Those poor, poor puppies....

I came across the most appalling thing the other day and it had to do with dogs.

I had never really paid much attention to dog grooming before until I saw a picture of a multicolored dog, or in better words a painted dog. To my surprise there are actually competitions where people shave and color their dogs until they look like something that doesn't resemble a canine at all.

Even though it's really sad that some dogs have to go through the horrible transition from dog to beast, the photographs are very entertaining! In an odd way you could say that dying your dog to look like a rainbow is an art form. Personally I would never live out my colorful wishes through my dog's coat but whatever. I supose the best way to show this is through pictures as always.








Those poor, poor dogs

From the Basement to the Big Times

While looking around for information for my Research Paper, I came across the story of a guy that I do believe is quite amazing. The name of this gentleman is Mark Capicotto, and he is the founder of Glamour Kills Clothing.

Fresh out of high school Mark Capicotto founded Glamour Kills in 2005. Mark set up shop in his parents' basement and made five original t-shirts. Mark slowly began building the brand, he would sell his shirts at local shows and created his company's web site glamourkills.com. The company began to grow fast and spread into the music world and then pop culture in general. Glamour Kills has made its way into countless clothing stores including Zumiez nationwide, in addition to being available online and overseas.

The words of Mark really seem to sum up the company..."Glamour Kills is a bright, youthful brand. When I started the company, a lot of the clothing that was worn in the music community--which we directly market ourselves to--was very dark or all black. That's not us. I wanted to introduce something that was bright, colorful and fun, but not overbearing. No one wants to wear a highlighter on their shirt [Laughs]. We've found the middle ground."


I think that Mark is a serious inspiration, he's doing something that I would kill to be doing right now! Not to mention his clothes are cute to boot! Here see for yourself.





Mark Capicotto





Mark's Clothes

The Man! Derek Deal!!!

Ladies and Males it's that time again...


So I figured since I did that post on Horesbites it'd be neat to do a post on Derek Deal, who is also a graphic artist, because I have his interview with AMP Magazine on hand. To be honest, I have it sitting on the arm of my recliner right now! Score!

I love Derek Deal. That being said, maybe I should back that up with a reason or two. Derek does a lot of grunge art that is very detailed. In almost all of Derek's work texture is the characteristic that practically jumps off the pages! Even though this sounds kind of gross, in a poster for A Whilhelm Scream that Derek did a brain, eyes, and part of a brain stem is featured. It may sound gross, boring, or just plain weird, but none of those words are ones that could accurately be applied to the piece. In the post Derek uses so much detail and texture contrast that the eye balls do look "squishy" and the brain stem looks thick like a tree branch. It's incredible, the work that some people can do.

Derek has done various pieces of cover art for bands that I could only dream of doing and I have no clue how the man gets the ideas for his creations. It would be a dream come true to be able to meet with Derek and maybe even have him give me a pointer or two with my own work!

I supose the thing that gives me the most confidence is from the beginning of AMP's interview with Derek...

AMP: How did you get into doing illustration and design? Did you go to school for it or did you have some sort of connection?

Derek: Well, I've been drawing ever since I can remember. I was really into animation growing up, which I can probably attribut living so close to Disney World growing up. That place is like crack for creative minds. I thought that's what I wanted to do, draw stupid characters all day. i went to school got really restless, decided I wanted to focus more on deisng and got my degree in motion graphics. Long story short, I've pretty much come full circle and draw stupid characters all day...

Turns out I'm more like Derek than I thought. I may not have lived close to Disney World but holy cow, I sure did watch enough Disney movies to be able to look at the cover of a Disney VHS case and almost flawlessly freehand Ariel, The Beast, The Geanie, Aladin, Cruella DeVil and many more. Who knows, maybe there's hope for me yet.






Teach me your Jedi mind tricks Derek...

HORSEBITES

Once again I have managed to find someone who has a life/job that I would absolutely LOVE to have. It seems like ever day I find one more reason to go into Graphic Design!

This time around it's a man who goes by the design name "Horsebites", I read about him in AMP Magazine and fell in love with some of his work. Perhaps it's my twisted view of a romanticized life as a graphic artist, but holy cow, I find an interview with an artist in a magazine and you couldn't get me away from it with a tow truck. I must have read that interview in AMP at least three times and drank in the information like a person with a severe case of dehydration!

