Browsing Art

For an artist, the best inspiration and motivation comes from looking at other artists' work. This is one of the big reasons why creative people love to travel and soak in the creativity that other countries have to offer. After my trip to New York and seeing the vast amount of artwork I did, I was exploding with inspiration and the first thing I wanted to do was hurry home and let it all out in my sketchbook.

There are other ways to be exposed to other artists' work without having to spend hundreds of dollars to travel to another country. There are so many websites designed specifically for artists to exhibit their work and this way you can browse other peoples' artwork as well.

Sometimes I'll spend hours at night browsing these websites. Looking at other artwork will help you cook up ideas for your own. I definitely think every artist should be constantly exposed to other artists. It is why my four years at MTA were as successful as they were. Working in a studio environment with other artists really helped trigger inspiration for my own ideas. Professors constantly encouraged us to get up and look at everyone else's work.

One website that many MTA Fine Arts students participate in is www.feelsgood.ca/ which states it's "for anyone who loves the emerging artwork and underground music scene."

Another website is www.stumbleupon.com/ which I've blogged about before. All you have to do is check off "art" in the category section and you'll be browsing through fantastic artworks/

Here are a few websites that I've bookmarked that you should check out (click on the name to redirect to the website and click on the picture to enlarge):

Claire Morgan Installations

Sam Jinks

Pencil Crayon Sculptures

Won Park Origami

L Filipe dos Santos

Hannah Stouffer

Moolf Street Illusions

I've discovered just these few of many websites on Stumbleupon.  If you sign up (for free) you can save which websites are your favorite.  It's such a great website to browse art.

Prince of the Dolls.

We all have certain "things" that remind us of the holidays.  Some people say clementines taste like Christmas.  Some people may say that ginger bread cookies fresh from the oven smell like Christmas.  We've been gathering memories for years associated with this time of the year.  There is something that, for me, is Christmas.  

The Nutcracker Prince.  The cartoon from 1990.  I became completed obsessed with this movie and have watched it countless numbers of times.  When I was little, I wanted so much to be Clara and to fall in love with The Nutcracker Prince, like her.  I had my very own wooden Nutcracker Prince doll that I envisioned coming to life as soon as I fell asleep.  I treated him with as much care and love as Clara did.  

I remember the Christmas when I was nine years old.  All I wanted was ballet slippers - just like the ones Clara unwrapped on Christmas Eve.  I was never so excited when I unwrapped them.  I ran into my parents' room - waking them up - showing them what Santa had brought me.  I slipped my feet into them and danced to The Nutcracker Prince soundtrack. I wore them everywhere; Eventually, through the years, they turned rugged and torn and were much too small for me, but I still tried to squeeze my feet into them.  I was terribly sad when my pink ballet slippers were thrown out.

Sometimes, it's hard to get into the Christmas mood for whatever reason.  I remember the year my sister couldn't come home for the holidays - it didn't feel like Christmas at all.  Sometimes, all you have to do is take a bite of a clementine, smell cookies baking, or watch an old movie to snap you back into the spirit again,

I only wish I had pink ballet slippers to dance in.

Christmas is for Children

Do you remember when you stopped believing in Santa Claus?  Did the magic of Christmas fade a little bit?  Christmas Eve was your most favorite memory where you would anxiously lay in bed, hurrying to sleep so you could wake to a tree full of presents; however, the more you thought about it, the farther from sleep you traveled.  Did that excitement and anticipation grow dull as you got older?

I don't think it did for me and my family.  My sister is 34, my brother is 27, and I am 22 (well, almost).  We still go through the same Christmas routine like we did when we were fifteen years younger.  My sister and I stay up Christmas Eve, watching Christmas specials that are taped on a video cassette tape.  Then we watch The Nutcracker Prince while sipping on hot chocolate.  Mum, busily wrapping presents, hands them off to us to Jenga-style stack them under the tree.  We write a letter for Santa and leave him a snack.  My sister and I have a sleepover in her room where we brush eachother's hair and play card games.  We say our prayers and eventually fall into a sleepless dream.  

I wake up and go out in the living room to see the tree exploding with presents, the stockings filled and Santa's responding letter.  I'm allowed to open one gift... but it has to be from Santa.  I do, but not before I grab my stocking and empty its contents on the floor.  My sister wakes up and comes out after me.  She looks through her stocking and opens up her one gift.  We're anxiously waiting for our parents to wake up so we can finish destroying the tree's contents.  My brother wakes up and joins us.  After three or four trips into Mum's and Dad's room, they finally come out.  Dad starts making breakfast.  I can smell and hear the sizzle of the bacon from the kitchen as my mother points out "the bow bag", "the wrapping paper bag" and "the tissue bag", instructing us to put the reusable goods in its proper bag.

