Currently

No new artworks today, but here are some things I have been enjoying:

Currently

• Watching: no tv for the next four months, so I have filled my spare time with the movies The Young Victoria, Elf, and Dirty Dancing.
• Listening to: Lord Huron. Go listen to them because they are fantastic!
• Eating: I made homemade broccoli cauliflower soup last week and loved it so much that I bought all the ingredients again and will be making it tonight. Perfect for a cold winter night!
• Obsessing over: every single set of dishes at Anthropologie. Is there no end to the cuteness?
• Reading: Jane Eyre...again! It never gets old guys. I pretty much am Jane.
• Wearing: mint pants, black and white striped tee, oatmeal cardigan, large pink statement necklace.
• Wishing for: This lovely wooden globe to start documenting my missionaries, this pretty pillow, and this art print made by Leah Duncan.

Leah Duncan

Hello Hello Hello! Can anyone say 2nd to last week of school! Only 4 more head drawing classes...oh praise all that is good! That class has taught me so much, but boy can't I wait to scoot my little booty out of there.

Today consisted of a Christmas overload. We finished the window, hung four giant snowflakes, made paper chains, put up Christmas lights, baked cookies, wrapped our door in glitter wrapping, glitter ribbons, and a giant green glitter bow, and then played Christmas music until we started hearing the same songs over and over again. I think you could say it was a success. Here are my snowflakes (which, personally, I think are stellar!).

Mckinzi entered the MTC...no tears yet, but I did read this wonderful blog post and I got some really good ideas of packages to send to her. If you are looking for ideas for missionaries take a look: http://hollytherobinson.blogspot.com/2012/11/what-do-i-send-novel-by-holly-robinson.html?spref=fb

Big news of the day: MY CAMERA CAME!!!!! I cannot contain my excitement! She is a beauty! I have a feeling her name is going to be Baby-for no good reason except I feel like it fits...and that's all I have called her since opening the package. Plus it makes me think of Dirty Dancing, which is a fantastic movie that all of you should see.

So now let's talk about what I really wanted to talk about today (sorry this post seems forever long!). I was reading my favorite blog of all time-All Things Lovely-and stumbled upon a wonderful wonderful artist who has inspired me even more than my beloved David Weidman. She does pretty much exactly what I want to do with my art talent. Her name is Leah Duncan, she is a graphic designer now turned self-employed artist, and her work has been featured all over! This girl has created prints for Urban Outfitters and Target yo! Seriously she is so cool. Take a look

Aren't they all just fantastic! Her work is so beautiful and so very very me! All images were found on her website: http://www.leahduncan.com/index.html, but you can also find her work on Etsy, or her online store: http://shop.leahduncan.com/. Seriously, go take a look! I would love any of her prints, or towels, or pillows. Every. Single. One. They are all perfect! Definitely worth opening the piggy bank for! So go shopping and put them in your house and I will be jealous and maybe come steal them from you...jk...maybe. So on that happy note, Goodnight! Have a wonderful Thursday! k loves bye

An update on Stanley

Well hey!

Tomorrow my cousin enters the MTC as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I haven't cried yet, but I have a feeling it's going to hit me tomorrow and I just might end up in tears in the middle of a lecture. This cousin is the one who got me through my first semester of college, who took me out for hot chocolate on nights when my roommates weren't being all that nice, and who was always there to take me grocery shopping, or out to a movie, or over for games. She is THE BEST! I don't know what I am going to do without her! Baltimore, you are one lucky city and you are about to get a whole lot of lovely coming to you on a plane in two weeks. Take a look at this pretty girl

Aren't I just great a drawing hearts...NOT! It looks like I've never had a drawing class in my life hahaha.

Ok, so I have 5 illustrations done for my cousin's poem and I can't wait to show you! I think Stanley is a stud, and I like to think he has an inner hipster side. Gosh, why else would he be wearing a bow tie!

Isn't he cute! I love him so much! And speaking of things that are cute, here is a video I found today that I am just dying over! Seriously, how can such a morbid song be so stinkin cute? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJNR2EpS0jw#

Well I guess that's all for today. I am going to finish my snowflakes and I will post them tomorrow. k, loves, byyyyyeeee!