I'm pretty sure I have Horsebites to thank for inspiring me for my Research Essay in English too! After reading that interview I knew, deep down in my artistic little gut, that my paper is going to be on how graphic design weaves its way in and out of the music industry. This is going to be EPIC! I'm pretty sure I'm going to do some kind of evolution from sketch to computerized design for a media piece to go with my essay. I feel so much better now that I have a small clue as to what I'm going to be doing. Thank you almighty Horsebites and the ethereal beings of artistic essence!






I love you dude!

Good Cop, Bad Cop

Since I've been writing about the cool things in art, and the things that I like, I think it's time to do a blog on one aspect that I don't like so much.

WEARABLE ART...dun, dun, duuunnnn.

I have seen some not so great pieces of art, but wearable art usually tops the charts on the ugly scale for me. I really wonder what was going through peoples' heads when they created, let alone put on some of the pieces I've seen.

I suppose expression is expression. Just because I think it's ugly doesn't mean someone else wouldn't buy it for $100,000. Although what would you do with a hideous costume that could possibly fall apart if you tried to put it on? Now THAT is a dust collector just waiting to be bought. Am I right or am I right? Hopefully I don't turn into the world's biggest hypocrite and become a wearable art designer some day. Lord help us all.

It looks like I have nothing but trash talk to say about this certain genre. Maybe it would be best to let you guys see some pieces and judge for yourself. I'd like to see these things in someone's closet on an episode of What Not To Wear.

STELLA!!!!

Art appears in life, I have found it, it's called a Harlequin Great Dane! It seems that my love for art, contrast, and canine has all come together to make my dream dog. Yes I said dream dog. I hate cats, they're miserable creatures who only show you love when they want to be scratched. Dogs are almost always happy to see you and they love you no matter what. Like one of my teachers said, "If a cat had a five fingers, every time you'd walk in the door it would flip you off."

The deal with the Harlequin Great Dane, if you've never seen one, is that it is a Great Dane that basically looks like it has the coat of a Dalmatian. My favorite Harlequins are the ones with the pointy ears, but I would love a regular eared one just as much. These dogs are beautiful and graceful and down right cute! If I could pain a Harl I would, but I'm pretty sure there's no way I would be able to get the coat right. That's another thing! Their coats are so sleek and unique. The spots on the dogs aren't actually round spots, they look like torn edges of construction paper and are irregular. I'm not just writing this blog to talk about a dog I'm pretty obsessed with, I really do thing they are as beautiful as great pieces of artwork. The way I look at it, I just take the beauty of classic art and try to find beauty that matches or rivals it in the real world. In this case, it just so happens that I found a dog. So be it!

Someday I will have a dog that looks like this and her name will be Stella. She will be the best dog ever!

How to feed a starving Artist...

I've been contemplating how I would get along if I were on a tight budget as a professional artist. I'm not saying that if you become an artist you have to be constantly hungry and poor, I just think it's more fun to look at it that way. Starving does add some dramatic appeal to the whole scenario if you ask me. So I'm making a list of the things I would try to live off of if I were in some shanty little apartment with my dog, computer, numerous sketchbooks, and Lord knows what else.

Drinks
Red Bull...but not the sugar free, that's just pointless.
Starbucks products...if I could afford them, I just need coffee.
Vitamin Water...it's bland yet ridiculously tasty.
Kool-Aid...that's just a given coming from LJ.
Juice...I go through a bottle a week of juice, especially orange.
Powerade Packets...those babies make water taste like heaven.

Food
Ramen Noodles...only chicken or pork flavored, shrimp is sick.
Pasta-Roni...it's what I make when my parents are gone, it's easy.
Rice-a-Roni...God's gift to rice eaters everywhere.
Mac&Cheese...no explanation needed.
Tortillas...I can make my own homemade for cheap!
Hot Dogs...I refuse to learn what is actually in them though.
Tostino's Pizzas...AMAZINGNESS frozen and packaged into a box.
Spinach...so much better to make salads with than iceberg lettuce.


And that is a big chunk of what I would be eating. It's really not that bad, but I would have to exercise regularly, maybe even two times a day if I don't want to be seeing those Tostino's Pizzas when I look in the mirror. It's so nice to be a teenager and be able to eat practically anything I want and have the matabolism to burn it off. I better enjoy it while I can!

