Sunday, December 24, 2006

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I'm on break, hanging out with family for the holidays. :) It's really nice. I've been taking a few photos of our Christmas tree. I really enjoyed photographing the lights, particularly. I'll probably take some more later, but for now here's a few shots from this afternoon. cmaslight1.jpg cmaslight2.jpg cmaslight3.jpg cmaslight4.jpg

Friday, December 22, 2006

January show!

Well, I am now home for the holidays (yay for time off!). This is just a small update to let you guys know that during the month of January, three of my paintings will be on display at 688 Sutter st in downtown San Francisco. :) I invite everyone to attend the reception from 6pm to 9pm on January 4th also, it should be very cool, and there will be lots of great artwork to look at!

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Sketchbook stuff

Just some junk from my sketchbook this week. I used to draw a lot of women from Hair magazines and such, and I suddenly got into the mood to doodle some more. :)

Friday, December 08, 2006

Photos!

Yeah, I know it's not as good as a painting update, or even a sketch update, but these are my photos from my Photography class. I'm actually turning them in this Monday as my portfolio. Overall, I really like them, and I'm happy that I now know how to use my camera. :) portfolio_img1.JPG portfolio_img2.JPG portfolio_img3.JPG portfolio_img4.JPG portfolio_img5.JPG

Blog color?

So I posted a request on wetcanvas.com for a critique on my blog, and the overwhelming consensus was that the grey background was too dreary (hmm.. might have to remodle the rest of the site also). I could change the background back to its original white color, but I really want something more unique. If anyone has any suggestions or thoughts, that would be awesome. Otherwise, I'll probably start dabbling with the color this weekend, or shortly after finals.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Don't lick your brushes!

Someone e-mailed me this article the other day, and I thought I would share it: http://www.trueart.info/art_hardware.htm I especially liked the point concerning cadmium colors. The use of hues instead of genuine cadmium colors, for instance, might make an artist seem less than professional.. despite the fact that hues are much less toxic. Actually, the article causes me to think about a few things, really. For the most part, I think a lot of artists have a vague notion (at least) that their mediums are hazardous. But I've never really investigated anything more than the basics (turps are bad, cads are bad, don't lick your brushes.. etc). If I did, would I change my habits? What if my work didn't look as good, or what if I was told that I was being unprofessional by not using toxic products? Hmm.. So, to all the artists out there.. what do you think? Are you health conscious? Would you suddenly change your ways?

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Sketchbook junk

Just a couple of sketches this week.. no journal paintings. Currently, I'm hard at work on two different series, so I'm trying to focus on finishing those (though it will be a while before they are finished). I'm very excited about both of them! Hopefully, at the end of the semester (or maybe when I return from Christmas break), I should have enough images in at least one of my new series to show you guys what I've been up to. So stay tuned! :)

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Journal painting..

This week I had a surprising amount of spare time, so I used it to goof off and recollect. :) I actually feel like I'm ready to start painting and sketching again. So here's a study I did tonight of my one, and only, emergency purse (I'm typically a backpack person). The thing I like most about acrylics.. is that I can invent all kinds of trippy colors and I don't have to worry much about the painting becoming mud. I can just play with it until something starts to look "right". :)

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

My 41st blog entry..

Sorry I haven't updated the blog with anything new the past couple of weeks.. I'm still busy writing essays. UGH, I hate it. I'll post a couple of them for you guys at the end of this semester though. The one I wrote last week is actually an article on holding an open studio, and it might be of some interest. I'm also going back to doing more of my own work, so I haven't been doing quite as many studies lately. I want to push myself to think outside the box of "set up still life and paint it" as well.. or at least look for more off-beat compositions. Anywho, this week's update is just a sketch from my sketchbook I did while I was gallery sitting for Artspan. It's composed from three different things, so yeah, my leg right under my arm isn't supposed to make any sense. :P

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Pretty photo

Sooo.. last weekend was my last weekend volunteering for Artspan, and to fill in the empty slot in my schedule this weekend, I volunteered for the Academy's faculty auction. :P It's amazing how competitive some people got when bidding. It was a nice party though, lots of great artwork, saw a lot of school friends (though I couldn't really chit-chat because I was working); wish I had taken some photos. But speaking of photos, tonight I went out with a friend to take photos in the park. Here's a little something from the shoot. :)

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween. Actually, I think it's probably my favorite holiday.. just because I get to eat a lot of chocolate and wear funny hats. :D Besides treating myself to some chocolates (as if I don't consume enough on a daily basis already..), I treated myself to some painting also. :) Here's my latest journal entry!

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Journal painting..

