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!

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.

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. :)

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. :)

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! ;)

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.

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. :)

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.

Camera!

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

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. :)

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..

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.

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

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.

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. :)

A banana..

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

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

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

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. :)