I'm off to find the ice cream! Ta ta!

Graphic Artist & Professional Recluse

Dear child, what do you want to do with your future?
Well, I want to be an "artist whose work can only be described as expressive, comical, and gross." Yup, that about sums it up.

I've known ever since I was little that I loved to draw, I just never really knew what to do with it. This year my art teacher has been trying to focus my skills and my brain on what I want to do after high school. He's told me he really couldn't care less if I never used my art to make a living, but now that I've been thinking about it, I think it's really something I'd like to do. If the power is there why squander it, right?

Even though with the economy being the way it is and with not many people in the buyer's market as far as advertising goes, I'd still like to be a graphic artist. I don't think I'd enjoy working in a big corporation, but I'd definitely like to be self employed and then work on commission for those big corporations. I may have to live off of Ramen Noodles when the business gets slow, but that's okay, I like Ramen.

In our college years and then when everyone eventually has kids, the band t-shirts you will wear and that your children will wear will be designed by me. And the album covers for the "sickest" bands will also be designed by me. You will think, "Oh my gosh, I remember that girl from high school, wow look at that, she really did something with her life." Yup, it's going to feel really good. It may even be worth coming back to our 10 year reunion for. Wait, let me think that through again, oh, no that was a lie. I'll be too busy making your shirts! And they will look fabulous by the way.

It won't be a gravy train, but it'll be good enough for me!
Please enjoy some of my favorite pieces by Derek Deal. I love you Derek!

Quotey McQuote Quote!

Personally I find art very depressing sometimes. Those times are mostly when I walk into the art room and realize that I have absolutely no burning desire to go anywhere near a paint brush that day. So I've decided that maybe some helpful quotes from other artists could help out a little. I'll just list off some of them and then start talking again.



"I've never believed in God, but I believe in Picasso."
-Diego Rivera (please don't be offended in any way about the religious reference)

"I dream a lot. I do more painting when I'm not painting. It's in the subconscious."
-Andrew Wyeth

"The only time I feel alive is when I'm painting."
-Vincent Van Gogh

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."
-Scott Adams

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up."
-Pablo Picasso

"An artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one."
-Charles Horton Cooley

"All art requires courage."
-Anne Tucker



I think that's good for now, I feel much more at ease just reading those quotes. To me art isn't something to be stressed over. Obviously it's different when you are in a class and you have a deadline on a piece and you are struggling to make the deadline AND get a good grade, but still, art should be enjoyed. Sometimes I never feel calmer or more centered that when I'm drawing, painting, or just plain creating something in general. It seems to be really important to remember that you need to have fun. And if it isn't fun, then you either need to convince yourself that is it or take up a new hobby my friend!

I'VE LOST MY CHILD!

Yes that's right I've lost my child! No, I have not completely lost my mind, only the part of it that is lost in grief!!! What I'm trying to say is that, I have lost my sketchbook! My tears, sweat, blood, joy, sorrow, excitement, determination, dreams, goals, influences, ideas, emotions, EVERYTHING is in that book! Not to mention the fact that I already had ALL 27 sketches done for the 3rd Quarter! My poor baby, he's missing his momma. For Pete's sake it wasn't even a third of the way full! Do you have any idea how much paper there was left in it? A ton, that's how much!

It's actually physically sickening to think that someone else out in the world might have my sketchbook. I have torn my room and my house apart looking for my dear book. Yes I have other sketchbooks that need to be finished, but I want that sketch book. The horrible part is that in pretty much every sketch book I've owned (that I would have minded losing) I have put an address on the inside cover or on the back so that if I ever left it somewhere and someone found it, they could mail or deliver it to me. What are the odds that this was the one time, I didn't put my contact information inside my sketchbook? I had some of my BEST work in that book, and now it's gone. I could try and recreate some of my works, but what's the use? They won't be the same as they were before. Good Lord, my stomach is starting to hurt just thinking about this. It could be sitting in a dumpster right now!!! That's right a DUMPSTER!

Goodbye Charles, my sweet, sweet sketchbook. May you rest in peace until the day of your final decomposition.

Body and a Bottle

Time for another look at art with Ariana! Today's topic is body art. Now before you get uncomfortable thinking of scantily dressed people showing off their covered skin, I want to assure you that I will not be posting any pictures like that. If those kind of images pop up in your brain then that is totally and completely your fault and I take absolutely no blame for it. That said, lets move along.

