80. Words

What better words than from my favorite kids book author Dr. Suess! It started with a pencil drawing but realized I made a pretty big oops after it was all done. Oh well it looks a lot better in color anyways. I was actually thinking of doing a whole series but I have a lot of ideas floating around in my head and I hate to put them off. Maybe I’ll come back to it. Here are other inspiring quotes by Dr. Seuss.

·         “Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”

·         “You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”

·         “Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.”

·         “I meant what I said and I said what I meant.”

·         “Adults are just obsolete children and the hell with them.”

·         “If you never did you should. These things are fun and fun is good”

·         “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.”

·         “I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.”

·         “If I were invited to a dinner party with my characters, I wouldn't show up”

·         "We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love."

·         "It's a troublesome world. All the people who're in it are troubled with troubles almost every minute. You ought to be thankful, a whole heaping lot,for the places and people you're lucky you're not."

·         "So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads."

Here's a rough sketch of the next one I was thinking of doing.

78. Drink

Dr. Pepper anyone?

So this is actually kinda old. I built it back in 2009 for an art show. It took a little more than 2 large trash bags full of recycled Dr. Pepper cans. At the time I worked with a guy that drank at least 4 or 5 cans a day so it didn't take long to accumulate the amount needed. Sadly, the table wasn't very functional because it lacked a strong structural support. Two of the legs broke after the art show and I never took the time to fix it... eventually I recycled all of it.... I'm kinda regretting it now.

Anyway, I came across this picture when I was doing some clean up on my computer I thought it would make for a nice change up from my recent sketches.

38. Abandoned

Have I abandoned my project? That's a negative ghost rider! I've just been a little busy creating art for a different audience and none of it has really seemed to fit my themes. I'm sorry.

I created this in my studio art therapy class on Monday. It's been frustrating the last few weeks because I feel like I haven't been able to produce anything worthy lately. However, there is nothing better than picking up a pencil and getting that creative vibe.

93. Give Up

Inspiration = Linkin Park. I've been kind of lazy the last month... no excuse. Anyway, I started back to school for my last semester. So excited! I ended up adding a last minute class ART THERAPY STUDIO! I absolutely loved the art therapy course that I took last semester and it helps soooo much with stress levels. For this course we basically get to make our own art projects and work on them for 2 hours in class every week. I really hope this will help me add new artwork to my challenge every week. I've had the idea for this theme for a while now but I just hadn't taken the time to do it. First class of art therapy studio = success!

# 23. Cat

Inspired by a tattoo I saw on the show NY Ink. In case you haven’t seen it, it’s a show about a new tattoo shop in New York City. The owner and top tattoo artist is the same owner from the original show Miami Ink. Some of the tattoos they do are absolutely amazing. In a way it makes me want to pick up a tattoo gun and do the same. Except I don’t have any tattoos nor do I want any tattoos all over… oh well. I still like the style either way.

This piece is actually a new art folder to keep my collage stuff in. At first I was only going to have one cat created with newspaper collage (like the one on the left). But when I drew the outline on the folder to help organize where all the pieces would need to go I thought it would be cool if I colored it in with bright colors like a real tattoo. Torn between the two I decided to do both. Although instead of using the Daily Oklahoman newspaper I used one I found from the middle-eastern language.

# 72. Mischief Managed

Over the weekend I watched the first four Harry Potter movies. I’ve never really been a huge fan of the Harry Potter saga nor have I read any of the books. Up until this weekend I had only seen one of the movies but I have been a little curious about what the story is all about and why people are so excited about the final movie coming out. I’ve always been more of a Stephen King fan myself. Anyway, there was a marathon on t.v. so I took the opportunity to learn more about the famous wizard Harry Potter. They actually weren’t too bad. I watched the third movie Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban and got the idea to make this. In the movie Harry Potter acquires a magic map of the Hogwarts School and where everyone in the school is located. With a few magic words the map would disappear and of course those words were “Mischief Managed” How suiting.

