Tis the season for a handmade Christmas!

 

Christmas presents for my best friends.  Can you guess who is who?

7x10, collage and drawing.

Lucky Boys

These are from over the summer, but I never shared.  Did these for two of my favorite boys in world, Cody and Ian.  Don't think I will be drawing many boy hairstyles in the future, though.

Big day tomorrow...

HUGE.

 

Bubba

 

Long long long awaited tattoo drawing for another friend.  With shading and without. About 5x7.

Chief

 

Chief, 2012. Pen and watercolor. 9x13.

Drawing for a friend... trying to get better at keeping promises of creating things for the ones I love.

Super

Acrylic on canvas, 2012.

An epic painting two years in the making.

Update

How has the entire month of October already come and gone?! Tallahassee has yet to feel a consistent fall breeze, although the nights have been cool and wonderful.  We have been spending them with good friends at the Princess House playing backyard football, carving pumpkins, sitting around our brand spankin' new fire pit, and indulging in some AMAZING food (it surprises me how good we actually are at cooking).

The BFA warehouse has been cooling down a lot and I have been trying to get some work done over there too! My parents finally got to see my space when they came to visit us.  Speaking of work, I have had a zillion projects going on and am feeling very in over my head, which is frustrating.  Guess it is finally time to learn some time management!

So until I can learn to juggle school, work, and play like a grown-up, I'll just enjoy the beginning of fall in Florida.

My studio all finished... well, for the most part!

From Across the Sea

Last weekend was just so great!  Cody's friend and boss, Nick Ballon, stopped by good ol' Tallahassee on his way to South America to visit his former assistant.  Nick was the photographer that Cody worked for last semester in London.  We were determined to give him a very American experience, and I think we may have succeeded.

Wednesday night we had a great homecooked meal, compliments of Cody of course, and Thursday night we went out to some very college, very American bars.  Friday morning I made pumpkin waffles in celebration of the first day of fall (SO EXCITED), and then we were off to explore the city! We went to the top of the capitol building to see the view of Tallahassee from twenty-two floors up, and then travelled across town to Cody's favorite lake.  Cody was testing out some old Polaroid 4x5 film that he was able to snag, Nick was experiencing Tallahassee's nature at its finest, and I was just there for the ride.  Saturday was a day of grilling and college football with friends ("I've got crisps, buns, and beer and I've neva felt more American!"), and Sunday we said goodbye and Nick was on his way to Bolivia!

I had to add this.  Here is Cody testing out some shots, and Nick slapping the water with a stick after speaking with a biker who mentioned that there was a baby alligator in the lake and causing commotion would be the only way for it to come to us.  Greeaaaattt idea.

Backyard Portrait Shoot

Cody has been busy working on his big "thesis" project before he graduates, so when our dear friend Ian was in town, Cody took advantage of the extra hands to photograph Catie's boyfriend, John. 

Do they ever have shirts on?

Left: Ian and John checking out the light meter.

Right: Catie relaxing in the background.

A Sweet Care Package

 If it has not been made obvious yet, I will admit that I am a bit of a procrastinator.  And during the holiday season, procrastination is not a good thing at all.  I left all of my wrapping and shopping to the last minute. And—gasp—my mother ran out of wrapping paper!

I have never really understood the point of wrapping paper.  I mean, sure, there are some really pretty patterns out there, but I have always opted for the less formal (and free) newspaper wrapping.  This winter, I decided to put a spin on the traditional "Funnies" wrapping job.

Every year I do Secret Santa with my best girlfriends, and this time around I had the lovely Emma.  She is one creative sista, so I thought that I needed to step up my game with my wrapping job.  This little newspaper bow was quite easy to make...

First, I simply tore the newspaper into long strips and folded it to make clean edges.  I wrapped two strips around the box. (Sometimes it doesn't wrap the entire way, which is completely acceptable.  I just taped it to the bottom!)

Next I folded a thicker strip to create the base of the bow.  I folded the ends inward and wrapped a tiny strip around the middle, taping it to secure it.  I then fluffed the bow up to make it softer and less rigid looking.