It's mostly the same today - only slightly different now that my sister is married and has a baby.  We've still been writing Santa letters for years, and the gifts still aren't put under the tree until my sister, my brother and me are asleep.  We caught Mum once... with a massive garbage bag, emptying presents that were tagged "Love Santa".  It was early in the evening and we weren't close to being tired.  My brother and I snapped at Mum.  She laughed and took the presents back in her room.  

We still did the Santa routine, long after the belief of Santa was gone.  But that magic is more vivid than ever now that my two and a half year old little nephew will be waking up with us on Christmas morning.  It's not even close to Christmas eve but I'm so excited.  I feel like I'm six years old again and I can't wait for Santa to come.  I'm most looking forward to my nephew's reaction and getting excited with him.  

I'm excited because Christmas is when my family and I are together once again - and it's that magic of Santa that makes us all feel like children again.  It's that magic of Santa that makes us all feel so close.  It's that magic of Santa that makes us forget the stress of the world and makes us believe that nothing else matters but being together.

In a way, we never stopped believing in Santa... and I don't think we ever will.

Lack of Sleep

It's after two in the morning and I just finished chowing down a bowl of delicious Kraft Dinner. Ah, yes... it's that time of the season for all-nighters, powered by Redbull, consisting of non-stop studying and note-writing (and/or painting).

At the end of every semester, my body is triggered off schedule; I find it almost impossible to sleep comfortably... or at all. I lay in bed, for hours, tossing and turning, thinking of all the work I could be doing. It's not that I don't want to sleep. I love sleep and if I could sleep I most certainly would. But I just can't. I've tried, trust me. I'm physically and mentally exhausted but as soon as my head hits the pillow I immediately transform into the Energizer Bunny, hungry for activity.

So, I can either lay in bed - restless - for the majority of the night... or I can stay up and be productive.

Exam period, for me, is like every night is Christmas Eve and no matter what I can't do, I CANNOT sleep. I'm certainly not excited for anything. Wait. Maybe that's it. Maybe I'm just so excited for my work to be finished, for me to travel home and for Santa to come.

I can almost see the finish line... it's just buried in a mountain of notes and half painted canvases. Oh yes, that's what it's like. Alright, let me put it another way:

You're asleep and dreaming. You're trying to get to the end of the hallway to exit the door. You're walking and the door keeps getting farther away. You run, but you can't fun fast enough. It feels as though a massive thousand-pound weight is holding you back. Why?

You're asleep and dreaming. Someone is chasing you. You try to fly. You usually succeed in flying for leisurely purposes; However, the one time you actually need to get away... you lack your flying abilities. They've diminished. You can only float up a few feet off the ground before the bottoms of your feet pitter-patter against the gravel again. Why?

You're asleep and dreaming. You meet someone famous. You're excited. You can't believe it. You try to find a pen to get an autograph. The pen is ink-less. You reach for your camera only to realize you'd left it in your dresser drawer. You run back to your house to find it, knowing for a fact that that the camera is there. It's not there. Why?

Now, combine all of those feelings into one and it's exactly what I'm experiencing right now. I'm awake and not happy about it. I'm trying to get work done. Nothing is going my way. I can see the finish line, but no matter what I do I can't get closer to it. I'd love to sleep it all away... but I can't.

WHY?!

Guys Hate Twilight.

People, mostly men, are complaining about Twilight/New Moon... saying that it's demeaning to men.  It's obvious from the hollers in the mostly-female theatre audience that the men are being objectified.  For most of the movie, Jacob and his gang are shirtless, showing off their chiseled bodies.  Bella, the main character, is the one who drives the plot forward.  And, as physically powerful as Jacob and Edward are, they fall weak to Bella whom they love.  She is the one who holds the control and decided who she wants to be with, therefore, she's the one that drives the plot forwards.

I know several guys that these movies actually infuriate.  They claim Twilight/New Moon sets fantasized expectations that real guys feel they could never live up to.  Many guys are pissed that Stephanie Meyer is projecting these fake men who are highly sexualized.  These guys sit, uncomfortable, in the movie theatre while girls shriek when Jacob whips off his shirt.