Pie...thou art a heartless dessert!

Is anyone else stuffed to the brim on stuffing, potatoes, turkey and pie? Seriously I think I might burst. Why is it that no matter how many slices of pumpkin pie I eat I just want another one? There has got to be an end to the craving right? Isn't there some point where you are so full that even the idea of pie makes you sick? If so I haven't found it. Even now, sitting at my desk, four days after Thanksgiving, I am still dreaming of it. Pie...you will be the death of me. (And let's just be clear that when I say pie I am referring to Pumpkin, Pecan, and Amish. None of this mixed berry and cherry stuff!)

Thanksgiving break was filled with family, food, and late night Ben and Jerry's icecream runs. It was also filled with reruns of our favorite cousin game which, although fun, would get me some pretty disgusted/crazy looks if I shared it with you....so sorry. Just imagine something awkward and hilarious.

Also during Thanksgiving break I managed to get some more illustrations done for my cousin's poem. You can look forward to seeing those tomorrow! They are coming out pretty cute guys, and I am excited.

And finally, because I have no artwork to share today, here are some beautiful paper snowflakes that I found online. I am currently making my own snowflakes (a tradition in the making) in the hopes of out-Christmasing all the other apartments around us. Yah, I have such a great holiday spirit haha! I will post pictures of my own creations tomorrow as well. Happy Holidays and goodnight!

Home again, Home again, Jiggety-Jig

I am HOME!!!!!!

Thanksgiving break you are a godsend and I am so so soooo grateful! Isn't it wonderful that we have a whole holiday dedicated to being thankful and pie and family! Plus it isn't snowing this Thanksgiving!

 First night into my break and I am already out Christmas shopping. I may or may not have picked out this little number! Adorbs right!

I am also on the lookout for gifts for mom and dad. I am thinking a board game, or a coffee table book, or maybe a pair of slippers for daddio; and maybe some pretty dishes for mom.

If anyone is looking for anything for me I am diggin all this geometric jewelry coming out lately. I even made a collage of all the great pieces I am currently drooling over.

Why does everything have to be so pretty! Anyways, I think that's all for today because I am gonna go spend time with the family! Have a happy Thanksgiving and don't forget to count your blessings, because you have oh so many of them! k loves bye

My Dream

This is one of those personal posts...so read if you want, but don't feel like you have to haha.

Ok, so my whole life I have felt that there is some grand future waiting for me. Somehow I don't feel like my little Utah Mormon life is quite all I want. It's a happy life, and one that I have loved and will always love, but I have always known that one day I will venture off and find some new place to explore and enjoy. The desire to find this place has grown as I have grown and I am reaching the point where it is becoming almost painful for me to have not found it yet. So, what does this mean? Well after a lot of thought here is my answer: Europe.

I need to go there. I need to be there! I can feel it calling me an I am dying to experience it.

 My solution to this problem is to join the travel studies program at BYUI, but that's easier said than done. First of all it is EXPENSIVE! As in I would be taking out a loan for a good $6,000. My parents aren't too happy about that. Also, it's a lot of work. I would be taking classes from September to April and then traveling all through May. I would have to learn how to live out of a suitcase, and be social to people with languages that I don't understand, and not get lost in busy foreign airports. Frankly the idea scares me to death, and so, unfortunately, I passed the opportunity up this year. And I have been in mourning ever since.

Almost two weeks after the deadline for the application I discovered a little blog that changed my life called All Things Lovely at http://monicalettaloves.blogspot.ch/ Now this blog made me cry...Why? Well because this blog was created by a lovely woman who attended the same college I am going to and then went off and is now living this dream of mine. I started crying, really I did. I even texted my best friend telling her I was crying. Believe me, it is hard to have passed up an opportunity to start living your deepest dreams and desires only to find out that someone chose to embrace their future and is now doing exactly what you want to do. This beautiful woman's name is Monica and she lives in Switzerland. As I was reading her "About me" page I started checking all of the things she has done off my list. This is her statement:
 "I graduated December 2009 from Brigham Young University Idaho in Graphic Design, Art History and Photography. Those are my loves. A few weeks after I graduated I moved to Zurich area Switzerland to be an Au pair for an American family there. I met my cute Swiss Jachen there, didn't see that coming, and then a year later I married him.
I'm from the Seattle area, but now find myself living with my Swiss husband in the hills of Switzerland where I don't speak a lick of German...okay maybe 10 words. We plan on moving to the States Spring 2013, cross your fingers!"

