falling asleep.

bedtime story from joy luck club-thumbnail.
i'm not sure i'll get to actually painting this one since the semester is starting.

the orphanage.

photomerge.

i went to an orphanage in guadalupe, mexico last week...

this is the dorm building that our team stayed in. the AC unit is one of the few swamp coolers that actually worked.
this is a view of the kitchen where we ate our food and the shack/houses across the field. there were beautiful mountians visible beyond that. i didn't have time to draw them.

The orphans (especially a little boy named Christian) liked to watch me draw. They pointed out the things i draw and told me the Spanish words. I offered them papel and they drew smiley faces. It was interesting to see how Mexican children drew. American children usually draw 2 dots for eyes, an "L" shape for a nose and an upside down rainbow for a mouth. Mexican children (or at least all the orphans who showed me their drawings) drew faces just like we carve jack-o-lanterns. Two triangles for the eyes, a triangle for the nose, and an cantalope slice for the mouth. One of the little boys drew two rectangles touching each other for the mouth (perhaps for the teeth).

Also, the buildings at Rancho 3M (the orphanage) were brightly painted-greens and yellows and bright blues and reds. If i have time i'll add color to these pen drawings on photoshop. They are quite cheery.

My sister and dad on the plane home.

persecuted church thumbnails.

These were some thumbnail sketches from reading Foxe's Christian Martyrs. They were on scrap printer paper, so i'm pretty sure they will be lost in my piles of papers within the next few weeks.

This one is burning at the stake:

This one is about going to be with Christ after martyrdom:


This one is about mob attacks on children and the peace of mind that comes from knowing that this earth is not their home:

more..

i went to nantucket in june...

While waiting for my family to finish shopping:
pen & ink, brush pen added later.


While in the car waiting for Grammie to buy milk:pen & ink, brush pen and purple china marker added later.


View of our beach house on Madaket:pen & ink, brush pen, colored pencil, & china marker (just about everything that i brought in my pencil pouch)

first.

I don't know how consistent i will be with this--but i want to start posting thumbnails, sketches, drawings, paintings, etc. here to help motivate myself to act on my artistic ideas and to give myself focus. i tend to write down concept ideas and develop thumbnails in any of my millions of sketchbooks or on loose scrap paper and forget about it a few weeks/days/hours later. Keeping a blog may or may not help, but it's worth a try.

To sum up my college years so far:

Freshman year:
Theme-sanctity of human life.
Goals-try different mediums (my first oil painting, first sculptures, first pastel drawings, first time attempt at charcoal powder, collage)
What i learned about my abilities-i'm a perfectionist

Sophomore year:
Theme-make it through alive (meaning, no theme. unless you count sleep deprivation as my theme)
Goals-to keep a sketchbook (activated by George Pratt), to learn good design and composition, try more mediums (digital, FIRST acrylic painting, more collage, more oil, ink wash), learn to manage my time.
What i learned about my abilities-i can draw accurately and need to force myself not to copy

Junior year:
Theme-Historical themes, mainly the WW2 era & the Holocaust
Goals-to escape from total realism (didn't really accomplish this.. i'm starting to embrace it); to understand color, it's effect on the eye, and how to use it to my advantage
What i learned about my abilities-God is blessing this talent and i'm not using it faithfully to His glory; i like working from life better than photos; when i'm sleep deprived i make bad decisions

Senior year:
Theme- (fall semester at least) the persecuted church
i am taking Islam and History of East Africa, reading Foxe's Christian Martyrs of the World and Jesus Freaks and Voice of the Martyrs website. i'm hoping these will inform my art.
Goals-to direct the focus from the execution of the painting/drawing to the message/concept behind it; powerful & everlasting concepts; a deeper understanding of the King of the Universe through my artwork; never staying "safe", staying DESPERATE for help; darker(?) & deeper art; keep sketching when i go places