I'm curious as to why men are uncomfortable with their own objectification while women are basically numb to theirs;  Women are expected to say nothing when Megan Fox's ass is plastered all over the Hollywood screen.  It's because it is the norm.  Since the production of old Hollywood films, females have been objectified on the screen in order to satisfy the male gaze.  The protagonist has usually been the male, withholding the qualities that make him ideal:  strong, powerful, handsome, wealthy, while the female is a representation of a sexual fantasy from a male point of view: sexualized, beautiful, isolated, weak.  This is the way it has been throughout the years and, unfortunately, will continue to be.  The female character performs for the male.  In Laura Mulvey's essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, she states that "as the narrative progresses [the female] falls in love with the main male protagonist and becomes his property, losing her outward glamorous characteristics."

So, again... why is it that men feel uncomfortable with their own objectification?  I commend Stephanie Meyer for switching it around and objectifying men on screen.  It's really one of the first movies produced purely for the female gaze and I'm not complaining... and I really think guys shouldn't either.

Welcome December

Wow.  December, already. 

This is the last week of classes for this semester.  CRAZY.  I've been buckling down in the studio painting as many portraits as I can.  My ideas for my 4th year project has shifted a bit.  I'm cropping out the diary dates and making it primarily about the people.  I don't think the portraits I've painted need any more information.  I think they're enough as it is.  

I'm working primarily in watercolour paints.  I've definitely feel like I've mastered the medium and I feel most comfortable working this way.  The portraits are fairly large... about 2ft x 3ft.  They're fairly loose in structure... I like them that way.  I like the "incomplete" look to them.  It's definitely the body of work that I'm most proud of.  I enjoy painting them.  Portraits used to be such a chore.  If you remember some of my previous entries, I've ranted about how much I loathe painting portraits... but it's so therapeutic to me now.  Maybe it's because I know can relate to the people I'm painting.

I've been looking at options overseas for next year.  The majority of applications are due in January and February which means I'm going to need a decent amount of work to document for a submission portfolio.  There are many MFA programs all over the world... so I've been looking into them.  I've been looking at one in New York, London and one in Ireland.  My other options are NSCAD in Halifax for a Visual Arts Certificate in Studio (a sort of prep for MFA)... or Cape Breton University for Bachelor of Education to teach art in high schools.

There are so many options and I'm glad I'm not narrowing my search to one one or two options.  This is a big decision in my life and I really have to weigh all of the possibilities.  Remember that when it comes time for you to take that next big step after graduation (high school or university), that you really think about all the possibilities.  This is the rest of your life that you're dealing with!  

Dream big and don't limit yourself.  Don't give up on what you want to do.  Have faith in yourself.  The only thing that's stopping you from reaching that dream is yourself.  Remember that!  Nothing is standing in your way.

Home Away From Home

You're in high school.  You're graduating this year and weighing your potential options for next year.  You know one thing for sure - you want to leave home.  The thought of being free from your parents' supervision and rules is exciting.  You're swaying towards that acceptance letter from the university a few hours away from home.

But...

Are you ready to move away from home?

You really have to think about this before deciding because if you're not ready than it can completely ruin your university experience.  You don't want to end up living on your own, and then being anxious to visit home every possible weekend that you can.  I know people that have done this... people who weren't ready to move away from home... and it inevitably interfered with their university experience.  Let me tell you one thing right now:  The more you go home, the more you want to go home.  And that can not only interfere with your university experience, but also your grades.  

Mount Allison is my home away from home, and it's very seldom that I travel the ten hour bus ride home.  It's been this way since first year.  I, definitely, was ready to move away from home after graduating high school.  The years after high school are the best years of your life

 and you shouldn't dread them.  You should want to be away.  You should want to actively participate in your home away from home. 

Sometimes we end up in ruts and we want to travel home to be in a comfortable place surrounded by our family.  I've been in this boat before too.  Last year, I traveled home a lot for various reasons because I was in that rut.  I was anything but motivated.  However, the more I traveled home, the less connected I felt to my home at university... and the less I wanted to get back on track.  Sometimes it's easier to hide at home, but I'm here to tell you (since I've been on both side of the fence) that the best thing you can do is not to hide.  The more you hide the less likely you want to be found.

If you come to Mount Allison, you don't want it to be just a place where you come for an education.  Don't hesitate to really settle in and make it your home.  Learn to love it and be comfortable within it.  There's so much more to do than just go to classes.  Use the weekends, instead of traveling hours on the road to go home, to explore Sackville - your town away from your town.  There's so much to be seen and to be done.  Do not hide.  The more you hide, the less likely you want to be found.