Ugh, midterms. I'm starting to work more on my portfolio again also, so I'm not doing as much of this stuff. I'm ready to go back to my own work, I think. I've missed it. But, as soon as midterms are over, I'll start doing more journal stuff again. Just being able to play like this is good therapy for me.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Site update, Subscription, and Saatchi.

I finally updated the gallery with two new pieces, and I have also updated the Links page. Go check 'em out. :) A subscription feed has been added to this blog too, so if you have been keeping up with me and want to know when I blog, scroll down and subscribe! After that, they will confirm your subscription in an e-mail, so if you don't get it, check in Junk. Finally, I have signed up for the Your Gallery at Saatchi Gallery on-line. My Saatchi Gallery So here's the link. :) I'll put up more images there soon.

Sketches

Well, I was going to post up a painting from my journal along with this, but the photo just had way too much noise in it. :P Soo.. here's a few sketches I did over in Union Square the other day. I like birds. They're fun. :)

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Weekly journal entry

Maybe I'll make this a weekly, or bi-weekly thing.. but here's another entry from my journal. Sorry about the crappy photo quality. I'm a bit in a rush today. :)

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Artspan Private Preview Gala

Just returned home from Artspan's premiere event. It was so much fun. This year I am a volunteer, so I got to run around and talk to other artists. :D Here's some snapshots I took tonight with the little camera! Here's a shot of the gallery. They had a great set up with a caterer cooking on the spot, fondue, live auctions and music, and tons of goodies. The chef! Strawberries and fondue! Yummy! So, if you happen to live in the Bay Area, Artspan is a non-profit organization that holds a big open studios event every October, during all four weekends. It's just beginning! I highly recommend checking out some of the artists, and the open studios are on a somewhat personal basis, so you can feel free to ask the artists questions, or even make a purchase. And there's always free food! ;)

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Journal entries

I thought you guys might like some paintings or something instead of just photos all the time. :) This semester I've been spending some time painting from life, and journaling my progress. With all of the hectic mess going on this month, it's probably the most relaxing thing I could possibly do. :P Here's a couple of entries from last week, done in acrylic, in one of my sketchbooks.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Yay, pepsi

So my liberal arts classes have been sucking up my time. :P Haven't found much time to play with my camera or even paint. I'm actually going to start prioritizing myself and decide what deserves the most attention and what deserves the least. That way, if I can't do everything, the most important things have been finished and I feel more accomplished than swamped. And right now, one of the top priorities is learning to use my camera. I like playing with depth of field. :)

Monday, September 18, 2006

Photo!

The first assignment from Basic Digital Photography. Self portrait. Pretty simple assignment. :) I'm spending a lot of time just getting used to the new camera, and going through the manual. I'm learning a good bit so far, but the class is sooo.. crash-course that if I didn't do the extra work on my own I would easily get lost.

Friday, September 15, 2006

Camera!

Albert wanted me to post a photo of the camera (I was trying to be discreet, but oh well), so here ya go!

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Kewl! New camera!

Yay! Albert bought me a new camera for our 3rd anniversary! :D So I've been mucking with the b&w settings.. I'm actually taking a photography class this semester too, so I'll eventually learn how to use it much better. For now though, I'm just doing dumb things to play around with it some more. :)

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Version 2.0 of the previous image

Yeeaahh.. soo.. the more I looked at the sketch from yesterday the more I wanted it to be cleaner. So I had to redo it. Here's the cleaner version. Now I have to decide if I want to make it into a print, or what else.. it feels like it needs some more substance..

Monday, August 28, 2006

Yay, some stuff..

I'm actually going to photograph some pieces this weekend (I hope!) so there will be a real update with a couple of new pieces coming up shortly. For now though, here's a little sumi piece I did this afternoon.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

A Debate from the Sept. Issue of "The Artists Magazine"

In the Sept issue of "The Artist's Magazine" there's a letter from the editor (as well as some from readers) concerning the nude figure in art. Apparently, in the June issue (which I somehow missed), artist Bob Palevitz wrote to the magazine stating that his gallery happily sells his still life paintings, but is reluctant to show his paintings of nude figures. The article then launched into a question about whether nude figures is considered pornography in our modern age. In the "Letters from Readers" you can glean a little more about the debate. One subscriber writes that a female artist friend, who also shows paintings of nudes, has a huge difficulty selling her work. Other letters (one from a grade school teacher) comment that some parents become outraged if, when going to an art museum, their children are "exposed" to classical paintings depicting the nude figure. Another comment makes the broad statement that most nudes seem to be painted by male artists (she specifically referenced a work by David Leffel in her letter). Anyway, reading the full article really irritated me. If you actually get a chance to read the letters, one says it's terribly ironic when movie stars are paid more than teachers, and I believe the same mis-placed priorities are applied here as well. People don't protest about photos of naked GAP models on public billboards, but they have a problem with a classical painting of a nude figure. Ignorance indeed. I especially think it's silly to accuse men of being the only ones to paint nude figures. Mainly because I paint them as well, and I enjoy it. Imagine that. :P

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

The finish.. based on the last piece.

