class. Most people got a deep broad etch that they wiped and rolled in different colors and did the no-cleaning technique to get a series of 'ghost' prints. All kinds of beautiful variations and little surprises. Really interesting. I have variations of this with a lavender wipe below in one and a green roll in another. I'll probably mix up some more colors and try to get a few more crazy ones.



The end of the semester rush is starting to kick in. Lots of prints flying around the lab. I have felt really unproductive this go around, due to my hand problems, although four prints isn't terrible. The Seamstress has been a pain in the neck for weeks. She was a spur-of-the-moment idea I pursued for the challenge. Scraped, polished, burnished, scraped, added, subtracted, re-etched, rinsed, repeated... ugh. Still adding a chair on the right and a cat(?) sitting on that open spot to the left. Or birds? Or... some kind of animal. I keep changing my mind. And I keep making myself angry with bad scraping or things that change that I didn't want to change. What a headache. It's good for me though. I haven't ever fought with a plate as much as with this one.

A last project idea from the Prof. A 'collage' plate. Using soft-ground texture, normal needle drawing, and soft-ground drawing to make something that could resemble a page in a sketchbook. It's supposed to have:
-an area of texture in a corner
-an object in an adjacent corner
-a landscape entering from an edge
I broke the rules and just kinda went for it. I have one further state than this, where the details of the astrolabe are filled in. It needs another little circular object at the left edge to balance it. That'll happen this weekend. Maybe a little aquatint when I get back to the lab. We'll see. I'm just enjoying how free and floating it is so far. Not sure how much I'll develop it from here.

I also brought the giant history plate home with soft-ground and I want to get my drawing on it before Monday. That will be an undertaking. Oof.

As for the hand business. I think we've determined that I am allergic to something I'm working with. Possibilities include: zinc, nickel, chromium, latex, the powder in latex gloves, or something else that I don't know about. I stocked up on latex-free, powder-free gloves and have been wearing them constantly in class... even when I'm just drawing at home. While my fingers are still hyper-sensitive, I haven't had any more swelling episodes. Improvement! w00t.

I think I'll post up some of the stuff I've done in Illustrator soon for the hell of it.
Lahv lahv lahving that class.
Peace.

Detouring...

As promised.
First proofs! The color ones will come next week when I have variations to choose from. The lab on Wednesday was about 90 degrees. Oh my. Hail and rain all Spring Break and now it's an inferno. -_____-

Swelling Disruptions
rolled with a brayer only

Rare Solace
rolled with a brayer only

wiped with tarlatan only

Fingers are improving already. Yay.

Frustrations...

My hand was doing so much better. I was feeling great. All enthusiastic about getting back to work.
Past tense.
I worked on The Seamstress and a couple days later my fingers started swelling again. Put me right back down in a dark, slimy, emotional hole.
Awesome.
But now I'm side-eying the scribe I use. Wondering if that's the culprit 'cause I used other writing implements while my hand was healing and had no trouble.

Anywho...
Doodled these a few months ago, before my hand started falling apart.
I was watching 'The Mystery of Picasso' and felt like drawing a bit.
The first one was a micron pen over a thin layer of pink acrylic paint in a blackbook. Scanned it, doubled it in Photoshop, rotated, color changed, etc, etc...
Kinda fun.


The second one is decidedly more Picasso. Used a similar process to what he did in the film. Always a joy to watch an artist work in real time. Very cool documentary.



Trying to not get crazy depressed about my hand again.
Trying.
Finding it hard to be successful.
Started re-reading The Hunger Games hoping that the epic gore and injuries will make me feel better about my own condition. Kinda working.
Next post should be scans of my abstract proofs. Might dip The Seamstress, too.
Putting the scribe on quarantine. We'll see what happens.

etching in the deep...

We were presented with a process to try out. Paint out something non-representational. Let it dry thoroughly. Drop it in the deep bite bath for at least an hour. Clean the plate. Paint a new layer over top and repeat with maybe a half hour in the bath.

At the time I was going to start this, my fingers were rapidly swelling and unusable. So, both plates have a whole lot of left hand in them. Actually, this messy one is completely southpaw. The etch is deeper on it. So far, I've printed a proof in black and a couple in a deep green using only a brayer. No wipe. I think I did one with a yellow wipe and green roll, too. The print doesn't resemble the plate much, but the scan of the ragged metal looked so cool I had to post it. I'll scan my proofs next week.