# 8. Innocence

Ain’t it cute! It’s supposed to be a baby tiger but it’s kinda hard to tell since it’s only a pencil drawing. It would look better in color I think. I need to invest in new prisma pencils and paints.

I’ve decided we need more parks and small cafes in Oklahoma. One of my favorite things to do while I’ve been in Spain is to sit on a bench in the park and work on a few sketches. A couple of times I sat at various cafes and sketched the Spanish architecture around me. All the parks, plazas, and cafes around here gives the city a really nice relaxing atmosphere. I'm going to miss it. Oklahoma bound tomorrow!

Dali Goal Complete!

I had a post several months ago about wanting to visit the Dali-Theatre in Figueres while I’m studying abroad in Spain. GOAL COMPLETE!! And let me say the museum was incredible! I talked about 5 Dali artworks that I really wanted to see. I ended up getting to see 4 out of 5, but I also got to see sooooo much more!

1.    Portrait of Gala with Two Lamb Chops Balanced on Her Shoulder (1933)  sadly this painting was not on display at the museum. I looked everywhere for it with no luck. Either the museum has it on loan or it’s tucked away to be displayed another day. However, I did get to see Soft Self Portrait with Grilled Bacon (1941).

2.    Galatea of the Spheres (1952). You’re allowed to take pictures in the museum but you aren’t allowed to use the flash. Sadly a few of my pictures came out kinda blurry because of it.

3.    Surrealist Object Functioning Symbolically (1974) There’s a room in the museum that is set up like a bed room which I assume was Dali’s ideal surrealist bedroom. It had several surrealist paintings, the bed post was made of a fish tail, and there was a gold statue of money bones in the corner. Anyway this piece was also in the room inside a cabinet

4.    Face of Mae West Which Can Be Used as an Apartment (installation) (1974) In the museum there are several installation pieces. There’s actually another one kinda like this but the mouth is a doorway. The whole museum is kind of like an installation piece really. It use to be an actual theater but it was heavily damaged in the Spanish Civil War. The Mayor of Figueres gave the building to Dali in the 1960’s so Dali could have his own unique place to display his work. It took him about a decade to put it all together. He left the structure of the building alone. You can see where the stage and balcony seats were. Like I said, there is no other museum in the work like this one!

5.    Dali Jewels I actually didn’t get to see the entire Dali Jewels collection because I just didn’t have enough time. However there we a few of the jewel pieces in the basement

The whole museum is covered in Dali artwork. In the hall ways they display many of his sketches and if you look in each corner he has some odd surrealist statue or weird collaboration. I really wish I would have had more time to explore everything. I could have easily spent an entire day in the museum. Also, I didn’t know at the time but it doesn’t surprise me that Dali is actually buried in the museum as well. I can only assume Gala is buried along side him.

Here are a few more pictures just for fun.





# 27. Foreign

So I’m currently studying abroad in Spain. Sadly it’s a business program not an art study. Anyway here’s a sketch I did this week. Basically it summarizes a lot about my time in Spain thus far. A historic city where even the broken builds and walls are beautiful, it adds character. The wall is came from a observation in a park, I even included the graffiti.

I really wish I could stay longer and study more European art. While I’ve been here in Spain I’ve found myself to have a new appreciation for the Spanish artist El Greco. I’ve seen several of his painting in the Prada museum in Madrid as well as the monastery-palace El Escorial, and the famous “Burial of the Count of Orgaz” in Toledo. I’m probably drawn to him because, at his time, he was a very unusual artist. I find it amusing to overhear people look at his paintings and others artists of the 16^th century and say, “Why is this one so important? They all look alike.”…. Some people just don’t get it…. NO! They are not all alike! During the 16^th century you were taught to paint in a certain way. “This is what you paint, these are the colors you use, and this is the technique to do it!” In a way the man tested the water to create painting that expressed a story in a different manner. (Ha Ha art joke there, mannerism). Basically, he broke the traditional rules of painting and I like it!