In this post I'm focusing mostly on body paint, tattooing, and henna tattooing. Body paint is pretty self explanatory, it's just like face painting, only on the entire body. I might not post a picture of body paint seeing as those pictures probably aren't very school appropriate, even though they are really interesting. I might be able to find one of a hand that has been painted though.

Everyone knows what a tattoo is. If you do NOT know what a tattoo is then I hope you are either under the age of twelve or come from a part of the world where there is no tattooing. If neither of those apply to you then you, my friend, are extremely sheltered and I worry for your future social well being. The way I approach the art of tattooing is that it is just another way of expression, just in a permanent manner. Although in my opinion it's extremely irritating when people get tattoos that are completely meaningless and they just get it done for the sake of having a tattoo. If you're going to get ink permanently embedded in your skin, PLEASE think it through first! I don't believe in art for the sake of art. Have a little passion people for pity's sake!

Henna is something that not everybody knows about, so I will do my best to give a short explanation of it. Henna, or Hina, is a flowering plant that is used to dye skin, hair, fingernails, leather, and wool. The name is also used for the art of temporary tattooing based on the dyes. Henna tattooing, from what I've seen is actually quite beautiful and intricate. I'm not quite sure on the cultural background of the uses of Henna, I want to say they use it in India, but don't quote me on saying that. If you're interesting in learning more about Henna you can look for information on Google or Wikipedia or anywhere else that suits your fancy.

I'll put a few pictures up now.

Peanut Butter Jelly Time! Peanut Butter Shoe Art Time!

So I've been thinking to myself about how boring canvas can be to paint on. There must be other things out in the world that are more interesting to make art from! And I've found it. SHOE ART! That's right, I said shoe art. It's true, you can Google it and be amazed.

The most amazing thing about shoe art is that fact that it's do different! It's one thing to paint a big mural on a brick wall, or cover a few train cars in artistic graffiti (which I'm pretty sure is illegal anyway), but it's completely different to take something that you live your life in and make it into something that nobody would ever think of! I really think that a lot of the time that is what art is about. As long as you inspire a though, or surprise the person that is looking at your art, then you have done your job.

I would love to see someone take several pieces of clothing and a pair of shoes and use them all to create some kind of art/sculpture/clothing/amazing creation! Maybe I should try that, although I have no idea where I would even start, it seems like it would take a whole lot of work and even more time. But if I was lucky I'm sure some museum would put it in an exhibit and someone would buy it for $2 million. I better get to work!

EXCUSE ME! Giant brush coming through!!!

HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES!!! I can only imagine the kind of paintings you could make with that kind of brush. How heavy is that thing? Especially when you soak up lots of paint or ink up in it.

I'm pretty sure if I tried to use that paint brush on my canvas it would only take one swipe to cover the entire spanse of it! I'm thinking that this man is hiding some serious muscles underneath his clothes.

It's really interesting to me that sometimes objects and even people have to be ridiculously large or extremely small in order to be recognized. I was looking around for art related records and I found the world's largest easel, largest paint
brush,largest sand painting, largest stamp mosaic, smallest paintbrush, smallest canvas, and many more. It appears that when you make art it doesn't necessarily have to be good, if it's really big or really small then you can still get recognition for it!

Maybe I should take a whack at a record sometime.

What It's Come Down To...

What it's come down to is that at this point in time the only things keeping me going are: a bag of stale Cheez-Its, a warm-ish bottle of Dr. Pepper, two Tylenol Sinus capsuls, my box of Kleenex that is running dangerously low, and the nice glob of Vix I smeared on my chapped nose. Yes ladies and gentlemen, my nose is CHAPPED, who would have thought that could even happen? It's a hard life for a student/self proclaimed artist. Anyway, that had nothing to do with my art, or maybe it did, I'm not sure. Although I have realized that I don't make good art when I'm sick. If you think about it though that could totally depend on your opinion of "good" art. If you would consider my half hearted attempts at getting better at drawing the human body "good art" then by all means, be my guest. I, on the other hand, think that there is a mathmatic equation to explain all of this.

[Sinus pressure + a splitting headache] x Being polite to the VFW President, Chairman, Boardmembers, etc. > Ariana's need to complete her 3rd Quarter Sketches

Plain and simple, nose comes first, pencil comes second! Can I get an "AMEN"? Mrs. Jones would be so proud of me, I hope.

