Art profiles on Myspace, do they exist?

Debra

I just wanted to spruce up my Myspace profile a bit when I was researching artist's (like fine art) profiles on the interwebs. I typed in Andrew Jones since he's a well known CG image artist and came up with this guy with the exact same name who also so happened to be a fine artist. I don't get his message, but I'll have to remember to take another look the next time I deal with Comcast. I have a feeling I might be a little more receptive to his message.

So now I finally have time in between now and Monday before it's back to the grind... I'm probably going to do some of next week's stuff earlier so I can just come home rest during the week. I basically don't even remember what's been happening during the weeks except when I'm at school because I've been that busy. Hopefully my internet will be fixed Monday so I won't be held back anymore.

Daily Events

Deb: Today I have a lot of work to do, and not much internet speed to do with it. Tonight I have to finish an Astronomy Project. Basically perform an experiment using the Scientific Method on something basic like "Does the sun set in the same place everyday". Internet is acting up every once in and while and making it hard to turn in my assignments. (Called the Executive Number to Comcast to get ahold of the office of the president, so we'll see how this goes...)

Painting went very good yesterday and the main reason I am taking it is mostly color theory, but also of course to learn painting. The more I spend time taking classes, the more I am in love with art. I've thought about what I wanted to do in the future, but had always felt I would partially let it happen as well as naturally find what it is I am looking for. I thought about working in art gallery... or even just working for myself. It takes so much time to get good so it's not as simple as get out of college and have a career immediately... of course no bachelor's of arts should be that simple LOL. It will have to be something I put a lot of time and effort towards, everyday for the rest of my life.

Not much time to work on things, but having classes with it and working on it in my own time has helped a lot. You know how it goes. I get in a couple of hours when I can and have a sketchbook I regularly post in for critique.

I would like to spend more time sitting out in the open sketching. I get a lot of enjoyment from that and have done it in the past for figure and environment studies. The nice thing about the move to the new apartment is once the weather is warmer, I can sit outside and paint/draw, etc.

Sam likes the apartment too. She can sit behind the screen door and listen while staring at stuff while we're outside or just in general. She's claimed the mushroom chair as her "sleeping" spot since she can both wait for us to come home and has a view of everything going on should one of us wake up or leave.

Some gestures from Life Drawing.
Charcoal.

Color Theory

Debra: Yesterday we have a very good lecture on color theory in Painting I, so I am just writing it here.

Here's the notes from the lecture, which is based on the Munsell Color Solid.

"Feel colors" do not "see".

Saturation is when you put one color into another color. Never saturate if you want a good color.

Value is a color's lightness or darkness.
Intensity is a color's brightness or dullness.
Black is the absence of color
White is all the colors at once

You have to know what value you are using of the color in order to match it.
Don't use white and black in colors. They deintensify color.
Use the matching value of grey to detensify.
The closer to the inside of the wheel, the less chroma (more grey) the color is. The resulting grey is it's value.

Use colors across a hue change to reach another color (in other words, don't restrict to just mixing one or two colors), "around the wheel". It gives a color character and keeps the intensity. Tint-Shade-Warmer/Cooler, use several colors which will "pull" color into other area.

Use grey if the color feels transparent, translucent. Grey is warm or cool depending on what is mixed.

Questions to ask:
1. What is color's value
2. What's the color's intensity
3. What's the color's temperature

Grey is brown. Both are "nuetrals".

How to handle shadows: Not just value change. Shadow has a lot of the complament color, it's own color, and a darker value. (Is a separate color itself)

Do not use straight white unless for tiny dot in highlight and even then, use sparingly.

Have patience, keep faith, much of art is about faith.

Ocean City MD

Frank

When we were kids, my grandparents had a timeshare in Ocean City, MD. Every single time we were able to go, I was excited. I've always loved Ocean City and enjoy it no matter when I go.

In a way, I love it because it's familiar to me. Even with shops closing and opening every now and then, it changes just a little bit every time I go and there's usually something new or fun to explore there.