11. Memory

Last night my business fraternity Delta Sigma Pi had our senior farewells. We have 19 graduating seniors this year and I'm really going to miss all of them. At farewells it's tradition to tell stories about their favorite deltasig memories. It was a good night.


The drawing is the Delta Sigma Pi Coat of Arms. I actually created it as a gift for one of our graduating seniors. Below is the complete and framed version.

PTBAD!

26. Tears

So I read an email this morning that really hurt my heart. Disasters happen, people die, and others come together to help those in need. I was born in Oklahoma, and I live only a few miles from what they call “The Tornado Alley” (Moore, Oklahoma). I remember the May 3^rd tornado in 1999, and it was devastating but at least tornados are something most Oklahomans are knowledgeable about. The May 3^rd F5 tornado resulted in about 36 casualties. What happened Wednesday night killed more than 300 people. However, it is one in particular that leaves me with a heavy heart.  The tornados went through Tuscaloosa, home of the University of Alabama and ended the life of a fellow brother of Delta Sigma Pi. From what I’ve heard she was a business student that wanted to go to law school and had a bright future ahead of her. As a senior I've had a lot of time to think about gratuation, and it beings me tears to think of graduation invitations never to be sent. Such a tragedy…  I didn’t know Brother Ashley Harrison personally but I do know one thing; the world is better because she dwelt upon it. Her family will be in my prayers.

57. Sacrifice

Another collage of struggles and sacrifice. What is our world coming to....

# 76. Broken Pieces

This is a drawing style I’ve been messing around with for a while. Mostly I’ve just been doodling around with it. Mainly because doodles are all I have had time for this last week. I heard on the radio once that supposedly students that doodle while taking notes remember the lecture better. It makes sense though when you get into doing something artistic you get this clear focus. If you are truly focused I guess it would make sense that your listening skills are vamped up as well. I’m not sure if it’s true or not but I like it!

Just for fun I decided to include some of my doodles. Sometimes I’ll start drawing something in class and then decide I don’t want to spoil it with note taking, so my notes end up on another page.

# 54. Tower

Any college kid should be able to see the symbolism here. I think I have the early stages of senioritis. I have a ton of school work to do and it feels like it takes a ton of will power just to make myself open my text book. The reading isn’t necessarily bad I just really ,really don’t want to do it.

I guess the girl in the background is kind of how I feel right not. I’m forcing myself to keep my nose in the books but I can’t help but look away to watch/do something more entertaining. Sigh.

# 22. Mother Nature

I know Mother Nature usually means landscape like drawings but for this theme I decided to go with a Native American look.

This is a drawing I created for a lady that I work with. She trained me on some of our quality systems at work and has been extremely nice and given some great professional advice. After she heard about my background in art she called me up and asked if I would be interested in designing the program cover for the upcoming national convention of her organization Native Americans, Alaskan Natives (NAAN). Each year they have a contest to see who can come up with the best design that fits their organization. Well come to find out the following week she told me that the contest was actually already over for this year. I decided to go ahead and draw what I had in mind anyway and give it to her. If nothing else it’s just a token of my gratitude for her kindness.

It's nice to know that there are still good people in the world that look to help others. It's even better to know that there are some people that look for opportunities to help others. I find it's amazing how several people I have met randomly in the recent past that I've had conversations with about myself and how I am pursuing a professional career, and in the end they end up being eger to share their experience and advice with me. I feel blessed

# 16. Questioning

Another collage I made. I have to say this collage reminds me of someone that has some gambling problems. Although I do find it a little funny that I collect cards and enjoy using them in my artwork yet I actually don’t like to play poker. I’ve been to Las Vegas several times but never did anything more than play 10 minutes on a penny slot machine.