So besides my inability to create anything at the time being, I'll post this picture of what my finished painting will hopefully look like, or at least something close to this. I supose there's always room for a little creative shimmying (spelling?) but we'll see how it ends up.

Step Numero Three...Realization Station

This oh so lovely post will be the home of my final sketch. Unfortunately this sketch is not currently residing on my canvas. After I so PAIN STAKINGLY drew this, Mr. Miller brought an important fact to my attention. I'm just not ready. As I held up my sketchbook like a proud child for him to see I saw the look almost instantly. It's that Miller look, the one that says "How am I going to tell her without making her angry or hurt?" In my mind I could already see it coming, this was not the painting I was going to be creating. Now that I've started a new design I realize that in all actuality he was right (of course), and that if I would have tried to paint this I would have been extremely frustrated with the outcome. Still, that doesn't mean I didn't want to sit and pout for a good fifteen minutes. In my defense, I did NOT pout, I did as I was told and came up with a new sketch over the weekend! So goodbye Mr. Smokey, maybe another time? It's not you, it's me.

Step Numero Two

While in the process of perfecting my sketch while still trying to keep it simple enough that I could re-create it in canvas I realized something, I was going to have to draw the same figures almost eight times! I don't even know how many times I drew that stinking face, that curly smoke, and those faceless figures. I'm almost positive they're present on a few sheets of my homework and are equally present in more than one of my spiral notebooks. It's like my drawing is a creepy stalker that follows me around school saying "Dddrraawwww mmeeee!!! Draw me!!! You need to make me better!", which is when I politely respond in my head, "I have better things to do than push a pencil until my hand is sore, thank you very much." Art II is not nearly as dead pan easy as I thought it would be. I'm wishing I would have joined Shaina and started doing my seriograph on the computer like she did, oh well. I supose it's like some famous person said (was it Frederick Douglass?), "Where there is no struggle, there is no progress." Boy oh boy am I having a struggle.

Step Numero Uno

I've managed to take a few pictures of some of the sketches that I did for my piece before I actually started to paint. I've decided that I don't want to unviel my piece until it is all the way finished. Unfortunately only the Lord above knows when that will be. But for now there is this lovely picture of my very first sketch for my lyric piece. If you look at the top you can even see a bit of the song that I picked, which is "Can You Find Me" by The Summer Set. When I had to pick my song or poem that I'd be inspired by, it only took me a second to think of the that specific song, and even when I think about it right now I'm not quite sure why I chose it. I'm thinking that it's just because "Can You Find Me" happened to be the song that I was infatuated with at the time, but who knows, maybe someday I'll look back and think "What a monumental decision", or I might end up saying "That painting was the cause of so many headaches." Either way, this sketch was the start of something beautiful, I'm sure.

Bob Ross Would Not Be Proud

When I was little I was mesmerized by the white man with the fro, the one on the TV screen that would show me how to paint "happy clouds". Oh how I miss you Bob, you would not be proud of my lack of skill.

I've started to actually paint my piece, but Mr. Miller says start with basic colors that can be added to, they are going to be covered. I've come to realize that I am a person who needs to be told EXACTLY what to do. If you can give me instructions, I can pretty much come through, like with cooking. Unfortunately as Mr. Miller says "that's not how art works". If I'm having this much trouble just choosing a background color, how am I going to choose any colors?! Bob made it look so easy, I've never seen anyone make a cabin in less than three strokes like he did. God willing, maybe he'll send me some Ross Mojo from the heavens. I could use an angel with a fro right about now.

Trial and Error

It's time to get this road on the show as my father would say. No, not show on the road it's always road on the show. This just shows the disfunction in my family right off the bat, maybe that's why I've always been so interested in art, because it's just another way for me to let out the odd moments that happen in my house.

My goal (for the moment) is to wittily (is that a word?) go through my process of the project we've just been assigned in Art II. It might sound kind of boring, but I intend to make it...not so boring.

Hopefully to spice things up a little I'll put up pictures every once in a while so you wonderful people don't have to figure out what my painting looks like by reading my not so eloquent discriptions. :) We'll figure it out, like the title says, Trial and Error baby!

Until I post some pictures enjoy this lovely piece by Audrey Kawasaki :D