I painted this one (left-handed) first and had it in the deep bite for a full three hours. You can kind of see the underlying pattern here. It was still shallow after all that time. Lol. We had some acid mixing issues over the last couple weeks. Someone's aquatint went nuts, too. Ouch. Anyway, that's when I started the messy one. I came back to this after I had printed the other and a couple of my fingers were improving. Very shakily did this concentric circle thing. I didn't know what I was doing... just letting my hand move. Then decided I liked the repetition and filled it out. Put it in the bath for about an hour, trying to keep it shallow enough that the lower level wouldn't disappear. Cleaned and took both a roll proof and a wipe proof. Looked pretty awesome in both. Came back to class after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and that's what everyone saw in it. Ugh. Not sure I want that association. At any rate, mixed some colors and did a pale lavender wipe with a transparent blue roll and it looked pretty great. My Prof got really excited. XD

Tweaking colors and layering the wipes/rolls of both will be the mission for the week back from Spring Break. I also have a 6x9-ish plate that I had to abandon while my hand freaked out. I'm calling it The Seamstress. Going to finish needling it over break and take the first proof when I get back. PLUS, there is the giant plate that I'm still planning. Since the topic has to be a 'historical event', I really want to do something Asian... Japanese or Korean... I'm leaning towards Korean. King Jeongjo and the Silhak scholars or something of the sort. Sungkyunkwan Scandal is sticking with me. I just found out it's on Hulu! Daebak! Re-watching happily.

Blah blah blah... a lot of work to do. Clearly.
Super glad to have my hand back. Trying to be gentle.
I have also fallen in love with Illustrator. Maybe I'll post some of those class projects eventually.
That's it! Crazy weather is crazy!
Late.

がんばって！

I've mentioned it in other places at other times, but it's relevant to repeat again. I keep regular contact with people from all over the world--mostly from Asia. When anything happens... earthquakes, tsunami, erupting volcanoes, hurricanes, violent sociopolitical uprisings, etc, a list starts running in my mind with names and faces of people I care about in the affected area. My heart is spattered across the world and I know it's in the right place. This was absolutely true last Thursday night. I was lazing in an armchair. Tired, but too agitated to go to bed. The news was droning on the TV.
"Just before we go to commercial break we have breaking news of a massive earthquake in Japan. We'll try to get more info--"
I had turned off the TV and run down the hall in about four seconds. I figured that if it was significant to be called 'massive', considering Japan's earthquake history, and was on my local news station... yeah. Probably not a good sign. And that list was instantly piling up in my brain.

I bet I had about 15 tabs open. NHK World stream, Aljazeera, Twitter, Facebook, CNN, on and on. Twitter timeline flying by and the helicopter footage of that wall of water swallowing land and everything on it. Horrifying.

Almost a week later, I'm lucky. Everyone I know is safe and accounted for. But I can't stop thinking about those wiped-out cities and the thousands of missing. There really aren't accurate words for how gut-wrenching that is. More like soul-wrenching. Ugh.

If I keep dwelling on this right now I'll either start crying again or ranting about how irresponsibly poor American news media is handling their reporting. Neither is constructive. So, I'll stop. Time to keep donating and praying for Japan.

あめふるときにはきみのかさになろう
かぜふくときにはきみのかべになろう
どんなに…やみのふかいよるでも
かならずあすはくるから...

Lulz through the pain...

Since my hand has been a blown up mess for the last three weeks and is taking its jolly sweet time becoming functional again... art lulz are in order.
I've had this blog linked to me multiple times today. I very nearly pissed myself through most of it.

Art students, take heed, empty your bladder before you proceed.

Art Student Owl Meme

Some assembly...

Let's see...
Fall of '08. I took Principles of Color with the exquisitely terrifying Donna Larsen. Ms. Larsen. You have to say it with a 'z'. Mzzzzzz Larsen. This is crucial. In all of her eccentric glory, she provided me an education in color that blew my mind. While this made me incredibly excited for future work, I looked around at my old art and works in progress and... deflated. Everything came to a screeching halt with the BRAND NEW INFORMATION that no other art teacher had offered me before. I loved that class. Loved it. Wuvved ittttt. Tons of interesting assignments.

This collage is made with a complimentary admixture of red-orange to blue-green. Mzz Larsen calls it 'esoteric toning'... because she can. Flat colors painted out on bristol paper to make swatches. Swatches are exacto'd into any desired shape. Then you just start stacking. Glorious fun.

Trebuchet
7x7 in. Bristol

Of course, I had to take her other class, Intro to Art & Design, in Spring '09. An equally challenging and awesome experience. Our final project was a Cubist collage. We had to show our 'workspace' in a Cubist mode, include three personal items, and use a number of specific visual cues, like reversals. We also chose a 'slim volume of verse' and had to photocopy the cover and a page from the text to include. I used 'Pieces of You' by Tablo, a South-Korean hip hop artist. Acrylic paint, photocopies, prismacolor pencils.
All of it came together so joyfully for me. Very satisfying.

Walls of My World
14x17 in. Bristol

I'm itching to do a series like this.