# 50. Breaking the Rules

Normally for the challenge you are suppose to create new artwork for each them. But hey, what better day to break the rules than your own birthday! This is a drawing I did for my final in my drawing II class my sophomore year working on my art degree. It is also my most favorite drawing I’ve ever done. The hands were drawn completely in a cross hatch style. Basically the hands are made of small lines crossing each other rather than traditional shading. 

Someone recently asked me “Why don’t do sell your artwork?” well personally the ones that I think people would actually want to buy, like this one, I feel personally attached to. There were several night that I stayed up til 4:00am meticulously working on this drawing. I guess I finally understand why some painting cost ridiculous amounts of money. When you put a lot of time and effort into something and then it comes out better than you originally thought, it's really hard to let it go.  

# 47. Creation

This is my 3D collage creation I made for my art therapy midterm. It’s awesome that I had a midterm that wasn’t actually an exam.  The assignment was to create a 3D collage about yourself. I think mine was the best in the class = ) most people just took an object and collaged magazine pictures on it.

Ingredients and Symbolism of this piece:

Books – represent the collection of my education. I was asked in class if they were specific books or just random. They are just random. They were some old books that my mom didn’t want anymore. I think one of them was a book on cats and another was a self inspiration book.

Newspaper – I wrapped the books in newspaper mainly because I didn’t like the color on the covers of the books… or the random titles. So wrapping them in newspaper made them more uniform.

Cog wheel – represents my automotive back ground. Although it was kind of funny the guy that sits next to me in Art therapy was like “What is that? Is it a saw blade?”

Playing Cards – most people don’t know this but I actually collect playing cards. I have about 100 different decks from all over the country.

# 51. Sport

This is a flier I made for my business fraternity’s golf tournament that will be hosted later this year in April.

I created the graphics using photoshop. I love that program you can really do anything if you just know how. I have to admit I photoshopped a picture of a golf ball rather than creating one from scratch. I worked on a tutorial the other day about creating a letter. It looks like someone took a picture of a stamped letter when actually it was made from scratch (beginning with a rectangle on a blank background).  From what I have seen from other photoshop artists a letter is just puppy play.

# 81. Pen and Paper

I’m still enjoying messing with collages. This one is really simple but every time I tried placing something else into it I decided it looked better before. It makes some sense though a pencil and a piece of paper can create something simple or something extremely complex.

I learned in my art therapy class that sometimes it not all about just creating something visually aesthetic, sometimes it just about the process of creating. Yesterday in class we did a calming exercise and used crayons to color mandalas while listening to James Taylor. I was one of two people who actually knew who he was. Anyway, it was actually a really nice experience. My mandala looks like something an 8 year old did, but it was really relaxing and helped bring back some piece of mind I’ve lost this week. I love my art therapy class!

# 89. Through the Fire

I received an ASQ magazine today. (American Society for Quality and yes I’m a member) They had an article in there about the bright side of failure. It talks about how failure is the best identifier for improvements.

“The natural reaction to failure is to distance yourself from it. After all, nobody wants to be associated with a project that fell short of expectations. But, as any good quality professional knows, failed projects can provide a mechanism for continuous improvement.” – Sheffery

Anyway I thought it was interesting and it helped me create my newest collage. It doesn’t nail the theme on the dot but the concept is kind of the same. The way I see it “Through the fire” is a time when you look back at a previous situation and are just glad you got through it. My artwork really just adds on to the theme with a “How can I learn from this situation?”

# 66. Change

“Ch Ch Ch Changes” Ever listen to a song and sing it over and over in your head and then one day out of curiosity look up the lyrics and realize the words you’ve sang with the song were wrong? I watched a video once about the band Fallout Boy and all the crazy interpretive lyrics people come up with it was rather funny. But anyway I found myself in that situation earlier this week and as I worked on this collage I thought to myself “well sorry Mr. David Bowie I like the lyrics I sang in my head better”…..  at least for this piece of art.