We always did a few things particularly when I was a kid. I remember in the mornings I'd walk out on the balcony with my grandfather and watch him smoke as the sun rose over the ocean in the east. We'd sometimes end up doing the same thing in the afternoon too, watching the sun set in the west. We'd obviously go to the beach, but we'd also go to Trimpers rides and either the day before or the night we left, we'd find a mini golf course and play a round. There was one in particular we would go to, one of the "Old Pro" golf places that was across the street from my grandparents condo and near a KFC. We also go to the boardwalk and rent the bikes early in the mornings. We also went on one of those ocean speedboats once. It was fun feeling the boat skip across the waves! I almost looked over the edge a few times, but I was afraid I was going to lose my glasses if we hit a wave too hard. I think the boat was called the "Patriot" while the other one they had was the "Sea Rocket". Never went on the Rocket, but I remember seeing it a few times. There also was a pool that the place ran that we'd swim in at night time and sometimes in the morning. It was memorable because even though it was lit inside, we could see the night sky.

I remember going up in an airplane with my father and flying over OC and Assateague Island. The pilot let me fly for most of that trip. The view facing the ocean was amazing and to be able to see the people below all doing so many different things from that angle has stayed with me as one of my most memorable moments. I can still remember the huge smile on my face as we flew down the beach line and looking at the waves where they started, crested, and ended. All the brightly colored swimsuits and the cars calmly rolling back and forth made everything look as if I were watching a slide show that few ever got to capture.

There was another time that I went two weeks after I got my license. It was during the middle of November. Me and a friend basically got on 32 and started heading East, not knowing at the time where we'd end up. We rolled into OC that night around 9 or 10 and cruised the empty streets in amazement at how quiet everything was. We drove up to the boardwalk and found a perfect space, because who's really going to be there in November? We got out and walked the boardwalk in the slight drizzle and constant chilly breeze. I remember one of the hotels had a massive light on the top that didn't really point to the beach. In fact, I don't know what they were intending to light with it, but it was bright enough to give plenty of ambient light. We could see the light rain falling. A few people were coming and going as we walked the board walk and they all seemed to be happy for the quiet night as they passed the shuttered up stores and buildings with signs wishing everyone well for the winter and the promise that they'd be back in spring. We stopped and got a hotel room for the night at $35! The next morning, we got up and went to the boardwalk again and wandered around until we found one of the few places that was still open. The clouds hadn't blown off yet and it was gray outside, but the darkened yellow signs of Polock Johnny's invited us in for breakfast in a dim-lit place full of older folks having coffee, reading the paper, and just chatting. They gave us some strange looks, but eased after we ordered some food and sat down to eat. We left shortly after that, much to my chagrin. I remember getting home to my parents house and they seemed surprised when I told them where I had been and asked that I make sure to call next time.

I do remember another trip that I was on with the folks. It was during Bike Week and seeing all the bikes riding around OC while we spent time there for a few days was an amazing sight and feeling.

There was another time I went when I was "suspended" from a job. It sounds bad, but I actually went further above what was expected to try to amend the mistake the driver I was working with had made by driving back to DC late at night and going into the hospital to retrieve the lost package. Anyways, Deb and I decided that we were going to take advantage of my day off in the middle of April after looking at the web and seeing that it was going to be a decent day. It was about 75 out and the water was about 55 or 60. Water that temperature is MUCH colder than the air temperature would have you believe, but I still jumped into the water anyways. We cruised the streets for a little while and we'd brought her laptop with us. We decided to sit out on the beach for a while and took a bunch of video and cut it together into a funny little DVD that we sent to her mother and showed my folks. We walked around for a while on the bright clear day and were amazed that so few people were out. Then we started reading the signs on some of the closed buildings, saying that NEXT WEEK would be the start of their season. We laughed at our good fortune to have been able to enjoy the quieter time there, even if it was during a time of questionable income. I'm not sure, but I think we even went back the next day too.

I loved spending that time with her and I can't wait to share with her the kind of love I have for that place in better terms and circumstances. I haven't really been able to go back to OC unless it was for a day or so and coming in on the coattails of my folks own trips. I always loved driving out that way for Anthony Sylvan when I worked there and I always felt kind of sad when I got back to the bay bridge, crossing it back for the west.