I was in awe, and very very emotional at the time. This was everything I wanted, everything I have been wishing for my whole life, and she had it! My goal right then and there was to try and be as courageous and wonderful as Monica! Starting next September I will be putting in my papers for the Travel Studies program. I will take out that loan and I will tour Europe! Maybe I will find a place that I love, one that I want to go back to, and after graduation maybe I will go there. I don't know if I will meet my husband like Monica did, and I don't know if I will live in Europe, but I do know I want to travel and see this beautiful world. I want to create art and share my love of beauty. I want to be adventurous! I want to be that girl! And I can be if that's what I really want. I know this!

So here's to living your dreams, and being brave! Who knows, maybe this will change my whole life...in a way I am excited for that to happen. I have always known that I could be something more, and now I know I will be. So that's that, here we go!

(Sorry if you found that long and boring, but I needed to write out these feelings because they have hit me strong and hard today for no apparent reason.)

Star Wars, Twilight, and pre-Christmas excitement

Hello! This weekend has been a relaxing one, so I only have one thing to show you. I finished my watercolor of Han Solo, but decided to use it just as a practice because I like the end result, but I don't love it. It also doesn't look exactly like him and I feel that since I am taking a head drawing class for heaven's sake I should be able to paint something that looks just like the actual person.

Yah, you can see that I had difficulties with the face. I do love the texture I gave him though! I wanted the whole thing to have a very galaxy-ish feel to it, so I used salt to make some cool patterns on his vest and background.

On a completely unrelated note I went and saw Breaking Dawn part 2 yesterday night. It was epic! Let me just say that as much as people hate the Twilight Series, I love them, and always will. You have to admit that it was a captivating read even if it was cheesy and Bella was a depressing/pathetic female lead. The movies tended to reflect the books. I loved the second book and I loved the second movie. All the other ones were a bit silly. I also love the second half of the last book, and I love the second part of the last movies. It was quite a finale and they included the one scene that I wished the book would have included, plus they did it in a way that was captivating and exciting. Way to end on a high note Twilight! I am impressed! So, go see it...or don't...but don't refuse to go see it because everyone is saying it's lame and you want to fit in even though you secretly love it. That is stupid, and it proves you can't think for yourself.

Alright, I think that's enough of my rambling. Have a happy Saturday! Only a few more days until Thanksgiving! It's almost time for Christmas songs (yes I am one of those people who refuses to have anything to do with Christmas until after Thanksgiving)! And finally be excited because this December is going to be epic in the movie department. Monsters Inc 2, Great Gatsby, Les Mis, Life of Pi, and The Hobbit...don't mind if I do.

Letterpress and the magical qualities it possesses

Yo....

So, long day today. I took my huge test on the brain and both nervous systems in 15 minutes flat (I know!) and I guess it turned out to be a good thing because I ended up with an 87% which is more than I hoped for, but less than I wanted after seeing the questions. I could have done better guys, I really could have. But OH WELL because it's done and over with and I am so elated. No more studying until 3am; no more carrying my science notebook around with me EVERYWHERE (I cannot emphasize that word enough); and no more frantic google searches for words like neurotransmitter, post synaptic transmission, and corpora quadrigemina (which is your superior and inferior colliculi located in the midbrain above the pineal gland in case you wanted to know).

Also, on a completely unrelated note, my stress was amplified today due to annoying roommates. Seriously, do you not know what a garbage can is and what it is used for? When you have garbage you throw it away! You don't leave it on the counter for DAYS until I come pick it up! I am not your mom, nor your maid, and believe me I have been both before and it's only cool if you get paid...even then, not very cool. So grow up and learn to clean. Also, don't think that because you unloaded the dishwasher 4 times this week you can skip clean checks. I am sorry I do all of my own dishes so I never have to unload the dishwasher, but that doesn't mean I am going to clean your sink and toilet. Pa-leeezzz!