I know this piece seems to scream a political theme but it’s not really all about Obama. Or at least that’s not was I was thinking while I was creating it. The main thought that came of my mind was “Wow, things really have changed.” Politically have things changed? Or are they still in need of change? I would think a little bit of both. I’ll spare the rant.

Point redirection and back to me and my artwork!  I love collages! Personally I like looking through magazines and cutting out weird advertisements and then forcing them together with different media and just see where it takes me. I’m kind of been thinking about doing a whole series of collages. Here is the material that made this possible:

1.       Random pictures from the free BusinessWeek magazine I get in the mail. I read 

         some articles here and there but I’m glad I could finally put it to good use.

2.       Scrapbook Paper

3.       Pens and Sharpies

4.       Paint

5.       Newspaper (even the free buyers guide that shows up on my doorstep came in handy)

# 87. Food

It’s really just a rough sketch but it’s not too bad.

I was thinking today about how awesome it was as a kid to have snow days although to get almost a whole week off well that never happened to me. Yet, although I have many fond memories of snow days as a kid today I have a heavy heart. It’s sad to think that some kids aren’t as excited to have snow days and not go to school. Not that they really want to be in class but because school is the major provider if not the only provider of food for them, which leads me to the topic of my theme of the day:  Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma.

Here’s a few interesting fact you might not know about our regional food bank:

·         500,000 Oklahomans are at risk of hunger every day  including 1 in every 5 children in the state

·         The food bank helps feed 77,000 Oklahomans each week

·         96% of all donations go to providing food to the hungry

·         8% of donated food go to the homeless while 70% go to the working core (they are not unemployed)

·         For every $1 donated, the Regional Food Bank provides seven meals

·         The Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma has more volunteers on average than any other food bank in the country! (There are 205 food banks nationally)

·         On average 1 volunteer is worth $14 an hour to the food bank

·         The slowest times of the year for volunteers is in May and August

·         Their staff force is only 75 people strong (40 of which work on distributing the food)

·         99% of all food from the food bank are delivered by trucks owned and operated by the food bank.

·         During fiscal year 2010, the Regional Food Bank distributed 36.5 million pounds of food and products to hungry Oklahomans in 53 central and western counties

Backpacks for kids Program:

One of the best parts about our food bank. The program started in 2003 when several teachers in inner city elementary school noticed a trend in certain students as being inattentive and sluggish. One boy passed out right before the lunch bell and it was confirmed as the result of having nothing to eat since his school lunch the previous Friday. Another child admitted to having nothing but a single Oscar mire wiener over the weekend. The backpack for kids program provides these students with a backpack full of needed nutritional food every Friday so that they have something to eat over the weekend. On Monday the students return the backpacks and volunteers refill them during the week to be redistributed. To insure the kids get nutritious meals the food in the back packs are bought, not donated. The program serves 305 elementary schools in 42 counties across central and western Oklahoma, providing backpacks to nearly 8,000 chronically hungry children each week during the 2009-2010 school year.

For more information you can visit the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma's website (you can even sign up to volunteer on there!) Not only were schools forced to close this week but also our Regional Food Bank which could possibly lead to some of those children not getting their food backpacks.

# 92. All that I Am

This is my own personal logo that I created. It was actually our first assignment in my art theory class but I thought it would go great with my challenge! To create my personal logo I began by thinking about aspects about myself that I like and that make me unique. The simplest way to explain my logo is to explain in pieces.

1.     The design and shading of my logo are aspects of my artistic nature. Art is a huge part of me, it was my first major in college and I even earned an associate degree in fine art from Oklahoma City Community College.

2.      I used gears, a pulley, and clamp ends (those are the four pieces coming out the sides with oval holes) because of my mechanical background. When I was in high school I co-enrolled at the local vocational school and earned a degree in automotive service. I also worked as a technician at a Nissan dealership for two years. Ever since I was a child I liked to take things apart and see how they work. Although I am no longer a technician nor do I ever plan on being one again it still holds a large place as a part of me.