So, this is pretty much the piece that evolved from the preliminary drawing. It's nice enough, and it looks like how I planned it, but I don't know if I'm entirely happy. I'd say it's a means to an end, and not the end.. so it'll probably just inspire another piece, and another, until I finally stumble onto something good. But this was part of my final for the semester.

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Preliminary, as a finished piece

Sometimes, when you're developing an idea, you unfortunately fall in love with the rough draft. It happened to me when I was developing the design for this piece. This isn't meant to be the final draft, but I fell for it, so I had to finish it before I could move on, mentally, to a better idea. The hands are my favorite part. :)

Saturday, July 29, 2006

A banana..

Really bad photo of a quickstudy I did this afternoon.. not much to it, just a banana. :P

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Megwolfe.net site update

Bunch of stuff added, some stuff removed. Since a large portion of the artwork I'm doing now is my own work and not school projects I feel like I'm finally building a coherant body of work (yay for portfolio!). Oh, yeah, and on some of the new pieces I've also added commentary to let you in on what the work is about, and where I'm going with it. :) Edit> Slapped together an "About the Artist" page, so you can check that out also. I'd been putting it off for far too long. :P

Thursday, July 20, 2006

An interesting article..

..from Wired magazine on artists, young geniuses, and late bloomers, and how most of us fit into one of those two camps. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.07/genius.html

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Donated paintings on display at 79 NM

I donated some of my paintings (studies) to the Undergraduate Dept of the Academy of Art University (79 New Montgomery), so if you go up to the 4th floor and look around, you might catch a glimpse of them. One is a landscape of the beach in Carmel, one is a study of some backlit pears (this one is in someone's office), and I'm not sure where the third one is, but it's a portrait (profile) of an older gentleman. I neglected to photograph them. The lady that took my pear painting was totally estatic though, so that made me pretty happy. I wasn't sure the paintings would find a good home since they were donations, but I'm pretty sure now. :)

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Yeah, uh, stuff.

*gasp* OMG! It's a painting! Yeah, right, I know. I need to update this more. I actually have a few things worth posting now, but lately I've been really preoccupied with getting my portfolio together, as well as studying for my psychology quizes. :P Suckage. So here's a cute little acrylic painting for you. Same size as the last one, so it's about 5x7.

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Update: Portrait of a Cat showing

I mentioned before that "Portrait of a Cat" was on display at 180 NM for the Illustration Dept's annual Spring Show. The painting has been relocated to 655 Sutter (an Academy building). You can see it very plainly in the window from the street; it's very nicely displayed. :)

Deadly with Nerf..

Yeah, so Albert bought a bunch of nerf guns and, you know me, being the fps junkie that I am, I like to play with guns.. and I have quite the eye for it. >:D Oh, yeah, and we actually have a real target, but for some reason the darts keep bouncing off of it instead of sticking. Go figure. :P

Friday, June 16, 2006

Intermission..

So.. I've been working on some small 5x7 acrylic paintings over break. I've finished two so far and have started the third one. This one was the second. Now I have to figure out framing..

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Gallery news

Several pieces displayed on this website are up for sale (as well as some others not displayed) through the Create A Way on-line gallery at http://www.createawaygallery.com/ The pieces include "Suspension", "The Poet", "Speak Softly", and "Velvet". They are unframed and vary in price range. Also, if you live in Connecticut, you can actually visit the gallery in Collinsville, however, my pieces are only available through their website for the time being. And, if you are from San Francisco, "Portrait of a Cat" is on display at 180 New Montgomery, downtown SF, in the Illustration dept section of this year's Spring Show. There is no price displayed for this piece, but if you are interested in purchasing it, contact me at (415) 412-8610. Cat is already sealed and wired, ready for hanging.

Monday, May 15, 2006

Silly Rabbit, Trix are for kids!

Sigh. Finals suck. Here's some rabbit studies for you.

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Acrylic figure..

Here's another abstracted figure (acrylic) for you. This one was also painted on top of an old disposable palette. Sorry the colors are a little washed out in this photo. :P I don't have the painting with me so I can see to correct it.

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Still untitled piece..