Ok sorry just had to get that out there! So, what I really want to talk about is the amazing seminar I went to today. The guy's name was Ben Webster and he was cool. Cool as in owns his own shop in Salt Lake City and prints beautiful things all day long on antique printmaking presses and totally said we could stop by whenever to get a tour kind of cool. I will be taking you up on that offer as soon as possible ma friend! He also made this beautiful poster for John Mayer when he met him (!!!) and had a whole bunch of leftover limited edition copies, but unfortunately art students are ferocious and will push and shove their way to the front of the room to grab all of the copies before you can get there. Rude. So I left home empty handed and heartbroken, but with a new resolve to start my own sortof business. First goal after graduating college will be to get my own press! I seriously cannot wait! One day I too can be as cool as you! If you don't know what letterpress or printmaking is take a look at some of these pictures I found online.

You can see that as the paper goes through the press it causes an indent in the actual paper. This is part of the charm of letterpress, and why it is so expensive to have done. This aint no cheap printout from your home computer! This was most likely done on a 100 yr. old press and it took time!

This is Ben Webster's business card and it is beautiful! I love old processes like letter press and printmaking. It speaks to the creativity and the messy artist inside me. I love the idea of working with ink and getting my hands dirty and being around old machines that are full of history. It really doesn't get any better than this!

In which you find out just how much of a nerd I really am

Holla at yer gurl cuz I totally finished everything that was on that list! Did I eat my whole box of icecream in the process? Maybe. Did I go to bed at 6:30am last night after studying? You betcha I did! Sometimes you just have to buckle down and get stuff done and that's what I did. My Thanksgiving break is going to be relatively stress free now! I really think I deserve a nap...and an A+, but unfortunately my teachers don't always have the same ideas that I do, or the same respect for LAAAAATE night study sessions.

Anyways...........

I have no new artwork to show you. Booo I know. But, I do have ideas for projects that I want to show you.
First, my next watercolor assignment: portraits from photos. Oh boy this is gonna be good! Sometimes I like to show off how much of  nerd I am to the whole world, but only sometimes, and this is one of those times. Can you say Han Solo? That's right! He is my next project, and what a perfect face for me to paint!

This man is bad-A I tell you. And he was perfect in Star Wars and I will forever love him for it. He was my first real crush guys.

Second project: recreate this little piece of amazingness!

Yah you would think I would want to spend my Thanksgiving stuffing my face with pie and sleeping the afternoons away, and I do, but I also want to make my own version of this amazing painting. It is so pretty and so very very much my style. Oh goodness I am so excited!

Third, I saw this and fell in love. I will be reworking my wardrobe to try and recreate some of the graphic quality seen here. Really, how cool is this artwork!

K I think that's it for today! loves from the Jen. byyyyye

And just when you think you've reached the end of the craziness...you find out crazy has a crazy underground garage

This weekend has taken itself to a whole new level. In fact, it has decided to push it's craziness into this coming week so that I won't have one free moment until I hop in that car and drive myself out of this crazy crazy place and reset my settings with a large bowl of pumpkin pie and icecream. Thanksgiving you cannot come fast enough! Here's the to do list guys:
1. catch up on head drawings- as in finish the 4 assignments that you still haven't done!!!
2. draw up sketches for all of the pages of the book you are illustrating
3. finish first page illustration for book
4. finish all hw assignments for science class by Sunday at 11:45!
5. study for that killer anatomy test you have on wednesday, and by study I mean STUDY HARD!
6. buy camera
7. research classes and then sign up for classes(at 6am mind you! who does that???)
8. go online and pay off all fines, class fees, and i-card balances so that you can sign up for said classes
9. transfer money for grocery shopping
10. tithing settlement, church, and BOM reading for class
11. finish watercolor assignment and draw up plan for next assignment
12. study for art history test!
13. draw and cut out a giant Idaho for katie's lesson plan

Holy guacamole that is quite the list! I have had three days to do it all and obviously it all hasn't gotten done-hence my overload of everything pushing its way into my school week. I have been doing homework from 10 in the morning until 1 or 2 at night every day. I am about to drop over dead so any cookies or pumpkin flavored sweets would be greatly appreciated haha.