I've always wanted to live out that way and I still think Salisbury is a place I may end up if I don't get tired of Maryland's wacky laws. I know Deb is edgy about that, but I really do like how even though we'd have our own little place out of the way, we'd still be near civilization. I'm not sure, but Deb tells me we should check out Galviston in Texas and says it's similar to OC. Who knows.

If you want to, you can check out a webcam that streams images at http://www.ococean.com/webcam.html

That's all for now.

Beginning conversation

Deb: So we decided to start a blog. We got more serious about the idea when we spent time at Borders today having coffee. Actually, that was an experiment of it's own.

I bring my sketchbook with me almost everywhere I go. We sat down and I had a mocha and he had some really strong french roast thing. I brought a box full of my charcoal pencils, my graphites, my sketching pencils and just starting drawing... next thing you know, we were both doodling.

He's a little self-conscience about the drawing bit, but I showed him that almost anything can be art. Does not matter if you start off bad, but that you enjoy it. Otherwise, what else is the point? And line weight plays a big role in making something looking interesting. If you draw everything with the same line thickness, of course the bad parts will stick out. Line weight adds flavor and interest. I guess that's one reason abstract art is really popular... I'm not that big into abstract, never understood it.

This is the sketch we both enjoyed together:



I made a big mess of my hands while working on that. Charcoal is messy. I started growing out my nails so I could scratch my cat better (seriously). And around the same time I started working in charcoal again and it's hard to get out of your nails. I had mechanic hands when we were close to done and I left some dark puddles in the sink when I went to wash off. I'm sure I got charcoal over my purse. But it'll give me an excuse to buy a better one anyway... (hehe).

"In The Beginning..." or "What's To Come"

This is the first of what will hopefully be many meaningful entries to come. For now though, welcome to our little experiment!

The idea behind this blog was one I had been considering for a while, but wasn't sure how to approach it. Then she mentioned the same idea I'd been having for a while. As is mentioned in the description, this is a shared blog of my writing about random or pointed things as well as a place for her to post and share her art.

I don't know if we'll keep the monikers that I've initially coined for us. Simply put though, they're German words that each of us try to or do exemplify in our lives or treasure dearly.

Herz is "Heart" and refers to her willingness to let her feelings guide her as well as her desire to share these feelings with others through her art. It also speaks to her love of many things and people. Her interest in politics and deep concern for this country and where it's people end up or currently are act as an example of that. This is also a place for her to track the progress of her hobby and her love of art. Much more explanation will likely have to be done by her so that I don't sit here and start putting words in her mouth. */me grins*

Ehre is "Honor" and refers more to my own determinations of right and wrong, yet still being able to understand and play "devils advocate" as it were while standing by my convictions. I also have a steady and constant "serve and protect" mentality which I am working towards developing in a career in law enforcement. I do however get a grin out of things I probably shouldn't at times. It's generally on an item by item basis, but as people get to know me, they understand that while I'm able to laugh at something horrible, I am disgusted by atrocities commited in blind idiocy.

Heim is "Home". This is what I like to think of our combined love, our views, our shared pillars of strength and our mutual care for each other as well as those in our lives. This blog could be considered a viewable example of these things, as I'm sure we'll talk about each other at times or work together on certain projects. There's plenty of things we will probably discuss or ask others to engage in. In that way, we invite people into our "Heim" and offer a place to be able to express views and ask or answer questions.

So with all this being said, expect to see political, observational, and personal writing. Expect to see quite a bit of art being posted as well. Of course there will also be other things that we randomly will make note of or share as we see fit.

Godspeed and I pray that this ends up as insightful as we hope it to be, both for us and any readers that happen by.

"This was a triumph.
I'm making a note here:
HUGE SUCCESS.
It's hard to overstate
my satisfaction."
GLADOS - Still Alive
From Portal
Originally by Jonathan Coulton (playing Code Monkey!)