Finally, I simply taped down the bow to the criss-crossed strips to create the illusion of this being actual ribbon!

 

I can see myself using this technique often in the future as it seemed to be a big hit amongst my family and friends.  A little late for holiday presents, but a great idea for birthdays and such!

"Make each day of the week like Friday and your life will take on new enthusiasm."

—Byron Pulsifer

My Friday was just so eventful. 

I had my last art history class of the semester (woo hoo!) and then hurried back to my disastrous apartment to finish up my project for George's Walking/Looking/Making class.  At about 4:30 I headed over to the Art Alley, where we were displaying our work in a Get Green show.  The alley is such a mysterious, magical place.  Tucked away behind the Engine Room, St. Michael's Pub, and Paul Putkovsky's artist studio, this is a place where inspiration and nature intertwine.  This alley is often frequented with drifters and the homeless, who both respect and sometimes add to the art that is installed by FSU art classes.  

So Catie, Cody, and CJ came to help me set up my work.  I did Micron pen (of course) and watercolor studies of changing leaves, mounted onto class.  They came out surprisingly well—I initially was not excited to show them off.  However, the setting sun cast such lovely shadows of the chain link fence behind the drawings.  The watercolors were intensified with the golden light, which made me extremely pleased.  

Cody and me hanging the frames on the chain link fence of the Engine Room's roof.

Left: My favorite watercolor job of them all—the purple and oranges were incredible in the dusk light.

Right: Me cutting twine.  Photo is compliments of my lovely sister, Catie.

All hung up!  Catching the last bit of sunlight.

The sunlight was replaced by spotlights at night.  Showtime!

After my class had our critique, Catie and I left and went bowling with the boys.  BUT THEN, there was an intense snowball fight on the Union Green.  Yes, I said snowball fight.  Twenty tons of ice was brought down from North Carolina and shaved into snow and spewed out over students as a very dangerous, but very delightful, snowball fight commenced below.  These pictures are from my phone and definitely not noteworthy, but you do get the feeling of happiness when the "first snow" of the winter has fallen...

We thought that this was going to be it...

After so much more ice was shaven, a ridiculous snowball fight ensued.

Ahh, I can't say enough how much I love this time of the year.

Classes are over, and I have one installation for drawing on Tuesday, and an art history exam on Friday. I see a lot of catching up on due drawings and online TV in my future.

"Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in a single day."

-Robert Caspar Lintner

I have eaten so much food today, and there is nothing else I would rather be doing than sitting with my grandmother on the couch, watching football, beginning my long night of digestion.

Here are just some things that I find myself thanking God for everyday:

• my family
• Cabernet Savignon
• Goodwill
• my kitten and puppy
• Justin Bieber
• my best friends
• college football
• San Francisco, California
• artists great and small
• John Donne
• Sex and the City
• Longboat Key, Florida
• laughter
• deodorant
• thunderstorms

Tomorrow, the Christmas season officially begins.  Decorating all day with my Mama!  Only to be followed by a sleepover with my best friends.  This is just a glorious time of year.

"Exploration is really the essence of the human spirit."

-Frank Borman

I love hanging out with Emma.

She came up to school to visit me for the weekend and we had a blast! Went to my favorite thrift store, drove out of the city to get to a vintage shop, walked around Railroad Square, and explored an abandoned Coke factory! So many more pictures available on my Flickr, worth checking out. :)

Abandoned Coke factory... loading area?

Started the day off with Bruegger's Bagels' butternut squash soup, yum!

Coke factory bathroom window.

Railroad Square.

Beautiful trash at Railroad Square.

My lovely best friend.

Silver Lake

So yesterday, I get a call from my best friend, Cody. He had his teachers very, VERY expensive medium format camera for the day and wanted to shoot my sister's friend down at Silver Lake. So we all piled into the car between my classes and headed down there.

The place was very quiet, very peaceful. There was only an abandoned (probably stolen) jeep to welcome us down the dirt road. The pictures would have been amazing. It feels so great to be able to hold a camera that nice. However, they just didn't come out.

You can thank my lovely sister, Catie, for this picture. Editing by me. More that I took will be up on Flickr. Love spontaneous trips with my best friend.