Still trying to think of a title for this, but here is one of the two acrylic paintings (technically a mixed media piece) I've been working on this past week. There are a few corrections I intend to make to it (as I don't feel it's entirely successful yet), but otherwise this is what it looks like, as well as a close up. I really would like to do more pieces like this.. I think it's interesting that it's flat, but has a degree of depth to it. If you ever see it in person, it messes with your eyes just a little because each building comes forward.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Searching for pushpins..

Before I forget, I turned off the members only comments (sorry about that). You can now comment without the need of a blogger account. Today's work was mostly drawing, and one of the things I latched onto were these pushpins (note that the low res photos are a great deal darker than the images are in person). Somehow, in the process of drawing these, the answer to one of my questions came along and slapped me in the face. For the past year I've been cataloguing my work and wondering what it is about certain subjects I enjoy more than others. I know what subjects I don't especially enjoy, subjects pertaining to politics, or subjects that comment about the society we live in. For the most part I really don't care about either of those things. The world is what it is (irritating), so whatever. :P Other subjects I'll latch onto with a passion.. subjects that I select before I stop to consider why I'm drawn to them. Why do I HAVE to paint or draw this? Why? In Portrait of a Cat I depicted a playful subject with an underlying melancholy. The charcoal drawing "Roaming" was also a similar fascination, and so are these pushpins.. a playful subject that is also a bit threatening. I like that. I like for my work to be playful, and, perhaps, to also have a little bit of an edge to it. Almost like a fable that's told to entertain, but is also meant to be a warning. Or the hero in a book who is not all that good. For there to be light, there must be dark. I like that a lot; it's interesting and I'm inspired. I want to see what else I can find that's like that. Expect more work from me later this week.

Monday, April 24, 2006

Landscape

Some landscape trees for you. Not much else happening right now. Everything has been kind of blah this spring (possibly an indirect result of all the yucky weather we've had here in SF). I'm working on a couple of new pieces, but they've been rather slow in coming. One has been giving me some trouble, and the other one was just to test a new technique. I'll post one or both if/when I finish them.

Friday, April 07, 2006

Acrylic painting..

An acrylic painting I did.. painted straight onto an old acrylic palette. I like this because it reveals some of my process and my thinking. It's a continuation of some recent ideas I've had (similar to the abstracted apple from a previous post). But with this you get to see some of my tools IN the piece itself, as well as what I accomplished with them. And it's a nice compromise between realism and abstract.. which I very much enjoy.

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Photography debate - Marilyn Minter

In the April issue of "Art News" magazine there is an article about how ethical it is that artists employ photography in the creation of their artwork. The article presents some of Marilyn Minter's work, among others, up for debate. The article then proceeds into the different ways artists employ photography, and how some artists simply use photos as a reference (their own photos), while others project their photo onto the canvas in order to trace the photograph and bypass many of the problems with drawing. Some of the photos in use by artists are photos that aren't even theirs. It's a pretty hot debate it seems. Personally, I don't like the idea of using photos that aren't my own, and if I were to use a projector, it would be to project a drawing onto the canvas and not a photo to trace from. I understand that a lot of photo realists use a projector in order to be as accurate as possible, and since photo realism isn't my interest at this moment, I don't employ the method. So I won't tell anyone they shouldn't do it. I don't especially like the idea of projecting, but I think it's ridiculous to say that an artist can't use photography at all in their work. As long as the photo you're using is your own, and you are the one working on the painting, what is the problem? If the photo isn't yours, or if your assistants are doing all the painting work, we can argue about copyrights and originality, but otherwise, what's debatable?

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Yay, sumi fun..

Last week I took a break to do my own work and do some sketching. I'm really getting into doodling cityscapes and mucking around with ink (always love ink, ink is good because it's messy!).. so much so that I'm thinking about taking a watercolor class this summer.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Website and stuff

Ok, so the new website design is up and running now.. save for the About and Contact pages, which are always the least fun to create (but are probably the most important). :P I should have those up sometime this week; want to finish the site as soon as I can before things get in the way. Also, though the Links page is all new, I already want to include Zak Smith http://www.zaxart.com/ His subject matter is sometimes explicit (his ideas revolve around sex mostly), but his portraits are beautiful, and I appreciate his technique. In several of the interviews I've read, he talks about spending 100s of hours working on each piece, and yet, how cost efficient they are to make. Stuff like that makes me think, especially when I'm dishing out tons of money for canvases every week. :P Andd.. an acrylic figure study for you guys as well..

Monday, March 13, 2006

Preview!

Here's a bit of a preview for you guys. I'm working on rebuilding the site for my fine art stuff.. I'll, hopefully, have the new design up and running in a week or two. There aren't that many pages to put up, and I'm trimming my portfolio so that you get a better idea of what my work is about and what direction I'm going in.