East of the Sun

Monctain, Maine (And Other Stories)

My friend Jeff is organizing a collaborative zine called Many-Any-All, with a first-issue theme of "Unnoticed."  I originally had no idea what to submit for it, but then I had a dream about a small rural town in Maine that exists only in the collective memory of the people who live in the area. It's a weird idea, but it just may work.

On other fronts, I had a very successful First Friday and realized that I really need to upgrade my button-maker.  For the volume of pins I wish to put out mine is just too slow and unwieldy... a nicer pin machine will put me out about $200, but with the money I made at First Friday and the money I hope to get back from selling my current machine (which is worth about $70 and would come with a fair number of parts, so I'm asking $50) I think it's a manageable cost and a worthwhile investment.

I managed to insert a JavaScript plug-in from the JQuery library into my website that will allow me to have scrolling thumbnail bars. It's called HoverScroll and I modified it to be a bit larger and much cleaner looking. I'm pretty happy with how the site is coming along.

Website Design

We've been working on designing new templates for our website projects in my Junior Seminar.  I've done in total probably half a dozen disparate designs, each with a few variations.  This is my current top choice:

Template

The artwork, title, and description would go in the large box (which has the potential to be extended downward if necessary) and project thumbnails would go across the top. I haven't played with color schemes at all, but I kind of like it black-and-white.

Tea

I'm sick. I contracted a cold that has hit full-force over the past couple of days, and I have been self-medicating with the help of a certain beloved beverage.  Here's my setup, post use:

Tea For One

Critspace!

So, I've been building a website using the Indexhibit application.  I like the menu setup, though I haven't had a chance to play around with templates much (I'm still in the designing stage there... we'll be learning how to implement them next class, perhaps).  I do NOT like the way it handles images.  The slideshow/thumbnail features are nice, but there's not enough customization available.  I'd like to set up my own image viewing system within the Indexhibit setup rather than using theirs, but I don't know if it's possible to install a separate flash viewer in this case... so I may just have to brute-force code it.

Anyway, check out what I have so far HERE.

An Outing

I went to lunch at the Public Market, which has recently opened a lovely upstairs space with a great coffee shop, among other vendors.  The space is rough and rustic and utterly wonderful, and you can get things that look like this:

Aztec Mocha

I also went down to the water, which was very still and calm and blue:

Winter Pilings

Love Of Library

I love the vintage library look, so imagine my delight when I discovered that Target has a line of hardwood card catalog-style media towers meant for CD and DVD storage. Traditionalists rejoice! Imagine how great this would look tucked in next to a bookshelf... when I have my own apartment setup, this is EXACTLY the sort of thing I'll be looking for:

Library Style Media Rack: Oak

On this note, I plan on converting this blog into not merely a place to show off my art and detail my life, but also a sort of aggregate of my inspiration and random things on the web that strike my fancy.  I will be setting up a portfolio website soon, so this blog will take second stage as far as posting art is concerned.  Change is exciting.

Bits & Pieces

I've been to all my classes but one at this point, and it seems like it's going to be a good semester. 

My first assignment was for my Junior Seminar, and it was to set up a demo portfolio online. I already have my work up in a variety of places, including Flickr, Facebook, and deviantArt, so I thought I'd try something different.  Enter annasimmons.carbonmade.com. You've probably already seen the work I've put up there, but I like the way in which is is viewed: it's a bit slideshow-y, something I will probably try to incorporate into my own website (the ultimate goal of the class).

My Public Art class is going to be really interesting as well.  Our main goal is to design, propose, and implement a temporary work somewhere in the Greater Portland area.  This involves not only planning it and making it happen, but also learning how to present an idea to a client, something that should come in handy in the future.

One of the things that we're doing in Printmaking is collaborating with local schools and programs on a "Wearable Art" event that will be happening at the end of term in the ICA.  I'm excited about this, but I hope I have time to make my books as well!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2010, everyone!  May it be the best year yet.

Here's a photo from a recent Popham Beach trip:

To The Island

I Am A Part Of All That I Have Met

The title of this blog entry is also the title of a print portfolio in which I am participating.  The prints for the portfolio are 4"x6" and an edition of 15 (though I made 20).  I did a two-color silkscreen print in sparkly purple and glow-in-the-dark inks, and added an all-over turquoise ink wash afterward.  The effect is subtle, but I'm quite pleased:

On A Cellular Level

The imagery I used is from one of my favorite websites, Clipart ETC. I got to it somehow from a search for mycetozoa (slime molds), but now I have no idea how I did that... it's not coming up on any of my subsequent searches.

Stuff & Nonsense

I'm finally done with my photo project, which means I can show you all... here is the link to the album on Facebook.

Here's an example of one of the spreads:

Bubby & Bubba