If You Talk Too Much My Head Will Explode

August is in its last leg and I'm panting along side it. Just got to get over this hump and into the Brave New World of September. Hopefully I'll get more used to running again soon. Hopefully I'll have a new stinking job.

Visual Communications 01 was a marathon of wasting time today. There was an hour and half long discussion about the philosophy of mark making. Let me explain to you... we were making a philosophical issue of making marks... I... how... do... I... It was like a sophist's wet dream.

I'm about four minutes away from Image 01... the class that makes staying conscious so difficult. It's not that I'm disinterested in the subject matter, it's not that at all. It's that it seems to drag on at times, and I don't want to over run conversation, so I sit there fuming behind closed lips. Joy of joys!

I'm slowly picking through music on Pandora to buy on iTunes. I have about $12 left for songs. That's twelve songs. Competition is so very stiff, but make it I shall. Class beckons, so to it I meander.

~Chow

You Brought Me To My Knees, Your Art

Lets talk about Herron. I was wrong, lets get that out right now. The in class stuff is interesting and even engaging at times, even if some of my class mates do make things drag out beyond all limits of reason. The work load is incredible. More than I've ever had before in my life. I have to make 55 pieces of art by Monday, write a 4 page paper by Friday, and have something for Tuesday that hasn't been assigned yet. May we call that intense?

So lets look at my assignment for Image 01. That's a course that is focused on making an image, and all that goes into it. Our assignment was to compose fifty 5 1/2 by 8 1/2 inch compositions. Each composition was to be composed entirely of a mark. Each mark had to be very different from all the others, in as many ways as reasonable. 30 of the marks had to be "natural." This was defined as meaning something I made with my hands, either directly, or by some hand held implement. 15 were to be mechanical/alternative, which was defined as any means that was not by hand or computer. Finally, 5 were to be by computer.

For the natural ones, I initially used as many "traditional" media as I could. Mechanical Pencil, 4B wooden pencil, vine charcoal, charcoal pencils, acrylic and oil paints with a variety of brushes. Then, when I had exhausted the traditional media in my apartment, I went to the stranger things. Ketchup, toothpaste, mustard, and the ink from a shattered pen. I even used the coloring from mashed plants.

For the mechanical ones, I have burned them, stepped on them and stamped them. I'm working them out as best I can. These ones are more difficult for many reasons... mostly involved around finding non repetitive mark making. It's only possible to make so many stamps, and finding things that actually make marks and aren't really media is hard. So it's a struggle.

The computer marks will be extremely easy. I have been using computer media for a long time. And I only need 5 different kinds.

The idea I've really taken hold of on these ones is to try to show as much of the potential for each media I use as possible. I vary pressure and density on every mark, as much as possible. I'll load up some pictures later, so you guys can see how it goes.