Reality, Irish people, and Powerpoint maps

 So reality has been rattling through my head for years. I assure you it's not an obsession (I'm not paranoid and believing that The Man has us all hooked to computers and living in cyberspace or anything), but experiences and other striking influences that otherwise seem ordinary will sometimes for some reason dig up my old Reality contemplations. How much of our core beliefs influence what we are sure is real? How much of it really matters? What if my read is you're maroon? right so you could argue that this contemplation/ fixation/ whatever-you-want-to-call-it is a useless waist of electricity in my brain. There are other questionings that I would bring up but my twitchy self control muscle keeps me from bringing them up. yeah ok maybe i'll bring some of them up later when my thoughts are more organized. (I need to get back into the habit of writing these things down)

on another note, my cousin is writing a story :D It's a fictional story about a girl and her badass irish friend who has fire powers. so since it's summer and I don't want to get my artistic muscles rusty when I go back to school so I asked if I could illustrate it and she said yes. So now I'm learning how to draw irish dudes (it's a lot like my project when I was drawing old people for that Wee Free Men story and my friends character from her play)

lastly, I got a job. yesterday I was asked to fix up a map which was constructed off a powerpoint with a tone of animation layers in it. I'm learning a lot from this one project. I've met like half the staff already and everyone is really nice. I've learned more in these two days about this new powerpoint than I could in a week in high school.  oh and it's good color coordination exorcise

Will you be able to see this or do you have to click the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2yJSFHTrgM&feature=mr_meh&list=PL1D2653D60A68E0D7&index=14&playnext=0
I guess you click the link. anyway it's a familiar feeling for me... why does that make me feel heartless saying that? like I've let feelings of people i knew die with the fading memories. At the same time however, if you (reader) are familiar with it as well perhaps you could relate to the relief of letting those old struggles lie and rest. And really it doesn't have to mean it's a severed feeling like that area on your body previously cut with nerves nonoperational, perhaps a friendship blossomed.

on another note, I've thought up a new metaphor/ personification: she is a coral seed, floating in this enormous sea searching for her haunted ship for a home, something sturdy, something surreal and with a story you feel instead of hear. she will connect with this ship that is neither evil nor pure and will keep her stable so she can blossom and fight for life

well that's about it HAGS I'll probably be doing more posts but just in case you quite reading :P oh and I got a job yay!

Spider Fossil in Charcoal

So I'm on a computer where I can't crop or anything but this a photo of my first charcoal piece which I completed last week. The photo doesn't really do it's justice, but I'm happy with the markmaking and the composition between the spider and the rock. This is the reference I used: http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-04-largest-spider-fossil-china.html
The story behind it is pretty interesting. The spider was found in ancient volcanic ash located in Inner Mongolia. The spider is called Nephila Jurassica and is around 2 inches long and dates back about 165 million years. yeah ok the size could be a little more impressive but still.

Australian Peacock Spider

This is an Australian Peacockspider monoprint. The reference was a photo from this website: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2kWfpw/www.arkinspace.com/2011/04/peacock-spider-australias-show-off.html
I love stumbleupon.

Matt's Monoprint Complete!

so I really loved making this. It's not very often that my experiments come out this well. Even Matt smiled when I showed it to him. I'm really happy with his face and the markmaking

More Matt WIP

ok so here's the finished rough. his face is still a little iffy in tone but I have a reference photo that i didn't feel like opening :P
Expect to see the monoprint and maybe I'll upload my fossilized spider charcoal piece

Matt WIP

This is a side view of my brother Matthew. For my concentrated study assesment I need to complete two more monoprints and a charcoal piece. My first monoprint is of an Australian Peacock Jumping spider and the second will be this design above. The design behind Matthew is based off the inside of a pearlescent shell.