I wanted to show you some images of the book I am illustrating right now. It's for my cousin, and it's for a poem he wrote himself which is sooooo cute! It's all about a little snail named Stanley who goes on adventures and is super cool. Take a look:

Isn't he cute! I am still working on the colors for him, because I don't think purple and yellow suit him...maybe orange and blue? I am not sure yet, but I promise to post more pictures as his story continues hahaha! Make up for my crazy Sunday by having a restful one with a long nap! I guess you will hear from me  as soon as I can pull my head out of that long list of schoolwork. K loves bye!

First Christmas gift of the season!

Whew this weekend is already busy busy busy! I am a little behind in a few of my classes, so these next few days I will be playing catch up. I will also be studying my butt off because the test to end all tests is right around the corner and I am unprepared! What is the test of all tests you ask? Oh just you know, a test on anything and everything remotely related to the brain and both central and peripheral nervous systems. Should be a piece of cake...right.

Well luckily I have already finished a few of the projects due on Monday and one of them came out really really cool. My assignment was to pick an animal and place it in a background that you came up with, so I painted myself some deer and used the lane that leads up to my family's cabin on Navajo Lake as a background and I think it came out pretty darn cute.

I also decided to use it as a Christmas gift for my daddio, because he is the best dad in the world and totally respects my choice to do art as a career; so what better than a painting just for him! Also, our cabin was built by his grandpa so I know it holds a special little place in his heart. Homeade Christmas gifts rock too! I love getting hand crafted things from my brothers and friends. It shows that they are willing to give me their time as well as their money.

I think that's all for today, but tomorrow I want to share a fun little project I have been working on with you. Be excited because it's cute, silly, and adorable all in one. k bye!

KIM

Alright, let's talk about Kim. Who is Kim you ask? Well, let me tell you. She is only like the most awesome artist I know, and we totally talk all the time! Like today she told me about how funny her figure drawing class was and I laughed and then she said my shirt was awesome. I nearly died...of happiness!

You see, we went to highschool together she and I. She is a year older than me so of course I just drooled over how cool she was and how awesome her artwork was. I totally voted for her for student body artist. Then, she went off to BYUI and came back to visit and told me all about how fun it was and how great the art program was. I got excited, and really really confused, because for forever I had thought that BYU Provo was the place for me, but now I didn't think so. Anyways, long story short, I ended up here at BYUI and I fell in love with it all. Then I saw Kim around and at first it was kinda awkward like "hi...how are you? Good...yah me too." But no more! I can feel the friendship comin on! However, I refuse to tell her I kept that little fish she drew for me back in highschool, because I don't want to freak her by how much of a creepy stalker I am. That can wait. It was an awesome fish though, and we all know I have this thing for fish.

So, I am sure you are dying to see her artwork. Believe me she is one of a kind, and she will blow your mind! Enjoy!

Seriously, if one day I am half as cool as her I will be content.

I think that's it for today, as if that wasn't quite enough haha. Have a happy Friday! k loves bye

Head Drawing No. 2

Well, it's been a while since I last posted about my head drawing class, but to be honest it was because that class has become my most hated and dreaded class. Six hours a week of pure torture, not counting the endless hours of outside work. I think I dislike it so much because it's the basics and I never really learned the basics. Now I am being forced to learn them and it's a slap in the face. So here we go!

We began doing full value liftouts on white paper. This was a good try, but obviously there are many things wrong with it, like that weird shadow on the top of her forehead and the fact that she looks like she's missing a chunk of hair up there too.

Second try was much better, but still it's not quite as good as it could be. Unfortunately my teacher only spent two class periods on full value liftouts, so that's all I got to do.

Moving on to white charcoal on Canson toned paper. This is tough for me! I may or may not have been told that my heads suffer from "onion skin" when I use white charcoal, and that I don't understand value correctly.      This may have caused some heartbreak...and some crying...and possibly some late night phone calls to my mom where I balled my eyes out. Dropping out of college and becoming a starving artist has never looked so good!

My second attempt. Still a little pathetic. I can never get the shape of the eyes right!

The final piece! I actually really love this one and blessed Hallelujah so does my teacher! This might be a wall hanging people. Finally some improvement, although after today I feel like I am back at the bottom again. That's all I have for now, but we are currently working on full value buildups so expect more pictures! k loves bye