3.     The most noticeable part of my logo is the shield and sash at the center. This represents my new focus on the study of business. After I decided I didn’t want to be a starving artist, I changed my major to business. I’m currently working on my senior year at the Price College of Business to earn my degree in supply chain management.

4.     The chains represent my degree in supply chain management.

5.     The musical notes in the upper right-hand corner symbolize my love for music. I am not a musician but listening to music is extremely important to me. My dad always woke us up on Sunday mornings by blasting classic rock tunes on the stereo.

6.     Time. If you didn’t notice there are clocks hands on the center shield. I had to include one of my favorite art themes.

7.     The key is more of my subjective outlook on life. There is a key to every problem you just have to find it.

# 35. Hold My Hand

Or hold my eye… it almost makes sense. I know it’s not exactly the first thing that comes to mind when you think of “hold my hand” but I wanted to do something different.  

I’m excited to get the semester going and it looks like one of my courses is going to help me with my challenge. This semester I’m taking an art therapy class as an elective and I think I’m really going to enjoy it. One of our assignments is to have a sketch book journal and make daily entries into it. However there is one requirement is to test out different media. = ) I know I’m going to have fun with this! Plus this will help me think of idea for my challenge. Who knows you might find pages from my sketch book on here.

# 71. Obsession

Meet Jeszie, my level 85 undead warlock from the game World of Warcraft.

This theme makes a lot more since if you happened to have known me back in 2006 and 2007. In the summer of 2006 I was in a motorcycle accident that left me unable to walk for a couple of months. So, I spent the majority of my time playing the online computer game called World of Warcraft, maybe you’ve heard of it. Anyway even after I healed I continued to play the game almost addictively.  For my birthday that next year my dad even wrote/sang a parody about my obsession with the game and gods only knows what would happen if my computer blew up.

It’s actually funny how many people have gotten themselves addicted to that game and ruined their lives. I know person I used to play with back in the day played so much he fluncked out of college and lost his scholarship which also led to his parents (who paid for all of his living expenses) to cut him off and he got kicked out of his apartment. Of course his girl friend also dumped him because he preferred to go to raids in the game on a Friday night instead of taking her out on a date…. And these things are actually common with this game.

Anyway, I got the idea from an artist on deviant art. She had several drawings of her different characters and I thought that was kind of cleaver. So I made a sketch of my own character and low and behold there’s a theme on my list that fits.   

# 95. Advertisement

This is the Spring 2011 recruitment flier for my professional business fraternity Delta Sigma Pi, created by yours truly. As much as I really dislike returning to school this week, I am excited to start a new semester with my fraternity brothers.

Additionally, stuff like this really makes me want to get into digital art. I’ve been thinking about purchasing the adobe photo shop lately. What took me hours on Microsoft power point would have only taken minutes if I had photo shop. I took a digital photography class my first year in college and it was a real bust. However, I found several photo shop tutorials on the internet, who needs a professor anyway?

# 24. No Time

I’m not sure why but I admit I have a fascination with clocks and here are a few reasons why:

1.       I think it might be because they are easy to manipulate artistically.

2.       They have mechanical innards that you can choose to expose or leave hidden within

3.       The numbers on the face of the clock present their use for uniqueness. (different fonts and styles of typography)

4.        Location or type of clock. Is it a grandfather clock at the top of a stairwell or a hand watch on a morning jogger.

5.       The face of a clock can always be a work of art on its own. I mean really any work of art can become a clock all you have to do is cut a hole in the middle and insert the battery operated clock arms.

And since I’m on the topic I thought I would include 2 older drawings that I did many years ago.  These were the first on my fascination with clocks. I use to go through magazines and cut out all the advertisements for watches along with everything else that showed mechanical parts. I used them to create both of these. The pencil drawing (the one on the right) is one of the pieces that I've sold.